I know Tobey Hall through my cousin George.  My cousin George is actually my grandma's cousin.  In 2021 as I was making my way back to Seattle and shooting Season 3 he sent a group email out to the family.  In it was a song by a guy named Tobey.  Turns out he was George’s wife's cousin and in a roundabout way very distant family.  He lived in the Bay Area and he and his wife met me in Sausalito.  When I decided to do Season 7 I reached out and he said he would come out again, this time a bit closer to his side of the Bay Area in Santa Cruz. 

He and Nancy met me at the dock and they seemed up for a bit more of an adventure.  We the mouth of the harbor had a picturesque lighthouse and a nice swell coming off the breakwater.  We stayed far enough back from any of the occasionally cresting waves but close enough to have a great shot of the lighthouse and enough rocking of the boat that gave Tobey’s tinyboatsession a real nautical flavor. 

After the songs the three of us chatted till things the sun dropped enough that the coastal coolness started to make us shiver so we headed back in towards the shore and said goodbye.

It was really great to have found some distant family and connect with them.  Nearly a year later the connection grew when their son, Joel, on his way back from travel passed through Seattle and we went out for a row on the same tinyboat.