When my wife and I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I felt I had arrived in paradise: mild weather, great food, plenty to do in the glorious outdoors. But when I became a father in the Bay Area, I began to wonder if paradise might be a challenging place to raise well-rounded adults. For one thing: how would our children learn patience, perseverance, independence, and resilience without challenges like the truly awful summers of my youth in California’s Central Valley? I remembered a fellow teenage camper on a hike in the Marble Mountains who collapsed mid-hike under a not-that-heavy backpack, wailing that the 80° heat was too much for him as he was “from Marin County.” I didn’t want to intentionally subject my kids to suffering, but I didn’t want them to have it too easy, either.What was needed was a mildly demanding system of real rewards and consequences, accessible to very young participants; a way to introduce incidental hardship in the guise of pure fun. What was needed was a boat. “Fair winds, following seas, and safe returns!” It had been a few years since we last sprayed champagne, and our skills had suffered from disuse. But TOTORO was launched, most of the bubbly got on the boat, and the supervisor was none the worse for the sprinkling.
Thomas Schwei
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Thanks for sharing a lovely story, James, a lovely boat, and a lovely family.
What a wonderful story!
Your boys are lucky to have you as their dad.
I built an Ilur back in 2016-17 (see below). After many weeks of deliberation between various hues of green, I picked for Clarisa’s hull what appears to be the identical color as you have on your beautiful Seil. It was a custom color that was mixed for me by Kirby Paints. It was called “Olive-Martini”. Did you buy your paint from Kirby?
Thanks again!
Thanks for the kind words, Christoph. TOTORO’s exterior paint is Benjamin Moore 429, Garland Green. The match with Clarisa appears to be pure chance. Or maybe convergent evolution. I love the color but can take no credit for it as my wife picked it. I am quite colorblind and have learned to leave these choices to her. My only input was that I liked the Celeste green of Bianchi bikes but wanted something a bit warmer.
I think that Olive-Martini is a better name!