Saturday, December 27, 2008

All-Girl Crew on Bella Donna

I met my new friend, Pat, when I was "pledging" for the Sequoia Yacht Club. They don't actually call it pledging. That's my word. I was doing my first reading, and Pat was doing her second... and she got voted in that night. A bunch of us new female members (and almost members) had drinks and dinner together that night and started talking about upcoming club events.

One of the events in January is a cruise-out to Jack London Square with dinner and music at Yoshi's that evening. Pat invited Sandi and me to join her on her boat, Bella Donna, a 42' Catalina, for that cruise-out. Sandi's not sure she can make it, because she might be bringing her own boat that she just bought up from LA, but I gladly accepted! [leaving space here for a picture of Bella Donna]

Since Pat and I had never sailed before and she's in the process of filling in the skills she hasn't learned before, we thought it would be a good idea for us to sail together. So on Saturday, Pat, Sandi, and I headed out of West Point Harbor on Bella Donna, for a little practice.

First, Pat practiced back-and-fills and docking. Then we motored out the channel, had lunch on the way, and hoisted the main and unfurled the jib as we entered the bay. There was no wind to speak of. We floated around for a while and did a couple of tacks and gybes, but there wasn't much opportunity to practice.

Captain Ron was out single-handing Hazel Rose. He'd had some engine trouble and wanted to check out some things out there. So we got a few good pics of him sailing his home. There were almost no other boats out there that day in the light wind.

After a short time, we motored back to the marina, where Pat asked me to practice putting Bella Donna in her slip. I went in bow first just fine, but when she asked me to back her in, I did it, but it wasn't very pretty. Gotta get some more practice at that!

After putting everything away and cleaning her off, we headed over to SYC for some beverages and snacks. We ended up meeting up with some other friends there and had a delightful dinner together before heading home for the evening.

This was Pat's first all-girl sail, so it was very special all the way around. Thanks, Pat! It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to our cruise-out weekend with another all-girl crew!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Lisa's First "Big Boat" Charter

About a week ago, Lisa (who I'd met at beer can races last summer, sailed with once in the north bay, and took my cat class with) said she was going to charter a boat from MSA the day after Christmas and asked if I and a few others would like to join her. Finally, someone else was doing the organizing! I said absolutely!

Off we went—Lisa, Dave, and I—with no idea if it would be bitter cold, rainy, windy, no wind, or what. We knew there would be a strong ebb pretty much the whole time we'd be out, so we knew we couldn't go out the gate unless we had a pretty strong wind from the west... and that certainly didn't happen!

Lisa had chartered Zara, a 31' Beneteau, because she knew that was one of the few boats in MSA's charter fleet that I hadn't sailed and wanted me to have a new boat experience. This boat felt really small to both of us after being on the cat for the whole weekend two weeks before. The cockpit was fine for three of us, but any more than four people would have been crowded. What we liked least about Zara was that the boom is right at eye level for the person at the helm. Very disconcerting... not to mention that we were all bumping into it all day—even me at only 5'3"!

It turned out to be cold and sunny with not much wind at all. We basically motored around, stopping now and then in hopes of catching some wind. We tried the eastern side of Angel Island, because the wind web sites I watch were predicting more wind out that way, but it was not to be.

We probably sailed about 20 minutes the whole day, but the sun was out all day, and we were out on the water, so I was happy just drifting around. We stopped at the Spinnaker restaurant before heading home and had a wonderful dinner, as usual.


Not too many pictures... just a relaxing day and a great opportunity for Lisa to experience her first "big boat" charter in the north bay.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Multi-hull Cruising Catamaran Class

A couple of months ago, I started thinking about the withdrawal symptoms I'd felt last winter when there wasn't enough wind to sail for weeks on end. This year, I wanted to find a way to sail through the winter (so to speak). I'd heard that catamarans (the big cruising kind) were much faster in light wind than monohulls and thought it might be a good idea to get some training, so I could add the cat as another option for chartering in the winter. I also thought it would be fun to take a bunch of friends in such a big, spacious boat up the delta for a weekend or two in the summer.

So I looked into multihull cruising catamaran classes at the various sailing schools in the bay area and decided on MSA. I liked the instructors I'd met there so far, and they had the most reasonable chartering rates of all of the clubs, particularly since I'm already a member.

There were 5 of us in the class, Stan Lander was the instructor, and we were on a Seawind 1000 (33' long by 24' wide cruising catamaran) called Bluewater.

I knew one other person in the class from beer can racing in RWC... Lisa. Lisa had just completed her bareboat certification at MSA and knew one other guy from that class who was also taking this class... and they'd had Stan as their instructor for that class, too. Of the 5 of us students, 4 already had bareboat certification (a requirement to get certified at the end of this class). The fifth student was chartering a cat in the Caribbean in March and just wanted to get familiar with it. He didn't care about certification.

It was the worst weather of the season so far... really cold (I mean it... in the 40s during the day!) and raining all weekend. We actually had a few hours without rain on Saturday, but it was overcast all day, so it was bitter cold. And it poured all day Sunday.

Even with the bad weather, the class was excellent, and Stan was a great teacher! We practiced new techniques for tacking and gybing, and learned how to do back-and-fills and docking with twin engines. That was really cool!

We spent most of Sunday morning taking the written test at the "kitchen table" on Bluewater with Stan motoring us up to Paradise Cove. There we practiced anchoring with a bridle and then practiced crew overboard drills on the way back. Poof! In two days, I had yet another ASA certification and another option for chartering in the winter... or so I thought!

The other students and I got along great and decided that we wanted each other to be there the first time we take out our other sailing friends on our new toy. So we made a plan to charter Bluewater in January and all go sailing together... and take a few friends along to teach them the ropes.

I got on MSA's online reservation web site the next day and discovered that Bluewater was booked until March! Long story short... it turns out that Bluewater's owner took her over to the east bay for some maintenance and racing over the winter and wouldn't be bringing her back until the spring. Bummer! If I'd known that, I would have taken the course at another school where I could charter the cat right away or would have waited until the spring. Anyway, a couple of us complained, and MSA said they'd try to get us a couple of days on Bluewater over the winter. Failing that, they're going to give us a free refresher course in the spring when she returns to the fleet.

The best laid plans... so there probably won't be any cat sailing this winter. :(

And, no, I didn't take any pictures. It was too cold, too wet, and I was way too busy most of the time!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Leisurely Sail with Friends

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I went sailing. This is terrible! I remember who was there (Sandi, Jean, and my new friend, Jack) and that I chartered a boat out of Sausalito. But I can't remember which boat (possibly Carita) or what the day was like.

I think we had a strong ebb, light winds, mild winter temps, and sun most of the day. I think we got about 10-12 kts intermittently throughout the day but ended up doing a lot of motoring. I didn't take any pictures either, so there's nothing to jog my memory. Ugh...

I do know that Jack wants to learn to sail, so we showed him how to do some things and, at times, got him totally confused. He took the wheel at some point, though (when we did have a little wind) and did really well. We didn't make our usual dinner stop in Sausalito, but my sense is that it was a really relaxing day and that a good time was had by all.

If any of my crew remembers things I've forgotten, please post a comment! I promise to write these blog postings more regularly in the new year, so I don't forget! And I promise to take more pictures while I'm out to help me remember the day.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Spending the Day Outside the Gate

Saturday was one of the most pleasant days I've had out on the water yet! My crew consisted of five experienced sailors but I'd never sailed with any of them... and most of them didn't know each other. I knew Rick and Nancy from the BVIs and our 2-day Santa Cruz-Monterey trip, but they'd been on different boats on both trips. I'd met Debbie and Charlie, friends of Jean's, out at a Devil's Canyon Brewery one night, listening to blues. I knew Lisa from beer can races, but we'd never been on the same boat. We had one broken toe and one sprained hand among the crew. But they turned out to be a great sailing companions, and there was lots of interesting conversation and lots of great sailing!

The sun was shining, and the temp was around 78 degrees. The wind was out of the east, for a change... very light in most of the bay but a steady 12-13 knots in the slot. We were just about at max slack when we left Sausalito with an ebb all afternoon. The current didn't pick up until late afternoon, so there were virtually no waves.

After quickly checking out the beautiful, almost brand new Hanse 35 (still with no name, still with that new boat smell), we were off. As we motored out of Richardson Bay, we talked about where to go. We all agreed that we'd just sail wherever we could find wind. Our best option seemed to be out the gate, since most of the wind seemed to be in the slot, and it was the calmest water I'd ever seen under the bridge.

Once we got outside the gate, I thought it would be fun to head out to Mile Rock and Point Bonita. I'd read about them the day before, when I finally read the section in the MSA contract that states that their boats are not allowed beyond that point! Good thing we never took the boats down the coast, as we'd often thought about doing!

In the light wind, it took us quite a while to get out that far (only a mile, presumably), but we were all very happy to just float along quietly. The Hanse 35 has a self-tacking jib. Before I sailed this boat the first time, I thought that was lame. I like working the jib sheets, so not having to do anything on a tack seemed just wrong to me. But once I experienced it, I was pretty happy with it. As they took turns at the helm, my crew was impressed that they could each single-hand the tacks with the rest of us just sitting around relaxing. We had plenty of time to eat our lunches and enjoy each other's company.

After visiting the two end points of the land that comprises the Golden Gate of San Francisco, we headed back in to explore the bay. Lisa had never sailed in the north bay, so I wanted to take her around Alcatraz and maybe Angel Island. As soon as we headed back in, we were up against the big afternoon rollers hitting a 3-knot ebb, and we realized we were going nowhere fast. In fact, even though we were on a close haul with about 13 knots of wind, I think we were going backwards!

So on went the iron sail, and we motored the rest of the way to Alcatraz... at a very slow 3-knot pace. By the time we reached the island, it was close to 4pm, and the sun had already gone behind the hills of Marin. We decided to head back to Sausalito.

Motoring in was uneventful, and we managed to put away most everything on the boat before we even docked. I went down the wrong fairway at first and had to back out. Quite honestly, that was a bit nerve-wracking. I thought about using back-and-fill to pivot, but the fairway wasn't wide enough to accommodate a 35' boat. I made it out ok, though, headed down the correct fairway, and made a perfect landing, if I do say so myself (albeit a bit closer to the port-side dock than the intended starboard side)! Muchas gracias to Nancy for working the throttle for me. Good thing I took that private docking lesson a couple of months ago! It really helped!

After closing up the boat, five of us went to the Spinnaker restaurant and had a great dinner with a spectacular view of the city lights under perfectly clear skies. Ah... another great day of sailing in the bay!

Check out my Picasa web album for more pictures!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

First Fall 6-Pack Sail

I've gotten way behind on my blogging after a very busy fall. But now I'm determined to get it caught up (although it's almost new years as I write this).

This was the first and last 6-pack sail of the fall, and all 6 of us weren't even there! Jean got some dreadful flu that week and couldn't go. But the other 5 of us and our guests had a wonderful time.

Kerry brought his wife, Ann, and teenage son, Christian. Norbert brought Karen, I brought a new friend, Scott, and Sandi and Alice brought themselves. We chartered the J-120, which Kerry's been dying to sail, and it was wonderful, as usual.

As I recall, the wind was light at times but really nice most of the day (15-20 kts). There was a wall of fog from east to west, obscuring the Bay Bridge and the city. The wind was light, as usual, out behind Angel Island, points east, and San Pablo Bay. I think there was also a strong ebb in the mid to late afternoon. So we headed out the Golden Gate Bridge first thing and then just sailed across the bay from north to south up to the wall of fog and back north to the entrance of Richardson Bay for the rest of the day... just staying out of the fog and in the good wind.

We had my iPod with us and managed to get the stereo working (which was not working during our KFOG Kaboom sail). So Christian had a good time entertaining us as he sang along with the songs he chose to play.

At some point, the wind increased, the waves got bigger, and Ann started to not feel well. So we turned up Raccoon Strait and headed for calmer conditions. As soon as we got into the Strait, we noticed some items floating on the water. Time for a debris overboard drill! Norbert was brilliant at getting us close enough to a black felt fedora, which Christian immediately adopted and then wore for the rest of the day. Then we went after what looked like a briefcase, but we couldn't get close enough without the potential of going aground. So, after several attempts to snag it, we finally gave up... much to Ann's chagrin. She'd managed to forget all about her seasickness when we got busy cleaning up the bay!

By the time that activity ended, it was time to head back to the marina. Everything on the boat was perfect, the day was gorgeous, and a great time was had by all.

Sandi, Alice, Scott, and I stopped at the Spinnaker restaurant for dinner before heading back to the south bay, and that was delightful, as usual.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Two-Day Sail - Santa Cruz to Monterey

On the last weekend in September, 11 friends and I chartered two boats from Pacific Yachting in Santa Cruz and sailed to Monterey, stayed overnight, and sailed back the next day. We planned this trip two months ahead and actually had enough people to fill three boats at one point. A few people bailed, and we ended up with 6 and 6 on Zazan, a 46' Beneteau and We're Outta Here, a 36' Catalina. The crews were (respectively):
  • Skipper Jeremy with Chris, Dave G, Nancy, Paul, and Rick
  • Skipper Kerry with Dave S, Norbert, Sandi, Todd, and myself
We gathered on the docks with so much stuff it looked like we were going to be out to sea for a month!
Almost as soon as we left Santa Cruz Harbor, Zazan took off—a much bigger and faster boat with much bigger sails. Before we separated, though, we all got our first look at a gray whale. What a sight!

Our sail to Monterey was long (about 5 hours) and uneventful, except for the pod of whales we found about half way across. We were socked in with fog, so we couldn't see land for most of the trip. We stayed on a heading of 150 and were basically on a beam reach the whole time.
As we neared Monterey, we came out of the fog and into a crisp sunny day. The coast looked magnificent. We were in radio contact with Zazan off and on during the day and entered the harbor shortly after they did. As we motored in, we passed a very cute otter and a long seawall full of barking sea lions... hundreds of them. I thought they were very cool... at least until I tried to sleep that night!

After we docked and prepped the boats for an overnight stay, we all gathered on Zazan for a happy hour. Then we wandered over to the famous Fisherman's Wharf and looked for a place that could accommodate all of us. Sure... 12 people on Fisherman's Wharf on a Saturday night... no problem! Actually, it wasn't a problem. The second restaurant we tried sat us right down, and it was actually quite a delicious meal according to all accounts. I think it was Domenico's On The Wharf. Please let me know if that was not the name of it!

After dinner, we wandered back to the boats in the fog and finally settled down for a good night's sleep. Uh, not really... not with the barking sea lions. We all wore ear plugs, but between the really LOUD barking sea lions and the unfamiliar bed, I really didn't sleep much.

The next morning, we all got up within an hour or so of each other, got ready, and walked down to Cannery Row for breakfast. We ate at Jeremy's favorite breakfast place, which was also quite good - Trailside Cafe.

Shortly thereafter, we set sail for Santa Cruz. Once again, it was one tack most of the way—a heading of 330 on a beam reach in fog the whole way. The most exciting part of that leg of the trip was the 30-40 minute show of orcas, grays, and dolphins. What a fantastic show! We just happened to sail right into their pod. We took down the sails and lingered with them as long as they stuck around. We got some awesome pictures! Be sure to check out my Picasa web album for lots more pictures than I could fit here.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Labor Day Sail - Anniversary Celebration

My first big boat sailing was last Labor Day weekend. I met Jean, who is now my good friend, on that sail. She was the skipper of the 34' Catalina we chartered out of Spinnaker, SF. So I thought it was appropriate to organize an anniversary sail this Labor Day weekend, and I was glad that Jean was able to join me. Also joining us were Gerry (who I knew from Google and who invited me to help him and his friend deliver a boat to Oyster Point a couple of weeks before), CK (a relatively new sailor I'd met at a Spinnaker event in RWC), and two of Jean's friends, Greg and Theresa.

We chartered Carita, a 32' C&C we'd sailed a few times before, and sailed out of Sausalito in the late morning. The weather was fine—sunny and mild with a nice breeze. We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge first, since Jean and I were the only ones on board who had ever done it. Then we headed toward Angel Island to see if we could moor at Ayala Cove for a quiet lunch on board. As we slowly motored through the mooring field, we couldn't find any available mooring buoys. But then I noticed that there was a small section of the guest dock available, so we quickly maneuvered over there and got our spot.

That was a good time to break out the champagne I'd brought to celebrate my anniversary with big boats and have a toast. Everyone had brought delicious snacks, so it was a very nice little celebration. We decided to go up on land to stretch our legs and ended up in the visitor's center. I'd never been there but found it very interesting.

Back on the boat, we sailed around a bit and then headed back to Sausalito. We could already feel how much shorter the days were getting. We had the boat all buttoned up by 6pm, and it was already pretty dark.

Once again, we all headed over to the Spinnaker Restaurant for a lovely meal with a fantastic view. Thanks all for making it a memorable anniversary for me! (Sorry, no pics... just good clean fun!)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Boat Delivery to Oyster Point

One Sunday in late August, I helped a friend of a friend deliver a boat from "the yard" at Oakland estruary to Oyster Point. The boat owner had had some work done on the boat and then decided to keep it in the bay for a couple of months, so he and his wife could have some summer fun on the bay, instead of their home port of Half Moon Bay (Pillar Point). It was a smooth and uneventful ride up the estruary, under the Bay Bridge, and down the bay until we got close to Oyster Point.

I'd spent a whole summer once hanging out on my friend's power boat, which was berthed at Oyster Point. She insisted that we get up early and have our fun in the early part of the day, so we could be back before 2pm. She said the wind comes up strong at Oyster Point in the afternoon, and she was afraid to dock the boat after 2pm. I always thought she was a wimp... until that day. Oh my god! As we entered the channel into the marina, the wind increased more and more until we got close to the docks, when it reached 35 knots!

I was on the bow. On other occasions, I'd been skipper at the helm and was about to hit something and wished someone was on the bow ready to keep us from hitting. So I was determined that I was going to prevent a collision on this day... at least at the bow.

We crept into the marina under motor power and down the fairway where Dave's new slip was. We were getting blown all over the place. Dave tried to take the turn into his slip at the right time, but the wind was having none of it. The wind was sweeping us sideways, trying to shove us into the docks and other boats and wouldn't let us turn. Eventually, we came to rest broadside to the ends of Dave's dock fingers.

Gerry jumped off on the dock finger near the stern and started trying to steer us with a dock line. Dave jumped off onto the dock finger near the bow and tried to maneuver us with another dock line. At this point, we'd moved forward, and I had one leg extended off the bow pulpit, keeping us from hitting the boat in the next slip and was pushing off the piling with my arms. I've never been close enough to literally touch another boat with my foot before!

At that point, a few slip neighbors came over to help. I threw them all lines and, eventually, they maneuvered the boat around and into the slip. As we were heading into the slip finally, I realized that no one else was on the boat but me, and there was no one at the helm to put it in reverse to stop the boat! I ran back, but the dock crew had enough lines around enough cleats to stop us. Phew! That was a harrowing landing!

We all went below, took several deep breaths, and exclaimed how none of us had ever tried to land a boat in that much wind before and how lucky we were to have gotten into the slip relatively unscathed. Dave had asked one of the nice neighbors who came by to help if it's always like that. Apparently, it is. I no longer think my friend is a wimp.

Another exciting day out on the bay...

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Docking Practice

On a warm Sunday in August, I went up to MSA for a 2-hour private lesson in docking practice. That was excellent. JT (the instructor who did my check-out ride) was terrific again and had lots of tips and tricks to show me. His main pointers were to give it more gas and start turning earlier on the way into a slip. Backing out of a slip was where I learned the most:
  • Calculate the neutral position of the wheel every time you start up.
  • Check the water to determine the direction of prop walk, not just the movement of the boat.
  • Start out with the wheel at 4:00 to overcome prop walk. Don't wait until you start moving to turn the wheel.
  • Get your dock crew to straighten out the boat and keep it straight as you back out of the slip.
  • Start your turn when the mast is at the end of the finger.
  • Turn hard when the bow is at the end of the finger.
  • Pop it into neutral and coast backward as far as you can.
  • Turn the wheel in the other direction before you shift into forward gear.

I also did lots and lots of back and fills, which was invaluable. Prop walk is now my friend!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Sailing with Friends and Family

On August 9, my friend Bonnie was in town with her granddaughter, Ashley. Bonnie and I were neighbors in Massachusetts in 1979 and for a few years after. We had kids the same ages and a number of other things in common and really got to be good friends. We're still close friends to this day.

Bonnie's brother lives in Concord (east bay), so she's out here 2-3 times a year, and we always try to get together. This time, I decided that I wanted to give Bonnie and Ashley a sailboat ride, so I organized a sail and chartered Oxygen, a 39' Beneteau, with Bonnie, Ashley (11), and a few friends. Actually, my son and his new girlfriend were on the boat as well, so it was a real treat for me.

We started out from Sausalito, as usual, with moderate winds and pretty strong currents... a flood, as I recall. Oxygen has a furling main, and as soon as we started hauling it out, the boom car detached, and the ball bearings started falling out of the boom all over the cockpit... shooting my crew! So back we went to MSA to have it fixed. They fixed it quickly while we ate lunch, and then we were on our way again.

Almost as soon as we raised the sails, the wind freshened and the boat started to heel, which was a big surprise to the newbies on board... and there were several newbies on board.

As we headed out toward the gate into thicker fog, Ashley started to feel sick. Because of the wind out of the west and the flooding tide, it would have taken us a while to get out the gate... not a good idea with someone on board who wasn't feeling well. But I had a back-up plan. We turned around and headed back toward the cityscape, where it wasn't quite as rough... and then someone put Ashley at the helm. That was cool.

Once she got busy at the helm, Ashley felt better and was actually having some fun. It was entertaining for the rest of us (at least for me) to be on a boat with an 11-year-old steering. Norbert and Jerry stayed with her and took the wheel when necessary... and she was actually pretty good! We headed right over to Pier 1-1/2 (which I had scoped out earlier in case Bonnie or Ashley didn't want to stay on the boat all day—my back-up plan).

Pier 1-1/2 was just finished within the past few months, and not too many people knew about it yet. It was right in the middle of the huge ferry docks at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero at Market Street. What a great location! So we pulled right up to the empty dock and dropped off Bonnie and Ashley. They hung out there at the food courts and then walked a few blocks and got the BART train back to Concord. It worked out perfectly.

Jerry took the helm on the way out of the pier area and clipped a tiny little light on the corner of the dock on his way out of there. There was a nice young couple having a drink at a table on the pier above the dock who saw the whole thing, but I just said quietly "Let's get out of here!" and we left.

After that, we headed across the bay, out behind Angel Island with Dan at the helm. The sail across the bay was windy and fun. Then we headed up to San Pablo Bay, where the wind died down. We actually turned on the motor at times, but we did have a few long, quiet drifts in between.

We decided to go up under the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge and on up to Brothers, the twin rocks off Point Richmond, and take a look at the Point Richmond Lighthouse B&B on East Brother. Guests at the B&B drive to Point Richmond by land and get ferried over in a dingy, and then they're stuck there on the island until they get ferried back the next day. That might be fun to do sometime. Unfortunately, there are no public docks on the island, so we couldn't get off and look around.

By the time we finished circling East Brother, it was time to head back. It was a nice, calm sail back to Sausalito. Some headed home, but six of us made our now traditional pilgrimage down the street to the Spinnaker Restaurant for dinner. A great time was had by all.

Thanks to Bonnie, Sandi, and Dan for the pictures!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Last SYC Summer Series Race of the Season

Saturday was the last SYC Summer Series race of the season. I'm not sure why they finish the summer series so early, but there you have it. I crewed for Stan on Smokin' J, as usual.

It was a gorgeous day... the perfect summer temperature (mid 80s) and sunny. There was no wind at all as we motored out the channel. It picked up a little when we were getting ready to start, and then all of a sudden, right at 12:30pm, the race started and the wind picked up to a steady 12-15 kts and stayed that way throughout the race. It was as if someone flipped the wind switch on! It was great! It was dead low tide when we got out of the channel around noon with a flood during the whole race. There were some waves for a while, but the swell was minimal most of the afternoon.

The course was crazy and long (9.61 miles). The start/finish was between channel markers 3 and 4. The course was out to S to 3 to 12 to S to 3 to S and finally back to the start/finish between 3 and 4, all rounding to port.

On the upwind legs, Skipper Stan was our tactition, Kerry was at the helm, Jerry was on the main, KO and I were on jib sheets, and Monica and Norbert were rail meat. On the downwind legs, Monica was foredeck, I was at the mast until it was made and then ran back and took the guy, KO was pit, Kerry did spinnaker trim, Jerry stayed on the main, and Norbert took the helm. It was a bit chaotic at times during the hoist and douse, but we made it work, flying the chute 3 times in all.

As for results, we did the best we've done all summer... came in second. Yeah! There are no more SYC weekend races until November. I'm really going to miss them...

Sorry... no pictures this time.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Three Bridges in One Day

Seven of us set out from different parts of the south bay, peninsula, and the city and converged on Sausalito for another sailing adventure. This crew was different in that only half of the "6-pack" was there... Sandi, Norbert, and I. Joining us was Curt, his wife Mihaela, Emily (who I met last year when we were both unemployed and sailing on weekdays and then took the spinnaker handling class together), and Una, one of my clients. This was Una's first time sailing. She doesn't know how to swim and is fearful of the water. I give her a lot of credit for getting out there and trying it.... and she loved it!

We chartered a brand new Hanse 35 with all the bells and whistles. She had a regular flaking main with lazy jacks and even had a self-tacking jib... a first for most of us. At first, we thought it was weird and didn't like that it screamed across the foredeck on a traveler-like track on its own. But after a while, we were really liking the fact that we didn't have to move it from side to side and retrim every time we tacked. If it was trimmed right before the tack, it was trimmed right after the tack. Pretty nice!

The day was cool, crisp, and sunny wherever there was no fog (which was about half of the bay). We had no particular plans when we started out with 12-15 kt winds and a strong flood. Norbert wanted to go under the Golden Gate Bridge, and Curt, Mihaela, and Una had never done that, so off we went. I gave Una my camera and crowned her boat photographer for the day.

It was a long beat directly into the wind and against the current to get there, but we eventually did. Since the wind and current were heading in the same direction, there were no waves to speak of, so it was a fairly smooth ride. As we've done in the past, we all screamed together under the bridge and then stopped when Norbert lowered his arm and quickly listened for the echo. It was faint, but we heard it.

Once we were outside the gate, it was really nice... no waves, no crazy eddies driving us in circles. So we went out a bit further before heading back. It probably would have been a nice day to sail up the coast, except for the fog and the ebb that would be flowing when we came back.

We sailed by the St. Francis Yacht Club, where six boats were getting ready for the start of the Pac Cup. This was the last division starting the race—the largest and fastest boats. (By the way, Ron Brown is about half way to Hawaii now in just four days!)

Next, we decided to head down under the Bay Bridge (and did the echo thing again, of course) to check out the Giants-Brewers game at AT&T Park. The wind picked up a bit, and Emily got us moving close to 10 kts on the downwind run. For those who had never seen the park from the water and full of people, it was quite a thrill!

After that, we headed back up under the bridge, through the slot, and behind Angel Island. As we crossed the slot, several of us talked about reefing. Curt (now at the helm) kept saying we didn't need to because we're almost to Angel, where we expected the wind to die down in the lee of the island. When we had about 22 kts and were still 15-20 minutes from the island, I decided we'd reef. It was actually quite easy, since all of the lines were rigged back to the cockpit. Still, Sandi went up to the mast to guide the process. It was the safe thing to do.

When we got behind the island, it didn't totally block the wind, like it usually does, but it did subside a good deal. So we shook out the reef and debated where to go next. It was still early, and since the wind had picked up so much during the afternoon, we decided to head up to the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge, where there's often not enough wind to sail. Of course, we did the echo thing again and made it a three-bridge day.

The reach up to the bridge was pleasant... probably 15-18 kts directly from the west, as it was all day. A mile or so north of the bridge, we saw the East Brother Lighthouse B&B, a lighthouse on a rock off Point Richmond that was turned into a B&B.

After that, we decided to head back to Sausalito, since it could take a couple of hours to get there. We headed out through Raccoon Strait, into Richardson Bay, and back to the marina. It was another wonderful day on the water on a really lovely boat.

After buttoning up the boat, Emily headed home and the rest of us headed over to our favorite Sausalito restaurant, The Spinnaker, for another great meal seated right by the window before heading home. Nothing like eating right by the water after a full day on the water!

Check out my Picasa web album for more pictures by Una. Thanks very much for so many great pictures, Una, and for taking a chance with us. I'm glad you enjoyed the ride so much!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Ron Brown in Pacific Cup Race!

My friend, Ron Brown, is racing in the Pacific Cup right now. You may know him as one of the instructors at Spinnaker Sailing, co-owner and avid racer of Black Sheep (a 25' Beneteau), member of Sequoia Yacht Club, and all round great guy.

Ron is sailing for J World on a J-120 called J World. They left San Francisco yesterday (July 16) with a good lead all the way out the gate. Sandi Crane was there and shot some very cool videos of the start. Check them out!

If you'd like to follow the race, check out the Satellite Race Tracker. J World is in Div D.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Prop Wrap and Other Tales

Jean, Alice, and I met in San Carlos and carpooled up to Sausalito. It was warm, sunny, and we had good wind. The day couldn't have started out better. Norbert and Jean's friends, Katrina and Hans, were all waiting for us at MSA. I checked in quickly, and we headed down to the boat with our sail bags, overnight bags, sleeping bags, and several bags of food.

Jean and I checked out the boat (Carita, a 32' C&C that I'd sailed a few times before), Alice stowed the food, and we got ready to leave. Norbert was on the dock, ready to release the dock lines on the starboard side and walk us out. I asked Hans to remove the port side dock lines. As soon as he did, he got back on the boat, but I didn't look to make sure he'd done it right. That was my first mistake.

I started the engine and started backing out of the slip. Norbert hopped on board, and then the engine died. I started it again, it stayed on for a few seconds, and then died again. By this time, the boat was out of the slip, so I started it again, put it in forward gear and tried steering. I had no steering, and the engine died again. The wind was pushing us toward the boats in the slips off our port side, so everyone on board rushed to the port side and held us off from bumping the other boats, the dock, and the tall posts at the ends of the dock fingers. Now a lot of people had come out to watch, including one of the people who works for MSA, Lucas.

I told Lucas that the engine kept cutting out and I had no steering and asked if he could help us. As soon as he boarded, I noticed that the dock line was still attached to the starboard stern cleat. It was tight, stuck under the boat... prop wrap... ugh... Apparently, Hans had untied the line from the dock but didn't make sure the line was brought up onto the boat.

Lucas cut the line and then was able to turn the wheel and unwind it from the prop. Eventually, he thought he'd removed it from the prop, so he started the engine. It sounded ok, so he got off onto the dock behind the boat and asked me to put it in reverse, then neutral, then forward, then neutral, then reverse, and went on like that for a few minutes. He watched and listened. Then he got back on the boat and drove us out away from the other boats and tried going in reverse and forward. He said it didn't sound right, so he brought it back to the slip, turned off the engine, and said that he thought someone should look at it before anyone takes that boat out..

So off I went to the office to see if they had another boat available. For the same price, they had a Pearson 32 available. They use that boat for BKS classes, so it's pretty old and bare bones... hanked jib, no self-tailing winches, etc. I asked if they had anything bigger available, and they did—Naniloa, a Caliber 40. It was a beautiful, fairly new big boat with all the bells and whistles. The charter fee was quite a bit higher, but I decided to go for it to save the day..

Off we went... back to Carita to pack up all our stuff and bring it over to Naniloa. That took a while. Jean and I got there first, and she suggested that she and I check out the boat before everyone got there. We started and got finished about the time everyone arrived. Once again, we loaded everything on board, and Alice took charge of the galley..

As soon as we were done checking her out, I was anxious to get started. I asked Jean to take the helm, and Norbert and I were in charge of the dock lines..

Just as we started untying the dock lines, Hans got off the boat and had a temper tantrum, yelling that he wanted to eat his lunch before leaving the dock and wanted half an hour to eat without the boat moving, and that if I was going to leave the dock now, he was going to go home, and he summoned Katrina to join him. Jean gave me a pleading and apologetic look, so I agreed to wait for Hans to eat his lunch, even though the rest of us were very anxious to get going. Katrina told him to come back on the boat and be quiet and that she'd get him his lunch. I'm not sure what he would have done about lunch if we'd left the dock at 11am, as planned. Anyway....

At that point, Jean, Norbert, and I decided to check out the roller furling main. I'd only used one once, and this one was quite different. Also, the boat was rigged for a staysail and spinnaker, as well as the main and jib, so there were a LOT of lines around the mast and foredeck. We took some time to figure what they all were for and to make sure we knew how to unfurl and furl the main.

Eventually, Hans finished his lunch and we got ready to leave. We untied the dock lines, I took the helm, and Norbert got ready to walk us out. Naniloa was in a slip on the last dock, so there was nothing behind us but open water. I thought it would be easy to just back straight out. That was my second mistake..

I started the engine, tested out the shift (which was very smooth), and put the wheel in the neutral position. Norbert walked us out and hopped on when the shrouds reached the end of the dock. I gave it a little gas and suddenly got the strongest prop walk I've ever felt. The stern was moving fast to the left, which pushed the bow out to the right. I tried to compensate by turning the wheel to the right, but I didn't quite make it. I heard something scrape the 8' concrete post at the end of the dock, and I knew that Jack, the owner of MSA was watching us from the motor yacht in the next slip. I put it in forward, turned away from the docks, and motored away. I was pretty sure I'd scraped the anchor on the dock post, and I figured that if I'd done any damage, Jack would have beckoned me back. So I just kept going and hoped the rest of our day would make up for the auspicious start.

The rest of the day was delightful, actually. We sailed around the back side of Angel Island and over to Pier 3 in Alameda to check out the party on the USS Hornet. It looked like a big party, but we couldn't hear any music and realized that we couldn't have docked there anyway, because the docks were much higher than our boat! They were made for battle ships and tankers!

So we sailed back to Sausalito via the back side of Angel Island again. Everyone had a turn at the helm during the day, including Alice, who is becoming a great little sailor! I took the helm when we got inside Richardson Bay and were passing the Spinnaker Restaurant. I felt I had to redeem myself by docking the boat perfectly. Well, Jack was waiting there on the dock when we arrived. Fortunately, I did dock it well. I was a bit further from the starboard side dock than I would have liked, and Jean and Norbert had to jump about 3 feet onto the dock, but I didn't hit anything, and I had the boat under complete control the whole time. Phew!

Jack checked out the boat and then quietly walked away. After turning off the engine, I went down onto the dock to make sure we were lined up well and securely tied up to the docks. Norbert told me that we'd hit the bow pulpit, not the anchor, as I had thought, and that Jack was looking at it to see if the encounter had warped it. We both checked it out, too, and we decided it was not warped... just a little more scratched up than it had been before. No real damage... phew!

As soon as the boat was settled, we had a champagne toast to celebrate the 4th, and set out a variety of appetizers/snacks. Jean, Alice, and I went up to MSA's BBQ and got some food for everyone and brought it back to the boat. Then we all ate, drank, and chatted until it started getting dark. Katrina and Hans left, and Norbert left shortly after them. Then the three of us gals got comfy and chatted while waiting for the fireworks to begin. Jean had brought sparklers, and we had some fun with those while waiting.

The fireworks were good but definitely not as spectacular as the KFOG Kaboom fireworks. We talked a while longer after they were over, lit some more sparklers, and eventually went to bed. In the morning, we all got up early, cleaned up the boat, packed up our stuff, and brought it all up to Alice's car. We drove over to the Lighthouse Restaurant for an excellent breakfast, walked around town for an hour or so, and then headed home. It was a really nice way to spend the holiday.

Please check out my Picasa web album for more pictures!