Some reflections on the FUBAR ODYSSEY 2007 from "Kasekuchen" crew member Ron Weed

The crew on our Selene 53, "Kasekuchen," during the FUBAR ODYSSEY 2007 included our son, Chris, and our friend Ron Weed, a Hollywood producer who'll be working on the live telecast of "The 65th Annual Golden Globes Awards," scheduled to air on NBC on January 13, 2008. This year during "The 65th Annual Golden Globes Awards," Steven Spielberg will received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field."

When he returned home after the rally, Ron sent out an e-mail to some of his friends, a portion of which we'd like to share with you here:

Just a quick note to let you know that I am now home from the "FUBAR" Fleet Underway to Baja Rally on one of the fifty one boat fleet that made the trip from San Diego to La Paz from Nov 7 thru Nov 19, 2007. I gratefully crewed for my friends, Bob and Cheryl Klein on their 60' Selene Ocean Trawler, "Kasekuchen", German for Cheesecake. We stopped at Ensenada, Turtle Bay, Santa Maria, Magdalena Bay, San Jose Del Cabo, Muertos Bay and La Paz.

Some day passages, some overnight passages up to 33 continuous hours underway. Kasekuchen is well equipped with radars, electronic navigation systems and of course has all or most of the systems that make her a home in every sense on the water. I attached an excerpt from my daily log which kind of expresses my sentiments with a few pictures.

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Pre-owned Selene 53 Trawler for sale

We are now able to market pre-owned Selenes from our office dock. Our office dock is now home to "Morning Mist," a beautiful used Selene 53. If you are in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area and you would like to view this boat, please contact us.

A detailed three-page spec sheet for "Morning Mist" is available in a PDF format. Click HERE to open or download the spec sheet.

Enjoying the FUBAR ODYSSEY 2007 Kickoff

From left to right: Susanna Rybak, Jake Maizel, Cheryl Klein, Diane Simpson, Lee Simpson, Bob Klein

"Kasekuchen's" 1,100 mile journey from Washington to California to join the 2007 FUBAR ODYSSEY

As some of you know, when Bob and I moved from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale to open the Selene Florida office, we left our Selene 53 – "Kasekuchen" – in Washington.

When we decided to participate in the FUBAR ODYSSEY 2007, our good friend and fellow Selene owner, Mark Tilden ("Koinonia") agreed to sail "Kasekuchen" from Gig Harbor to Ventura for us. Here's a copy of the e-mail he sent out to members of the Selene owners and enthusiasts discussion group describing his journey:

Just a quite note to “close the loop” on my earlier posting, since several of you have asked. We completed our delivery of the Klein’s Selene 53 “Kasekuchen” this morning. I now sit aboard, moored in the beautiful facilities at Ventura harbor. We had a very nice trip -- lots of whales, dolphins, several basking sharks, and even a couple of sunfish spotted along the way. The center 2/3 of the trip (from Newport to Eureka and Eureka to Monterey) was some of flattest ocean conditions I’ve ever seen in 25+ years of going up and down this coast. We had absolutely beautiful moon-less nights full of stars. The Cape Flattery to Newport leg was rougher, though not terrible, and the final leg from Monterey to Ventura was also a bit rougher -- perhaps to remind us of how unusual the other legs were. On the last leg, we had the more normal summer conditions of 6 – 8’ swells with afternoon northwesterlies in the 15-25 knot range.

We covered just over 1100 miles from Gig Harbor to Ventura and put roughly 140 hours on the engine running at about 8 knots most of the time. I don’t have accurate fuel usage data at this point, but I think we averaged about 7 GPH for the voyage.

I am so impressed with the Selenes (both my own and now two other boats I’ve had the privilege of transiting the west coast on). My experience is that they handle the seas extremely well—even the periods for a few hours last night where we were essentially beam-to the 6-8 foot swells and 20+ knots of wind. "Kasekuchen" handled it all very well.

Thanks to all of you who have asked about the trip and wished us a great voyage. We did, indeed, have a marvelous voyage! Thanks to Bob & Cheryl Klein for offering me the opportunity to deliver "Kasekuchen."

Enroute from Florida to San Diego, California for the FUBAR ODYSSEY '07

Bob is already in California, and I'm now en route to meet him. On Friday, November 7, we'll join the 2007 FUBAR ODYSSEY, the first-ever rally to take a fleet of powerboats from San Diego to La Paz, Mexico. It's going to be an exciting adventure -- and it will also be wonderful to be back aboard our Selene 53, "Kasekuchen," which remained on the west coast when we moved to Florida to open the Selene Florida office in Fort Lauderdale.

As we make our journey, which should last about 16 days, I'll be posting updates whenever I have an opportunity, so please check back frequently.

Photos from our Fort Lauderdale "office warming"

Our beautiful new office had a great "warming" from Selene owners and friends on Saturday, October 27th during the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. Festive food and drink were in abundance -- and, as always, there was the warm camaraderie of the Selene community.

From left to right: Brad Pilz (Selene Service Manager), Peggy Beard, Liz Byck, Paul Dickert, Peter Malen, Bob Klein

From left to right: Bob Williams, Casey Cox (Krill Systems), Paul Dickert, Liz Byck, Peter Malen

From left to right:Richard Ossoff, Heather Fenton, and friends