Sailing the Bay With CJ

All-Girl Crew on Bella Donna

2008-12-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

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!

Lisa's First "Big Boat" Charter

2008-12-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

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.

Multi-hull Cruising Catamaran Class

2008-12-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

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!

Leisurely Sail with Friends

2008-11-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

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.

Spending the Day Outside the Gate

2008-11-15T11:42:00.000-08:00

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!

First Fall 6-Pack Sail

2008-10-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Two-Day Sail - Santa Cruz to Monterey

2008-09-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Labor Day Sail - Anniversary Celebration

2008-08-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

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!)

Boat Delivery to Oyster Point

2008-08-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

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...

Docking Practice

2008-08-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

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!

Sailing with Friends and Family

2008-08-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

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!

Last SYC Summer Series Race of the Season

2008-07-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Three Bridges in One Day

2008-07-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

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!

Ron Brown in Pacific Cup Race!

2008-07-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Prop Wrap and Other Tales

2008-07-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

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!

LGYC Challenge Race

2008-06-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the big race—the Los Gatos Yacht Club Challenge. I was the skipper representing Los Gatos Yacht Club (the host and challenging club), Jeff Smith represented NASA Ames Sailing Club (who won last year), and John Draeger represented Sequoia Yacht Club.

We had our first practice on Sunday and a second practice with our final crew on Wednesday. I was traumatized on Sunday, and Phill was traumatized on Wednesday, but we made it to the big day. (Click those links for details!)

After the beer can race on Wednesday, I had done some analysis of which boats had won, placed, and showed in the seven races I'd tracked this season. It turned out that M5 seemed like the fastest boat, M2 the next fastest, and M7 the slowest of the three but faster than the others in the fleet. So I had called Spinnaker and asked for those three boats for the race on Saturday... and told Rich I wanted to start out in M5.

I showed up around 9am with rigging tape and pliers, and checked out the boat. A short time later, the guys all showed up, and Phill started tuning the rig. I found out from Mike that they'd had a diver clean the bottoms of all of the boats on Thursday, so we were golden on that angle and didn't have to clean them ourselves. Kerry, Florin, and I went off to the skippers meeting at 10am and left Phill and Norbert to tune the rig.

The first thing I did at the skippers meeting was to check with John and Jeff, the other skippers in the race, to see if it was ok for Phill to tune the rigs on all three boats to be the same. They agreed that that would make the boats more equal and said to go for it. I called Phill and told him to go ahead and tune all three boats while I was at the meeting.

In the meeting, we found out the start/finish line, the course, the flag signals, horn signals, how to protest, what happens in the case of a delay, and what we were to do between the races. The committee boat would anchor just south of channel marker 3, and that would be the start/finish line. The course was out to day marker 12, rounding it to port, then to race marker Y, rounding it to port, and then back around the committee boat, leaving it to starboard and over the finish line. We headed back to the docks after the meeting, got all the paperwork squared away, taped up the turnbuckles after the adjustments were done, and got on our way.

On the way out the channel, we continued to strategize about the start, the finish, covering, best positioning, and so on. When we got out there, we had about 20 minutes to practice some tacks and gybes before the start. Then we positioned our boat near the committee boat and got ready for the start. Arrrggg... we were over early! So was John in M2. Jeff took off like a shot! We tacked back over the starting line and then back over again for a second start. Arrrgggg... we didn't realize that we had to round the committee boat to restart, so around we went and started that race for the third time!

Amazingly, we passed John in M2 on the way to marker 12 and nearly caught up to Jeff in M7 near Y. We had two GPSs on board, and we knew we should be able to see Y about 1/4 mile away, but we couldn't see it. When we were almost on top of it, we saw Jeff round where it should have been, so we did the same... and caught up to M7 very soon after. Sailing side-by-side back to the finish line, we talked and concluded that the mark had either sunk or drifted away. We crossed the finish line at the same time. John finished about a minute later. Although we were willing to concede the race to Jeff, because we believed he would have won if the marker had been there, the race committee decided to throw out that race, so we were starting over.

The race committee decided to change the course (smart move!) and start the next race about 15 minutes after John finished. The new course would be out to 12 (rounding to port) and back with the same finish as in the previous race. They decided we should continue to race in the same boats.

We did some maneuvering to determine the point of sail and best sail trim for the first leg of the race and some estimates for the second and final leg. The time clicked by quickly, and the race began. Again, we started early! This time, we knew we had to go around the committee boat and start again, which we did. We were in great form, got great speed, and caught up to Jeff around marker 12, leaving John in our dust. We rounded about the same time, and then we took off and took the lead. Stan calls this picture the decisive moment when we passed M7.

I've never seen anyone do what Phill did next. We had a flood tide, so we were surfing the waves on the downwind leg. Each time we surfed down a wave, Phill tugged hard at the main sheet (2-to-1 instead of 4-to-1), which resulted in a huge push from the waves. I swear there were a few times when we got pushed 20+ feet, and the boat speed exceeded 8 kts! That's on a boat with a hull speed of about 6.5 kts!!!

We won that race with Jeff sliding in behind us by 20 seconds. John followed 4 minutes later.

After that race, the race committee decided that we should switch boats. It was too choppy out in the bay, so we went back in the channel and waited for the committee boat (which was actually Jeff's own boat, Ionsa) to anchor around marker 10. Then the other two boats came up behind it, each grabbed a line from the committee boat, rafted up together, and switched crews. One boat left, we took its place, and then switched crews with it. Now each crew was in a different boat. We were in M7, Jeff was in M2, and John was in M5. Then that boat left, and we rafted up to the committee boat, so I could use its head. So I stepped over to Ionsa, used the head, stepped back onto M7, and off we went.

Back out near marker 3, the committee boat anchored again and announced the start time for the next race (officially race 2 but actually the third race of the day). We unfurled the jib, and I took the helm so Phill could check out the rigging. Back in our positions, we went downwind of the mark and prepared for the start.

The start of the second race was perfect. We were in first place right from the start and seriously smoked our competition all the way through the race. We rounded the mark at least a minute before Jeff and about 5 minutes before John. Ahh... another quiet downwind leg with the knowledge that we'd win this one, too. We calculated the points on that last leg and determined that we would win the entire competition with those two wins, even if we lost the last race badly. We crossed the finish line, furled the jib, and waited for the other two boats to come in.

Eventually, they both crossed, and then the committee boat called us on the radio and told us that we'd won and that we didn't need to do the third race. Then Jeff called us and asked if we'd like to do a fun race to 12 and back with a beer can finish (channel marker 20 and the dolphin, an ugly brown piling on the leeward side of the channel). Of course, we all said yes, and off we went.

That was actually the longest race of all, but we won it, too... by about 1/4 mile! And John was about 1/2 mile away when Jeff finished. Here are the results of the two official races:

Race #1
Place	Boat	Club	Time
1	M5	LGYC	23:24
2	M7	ASC	23:44
3	M2	SYC	27:49
Race #2
Place	Boat	Club	Time
1	M7	LGYC	24:39
2	M2	ASC	25:51
3	M5	SYC	29:21

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to win this race. I'm honored to have been captain of a boat with such a talented group of sailors and am particularly grateful to Phill for sharing his extensive racing knowledge with all of us. I'm also honored (and floored!) to have beat such worthy opponents as Jeff Smith and John Draeger. Both of them have much more experience than I do and many more wins under their belts. I owe it ALL to my crew, and I don't think I could ever thank them enough for this thrilling experience!

The party after the race took place on C dock next to John Draeger's boat, Yellow Brick Road. Many thanks to him for hosting and bringing the food, to Jeff for providing the committee boat, and most of all to my favorite skipper, Stan Phillips, for making it all possible. Stan has mentored me and helped me improve my racing skills over the last year with the utmost patience and instructive guidance. He kept inviting me to crew for him on Smokin' J, even after I screwed up the spinnaker set twice in one race! Thank you very much, Stan! It's only because of you that I had the courage to volunteer for this race.

Now I've got my first trophy and am very proud of it. It will hang on the wall in my office for the next year, when we get to do it all over again.

Thanks very much to my friend, Alice, who came out to cheer us on. She took all of the pictures here of the apres race party. Thanks, Alice! I'll update this post and add more pictures when I get the official images from people who were on the committee boat and, hopefully, have some good action shots of the race.

An Evening Sail on Mike's New Home

2008-06-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

I met Mike last fall at a beer can race at Spinnaker Sailing. He'd just finished his classes and had no experience. It was my first season of racing, too, but I'd been racing since April. Mike was the first person who asked me for guidance, and I realized how much I'd learned that season when I started giving him pointers. It felt good to be able to help out a newcomer instead of always being the newbie and asking for help and instruction.

Both Mike and I have sailed A LOT since then. In fact, Mike recently bought a 33' Hunter and lives on it now. He likes to take his home out for a sail a couple of times a week and invited Sandi and me along on Tuesday night.

We had perfect weather... nice wind, mild temperatures, and a mild flood. Mike's friend, Eric, who hadn't been sailing since he was a kid, joined us as well.

Basically, we motored out of Pete's Harbor, sailed up the channel and out to the middle of the bay, and returned the same way. It was a short but sweet sail. Thanks to Mike for providing us with a fun evening in the middle of the week and to Sandi for taking the pictures!

Practice for the LGYC Challenge Race

2008-06-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm skippering a boat in the Los Gatos Yacht Club challenge race on June 28. There's one skipper/crew from each club. I'll be representing Los Gatos Yacht Club, the club that's challenging Sequoia YC and NASA Ames Sailing Club.

We'll start in Redwood City and take out three Merits from Spinnaker Sailing. We'll raft up out there between races and do two mid-bay crew transfers, so each crew can do all three races—one in each boat. This strategy removes any specific boat advantages, so the crew actually wins the race, not the boat.

My crew is Norbert (my frequent sailing buddy since BCC a year ago), Kerry (my frequent sailing buddy since the Cheeseburger Regata last summer), and Phill (who I'd never met or sailed with but recruited through a mutual acquaintance).
Norbert sailed a lot in the Netherlands when he was growing up and throughout his adulthood, spending a couple of weeks a year on a boat. He started sailing in the bay last summer when he took a BCC class at Spinnaker, which is where we met. He does mostly pleasure sailing, although he's raced on Smokin' J a few times this year, did the Cheeseburger with Kerry, Sandi, and me last summer, and we've managed to drag him away from work for a couple of beer cans this year.

Kerry's been sailing for 3 years with a mix of beer can racing and pleasure sailing in the bay, off Santa Cruz, and in France, and he's raced on Smokin' J a couple of times this year in the SYC races on weekends.

Phill owns a Merit 25, has been racing it out of Berkeley for 8 years, and was champion in the one-design races there for 5 out of those 8 years. He says he went pleasure sailing once but didn't really like it. He's definitely a die-hard racer.

Sunday was our first practice together. Everyone thought I was crazy to think we needed practice, but they humored me. I knew we'd have to figure out the best position for each crew member and help Phill get oriented to the South Bay. What I didn't know was how much Phill could teach us all about racing Merits.

Phill started teaching us about tuning the standing rigging right at the dock. On our way out the channel, we practiced tacking and gybing a bit, and he started teaching us about weight distribution and how to really use weight effectively. In fact, using weight effectively was the single biggest lesson I learned from this whole experience... and believe me, I learned a lot!

So in the channel, we had maybe 18-20 kts of wind. I insisted on reefing. Out in the bay, it was around 25 kts with pretty good size waves fairly close together, so I was glad we were reefed. Phill said he'd never reefed a Merit in the bay before. Wow.

When we got out in the bay, Phill took the helm and main, and he decided to try positioning me in the front-most rail position, then Norbert, then Kerry, and Kerry would manage the jib. We had to hike out as far as we could, so that only our butt cheeks were on the rail... legs out and arms, head, and shoulders reaching out over the lifeline. Phill said to huddle close together to make ourselves into a sort of sail to catch more wind. We did and it worked. Wow.

We did a few tacks like that. On each tack, because I was in the front and Norbert and I couldn't both fit under the boom, I had to cross the bow in front of the mast, getting whipped by the jib as it was coming across, and get situated on the other rail by the end of the tack... and the tacks took only about 5 seconds! I felt slow, clutzy, and got very wet. I also got very banged up in a short period of time. So I asked Phill if we could try some other positions.

Next we tried Kerry and I sharing the jib sheets. I'd release and tail on one tack and he'd grind, and then we'd switch on the next tack. We both had to end up on the rail facing out. I felt really slow, so I tried to speed it up, but the waves were pretty big, and we were heeling quite a bit, so I kept slip sliding around. At one point, I actually fell backwards into the cabin! Fortunately, all that tacking had caused all of our gear bags to land on the floor, so I fell onto the bags. All I could think of was that it was cushy... thank goodness! (What I didn't realize until that night was that I'd banged the backs of my knees really hard against the bottom of the hatch and the backs of my arms against the sides of the hatch, and I was really badly bruised all over.)

At that point, I asked Phill to just drive straight for a while (no tacking) so we could talk. I told him that this type of racing was way too intense for me... at least in the strong wind and big wave conditions we had that day. I told him that I wasn't having fun at all, that I felt really incompetent, slow, and clutzy and that I felt like I was holding back the crew. I also felt like I was getting hurt and that if I kept doing what I was doing, I was either going to go overboard or get seriously hurt. I had already talked to Norbert about this on the rail, and he said he was loving it. I knew Kerry was, too. So I told Phill that I was thinking about replacing myself on the crew with someone who was more agile and could keep up with the intensity (not to mention all the testosterone flying around!) and do a better job than I could do.

Phill was fantastic. He asked me a lot of questions to try to figure out what the problem was for me. He said he didn't want me to quit and wanted to find a way to make sure I was having fun, too, without sacrificing our ability to win the race. We talked for about 20 minutes and then invited Kerry and Norbert into the discussion. They'd been listening all the time, so they knew what was up. They helped me explain the level of intensity (or lack thereof) of the races we usually do, and they all agreed that I shouldn't quit and that they wanted to find a way to make it work for all of us. What great guys! I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to sail with all of them.

So next we tried having me stay in the cockpit and always release and tail the jib sheets and Kerry always grind. That worked out pretty well, except that when Kerry was grinding, his weight was on the low side, not on the high side where it was really needed. So the boat was heeling too much at the end of each tack. Phill had told me from the beginning that we needed 5 crew members, not 4, and now I could see why. So we went back into the channel to practice where there wasn't as much wind, and we could see that it was going to work out better, if we had one more person.

So when we ended our practice session that day, we decided to practice again at the beer can race on Wednesday—to get some practice with other Merits and to get a preview of the other skippers in the challenge race on Saturday. We started making phone calls right there on the dock to people we knew who might be able to practice with us on Wednesday and race with us on Saturday. As it turned out, no one we asked was available both days.

To find out what happened next, check out the racing blog I write for Spinnaker Sailing for beer can race #12. Sorry about the lack of pictures. I was really busy!!!

Sailing Out of Santa Cruz

2008-06-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

The core group of people I sail with most of the time (now calling ourselves the 6-pack) decided to sail out of Santa Cruz for a change. Kerry chartered We're Out of Here from Pacific Yachting, and off we went!

It was a hot day and had been an extremely hot week with record-breaking temperatures all over the bay area. The fires in the Santa Cruz mountains were still burning, so there was smoke in the air. We were all glad to be escaping the heat out on the water with a nice, cool breeze. We all applied sunblock and hoped for good wind.

The docks in Santa Cruz wind around quite a bit, so Kerry motored us out of the marina slowly. As soon as we got away from the docks and other boats, up went the sails, off went the engine, and we were sailin'!

We had really nice wind and sun for a while and started sailing up the coast about a mile offshore, taking turns at the helm. Then the clouds started moving toward us from the north, and we all suited up in foulies and warm clothes. Although we were sure it was still about 90 degrees on shore, we were cold.

Sandi was at the helm when the rain started. What? Rain in June in northern California? Unheard of, but there it was. The rest of us huddled under the dodger and left Sandi out there by herself! Every once in a while we saw lightening and then counted off the seconds until we heard the thunder. The storm was at least 15 miles away.

To be safe, we started listening to what people were saying about the weather on the radio and tuned in to the weather channel for a while. It seemed like heavy thunderstorms were slowly making their way down the coast and would be lingering off Santa Cruz for the rest of the day and evening. The weather channel said that mariners should make their way to safe harbors. We considered it, but it was still only early afternoon. So our skipper, Kerry, decided to sail in closer to land to wait it out for a while and see what happened. Listen to the thunder in this video clip!

As we got closer to land, the wind died off. So we floated around for a while and watched the clouds. Kerry called Marc, the owner of Pacific Yachting, for advice. Marc said things looked ok and that he was taking a class out shortly and didn't see any reason for us to come back in. So we headed out again under the thunder clouds.

I steered us straight out away from land for a while and was catching a nice fresh breeze as we passed through a band of thousands of black birds, many of whom were just sitting on the water and others who were flying north above the band. As we crossed the band, they disbursed and flew out of our way. A short time later, the wind died completely, and we ended up bobbing around in 2' to 3' swells with no wind about 2-3 miles out. Ugh...

At that point, we decided to head back to shore and drink the wine that Kerry had gotten from his father-in-law's vineyard. We motored back until we hit some wind and then sailed the rest of the way back to the marina. We lowered the sails and motored in, all the while stripping off the layers of foulies and warm clothes, because we were back into sunshine and summer weather! The clouds and rain (which had turned to hail at one point!), were still right offshore. Where there was wind, there were clouds, rain, and thunderstorms. Where the weather was sunny and warm, there was no wind. We just couldn't have both.

After cleaning up the boat, we all sat down and relaxed with a bit of wine. Our friend Ron was taking a class there, saw us, and stopped by the boat for a drink and a chat. Eventually, we made our way over to the Crow's Nest for dinner. Sitting upstairs on the deck was a perfect combination of warmth, sunshine, and breeze. The food was good, and the company was great, as usual. Just another pleasant day out on the water with good friends. What could be better?

You can see more pictures of this day in my Picasa web album. Thanks to Sandi for the pictures of the birds and relaxing on the boat after our sail.

Sequoia Yacht Club Summer Series Race #4

2008-06-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the 4th Summer Series race on Smokin' J. The wind was out of the west at around 10-12 knots—strong enough to move us around on the upwind legs but light enough for the spinnaker really make a difference with our speed on the downwind legs. High tide was at noon, and the race started at 12:30pm, so it was pretty much slack at the start and ebbed during most of the race—not a big factor overall. The sun was shining the whole time, and it was warm enough for shirt sleeves.

Skipper Stan's crew was Sandi, Norbert, Ann, and me. We all got there early to set up the boat. I started rigging the spinnaker for a starboard-side set, but since I didn't know the course, I didn't complete the set-up. I also repacked the spinnaker, because it wasn't packed correctly the last time it was used.

When Stan returned from the skippers' meeting, he drew out our course and posted it on the cabin wall. The start was between channel markers 3 and 4, then up to day marker 12, out to race marker S, down to race marker Y, back to 3, back up to S, and back between 3 and 4 for the finish. We had to round some of the marks to port and some to starboard, and it was about a 7.5-mile course.

Stan confirmed that we'd do a starboard set on a port tack for the first downwind leg, so I finished rigging the spinnaker halyard and the pole. It was good that I'd just done all this in a beer can race only 3 days before, so it was all fresh in my mind.

Stan made the position assignments and strategized our course. For the upwind legs, Sandi and Ann would be on jib sheets, I was on the main, and Norbert would take the helm after Stan got us started. For the downwind legs, I would do foredeck with Sandi on the mast, and Norbert and Ann would do pit.

We motored out the channel, practiced some tacks and gybes, and started timing the start. It was a good start, along with Kapalua, Primordial Sloop, Yellow Brick Road, Linda Carol, and Sweet Pea. We headed up to 12, rounded it to port, and headed out to S. As we did, I brought the spinnaker up and started getting it ready.

We were on a close haul and the jib was tight against the rails, so I was having trouble grabbing the lines where I'd attached them (at the top of the bow pulpit) to attach them to the spinnaker. Norbert came to my rescue and sat out on the bow pulpit, detached the lines, and handed them down to me between the jib and the lifelines. I was literally lying on the bow all the way forward with my arms up under the jib. (Next time, I'll rig the triple one stanchion back, so I can get under the jib more easily.) As soon as that was done, we rounded S to starboard and hoisted the chute. It filled immediately, and we lowered the jib without a problem. We were flying!

We flew down to Y, doused the sail perfectly, and rounded Y to starboard. Since I was tired, Stan changed the assignments for the next downwind leg. I went below to repack the chute, and Norbert rigged the sheets for the second set. He would do foredeck, and I'd do pit. The trip back to 3 was short and sweet. We rounded it to port and headed back up to S.

We rounded S to port and raised the chute without issue. Phew! Packing the chute in close quarters can be iffy. That set lasted all the way back to the finish line and down the channel. We did gybe twice as we turned through the channel... both good gybes. And we were able to relax at that point.

When we got back to the yacht club, we learned that Kapalua had rounded one of the marks on the wrong side, so they were disqualified from the race. Their tactician, Ron, told us that if they'd gone back to round it correctly, they'd have lost the race anyway, so they just kept going.

When all of the finish times and corrections were calculated, it turned out that Primordial Sloop won in the spinnaker class. Yellow Brick Road was a minute and 20 seconds behind her, and we were only 11 seconds behind Yellow Brick Road. So we missed second place by only 11 seconds! I thought that was damn good!

Once again, I had no time to take pictures during this race. These are pictures from other days out on the water.

Great race, friends! I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Sequoia YC Summer Series Race #3

2008-05-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the third Sequoia Yacht Club Summer Series Race of the season. I crewed for Stan on Smokin' J for race #1, missed race #2, and crewed for Stan again on Smokin' J for race #3. We were short-handed. Kerry, Steve Skinner, and I were Skipper Stan's only crew.

We left the dock a little after 11am, as soon as Stan returned from the skipper's meeting, and headed out to the starting line between channel markers 3 and 4. The conditions were pretty perfect... about 70 degrees, a bit cloudy (but the sun came out strong in the middle of the race, and it warmed up a bit), and about 12-15 knots of wind out of the northwest. We did some practice tacks and gybes, and then started timing our start. We started right on time, along with 8 other boats, and went full speed ahead toward our first mark.

We were racing from markers 3 and 4 (the starting line) to 12, back to 3, out to S, back to 12, out to Y, and back to 3 and 4 for the finish line, which meant we had two downwind legs. I was looking forward to flying the spinnaker twice, although being shorthanded didn't help, and both Kerry and Steve had only flown it once or twice each. So Stan assigned me to foredeck. Although I took a spinnaker handling course and have had some practice, it had been a month or so, and I'm still pretty slow. Plus I discovered that Stan and I use different terminology to indicate the side of the boat where we're raising the spinnaker.

Before I got to the docks, Kerry and Steve had rigged the spinnaker sheets and halyard for a port-side set (my terminology). As we started the first leg up to marker 12, I thought Stan told me we'd be doing a starboard set. Later, I realized he said we'd be on a starboard tack, which means we'd be doing a port-side set. My misunderstanding actually made sense to me, because we were on a starboard tack, and I thought we were going to tack around the mark and would be on port tack and do a starboard set.

Because of my misunderstanding, I scurried around the foredeck moving the triple to the starboard side. Ugh... We got close to the mark, and everyone started yelling at me to move the spinnaker halyard to the port side outside the jib. I did it, because they all seemed to agree, but I couldn't understand why. I figured maybe the wind shifted or they changed their tactics or something... I'd find out later. Then they all started yelling to move the sheets and the chute to port for the set. I did, but it took me forever.

When I was ready, we raised the chute. It filled immediately and started increasing our speed right away. It was a beautiful thing. I got ready to lower the jib and yelled back for someone to release the jib halyard. Little did I know that we'd passed marker 12 some time ago, and we were only about 2 minutes from marker 3, where we'd have to douse the chute and head up to S. Double ugh... So we didn't lower the jib at all! I vowed to do better on the second downwind leg.

I started getting ready for the set early. The first thing I had to do was go below and repack the chute, which I did quickly, because it was really hot down there! I came up, clarified the side of the boat where we'd do the set (port again), and set about getting everything ready.

I was ready this time when we reached marker 12 again. We raised the chute and, again, it filled right away. I thought we were golden until the guys started yelling that the pole was stuck. When I looked behind the jib, I realized that the guy was wrapped around the bow pulpit, and I would have to detach it from the spinnaker's clue, untangle it from the bow pulpit, and reattach it to the chute in order to release the pole and properly fly the chute. I offered to do that, as I hung over the bow pulpit, curling my body around the forestay, but Stan said no, it was too dangerous while the chute was loaded. Bummer! So we had to douse the spinnaker again and sail the downwind leg without it.

The rest of the race (out to Y and then back to the imaginary finish line between markers 3 and 4) was uneventful. As it turned out, we came in third out of five boats in the spinnaker class, so that wasn't half bad! I definitely need practice with the spinnaker before I do foredeck in a race again! Thanks to Stan, I seem to get a lot of opportunities to practice. He's one of the most patient, supportive, and encouraging skippers/teachers I've ever had. Thank you, Stan!

By the way, these pictures were all taken on other days. I didn't have a minute to take any pictures during this race!

Free Ride Out of Sausalito

2008-05-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Remember my story about the shroud that broke? Well, it turned out that Modern Sailing did the right thing and comp'd me a free boat for a day. I tried for weeks to gather the original crew from that day, but I just couldn't find a day when everyone could make it. So I put a stake in the ground for May 18, and 4 out of the original 7 of us were able to make it (Jean, Kerry, Norbert, and myself). I invited Sandi and Alice along, too, because we had plenty of space and they're fun to have around.

As we drove up to Sausalito together in Kerry's SUV (thanks, Kerry!), we talked about two possible destinations for the day. Our first choice was out the gate and up the coast. The winds were going to be light and so were the currents, so it would be a good day to venture outside the gate. Our second choice was turning north up past the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge to see what there is to see in the San Pablo Bay.

The Bay to Breakers race was running that morning all across the city, so Kerry decided to drive around—across the San Mateo Bridge, north on 880, across the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge, and south on 101 to Sausalito. It ended up taking us about an hour, which might actually be shorter than the more direct route we usually take straight north on 101 through the city.

As we neared the coast, we could see the thick fog hanging over the coast and decided it was not a good day for coastal cruising. What fun is it if you can't see anything? So we picked up Carita, a 32' C&C, and headed north around Tiburon toward San Pablo Bay in about 8-10 knots of wind. As soon as we turned the corner out of site of the gate, we came to a dead stop. The tide was still flooding technically, but it was pretty much max slack. Clearly, there wasn't enough wind up there for a day of sailing. So now what?

Jean suggested that we head down toward Treasure Island, sail around it and back. So we headed across the slot and certainly found our wind! We reefed the main before we got into serious wind, partially furled the jib after a while, and then reefed the main again. Hardly any of the main was showing, but it was just right for the 25-30 knot winds we were getting crossing the slot.

We rounded the island to starboard, and as soon as we were in the lee of the island, the wind lightened to about 5 knots or less. On the southwest side of the island, it died down to the point where we had to start the engine to keep from drifting south. As soon as we came out of the lee of the city, the wind picked up again, and we were off!

We wanted to get back to Sausalito by about 5-5:30pm for the free BBQ at Modern Sailing. In addition to giving us a free charter for the day, they invited us to their club BBQ. What nice people! The sail back was nice, and we buttoned up the boat and headed for the scent of burning charcoal.

We ran into Curt (who'd sailed with us for KFOG Kaboom!) at the BBQ. He'd been on the club sail and wondered why he wasn't invited to sail with us. I explained how this was a comp'd charter, and we were mostly the same crew that ran into problems with the broken shroud. But he decided that this was my first string crew, and the title kind of stuck.

It was a very relaxing day out on the water, and a lovely time was had by all. Please check out my Picasa web album for more pictures by Alice and me.

South Beach Friday Night Race

2008-05-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

The South Beach Yacht Club runs races on Friday nights every couple of weeks. Ron has entered Black Sheep (a 25' Beneteau) for the season, and we've been trying to find a Friday night when I can crew for him. I've never sailed on Black Sheep before (mainly because I'm usually on the competing boat, Smokin' J), but I've wanted to ever since Ron, Sherry, and Rosie bought it. I finally got my wish on June 16.

Ron single-handed Black Sheep up to San Francisco from Redwood City that day, as he always does for the races (and then sails her back the next day), and arrived around the same time I did, 5pm. Tara showed up a little while later. When we discovered that the other two crew were not going to be able to make it, off we went to start the race a little after 6pm.

We were late getting started. Black Sheep is really different than any boat I've sailed in a long time. Ron had told me it's like a big dinghy, but I hadn't realized what that meant until I stepped aboard. (It's been about 10 years since I've sailed dinghies.) It's very sensitive/responsive. Any change in weight, sail trim, or helm makes a big difference. And we sat on the floor of the cockpit the whole time to stay lower than the boom, which almost hits the floor on the aft end while you're sailing. I always get some bumps and bruises when I sail, but I had way more that night than usual.

Black Sheep's rigging is also very different. For example, the main halyard exits the mast on the floor of the cabin, so you have to go below to raise and lower the main. That took us a while. Ron kept handing off the helm to me and going forward to help Tara.

The other rigging difference is the jib sheets. They're cross-rigged, so you can always trim the jib from the high side. I often do trim the jib from the high side, but grabbing the port-side sheet to trim the jib on a port tack (sail on the starboard side) requires a brain shift from me that I couldn't always pull off. Tara was having the same trouble.

Anyway, after much ado, we started the race about 20 minutes late. Oh, and did I mention that we didn't know the course, because we weren't near the race committee boat at the start? So we just followed the other boats we thought were in our race. The breeze was light, but we rounded the first mark without too much trouble. Then the wind died. Seriously, we were going backwards at one point.

After drifting on the flood for half an hour or so, we were a mile or so south of where we should have been and started to consider starting the engine. Most of the boats in our class had been way ahead of us when the wind died, so they were drifting south about a mile east of us. We were actually ahead of the pack at that point, just because we hadn't drifted as far as the others.

But we waited another half hour or so, kept drifting further south, and finally Ron decided to start the engine. We motored back in past McCovey Cove, where the White Sox were playing the Giants and the crowd was roaring, into South Beach Harbor.

The apres sailing food and drinks were good, although many people were done eating by the time we got there. We weren't as late as the rest of the boats in our class, though, who all eventually motored in a while after we did. All in all, it was a fun time! Thanks, Ron, for another new sailing experience!

KFOG Kaboom!

2008-05-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday was KFOG Kaboom!, the annual music festival and fireworks show put on by the San Francisco radio station KFOG (104.5 FM). I thought it would be fun to sail around the bay, listen to the KFOG concert on a boat's stereo, and watch the fireworks from the water. Knowing a lot of people would want to go, I chartered Late Harvest, a 39' J-120, from Modern Sailing Academy in Sausalito for the evening. What a sweet ride!

My crew was supposed to be 9 people (10 including me), but Sandi didn't make it. She ended up sitting on 101 with her engine off for two hours because of a horrible accident just south of San Jose. When the traffic started moving again, the rest of us were already in Sausalito and ready to take off, so she just turned around and went home. Poor Sandi missed a fun evening.

Eight of us converged on MSA around 4pm in various cars, and we were to pick up Ron at Pier 40 around 6pm. We got to Sausalito a little later than I'd planned, but the boat was late getting back from its class, so it all worked out. We got a tour of the boat from Stan, one of the instructors, and Jim, the actual boat owner. Everything looked hunky-dorey, so off we went around 4:30pm.

Leaving the dock was way easier than the usual tight squeeze at MSA. Late Harvest was on the end dock, so I backed out with plenty of space and had a wide open space to turn and head out of the marina.

The wind picked up when we were about 10 minutes out, so up went the sails, off went the motor, and on went the smiles on my crew's faces. It was a beautiful sunny day, warm enough for just a light sweater, and a really nice wind at about 14 knots. Jean took the helm so I could call Ron to let him know our ETA, and she looked so happy that I didn't have the heart to take back the helm.

As we sailed across the bay, Jean shared the helm with Norbert, and he took us under the Bay Bridge and around the corner into South Beach Harbor. We pulled right up to the pump out dock, tied up, called Ron to let him know we were there, picked him up, and off we went.

As soon as we were out of the harbor, we started looking for a place to anchor. The festival was right on the Embarcadero, and several boats were already anchored right outside the South Beach sea wall. It looked like a good place to hang out and wait for the fireworks. But there was still daylight and wind, and our main purpose was to sail, after all, so Florin took the helm and sailed us around for a bit.

As we sailed around, we tried to get KFOG on the stereo. We got the stereo to work, checked all of the settings, increased the volume, but there was nothing coming out of the speakers. Curt attached the extra speakers to the stern, as Jim had shown him, but no sound came out of those either. Bummer! We really wanted to listen to the concert!

Around 7pm, Norbert decided he was hungry and had to eat, so we headed back toward South Beach and anchored without too much ado. The boats were pretty close to each other, so we put out our fendors and watched for a while to make sure we were all swinging together.

Dinner was a feast! We started off with margaritas provided by the skipper, and wine was out for those who preferred it. Gina very quickly whipped up some very garlicky bruschetta and set out her yummy spinach and pasta salad. Jean's home-cooked chicken was tendor and delicious. Mihaela had made two homemade breads, which were incredible. I brought a spinach salad and a mixed green salad with about 20 types of veggies. Alice brought the most perfect strawberries I've ever eaten... red throughout, and every bite was delicious and sweet.

Next came the desserts... Alice's homemade brownies and Ron's scrumptious pastries of various types. Norbert had brought every kind of bar on a stick that Häagen Dazs makes! Seriously, there were about 8 or 9 different kinds! Ahhh... that was good.

At one point during dinner, Norbert look up through the hatch, noticed a very large yacht (80-100') right up close and personal. He shouted "Boat!" and bounded up the companionway stairs to see if we were about to hit it. We had swung around quite a bit, but it didn't look like we were going to hit. Ron pulled up about 10 feet of anchor just to make sure, and we returned to the cabin to finish dinner.

During dinner, there were a few close calls like that. At one point, a stinkpot pulled up our anchor while they were pulling up their own! Not just our rode... the whole anchor! Some guy in shorts and a t-shirt (seriously, the temp had dropped to about 50 degrees by then) was able to untangle it from their rode and release it. Once we thought it hit bottom (which was about 60'), we tugged on our rode a bit, and it seemed to have stuck, so we returned, once again, to our meal.

Just as we were finishing our feast, the music from the land got louder (so we did hear it after all) and the fireworks began. The fireworks were spectacular. Please check my Picasa web album for more pictures.

The fireworks ended around 9:30pm. We pulled up anchor and headed directly into South Beach Harbor to drop off Ron. The pump out dock was full, so we motored around for a few minutes, found an empty slip, and dropped him off. Getting out of that marina was a little hairy... darkness, several kayakers with a death wish crossing right in front of us, boats of all sizes coming in and out. I successfully maneuvered us out and we were on our way.

This was the first time I've ever sailed at night. It was different. I wasn't totally thrown by it, but I admit it was a little disconcerting. At some point, I handed off the helm to Norbert, and he navigated us back to Sausalito using his new GPS. Good thing we had the GPS to guide us, because the fog had rolled in around dusk, and although we weren't actually in the fog, we couldn't see many of the landmarks we would ordinarily use to guide us... like, uh, the Golden Gate Bridge. We couldn't see the top of it at all, and the fog had settled under it, so we couldn't see much of the supporting structure either. It just looked like a road across the water. Eerie...

Back in Sausalito, we overshot the marina because we were in the outer channel and couldn't make out what was what on the land. So we turned back around, headed in closer to the land, and I guided us in. Getting in that wide open slip was pretty easy. I do like that location in the marina for getting in and out!

We had the boat all emptied out, buttoned up, and showered off, and we were on our way home by about 12:30am. What a lovely evening! Thanks to all of my crew for making it possible to charter such a sweet boat, for bringing such a fantastic feast, and for being such great company! We'll do it again soon!

Special thanks to Florin for all the great daytime pictures!

Boat Delivery and Gromeeko Round the Island Race

2008-05-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Skipper Stan, John, and I met at Spinnaker Sailing first thing in the morning and sailed Smokin' J up to San Francisco in preparation for the race the next day. We prepped the boat, rigged the head sail, loaded up the porta-potty (which no one ended up using), and got underway around 10:30am.

It was cold (50-ish), cloudy, and the wind was pretty strong, so we never did raise the jib. We sailed on the mainsail the whole way. For the most part, we had NW winds, so we tacked now and then but nothing strenuous. The swells were only a few feet high, but they were pretty close together, so it was a constant struggle to steer against the waves. We took turns at the helm, although my turn ended abruptly, at one point, when I couldn't keep the boat from rounding up.

All in all, it was an uneventful trip, and we arrived at the Golden Gate Yacht Club around 4:30pm... a 6-hour trip. We had arranged for a limo service to pick us up, but since we couldn't really predict our arrival time, I told them we'd call them an hour before we want to get picked up. Unfortunately, that message got confused, and the driver showed up at 4pm and had to wait an hour for us to arrive and then secure the boat and check in at the yacht club. It sure was an easy ride home, though, with someone else driving us through rush hour traffic.

On Saturday, Skipper Stan, John, Larry, Norbert, and I met at Spinnaker Sailing and all drove up to the city in my car. We were headed to the Golden Gate Yacht Club for the Gromeeko Round the Island race. This race is sponsored annually by the Los Gatos Yacht Club in honor of George Gromeeko, who was a charter member and very active in the club. Our Skipper Stan was the defending champion, having won this race on Smokin' J for the past two years, so the pressure was on!

We met the last member of our crew, Marianne (George Gromeeko's daughter), at the Golden Gate Yacht Club and started prepping Smokin' J. It didn't take long, since we pretty much left everything set up the night before.

It was a gorgeous day for sailing... much warmer than the day before - high 60s - and sunny. The wind was blowing NNW at about 12-14 knots with light chop on the water. A perfect racing day!

We were away from the docks by 10:30am. Our start time was an hour away, so we took the extra time to practice tacking and gybing and timing our start. Several of us were sailing together for the first time, and a couple of crew members hadn't sailed for a while, so we needed the practice.

Astrea (a Beneteau 37) started first, at 11:30:00, we started at 11:32:30, and Brainwaves (a J-35) started at 11:35:30.

We rounded the first mark to starboard at Harding Rock and worked our way around the back side of Alcatraz (not slowing down as much as we thought we would). All three boats remained in the starting order.

The wind came up strong on the south side of the island as we headed down to round the second mark to starboard at Blossom Rock. At that point, Astrea was still 3 minutes ahead, but Brainwaves was just one boatlength behind us. As soon as we rounded the second mark, we hardened the sails and headed up toward the cityscape on a close haul while Brainwaves split to the right, away from the city.

Our wonderful tactician, John, had printed out and laminated current charts for every hour of the day. It was clear that the strongest currents were close to the cityscape, so that's where we headed. We seemed to gain a little on the first pair of tacks, which convinced John that he had selected the better side of the course. However, this advantage did not hold up.

Stan says "In retrospect, I think we went too far toward shore on the second tack, into lighter wind and lighter current, possibly even an adverse eddy behind obstructions, as when next we approached Brainwaves, they were ahead."

We crossed the finish line one minute and three seconds after Brainwaves, followed about 10 minutes later by Astrea. What a lovely day it turned out to be for a quick and very close race!

After the race, we all gathered on the docks for a vodka toast to George Gromeeko and the winners of the race. That was followed by a delightful luncheon sponsored by George's wife, Bunny. Thanks to Stan for including me in such a great experience!

A description of the trip back to Redwood City from Norbert, since I had to drive my car back and missed the downwind sail home:

It was nice, fast, and overall relaxing. We had too much wind until we reached the San Mateo Bridge, so we had to ease the main regularly (even with the backstay tightened and traveller all the way down to leeward). Looking back, a reef in the main would have been the better option, I think. Anyway, we made it in 4.5 hours, and one GPS recorded a top speed of 10.5 knots (not sure how accurate that is).

Check out my Picasa web album for more pictures.

San Leandro with Norbert

2008-04-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

Norbert and I have been wanting to sail to San Leandro as part of our "sail to every marina in the bay" quest since last fall. Every time we've thought about going, either we didn't have enough wind, the tides weren't right, or there wasn't enough daylight to get there and back. This Sunday was predicted to have all the elements lined up just right... a warm (high 70s on the water) sunny day, 10-15 knots of wind, an ebb on the way out and flood on the way back with low tide around 1pm, and sunset not until 7:30-8:00pm. So we reserved a Merit and met at Spinnaker Sailing in Redwood City bright and early (for us) at 10am.

At the last minute, we decided to take out the 32' Catalina, which was really nice. It was more boat than Norbert and I needed, but it was very comfortable, a lot more managable than the Merit would have been under the conditions we ended up having, and it had a head... essential on an long sail with potentially no stops.

As we motored out of the channel, we passed by this guy, who was rowing his surfboard. We told him he was about 40 miles from the nearest surf, but he was having a good time. Each to his own...

We had a little breeze as we came out of the channel (maybe 6 knots), but it was dead air for most of the first couple of hours. We actually had to motor a couple of times when it was literally 0 knots. Even north of the bridge, where we thought we'd get more wind, it was pretty quiet.

As we were crossing the middle of the bay, we noticed something colorful on the water. Norbert thought he saw a strobe light, so we thought we might have a real rescue on our hands. Off we went to investigate. As you can see, we ably rescued the bouquet of balloons that no doubt slipped out of some birthday child's hands. We're always happy to do our part in cleaning up the bay.

The wind picked up about 4 miles north of the San Mateo finally bridge, around a mile from the beginning of the San Leandro channel, and we had a nice sail for about half an hour. Lining up with the channel was very tricky. The water is very shallow on the whole east side of the bay, and we kept getting warning alarms (to the point where we finally turned it off) that we had less than 3 feet of water below the keel. There were times when we had less than a foot below us, and that we a bit nerve wracking.

We finally got lined up correctly in the channel and centered ourselves between the markers to be sure we were in the deepest part of the channel. Just as we got to the last set of markers (13 and 14) and were about to enter the harbor in San Leandro, we hit a speed bump! It was dead low tide (we'd timed it that way, not realizing how shallow it was right in the channel), and we went aground. We'd been consulting two different charts and knew that it should be 5.5' deep there at MLL. However, we didn't know what the draft was on the Catalina 320. Apparently, it's got a 5.5' draft, because the depth sounder said we had 0 feet of water below us... or maybe low tide was below MLL. Anyway, we saw other boats going in (small motor boats with very small drafts, but still), so we decided to back-track a bit and try again slightly to the left side of the channel. No dice. We went aground again.

So we turned around and headed back to RWC without actually entering the San Leandro Harbor. But now we can say that we've been to San Leandro. Maybe we'll go again when the tide is slightly higher.

The wind came up in a big way on our way back, and we finally reefed at 22 knots. Considering there were only two of us on board, it was really nice to have a boat where all the rigging was brought back into the cockpit, so I could reef from behind the dodger by myself while Norbert was at the helm. Actually, at some point, he hove to and ran up to the mast to jump the reefing line a bit, but it was pretty easy to do that in this boat.

Amazingly, we fought the wind all the way back, even though we were mostly on a beam or broad reach all the way. Having left the docks around 10:45am and returning around 6pm, we made pretty good time for the distance travelled about 25 NM. I'm sunburned. Norbert was smart and put on sunscreen. Oh well... It was a great day... more fun than I've had in a long time.

More pictures from the day are in my Picasa web album.

Music Night - Aja Vu

2008-04-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, Sandi, Alice, Jean, and I went out to dinner at Portobello Grill and then to the Little Fox Theater in Redwood City to hear Aja Vu. The only connections to sailing are that we all sail, and my buddy, Steve Stanley, is the trumpet player for Aja Vu and a sailing instructor at Spinnaker Sailing, where I do a lot of my sailing. Steve and I got friendly when we were in the BVIs. Ever since his trumpet performances on deck of his boat as he was leaving the anchorages every morning, I've been wanting to get out and hear his band play.

Aja Vu plays mostly Steeley Dan covers. They're very good and really get everyone moving and singing along. It was fun to get out and see my sailing friends in a different setting for a change... and finally to see Steve in his element... well, maybe his second element!

Thanks for Alice and Sandi for the pictures they took with their cell phones!

First Summer Series Race

2008-04-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

My sailing goals for this year include:

Participate in more weekend races
Do at least one overnight sail (yes, sailing through the night, taking watch, etc)
Bareboat charter for a week's vacation, possibly in the San Juan Islands

To meet the first goal, I joined a bunch of crew lists and sent out email to some skippers who listed themselves as racing in the bay in a competitive way but for fun. I've already been talking to some of them and am scheduled to crew in some races.

My first weekend race of this season was the Sequoia YC's Summer Series #1. I crewed for Skipper Stan on the Smokin' J, the J29 I enjoyed so much last year. We were very short-handed with Stan (our skipper), Alex E (who I crewed with a few times last year), my buddy Norbert (who I brought along at the last minute when someone cancelled), and myself. The race was from marker 3 out to marker B (by the main span of the San Mateo bridge) and back to marker 3.

It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day with very light NW winds (probably about 6-8 knots at best). We had a flood tide almost the whole time, but we were moving along pretty well on the way up to the mark (5-6 knots most of the time). We moved much slower on the downwind leg—about 3 knots on average.

Since Norbert and I just finished our spinnaker handling class, we were anxious to get out there and do some spinnaker work on a bigger boat than the Merits we'd trained on and in a real racing situation. To be honest, we weren't that good. I was doing foredeck and was really slow in raising the chute. I was also slow on gybes but did ok and got faster as I got more practice. Stan actually showed me a different way to do an end-to-end gybe than the way I'd learned it, so in my defense, this was my first time.

When all the number crunching was finished back at the YC, we ended up coming in 4th out of 5 boats in the spinnaker class. The only boat that didn't beat us was Black Sheep, which Ron was single-handing and didn't use his spinnaker. So I guess we didn't do very well at all.

As always, though, a good time was had by all!

Detached Shroud in Over 20 Knots of Wind

2008-04-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

Six of us met up at San Carlos airport and all rode up to Sausalito together in Kerry's van, meeting one more crew member at MSA. We checked out Freyja (a 32' Erickson) pretty quickly and got underway by around 11:30am.

The day started out as a 3S day (as Norbert would say)—sunny Saturday sail. The sun was shining, it was in the low 60s, and we had a nice 8-10 knot breeze. It was just about high tide, so there were virtually no swells.

We motored out of the marina, past the Spinnaker restaurant where we'd be having dinner that night, and set sails in the wind shadow of Marin Headlands. We turned northeast into Raccoon Strait and headed for Ayala Cove on the northwest side of Angel Island. Kerry had never picked up a mooring ball and wanted to try it. I'd done it a couple of times a day in the BVIs but hadn't done it since then, so I was happy to get some practice and teach him what I knew about it. We knew that there were some public mooring balls at Ayala Cove off Angel Island, so we headed there first.

Jean was at the helm on the way into the cove, and I was on the bow with Kerry. Dave stood mid-ship to relay messages, if necessary.

It turned out the mooring balls weren't balls at all, and they had no pick-up line. (Not that kind of pick-up line!) I'm used to mooring balls with about 6-8 feet of line attached with a loop on the end, often with a smaller floatation device on the loop end of the pickup line. That way, you can grab the pick-up line with a boat hook, bring it on board, hook it onto a cleat on the bow, thread your mooring line through it, and then drop it back in the water. These mooring buoys were big rubber tires, each with a sort of metal ring on top. There's no way to pick up any part of it, so you have to lean over the side of the boat (belly to deck) and run the line through the metal ring and back up the other side of the bow. Thanks to Dave for leaning over the rail and running the line through. It was a rather awkward maneuver, to say the least.

Anyway, once we were tied up, we all relaxed and ate lunch in the warm sunshine. After lunch, Kerry wanted to see what it was like to be at the helm while someone else tied up to a mooring buoy, and Norbert wanted to try doing the bow work. So we released the first mooring buoy and motored over to pick up another one. The second time was easy, because we knew what we had to do. We released it right after tying up, and off we went to explore the bay.

We headed back down through Racoon Strait toward the slot, where the wind blows in the Gate. And the wind was certainly blowing - probably about 18-20 knots when we started across. We headed toward the cityscape with no particular plan in mind. When we were about half way across, Norbert was at the wheel and getting a lot of weather helm. We'd dropped the traveler all the way down, eased the main so it was almost resting on the shrouds, and had the boom vang as tight as it could be. There was no backstay adjustment or we'd have tightened that up, too. The wind had probably increased to about 22 knots by this time, so we decided to reef and decided, for whatever reason, to furl the jib first.

Almost as soon as we started furling the jib, one of the port-side shrouds suddenly disconnected from the ring on the deck and got tangled up in the jib sheet (the black line in the picture on the right). We were on a starboard tack, so there was no pressure on the port-side shroud, but it must have been loose and just gave way. Kerry to the rescue! Out on the rail that was almost in the water, he untangled the shroud from the jib sheet, and we were able to continue furling the jib. When the jib was about half furled, John couldn't get the furling line to budge any further. Dave to the rescue! He went up to the bow and jumped the furling line to give John some leverage. Finally, when the jib was fully furled, Kerry, Jean, and Dave took down the main (quickly... no time to flake it nicely).

Meanwhile, Norbert was at the helm, flying toward a concrete wall on shore. He knew he couldn't tack until the sails were both down, because the stress of a port tack with one of the port-side shrouds gone might be too much stress on the mast. Norbert to the rescue! He did a spectacular job of keeping the boat from hitting anything without really being able to maneuver. While the crew was taking down the main, Norbert started the engine... and veered away from the shore as soon as that sail was down. Phew! My friends and I do have ourselves some sailing adventures out there!

Once we were most of the way across the slot and the wind started to subside, we decided to go over to Sam's in Tiburon and see if there was any space on the guest dock. We all needed a drink after that adventure! Sadly, there wasn't enough space on the dock, so we turned around and headed back to Sausalito. We considered stopping at the San Francisco Yacht Club, but decided there wasn't enough time. I wanted to get back to the marina before the MSA office closed, which I thought was around 5pm. So we headed back.

The ride back was uneventful, but the MSA office was already closed when we got there and everyone had gone home. Arrggg... should have stopped at the yacht club. Oh well... We buttoned up the boat and headed over to the Spinnaker for our drinks. The dinner that followed was delicious, as usual. All in all, it was another great day of sailing on the bay!

Please check out my Picasa web album for more pictures of the day. Many thanks to Bobbi for taking most of the pictures! And here are Dave's pics... too many to include here. Thanks, Dave!

Sunny Sunday Sail and... OUCH!

2008-03-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Norbert and I went sailing the last two Sundays. On the 9th, in M4, we ventured down south of the Dumbarton Bridge and railroad bridge for a 3S (sunny Sunday sail). It was my second time there and Norbert's first. The railroad bridge didn't creek at all like it did on my first visit. The wind was light, and it was all pretty quiet.

You can see in the picture above that we had a little trouble raising the main all the way, so Norbert rigged a sort-of semi-reef/cunningham-like thing. It wasn't pretty but it helped.

We had about 8-10 knots of wind with a flood all the way down to the bridge and an ebb all the way back. Even with the light wind, we were moving pretty fast. It was a pretty deep low tide, so we turned around just south of the railroad bridge and headed back.

The only other boat around was one we didn't recognize with two guys on it, and they kept getting stuck in the mud! We were really making fun of them, because they kept going way outside the channel markers, getting stuck, getting unstuck, and then doing it again! (Well, ok... I was making fun of them. Norbert's too nice.)

All in all, that day was relatively uneventful, but it was nice to get out and just sail around for a while.

On the 16th, we were scheduled for our final spinnaker class. We all showed up at the docks, but the wind was about 20 knots gusting to 35, so Leslie cancelled the class. Norbert and I wanted to sail anyway. Leslie and KO just wanted to motor over to the new marina being built and motor back. Since we'd already been there, Norbert and I got a separate Merit (M1) and went out by ourselves.

While we were still at the docks getting the boat ready, the boom snuck up behind me and hit me hard on the back of my head. OUCH! That really hurt! I sat down for a few minutes to see if I was going to pass out or anything, but I was fine. In fact, after the initial clunk, it didn't swell and didn't really hurt until the next day. I did get a lump, and it still hurts 3 days later!

We finally got out there, and the wind was fierce! We reefed the main as we were raising it and didn't unfurl the jib at all. After months of no wind or light winds until 10 knots, I just wasn't used to it. All the way down the channel, the wind was blowing us like crazy. We passed Leslie and KO, who had taken off before us, because they were just motoring, and they said they'd gotten stuck. They were headed back to the docks.

Leslie shot this picture of us as our boats passed in the channel.

Unfortunately, it was another extremely low tide, and we actually went aground as well... and we weren't even outside the channel markers! (All that teasing of the other guys the week before came back to bite me! Karma...) We were stuck but good, and the main sail kept pushing us further up on the mud. I wanted to lower the main, but everytime I started, the wind tried to push us deeper. It took about 20 minutes of motoring to get unstuck. Ugh... not fun.

After that, we decided to sail out the end of the channel and see what the bay was like and then probably just return. It was actually quite nice out there... warmer than in the channel with fewer gusts but still lots of wind and much bigger swells. It was like the south bay in mid-summer! I got comfortable with it after a while, and Norbert had a blast navigating the big swells. A few hundred yards past marker 3, we turned around and sailed back in.

Sailing Alongside the Tall Ships

2008-03-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I finally got out for a full day of real sailing! I haven't really sailed all winter just for fun, and it was a perfect day for it... sunny, high 50s (which I admit was a bit chilly), and 10-22 knots of wind at different times of the day.

I had organized this sail to go out and look at the two tall ships that are in San Francisco for the next few weeks. I'd read that the tall ships would be staging a battle sail from 2-5pm on the weekends. So it was a good excuse (not that I need one!) to charter a 35' Beneteau, Talisman, from Modern Sailing in Sausalito. I invited a bunch of friends, and five people signed up to crew. This was my first charter since I got checked out at MSA after my bareboat certification, and it felt really good.

We all rode up together in Kerry's van and had some interesting conversations and lots of laughs. After a quick provisioning stop at Molly Stone's, we got to the docks and started loading our gear onto the boat.

By around 11am, we were off to an auspicious start. I had some trouble getting out of the really tight slip, but Kerry came to my rescue. Once we got the bow pointed in the right direction, all went very well. We motored out of Sausalito harbor, set the sails as soon as we got a little wind, turned off the engine, and we were sailing!

The first thing we did was head out under the Golden Gate Bridge (just because). It was really rocking and rolling out there. At one point, the rudder completely stalled on me, and we were just getting tossed around in the 8-foot swells. Jean took over and handily brought us back under the bridge to calmer waters.

Next, at Sandi's suggestion, we went over to Tiburon to look at Gitana 13, the French boat that sailed from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn in 43 days, breaking all records. Gitana had just arrived the day before and was sitting out in front of the Corinthian Yacht Club for all to see. What a gorgeous boat!

Next we headed south to take a look at the tower the tanker had hit on the Bay Bridge a couple of months ago. Sandi and I had seen the damage right after the accident and wanted to see if it had been repaired yet. But by the time we got near the bridge, we noticed that the tall ships were already lining up for their battle, so we headed south to get close to them.

Once the two ships lined up, they shot off their canons, yelled at each other, and had a lovely time. We all had some great photo ops! When the battle was over, we headed back up to check out the bridge, and it looked like the damage had all been repaired. At that point, it was about 4pm, and we knew it would take a couple of hours to get back to Sausalito, so we headed for the cityscape and then north straight across the slot into Sausalito.

The wind was blowing hard all day, and we had to reef both the main and the jib and drop the traveller just to keep the boat steady. It was a chilly but fantastic day, and we all felt like we'd gotten a much-needed sailing fix after a long winter of going without.

After buttoning up the boat, we drove down the road to the Spinnaker restaurant and had some wine and a great meal to top off a great day. Thanks to Kerry for driving and helping me back out of the slip, to Jean for rescuing me from the stalled rudder outside the gate, to Norbert for getting us up close and personal with the tall ships without getting in their way, to Sandi for always being such a willing, able, and fun crew member, and to Alice for being such a good sport about losing her cell phone to the bay. Look for more pictures in my Picasa web album.

Third Spinnaker Handling Class

2008-02-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday was the third day of spinnaker handling class, and it was 1000% better than the last one! It was 65 degrees and sunny with about 5-6 knot winds—just about perfect for using a spinnaker.

Sandi dropped the class, so we invited Leslie's friend, Chris (KO), to join us, since he'd taken the class a few years ago and had done quite a bit of spinnaker sailing.

We packed about 6 chutes to take with us, so we could get a lot of practice raising and dousing without having to repack. Then we made our usual pilgrimage to Eric's Deli for lunch, and left the docks around 12:30 pm.

We motored up to the San Mateo Bridge and did a set. We each took turns doing an end-for-end gybe. We then practiced doing MOBs using a spinnaker. If you think MOBs are complicated with a main and a jib, try it with a spinnaker!

Next we practiced the 1-line and 2-line dip-pole-gybes. Then we rigged a symmetrical spinnaker as if it were an asymmetrical, so that we could practice doing inside and outside gybes. Everything went pretty well, and Leslie said we did a great job!

Finally, on our way home, we hoisted 2 spinnakers, side-by-side. It looked really weird, but we actually went pretty fast in the light wind that way! Leslie says there was some instructional justification for this. It demonstrated how we would use a blooper (or tall-boy) to balance the forces from a single symmetrical spinnaker (to reduce the chances of a windward broach).

Eventually, we realized we were going pretty slowly and it was getting dark and cold, so we fired up the engine and motored back down the channel. We had everything buttoned up on the boat before we reached the docks about 6 pm, so we just hosed down the boat and went home.

Thanks to Leslie Waters for all of these pictures and the additional pictures in my Picasa web album!

I've fallen and I can't get up!

2008-01-23T08:38:00.001-08:00

A few friends and I had talked about taking a spinnaker handling course this fall. We ended up waiting until December for a bunch of reasons, and then the holidays, travel plans, and lack of wind pushed it into January. We finally agreed on the weekend of January 20 and 21, and got two sunny days with wind!

On Saturday, Sandi, Norbert, Emily, and I learned how spinnakers are constructed, the different weights and sizes, and how to properly pack them in turtles. Then we practiced some sets, gybes, and douses at the dock with M7 (a Merit 25). Finally, we went out to the bay and sailed with the spinnaker for about an hour. It was a relatively uneventful day, but we learned a lot and all did pretty well.

Sunday was altogether different. We got to the docks under dark, cloudy skies and about 12-15 knots of wind. We repacked the spinnakers we'd used the day before and went to Eric's for an early lunch. As soon as we got back, we loaded five spinnakers, along with all the rigging, onto M7 and started prepping the boat. Leslie told us to go ahead and rig the boat for the spinnaker without his help, and we did. It took a while, and we were all hoping it was rigged correctly.

We motored out of the channel and up to the bridge, which took quite a while. Eventually, we raised the main and jib and were sailing. When we got close to the bridge and had plenty of space for a downwind run, we tacked and raised the first spinnaker. That went pretty well. There were a couple of small errors in the rigging, but we fixed them and went on to practice peels. A peel is when you raise a second spinnaker inside of the first one and then peel down the outside (original) spinnaker. We did that a couple of times. It was a bit awkward, but we were able to do it.

Leslie decided that since we had quite a bit of wind (I'm guessing 15-20 knots by this time), we should practice broach recovery. At this point, we students were all thinking that there was too much wind to be flying a spinnaker, and I even suggested that we reef the main. Leslie said no, because we needed the full size of the main to counterbalance the spinnaker. So we motor-sailed back up toward the bridge, tacked, and raised another spinnaker. It was the biggest spinnaker we had with us—a 1.5.

We started to broach a few times, and did the right things to right the boat. After a couple of successful broach recoveries (from about a 50-60-degree angle), we broached for real! A gust came up at the exact wrong moment, and we went over in a flash! The boom was submerged, the sails were floating in the water, and I was catapulted out of the boat into the water! I was hanging on to the spinnaker sheet and didn't let go, even though I knew—even in the chaos of getting tossed overboard—that if I let go, the boat would right itself. But I held on anyway, because I didn't want to get separated from the boat.

Although it felt like an eternity, only about 20 seconds went by before Norbert grabbed me and hauled me back into the boat. Once I was comfortable that I wasn't going over again, I let go of the spinnaker sheet, and the boat righted itself.

THE BACK STORY: I was working the spinnaker sheet on the low side (port) but sitting on the high side (starboard). When the boat broached, I was thrown over the opposite side of the boat and ended up in the water on the port side. The rule for recovering from a broach is "high side hold on, low side let go". I should have let go, and perhaps if I had let go as we were starting to broach, we might not have gone over. Also, if Leslie (who was at the helm) had steered the boat under the spinnaker, we might not have gone over. But there was a huge gust of wind just as we were at a critical point in the broach, and it all happened very fast... too fast for either of us to react.

This picture is not us. Believe me, no one on our boat had time to take any pictures that day, and there were no other boats around. I found this image on the web and included it here, because it comes pretty close to showing what we must have looked like. Add me floating in the water next to the sails, and you get the full picture.

As soon as we were all secure in the boat, we doused the spinnaker, raised the jib, and started sailing back to the marina. Leslie did a debriefing, but I don't think any of us really knew what happened until we talked on the phone over the next couple of days. In fact, each of us had a different perspective. Norbert said that I actually went over in two "hops" — first to the other side of the boat and then out into the water. The bruises across the backs of my thighs support that story. Emily said that she was sure she was going over, too, but somehow grabbed onto something and stayed in the boat. Sandi was down below in the cabin (which was now on its ear) and said that all she could see in the cockpit was water and that the water came within inches of flooding the cabin. All I was aware of was holding onto that line to stay with the boat. I did not want to be the subject of a man overboard drill with a spinnaker sail up in high winds!

To say this was an eventful day of sailing is a gross understatement. This was the most exciting day of sailing I've experienced yet! I don't really want to repeat it but, all in all, it wasn't all that bad! I know... I must really love sailing to say that. I do!

Check-out Ride in Sausalito

2008-01-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

Well, my first sailing experience of the year 2008 was a check-out ride with Modern Sailing in Sausalito. Because I hadn't taken any classes from them, they required me to perform standard bareboat requirements before I could charter boats from them. I'd been waiting about a month to get enough wind on a day that's not raining, and the day finally came yesterday... a beautiful sunny day with about 10 knots of wind.

I was allowed to bring one crew person, so I brought my friend Norbert, and we took out a 39' Beneteau that was very similar to the 40' Beneteau I sailed in the BVIs last month. It was a great boat, and I felt very comfortable on it.

JT, my evaluator, had me get the boat ready, asked me a bunch of questions, and then had me start the engine. I had to back out of the slip (which was very tight for such a large boat) and drive it out of the very narrow fairway opening, turn around, bring it back in, and dock it. Then I had to back it out again, drive it out of the fairway, and then we were off.

Once out of the marina, we set the sails, and I sailed over toward Belvedere. I basically spent the next hour or so tacking, gybing, performing a man overboard drill (figure 8), and answering every question in the book... literally! I passed with flying colors. Then Norbert took the wheel, so I could show JT that I could tie some knots.

We returned to the marina, and I docked the boat for the last time, tied up, cleaned it up, put all the covers on, and went off to take a quick look at the Bay Model next door with Norbert just before they closed. Although it was a very short sail and we didn't really go anywhere or see anything new, I was very happy to pass this milestone. Now we can charter up in the north bay anytime we want. Yeah!!!

Signing off for 2007

2007-12-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

This is my last post for 2007, and I leave you with one of my favorite photos of the year. I haven't sailed at all since the BVIs, because there's not enough wind on the bay at this time of year. So I have no new sailing adventures to report.

I'd summarize 2007 as chock full of fun and exciting sailing experiences, quite a bit of travel, some truly great times with friends, eight great months of working at Google, and four very eventful months off from work. It was a year of much personal growth for me, and for that I'm thankful. I've met a lot of wonderful people, both in the sailing community and elsewhere, and many of them have become treasured friends... another thing for which I'm very thankful. (You know who you are!) I also had some experiences that were not so pleasant and some real struggles, but each of those experiences was a growth opportunity for me as well.

If you've been reading my blog regularly this year, I thank you for your time and support and hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Be sure to check back to read about my sailing adventures in 2008!

Happy new year and fair winds to you and yours!

cj

Sailing in the BVIs

2007-12-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

I spent 11 days in the British Virgin Islands at the beginning of December, nine of them living on a 40' Beneteau with three people I hardly knew. We were part of a 14-boat flotilla organized by the ASA. Six of the boats, including mine, were occupied by people from my sailing club, Spinnaker Sailing.

My purpose in going on this trip was to do a lot of sailing and get my bareboat certification. What I didn't realize is that "cruising" in the BVIs means a lot of partying and not as much emphasis on sailing as I would have liked. Live and learn...

Needless to say, the trip was ok but not my cup of tea (since I don't drink much). We had only two days of real sailing (up to Anegada and back the next day) and motored around most of the rest of the time. We put up the sails for an hour or two here and there, but we always had the motor on.

So I don't have much to say about this trip, except that I did learn what it's like to live on a boat and got lots of practice mooring and anchoring, since we made two stops most days. Most of the islands looked about the same to me... just a different beach bar at each stop. The two stops I liked the most were The Baths on Virgin Gorda and Loblolly Bay on the north side of Anegada.

Some pictures are available on my Picasa page, and a couple of videos are available on YouTube: Anegada, one of my favorite spots, and Floating Bar, which is indicative of how my boat mates spent most of their days.

Westpoint Marina and Grooves in the Muck

2007-11-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving, Dave and I took out a Merit for a few hours of peace and quiet out on the water. We knew the wind was light, but we hoped for a few windy spots on the bay... and did actually get some real sailing in for a while.

We sailed out of the slip in 0 knots. That's right... no wind, both sails up, no motor. Dave pushed us off the dock and then almost fell out of the boat as he helped us avoid hitting the new Cal 24 parked at the end of the fairway, directly behind us as I backed out. Off we went at about 1/10 knot out of the marina. It took about an hour for us to get out into the main channel—200 yards or so—at which point, Dave decided to start the engine. I had just finished eating my lunch and didn't have a problem drifting around the basin, but when Dave wants to use the engine, you know there's no wind at all! ☺

After Dave started the engine, I took the helm and motored us up the channel, so Dave could eat his lunch. We'd sailed past the Westpoint Slough several times and noticed the new channel markers a few weeks ago. Then our friend Mike told us he'd gone down there one day to check out the new Westpoint Marina being build, so we ventured in. Dave had been hiking down there before they flooded the basin, but he hadn't seen the docks in the water yet. I'd never been down that way, so it was something new to do on a light wind day.

The slough is narrow, and it was nearing low tide, so we stayed right in the middle to avoid going aground. We were still motoring, so we had plenty of control. Dave took the helm part way in so I could shoot some pictures. This is going to be a beautiful marina!

After exploring the marina, we headed back to the main channel and out to the bay. The wind had picked up by that time, so we shut down the engine and sailed. Actually, we got some pretty good wind... 8-10 knots is my guess. We were actually heeling for a while, so we were having fun. Still, we only had about 3-1/2 hours out there, so we made it as far as marker 12, rounded it, and headed back.

By the time we got to the channel, the wind had died down a bit, but we kept sailing. The tide was so low by this time that we could see more of the exposed mud and muck than I've ever seen before. Dave pointed out that the grooves in the muck are from boats going aground, so I shot a bunch of pictures of the keel and engine grooves. For more pics of the Westpoint Marina and grooves in the muck, check out my Picasa web album!

About half way down the channel, I finally convinced Dave that we were going backwards, so he fired up the engine again and took us in. We were going so slowly that we were able to flake the main, put the cover on, and get the boat almost completely buttoned up before we ever hit the dock. The sun was setting as we returned to the dock... a beautiful ending to a lovely day.

Took My Kids Sailing

2007-11-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

The day before Thanksgiving, my kids were all in town. So we decided that was a good opportunity to go sailing. I'm not ready for Finn to come along yet. He's 2 now, but he can't sit still, and there's really no way to strap him down in a Merit. So we left Emily home with Finn, and she made all the desserts for Thanksgiving.

Dan, Jen, and Matt all came along. None of them knew how to sail, although Dan has some experience with lasers and cats, and Matt has lots of fishing/motor boat experience. They all picked it up pretty quickly, though, and had lots of questions... most of which I could answer... some of which I referred them to Dave at dinner that night.

We headed out toward the bridge with about 5-8 knots of wind. They got pretty good at tacking, and we even went wing-and-wing on the downwind return. The day was relatively uneventful except for me skippering with a boat full of newbies for the first time. We all had a lot of fun, though, and they all thanked me for the experience. I think maybe they'll go out sailing with me again sometime... I hope so, anyway!

More pics of this day and Thanksgiving at my house are in my Picasa web album!

Redwood Cup Race

2007-11-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the Redwood Cup Race, hosted by Sequoia Yacht Club. I was invited to sail on Melilani, Rich Butts's J105, a beautiful 32' racing boat. Stan was the skipper, Alex the tactician, and Paul, Niko, and I crewed. Rich had elbow surgery a few weeks ago, so he just came along for the ride.

We all arrived at the boat around 11am and took the next hour or so to rig it and practice spinnaker handling at the dock. We left around 12:45pm for the starting line (marker 20 in the channel) and got a chance to practice raising and dousing the spinnaker once and then got ready for the start.

We made a good start, crossing the line just after the official start time. The race was relatively uneventful... light wind at first, picking up about mid-afternoon. Honestly, I don't have a good sense of which boats were ahead of us, behind us, who we passed at what point, or anything, because I was looking at the telltales on the jib almost the whole time, trying to get that sail trim just right!

As soon as we rounded the mark, marker 12, we raised the spinnaker. The set was good, and we were able to furl the jib, which is a whole heck of a lot easier than on Smokin J, where we have to lower it and try to bunch it up in the bow pulpit and keep it out of the way of the spinnaker trimmer and out of the water.

Sailing down to marker 2 was fast and easy. We were getting up to 13 knots of wind at that point and moving at 5-7 knots. Stan turned into the channel at marker 3, and Niko and I did a perfect gybe (according to Alex). Yeah!

We were in the last leg of the race, sailing down the channel, when all of a sudden the spinnaker tack let go, and the leading edge of the chute was flapping in the breeze. At Rich's and Alex's instructions, Niko tried to lower the sock to douse the chute, but the sock lines were fouled, and he couldn't get it down. Alex handed me the spinnaker sheet and I took over trimming as he went up on the foredeck to help Niko. At some point, someone raised the jib. I was so focused on keeping the spinnaker out of the water that I didn't even notice who did that!

Alex and Niko brought the spinnaker all the way to the stern to get it around the jib and into the boat. But when they got to the stern, they realized that the sock line was free, so they had to bring it all the way back to the foredeck, and then they were able to douse it and lower it safely into the hatch. Phew! That was exciting!

While all this was happening, Alex kept telling Stan to keep sailing the boat, which he did, so we didn't lose any ground in the race during all that activity.

Later, when I asked Alex to explain what had happened, he said not to worry about it... that this sort of thing happens all the time and that since nothing broke and no one was hurt, it was no big deal. Ok then.

By the time we got the spinnaker safely down below and returned to our regularly scheduled roles, we were close to the finish line. We finished the race in the fourth position. Thanks to Stan for inviting me to crew for him, to Rich for having me on his boat, to Alex for always helping me improve my sailing skills, and to Paul and Niko for being such supportive crew members. It was another great day out on the bay!

Sausalito and Jack London Square

2007-11-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went sailing with Emily and Amy out of Sausalito again, and this time I brought my friend, Sandi, and Amy brought her boyfriend, Sergei. It was a really fun group, and we had wind for a change... yeah!!!

Sandi and I were a little late arriving, and the others had the boat (the C&C 32 again) all ready to go when we got there, so we hopped on and left right away. After motoring part way out of the Sausalito harbor, we set the sails and caught a few knots of wind.

Amy and Sergei are going to BVI for a week on Monday and chartering a 40-foot sailboat by themselves. Amy has BCC certification and not much experience, and this was Sergei's first time on a sailboat, so they're a little nervous about this adventure. The good news is that Sergei has spent a lot of time on motor boats and is very mechanically inclined, so he was interested in learning and picked things up pretty quickly. It was fun teaching him how to sail and showing them both little tricks I've picked up along the way. They both seemed very grateful for my help.

Our plan was to head over to the Oakland Estuary, tie up at the guest dock at Jack London Square, and have lunch at Scott's Seafood. The fog was really thick in places and kept moving around the bay. At one point, we couldn't see the Bay Bridge or the city. A few minutes later, we could see the city but nothing in the east bay. We continued to sail downwind, though, through the fog at about 4-5 knots. We actually went through the fog bank that was by then hanging in the slot and came out into bright, warm sunshine on the other side. Now we could see the Bay Bridge perfectly but could no longer see anything north of the bridge. It was quite beautiful and eerie at the same time.

We decided to sail through the western span of the Bay Bridge, so we could see the damage done last week by the tanker that hit the bridge piling in the fog. It was awesome!

After consulting a chart, we found our way into the estuary and sailed past the enormous container ships being loaded with cargo. The wind died down quite a bit, so we decided to motor the rest of the way to our lunch destination. I wanted some experience docking a boat with a wheel and an inboard diesel engine, so I docked it first at a dock that turned out not to be a guest dock and then moved it to a guest dock. It was good experience for me, and I did ok the first time and really well the second time.

Lunch at Scott's was excellent! We all really got to know each other better over lunch and did a bunch of networking, email exchange, etc.

After lunch, we started beating upwind, but it was slow going, and Emily got concerned about getting the boat back on time. So we motored the rest of the way out of the estuary and then caught some really good wind (maybe 12-15 knots!) and sailed the rest of the way to Sausalito harbor. As we were approaching the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, we could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, which made a really nice picture.

Once we were in the wind shadow of the hills, we lost the wind again, so we motored back to the marina. Emily agreed to let me drive the boat into the slip, which went very well. There was some concern that I was too close to the boats across from our slip, but I didn't hit anything and got it in in one try, so I was pleased.

All in all, it was a great day of sailing!

Sailing on Alex's Boat with No Wind

2007-11-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

Sandi and I were going to go kayaking in Monterey on Saturday for a change of pace. Then we decided to see if Norbert wanted to sail (sailing addicts that we are!). He did, so we reserved a Merit and planned to go to Coyote Point. Then Friday night, I got email from Alex asking a bunch of people if anyone wanted to sail on his boat Saturday afternoon. I did, so I asked if Sandi and Norbert could come along, and we shifted our plans to the bigger boat, bigger group of people, and the potential to fly the spinnaker and learn new things.

Alex's crew was Monica, Michael, Alex Eiser (referred to as Eiser to keep the Alexes straight), Norbert, Sandi, and me. After removing all the covers, washing down the foredeck, and raising and furling the jib, we finally got underway around 1pm. Alex motored out of Bair Island Marina just before low tide and managed to go aground in the narrow channel just outside the marina. I was glad it wasn't me at the helm (that time, at least—read on)! It took a while to get unstuck, but we did and then continued motoring out to the bay.

When we got out in the middle of the bay, it was dead low tide, and there was no wind at all. I'm not saying it was only 5 knots or something. Literally, the wind meter said "0" and then "---"! We sat there drifting with no sails up for quite a while... ate lunch... some had a beer or a glass of wine.

We finally noticed a little wind up toward the San Mateo Bridge, so we motored up that way, put up the sails, I took the helm, and we actually got to "beat upwind" and under the bridge in about 2-3 knots. As usual, there was a little more wind north of the bridge... maybe about 4 knots. So we turned around, headed downwind, and raised the spinnaker, but we were barely able to keep it flying. If I fell off even a little bit, the spinnaker started to collapse.

Shortly after we got south of the bridge, with me focusing intently on keeping the spinnaker flying, I took my eyes off the depth meter for a second, and we went aground... again. This time it wasn't so bad. Alex motored us off in a few minutes, and then I took back the helm and focused on getting us into deeper water. I guess I'm not used to a boat with such a big draft. I know I've sailed Merit 25s in that part of the bay before... maybe not at dead low tide, though.

Anyway, after a while, Norbert took over the helm, and I took over the main. We sailed back to the channel, gybing the spinnaker 5-6 times. Alex commented that we'd gybed it more times that day than he'd done in all the time he's owned the boat.

Just as we were really getting the hang of it, Alex asked Monica to trim the spinnaker. She was pulling on the sheet but getting nowhere, so I offered to grind for her. I started grinding when suddenly I heard a snap, and the spinnaker went flying (not in a good way). We knew that the aft block through which the spinnaker sheet was threaded was twisted around and unable to pivot with the angle of the sheet. What we didn't realize was that the metal edge of the block was fraying the sheet and, eventually, it cut it all the way through. Ugh... the second snafu of the day that I felt I had caused. Alex was nice about it, though, and we were able to pull in the spinnaker before it hit the water... and no one was hurt, so that was good.

After that, we were basically back to the channel, so we unfurled the jib and sailed as far as we could and then just motored the rest of the way in. All in all, it was a really nice day... warm, sunny, and relaxing. Thanks for a fun afternoon, Alex!

For more pictures from that day, check out my Picasa web album!

Mid-Bay Crew Transfer!

2007-10-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Kerry organized a group of six of us to sail together on Sunday. So we got two Merits—Sandi, Steve, and Aña (Steve's daughter) on one and Kerry, Norbert, and me on the other. We all sailed out the channel more or less together around noon. We were trying to race, but Steve's boat was trailing us by longer and longer distances, so we just kept going.

As we sailed out the channel, we saw a tug boat towing in a small plane. That's right, a v-tail Bonanza! According to a local news report, a father and son had taken off from San Carlos Airport (SQL) the day before, had engine trouble, and ditched just south of the San Mateo Bridge. After the plane had sunk, they swam to shore unharmed.

Once we got out of the channel, we headed out to the wreck, since Kerry had never been there. Around 3pm, Sandi called and said that Steve and Aña wanted to head back in and that she'd like to transfer to our boat. None of us had ever done a boat-to-boat crew transfer before, but Kerry led us through it with ease.

First, both boats attached the fenders to the sides we planned on Sandi disembarking/boarding, and we furled the jibs to get them out of the way. Then Norbert and I attached the bow and stern lines, so we could throw them to Steve. When we got close enough, Norbert threw the bow line to Sandi, who wrapped it around the lifeline on the bow of Steve's boat and threw the end back to Norbert. This way, we were connected, but Steve didn't have to climb up on the foredeck to detach the line after the transfer was complete. I threw the stern line to Steve in the cockpit, but it came off the stern hitch just as I threw it, so that did no good at all! It didn't matter, though, because Sandi basically just stepped over onto our boat, gear bag and all, without missing a beat. It happened so fast that I actually missed the photo op! I did get one of her posing afterwards, though!

Soon after the mid-bay crew transfer, we had an accidental gybe. Norbert was at the helm, but he looked away for a moment to show Kerry a knot, and boom (literally)! When the boom started to come over, Kerry noticed it and warned Sandi soon enough for her to duck. I was on the foredeck, and by the time I noticed the boom coming over, Norbert was already making a correction. We were back on course in no time.

After that, the wind was still pretty light (under 8 knots, I'd say) but it was a gorgeous day and we had a couple more hours to play, so we decided to head for the S marker. Just then, we saw Dave's boat. He was out with a class, so we headed over toward him. When we got close enough, we challenged him to race us to S, but he said he needed to head back into the channel and invited us to race him back to the marina. We weren't ready to head in yet, though, so we headed over to S by ourselves.

After finding S without a problem, we decided to try to find X. It was easier than usual to see the racing markers with no waves, but it took a while to get close to it. By the time we got close enough to see X, it was after 4pm, and we decided to head back in.

By then, the wind had all but died. We were getting about 1-3 knots. So we begrudgingly started the engine and became a stinkpot for a few minutes. We quickly passed marker 12, and by the time we got into the channel, the wind had come up a bit. So we sailed down the channel and back into the marina.

It's always something new when I go out sailing with my friends! The mid-bay crew transfer was really fun, thanks to all who participated!

More pictures are on Picasa.

Sailing Under the Dumbarton Bridge

2007-10-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

Dave and I got to Spinnaker around noon on Saturday and took out M4. We weren't sure where we'd go and had no idea if we'd have enough wind to get out of the south bay. We had a flood tide until about 2pm, though, so we decided it was a good day to head south toward the Dumbarton Bridge. The flood on the way there and ebb on the way back would push us in the right direction if there wasn't enough wind.

It took us forever to get out of the channel. We must have tacked 20-30 times in extremely light wind... maybe 3 knots. By the time we got out of the channel, the wind was starting to pick up, and we headed southeast with the wind and tide.

We went under the bridge around 3pm—my fifth of the five major bridges on the bay! Yippee! We continued south to the old Dumbarton Railroad Bridge, which was really cool! The RR bridge was destroyed at the western end several years ago, but we saw people walking all the way out to the end from the eastern side.

The Dumbarton RR Bridge is a swing bridge, which means that the center of the bridge pivots around a huge pivot pier. It swings open for boats to go through and swings closed for trains to pass over it. Of course, there are no trains anymore, so it just stays open all the time now for boats to pass through. It makes a totally eerie creeking noise as you pass by. Watch this movie and listen to the creeking.

By the time we turned around to head home, the wind had come up, and the tide started to ebb, so there were lots of waves. If you've ever sailed with Dave, you know he almost never uses the engine, but he decided to motor through the swing bridge upwind, since the opening is only about 20 feet wide. Safety first! We killed the engine after clearing the RR bridge and started beating upwind all the way to the channel. With around 15-18 knots of wind, now we were sailing!

By the time we entered the channel, the wind was starting to die down again. But, not wanting to be stinkpots, we sailed on a beam reach all the way down the channel and into the slip. It was another wonderful, relaxing day of sailing!

More pictures are available on Picasa.

Sailing the North Bay with New Friends

2007-10-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

When I decided to take a 3-month break from work this fall, I sent email to a couple of sailing crew lists I'm on, asking if anyone else is available to sail on weekdays. I got two responses from women in San Francisco, and we finally had our first sail together today.

Emily, Amy, and I met at Modern Sailing in Sausalito at 10am and took some time to familiarize ourselves with the boat, since none of us had sailed on it before. It was a C&C 32 with a roller furling jib, self-tailing winches, and all the conveniences anyone could want... nice boat.

We headed out of the marina around 10:45am with under 5 knots of wind and a flood tide. Although sailing out the gate seemed like a good idea at first, considering the possibility that we might have no wind all day, we decided to use the flood tide to go up to the San Raphael-Richmond Bridge first and then see where the wind takes us... literally.

From Sausalito, we headed northeast through Racoon Straits and then tacked north up to the bridge. It was slow going all the way with very light (almost nonexistent at times) wind. By the time we got to the bridge, the wind started picking up, and we were at high slack. We basically sailed under the bridge, echoed, turned around, and came back. That was my 4th bridge in the bay! From there, we headed east toward Alcatraz, but the wind kept shifting, so by the time we got into the slot, we decided that it was time to head back in.

After a fun ride through the Point Knox Shoal at the southwest corner of Angel Island, we headed back toward Sausalito. As soon as we entered the harbor, we were in the wind shadow of the hills, and our wind just about died. We sailed as far as we could but ended up motoring into the marina right at 4pm, our required return time. Emily did a masterful job of getting her into the slip, and it took almost no time to button her down.

Here's to lots of long, sunny, relaxing days of sailing on the bay with new friends!

More pictures are available on Picasa.

Sailing Lake Tahoe

2007-10-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Dave, Sandi, Norbert, and I spent last weekend at Tahoe-Donner and had a great time... except for Norbert's car accident, that is. On his way there Friday night, there was a terrible rain storm with high winds, and Norbert hydroplaned, spun out, hit a tree, and flipped over his car. Amazingly, he walked away with only a cracked rib where the seatbelt caught him. Phew! His car was totalled and towed away, so Dave, Sandi, and I drove back to Colfax (about 50 miles) to pick him up. The rest of the weekend was really nice, though.

On Saturday, when we were exploring Lake Tahoe by car and foot, we discovered a place that had a 50' Santa Cruz taking passengers out on the lake a couple of times a day. So, on Sunday, we headed back to the lake for the noon-time cruise.

The cruise was fun, but everything on the boat except for the wheel was automated. Just push a button and the mainsail goes up. Push a button and the jib comes out. No trimming, no telltales, no work to do. It was very weird to be on a sailboat for two hours and not do anything. Dave and Norbert each took a turn at the wheel, though, so they had some fun. It was bitter cold out there (around 40 degrees F), but we were all dressed warmly, so it wasn't so bad. It was fun to watch the other passengers freak out a little when we were heeled way over close hauled in about 25 knots of wind. Heh, heh, heh...

I've used some of Sandi Crane's pictures here. Thanks for getting some great ones, Sandi!

To see more of my pictures from the weekend, click here.

SBYRA South Bay Championship Race

2007-10-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first of the 2-day SBYRA South Bay Championship race hosted by Sequoia Yacht Club. I was honored to be asked by Skipper Stan to crew for him on the Smokin J. The crew members were Alex H (tactician), Jerry (main), Alex E (jib), Monica (foredeck/spinnaker), and me (jib/mid-deck/spinnaker).

We arrived at the docks at 9am, and Stan started going over the rigging. When Stan went off to the captains' meeting at 10am, Alex H took over and talked about raising and dousing the spinnaker. He assigned jobs for before, during, and after and went over general information about how he would be directing us and what he expected of us during the race.

By 10:30am, we were underway, motoring out to the S marker, where the committee boat was waiting to mark the start of the race. We still didn't know the race course or start time. The flag flying on the committee boat indicated that we needed to get within earshot. Just before noon, we were told we'd be running course C (X -> 12 -> Y -> S) but there would be a 15-minute delay (hoping more wind would come up).

About 20-25 boats were out there, all staying close to the committee boat to get instructions, and all doing time trials in preparation for the start. It was a little frantic to say the least. After 15 minutes, the committee boat announced another 15-minute delay, so we kept practicing tacking and timed starts. Finally, we got the end-of-delay horn, then the 4-minute warning, the 2-minute warning, the 1-minute warning, and started the race around 12:30pm.

The wind was NW at about 3-5 knots, which meant that the race was all about strategy and sail trim. Good thing we had our master tactician on board! Alex H was great about monitoring everything that was going on in the boat and giving us all instructions as we needed them. Stan was a master helmsman and kept us on course, much of the time sailing to the jib within the prescribed course.

The best part for me was that I got to participate in raising and dousing the spinnaker, which I'd never really done before.

We were using a symmetrical spinnaker with a spinnaker pole and needed to gybe the spinnaker as we tacked. (I'd raised the asymmetrical spinnaker on Fran's boat last week, but that was a piece of cake compared to this. It doesn't require a spinnaker pole, and we didn't gybe.)

My first job was to guide the chute out of the bag when we raised it. That went pretty well, except that someone had "banded it", and we had some trouble breaking those bands and getting it to fill at first. The purpose of banding the spinnaker is to keep the sail from filling before is is fully raised. If it fills in a 12-knot breeze before it's fully raised, it will become difficult to complete the hoist. The bands are supposed to break without delay when the sail fills in heavier air. Since the wind was so light that day, though, the bands didn't break easily, even when it was fully hoisted.

My next job was to grab the active sheet and help Monica get it into the end of the pole while we were gybing. That went pretty well. Last, I needed to pull in the chute when we doused without letting it touch the water, get caught in anything, or tear. That was a little tricky, because I gathered it into my lap instead of shoving it right down the hatch. I hadn't realized how big it was, so that didn't go as quickly as planned. Also, the spinnaker got caught in one of the fairleads, so Alex E couldn't trim the jib, as he was supposed to, and I couldn't get the spinnaker down below. I was able to release it pretty quickly, though, with no damage to anything, and we were able to get back on track.

As we rounded X, the first marker, we eased into second place behind Bad PuddyCat and were neck-and-neck with Black Sheep, and we pretty much stayed that way throughout the race. Captain Ron on Black Sheep got ahead of us at a couple of points in the race, but we ended up going low on the last leg and beating them by under a minute. As it turned out, Wired crossed the finish line four minutes after we did but came out ahead of us on corrected time. So we took third place in the race.

The ride home was very relaxed in stark contrast to how intense the race was. We were all eating and drinking (water!) on the way back, and Stan decided to see if he could raise the spinnaker by himself. Of course, Jerry and Alex E jumped up to help him, and Monica sat back and revelled in the knowledge that it was taking three men to do the job she usually does by herself. She was very pleased.

Back at the docks, we hung out on the J for a while, drinking chardonney, eating Halloween candy, and debriefing the race. All in all, I think we did a damn good job. Coming in second behind Bad PuddyCat, which is a big, fast boat that's had the same crew racing together all summer, is nothing to sneeze at. For my first real race, this was a great experience.

Last Beer Can Race of the Season

2007-10-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night was the last beer can race of the season. Dave, Sandi, Dan, Mike, and I took out M4. We had a light wind and an ebb tide, so it was a pretty slow race.

I think we came in second, but I've been so busy since then and it's been somewhat overshadowed by the SBYRA South Bay Championship race on Saturday, so I'm not quite sure!

We did have a beautiful sunset, though...

After the race, we went to the yacht club for drinks and dinner, as usual. A few of us were invited onto Alex's boat for more drinks and just plain hanging out. What a gorgeous boat! After a while, Sergeo arrived with his guitar and sang some funny songs, and a good time was had by all.

The next day, Mike sent me this print-out from his GPS, which shows our course:

Sailing Under the Blue Angels

2007-10-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is Fleet Week in San Francisco, and about 10 of us were supposed to charter a 41' Hunter out of San Francisco on Saturday. But things got confused, and we ended up with two crews in two separate boats. I was in Fran's boat that's docked in Alameda—a 30' Hunter that was a great boat—along with Fran, Sandi, Dave, Michael, and Fran's friend Russell. Russell has at least a million years of experience sailing all over the world and knows everything there is to know about the bay, the Blue Angels, and just about anything else you might want to ask!

We sailed out of Fran's slip right on time at 10:30am and tooled around the bay for a couple of hours, trying to meet up with the SF boat our friends were on at B lossom Rock. After much ado, we did find them, but they didn't seem to want to sail in formation with us. So we went out the Golden Gate and back, up toward Angel Island, and finally settled in near Alcatraz to watch the show... along with thousands of other boats!

The Blue Angels show was impressive, as always, and a good time was had by all. Please keep in mind that I was on a moving boat while shooting this video!

Immediately after the show, there was a mass exodus like leaving a concert at Shoreline! And Russell decided that was the perfect moment for us the fly the shoot! Oh my... Without giving us novices any instruction beforehand, he just took the spinnaker up on deck and starting rigging it and shouting instructions at us... and not the clearest instructions, I might add. Sandi and I had no experience flying a spinnaker, but we did our best and got it raised. Dave was ably driving the boat, even though he had no experience with it either. Once the shoot was up, we were flying on a beam reach, hitting 8+ knots consistently with bursts of up to 10 knots. It was a great ride!

Back at the slip, it didn't take much to button up the boat, since Fran's living on it part-time and was planning to take it out the next day. So we headed up to the Pier 29 restaurant for a quick drink and chat before heading home.

Check out my Picasa web album for more still shots.

Sailing to the Wreck

2007-10-01T16:54:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, Dave and I took a Merit out for the day and had no particular destination in mind. We'd brought along sandwiches in case we didn't make a stop but thought about maybe going to Coyote Point or San Leandro, if conditions were in our favor.

It was a gorgeous, warm and sunny day... a real treat after being in cold weather for the past week. The winds were light when we left (~5 knots) and it was a flood tide, so we weren't going anywhere fast. Dave asked if I'd ever been out to the south bay wreck. I hadn't gone out there because I knew the water was really shallow around it. Dave said he'd been to it many times, so after checking the depth around the wreck on a nav chart and double-checking the tides, we headed out toward the wreck. The wind was behind us, so we got there pretty quickly. I'd seen the top of it from a distance many times, but it was cool to see it up close.

The wind had picked up by this time (maybe 18-20 knots), and we decided to go find the S, Y, and X race markers (just because we could) but only found one. After noting the positions of the race markers on a Sequoia Yacht Club racing chart the next day, I think we found S but couldn't find the other two markers. The rest of the day, we just putzed around the bay and the channel, took a side-trip to Pete's Harbor, and sailed back into the docks around 5pm. This was the most relaxing day I've had on the water yet. Thank you, Dave!

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

2007-10-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing at all to do with sailing (except missing it all week), so if you're only interested in sailing stories, skip this one. This one is about my trip to Jackson Hole, WY and visiting Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks... and it’s long!

Note: Pictures to be added soon...

Last Saturday, I flew into Jackson, WY via Denver from San Francisco and met my friend, Ron, who drove there from Sacramento. Ron and I met almost 20 years ago outside of Boston, where we both lived at the time, and we’ve been friends ever since. Interestingly enough, after several moves for both of us, we ended up living only two hours from each other on the other side of the country.

We were both pretty wiped out that first day—Ron from driving for 3+ days and me from getting up at 5am for my flight after three fairly sleepless but wonderful nights (another story for my close personal friends only!). We got some lunch in downtown Jackson at a Mexican place called Merry Piglets (which was excellent!), bought groceries for our cabin in the Jackson Whole Grocer (an organic grocery story like Whole Foods—a wonderful surprise), and headed up to Signal Mountain Lodge on Jackson Lake in Grand Tetons National Park to check in to our "lakeside retreat".

The drive north into the park was incredible, but almost as soon as I arrived, it started to rain... and kept raining and snowing for days. The mountains were beautiful along the way (at least the lower half of them that we could see below the clouds) and promised us gorgeous vistas in future days... after the rain was done.

We checked in and immediately asked about renting kayaks and taking a float trip down the Snake River, but it turns out the lodge is only open for two more weeks before closing for the winter, and all of the boat concessions had already closed. We were bummed out, because one of the reasons we stayed there was so we could walk out our front door and get right out onto the lake. We actually can walk out our front door and be on the lake, but it will be mighty cold without a boat! That night we had dinner at the Deadman’s Bar, a restaurant at our lodge, and did lots of talking to catch up with each other’s lives.

Sunday, we got up early and, after a brief photo shoot at the top of Signal Mountain (bitter cold—20s—and very windy as well as rainy) and a quick stop to check out Jackson Lake Lodge, the big, beautiful main lodge in the park, we headed up to Yellowstone National Park, about 30 miles to the north. We figured if it was going to be cold and raining/snowing, we might as well see something from the car. And see we did... We saw some elk in a field off the side of the road, Old Faithful (the trusty old geyser that erupts at predictable intervals), and a bison up close and personal! We kept getting out of the car in the rain to take pictures of stuff, and we actually hiked around the other "little" geysers at the Old Faithful site for half a mile or so in the pouring rain.

It stopped raining for half an hour or so while we waited (along with about a thousand other tourists) for Old Faithful to erupt. It was a mob scene, but very civilized and fun. The people around us were friendly, and we all joked around while waiting for the eruption. It erupted for a full 4-5 minutes... very sexual!

After the eruption, we started up the road to see more of Yellowstone but decided that we couldn’t possibly see that park in a day (try a week or two), especially on such a rainy day— and now it was snowing—so we turned around and headed back to Grand Tetons. We tried to make last-minute dinner reservations at Jackson Lake Lodge, since we’d go right by it on our way back to the cabin, but we’d have had to wait a couple of hours for a table. So we ate at our lodge again—this time at Trapper’s Grill. I ventured far beyond my usual adventurousness and ate a bison burger... and it was great!

On Monday, it rained again... big surprise. So we drove around the park a bit and looked at Jenny Lake and Jenny Lake Lodge. We couldn’t figure out any reason they should charge $425-695/night, but whatever. We thought about eating at the restaurant there, but the average price for dinner was $169... per person!!! I actually put on my glasses to make sure I wasn’t reading that wrong. That was the price. Ron thought that included a bottle of wine, but I think it was just the food. Must have been some food...

After that, we went south toward town and visited the National Museum of Wildlife Art, which was pretty interesting on a rainy day when we had nothing else to do. Ron fell asleep during the movie about the museum, so use your imagination.

Next we went into town. I was on a quest to buy elk an antler, which seems to be the big thing here. There are tons of things made from antlers (chairs, candlesticks, beds, doorways, door handles... you name it), but I wanted just a plain antler... and it had to be real, not one of those silly tourist antlers made in China! (In case you’re worried, rest assured that no animals are harmed in the process of obtaining antlers. They shed them every year and grow new ones.) I also needed to buy a carry-on suitcase. I’d packed my bag so full that I didn’t know if it would get here in one piece... and since I bought a few things here, I definitely needed more space for the trip home.

Ron loves to shop... not! I got him to shop with me long enough to find the antler and suitcase, and then we had to get a drink! We went into the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and had cocktails while sitting on real saddles atop barstools. I didn’t realize that ladies sit side-saddle until I noticed the cute girl next to me looking so, uh, lady-like on her saddle. So I changed my position and was much more comfortable!

After that, we walked around town a while more and tried to call Dave to get him to look at us on the live webcam in the town square, but he hadn’t received the link I sent him that morning. Darn it! It was pretty funny to see people walking around on that corner talking on cell phones saying "Can you see me now? Can you see me now?"

Dinner that night was at the Gun Barrel Steak and Game House. The steak and prime rib were excellent! Nothing like eating beef in beef country!

Tuesday, the skies started to clear, so we decided to get out and hike finally. We started with an easy 3-miler from Colter Bay (the northern end of Jackson Lake) to Heron Pond and Swan Lake. Both the pond and the lake were covered with lily pads. We got pretty befuddled about which way to go a couple of times, extending the hike to about 4.5 miles. It was a pretty walk but nothing to write home about.

Next, we headed south to Oxbow Bend. We’d seen spectacular pictures of fall foliage and reflections at that bend in the Snake River and wanted to do the short 1-mile hike that would give us those views. When we got there, we realized that the livestock bridge we were supposed to cross to start the hike was gone, so we couldn’t get across the river to the side with the pretty views. We hung around for a while with some other would-be hikers, shot a few pictures, and watched a couple of beautiful white birds surveying the river for their dinner. One caught a fish at one point but dropped it as he flew off.

That night we decided to eat at Jackson Lake Lodge, since we weren’t able to get in on Sunday. It was really fantastic food and we ended up with a really fantastic bill! I had Alaskan butterfish, and Ron had elk loin medallions. Think about it... What do you suppose elk loin medallions really are? :-) We saw a gorgeous sunset over the Tetons from our table and had an interesting conversation with our excellent waitress, who is in the process of getting two or three graduate degrees. So it was all worth it.

Wednesday brought us lovely weather. We decided to each do our own thing that day, since Ron wanted to climb Signal Mountain and I didn’t. I decided to go down and explore Jenny Lake. I just had to see what all the commotion was about down there... why it was so expensive... er, exclusive. (I still haven’t figured it out.) I hiked half way around Jenny Lake and part way up the trail to Inspiration Point and Cascade Falls, and then took the 10-minute shuttle boat back to my starting point for a mere $5. Later on, I spent some time looking through the pictures I’d shot so far, met up with Ron when he returned from his hike, and ate at the Dead Man’s Bar again... another bison burger for me and elk chili for Ron. We’ve been pretty adventurous with our food!

Thursday was the best weather of the week. The temperatures were well above 40° F... might have even reached 60° F in the sun at times, as long as there was no wind. It was quite a nice day for hiking. Ron actually drove up to the top of Signal Mountain before dawn (while I slept) and shot some awesome pictures of the Tetons at dawn.

Around mid-morning, a couple of hours after his return, I dropped Ron off at the southern point of Jenny Lake, where I’d been the day before, and he took the shuttle boat across and hiked up Cascade Falls, Inspiration Point, and went on to hike through Cascade Canyon. Ron wanted to do that hike after talking with a guy we met in the bar the night before who had done a 17-mile round-trip through Cascade Canyon and on to Lake Solitude. 17 miles was too far for either of us, but Ron really wanted to get into the mountains, so he went off to hike the canyon.

After dropping off Ron, I went up to the northern point of Jenny Lake and did the String Lake Loop trail, which was absolutely gorgeous! It was a gradual uphill hike for the first half, putting me right in the middle of a huge field of aspen and cottonwood trees, all bright yellow. I got some good shots of the lake and mountains with the yellow trees in the foreground. I think String Lake is the prettiest lake of them all so far.

When I finished my hike, I had a couple of hours to kill before picking up Ron, so I went to the Jenny Lake Lodge with my computer and memory cards from my cameras and asked if I could sit in their empty lounge area and use their internet. I was told in no uncertain terms that their internet is for guests only. I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have just walked in as if I owned the place and just sat down and done my thing. Oh well... Who wants to sit around with a bunch of snooty people anyway?

So I drove the 20 minutes back to Signal Lake Lodge, fiddled with my pictures, sent some email, and then drove the 20 minutes back to Jenny Lake to pick up Ron. He was wiped out! He’d done about 10 miles of hiking, some of it straight uphill... and he told me about a narrow rock ledge he had to cross. I wouldn’t have liked that at all.

We headed back to our cabin, chatted for a while, and then went to the Dead Man’s Bar for dinner... again. We’re regulars there now. We actually like quite a few things on the menu, not the least of which is their sweet potato fries. Mmmm...

Friday was a great day. We started out with breakfast in the cafe at Jackson Lake Lodge, which was excellent and not expensive! We sat at a counter and talked with the woman sitting next to us. It turned out her husband was about to give a talk at the energy conservation conference taking place in the hotel. Senators and congresspeople from all over the US were there, along with companies and organizations for and against (if you can believe that) energy conservation. We thought that would be pretty interesting, so we asked the organizers if we could stand in the back and listen, and they said yes!

The talk was about producing energy from oxy-coal and was, indeed, interesting. Throughout the whole talk, I kept thinking that this guy could really benefit by incorporating Google Earth into his presentation. The wow factor of Google Earth really helps dry talks like this make more of an impact. After the talk, I went up to the wife of the man who gave the talk and gave her my business card and asked her to give it to her husband and let him know that I can help him get into a free program at Google Earth that could help him get his message across. Of course, I hope to get some consulting work out of it. Nothing wrong with doing a little biznez on the road.

After that, we headed over to the horse corral to start our first hike of the day... a short one out to Christian Pond. After about half a mile of walking through horse crap on a really skinny trail, we arrived at the top of a hill overlooking Christian Pond. There were supposed to be swans and lots of other waterfowl there, but there was nada. We hung out at the top of the hill for about 10 minutes, and I was ready to leave. I wanted to head back to the car and head south to our next hiking destination, Lower Slide Lake. Ron had heard from a fellow hiker there were lots of buffalo out there, and we hadn’t seen enough wildlife in our travels, so I was anxious to get down there and see what we could find. But Ron was enjoying nature, so I left him there and headed back to the corral, watched the horses for a while, tried calling Emily but didn’t get a strong enough signal, text messaged Dave, and just waited.

Ron came back soon enough, and we headed down to Kelly, a town on the eastern outskirts of Grand Tetons National Park. We went through one "town" on the way that had a house that was the center of town and maybe 5 other houses in the area. I think the population must have been under 20! We got to Kelly, which wasn’t much bigger, and continued on the road out to the slide.

Lower Slide Lake was named after the landslide that created it. In 1925, an entire section of the mountain above the river slid down the mountain and took tons (literally) of boulders with it. Eyewitnesses (those who lived through it) reported that the side of the mountain slid down into the river and continued up the side of the mountain on the other side! In a matter of minutes, the river was dammed by tons of boulders, and Lower Slide Lake was formed. It's still an awesome sight!

Many of the trees and shrubs came down with the boulders, and many of them lived but grew sideways. Instead of sections of similar plants growing together, they were "transplanted" wherever they landed. So now you see a large mix of plants and trees wherever you look. The forestry service did a great job of adding interpretive signs to identify the plants in the area.

The drive down into the valley was beautiful, but the drive back, with all of the bright yellow aspins and the Tetons in the background was truly awesome. That is a beautiful area that is largely untouched and untravelled.

We got back to Signal Mountain Lodge in the late afternoon, each played with our photographs and other stuff, and eventually went to dinner at Peaks, the "nice" restaurant at our lodge. I had delicious trout, and Ron had buffalo medallions. (Guess he likes those butt cheeks. :-) )

After dinner, I started packing and realized that the antler I’d bought didn’t fit in my biggest suitcase. It never occurred to me to check until I was packing. Arrrggggg.... So I called United to ask if I could bring it on the plane as carry-on. I got someone in India, who had no idea what antlers or elk are. I spelled it for him and told him to look it up. After "consulting with his associates", he told me I would have to package and check in the antler as baggage. It was 11pm, and I had no way to do any packaging, so I reluctantly opted to have Ron take the antler home with him, since he was driving. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to give this cool gift to Dave when he picked me up at the airport. Bummer...

On Saturday morning, we got up bright and early... uh, dark and early (5:45am) and headed to the airport. On the way, Ron encouraged me to take the antler in and ask a security person if there was any way I could bring it with me. He pointed out that lots of people must bring them back from Jackson, since they’re such a prominent thing in the area. He said he’d wait for me outside, and if they refuse, I could always bring it back out to the car, so I decided to take his advice and give it a try. I asked a TSA supervisor, and she said yes! She called the supervisor at the security checkpoint and let her know I’d be coming through. Cool beans.

Just then, Ron showed up with my bags, and we both went to the check-in kiosk to check in my bags. At that point, I was in good shape, I thought, so Ron took off to start his 1300-mile drive home. Checking my bags went fairly smoothly, and then I got in the LOOOONNNNNGGGGG security line. This tiny little airport had three large, jam-packed flights all leaving at 7:40am and only one security line. By now it was 7:20, and I heard the announcement that my flight was boarding.

I got through the line at 7:35 and thought I was going to make it, but they pulled aside my antler (which was now loosely wrapped in my filthy jeans and then in a large paper shopping bag) and called the supervisor over. Fortunately, she was the one who had gotten the call about the antler, so she was ready. I told her my flight would be leaving in 5 minutes and asked if I could just take it like that. She said "Oh no, we need to wrap this better" and went off to help another customer! I kept reminding her that my flight was leaving in 3 minutes, but she just told me I needed to calm down. Hm. Eventually, she rewrapped my jeans around the antler and taped them together with certified TSA security tape and then wrapped the paper bag around that and taped that. I’m sure no one could get that antler out now, and certainly no one could be hurt with it. Sure, uh-ha. Amazing.

At 7:45 (5 minutes after my flight’s scheduled departure), I raced to the gate and made it onto the plane! I stored the wrapped and taped antler in the overhead bin, and finally sat down and took a deep breath. I was headed home...

Another Beer Can

2007-09-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well, this week I finally learned the truth (I think) about why beer can races are so named... because the markers we race around are kegs, aka beer cans. Duh. I never realized those aren't regular markers until I bought a nav chart of the bay and couldn't find the racing markers on it. Oh well... now I know.

The beer can race this past Wednesday was fun. Dave chartered a boat and took Sandi and me as his crew. When we got to the docks around 4:30pm, we had 38-knot winds... at the docks! That's 2.5 miles inland from the bay, and the winds are always stronger in the bay. Chris, the race director, decided on course 3, the shortest of the courses -- out to marker 3 and back -- only 5 miles or so round-trip. He almost cancelled the race but, in the end, told us all to go out at our own risk and come back safely.

We went out and putzed around in the channel for a while, having some fun tacking around in the high winds with only the main sail up, talking and laughing and having fun. After a while, we realized that the rest of the boats actually did sail up the channel and appeared to be doing the race. We'd missed the start by at least 20 minutes, but we headed up the channel anyway to see what the wind was like further out.

As we got closer to the bay, the winds got lighter... maybe 20 knots by the time we reached the bay. By that time, most of the boats were starting to come back in, and since we weren't racing anyway, we tacked and headed back in as well. The wind had really died down in the channel by then... maybe 10-15 knots. We could have raced. Oh well...

Sandi was trying out my camera, because she's thinking of buying one like it. She got a few good shots, which I've included in this post.

The dinner back at the yacht club that night was pheasant, duck, squab (pidgeon), and other exotic birds! It was a benefit for the youth sailing program. Most of the food was dry and not that tasty, but we all tried it all anyway. Another fun evening out sailing............

This week's sailing adventures

2007-09-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

This was my first full week off from work, and I was busier than I was when I was working full-time! I planned a lot of catch-up tasks into my week and, of course, sailing.

Wednesday night was beer can racing, as usual. Since it's getting dark earlier these days, they've pushed up the start time to 5:30pm. I got there at 5pm, and half of the Merits had left already! So I hitched a ride on Smokin' J, which I was actually pretty happy about. Victor was our skipper, and it was a smooth ride. We were neck and neck with Ron's new boat, Black Sheep, most of the way, and it was really fun to watch the crew on a short, wide boat that was totally open in the back. Other than that, the race was uneventful. We came in about the middle of the pack, but we beat Iowa, our main rival, and about 6 other big boats. It was fun, as always.

On Saturday, Norbert organized an all-day sail with me and a guy named Mike from the Sailmates crew list. We started out around 11am and headed straight for the bridge, hoping to make it to Coyote Point and back. It was a beautiful mostly sunny day with light NW winds and high slack on the way out. It was slow going because of the head winds and shifting current but very pleasant sailing.

As we got close to the San Mateo Bridge, Norbert headed to the east of the midspan, then tacked and headed northwest to just below the tower on the western side of the span, and then tacked and headed northeast again right between the tower and the western piling of the midspan. We had about 15 feet on each side of the boat, and if the current changed unexpectedly or Norbert made one wrong move, we could have smashed into either the tower or the piling. But Norbert was great at the helm and passed directly in the middle. Nice!

We made it under the bridge with only 3 tacks around 1:30pm. When we got a little north of the bridge, we decided to head over to Coyote Point, even though we'd get back later than we thought. We'd been wanting to go for a long time, and no one else had a curfew besides me, so we went for it.

SIDEBAR: I had promised Dave I'd be back by 5pm and go sailing with him again after he finished teaching his class. I knew he'd understand, though... more about that later.

We headed northwest and started looking for markers. We knew we had to pass both markers 8 and 8A before we turned west into the harbor, but we weren't quite sure which came first. When the wave action calmed down a bit, I went below and got out my trusty paper chart of the bay (which is now waterlogged and needs to be replaced... again... got to get a laminated chart one of these days). We could see a marker, and Norbert wanted to cut through outside the channel a bit. I warned him that there was a shoal and all sorts of debris from the bridge outside the channel, not to mention it's known for being shallow right there. I convinced him to get close enough to the marker for us to at least see if it was 8 or 8A, and sure enough, it was 8. He cut through a bit but not much, and there was no problem.

Coming into the marina was interesting. We decided to take down the sails and motor in, since we didn't really know what to expect. We did have a map of the docks and knew roughly where the guest dock was, so I took the helm, started the engine, and Norbert and Mike took down the sails. After maneuvering around a bit, we docked and headed for land around 3pm. It was way past our lunchtime!

If you'd like to see the course we followed in Google Earth, download the following files. Then double-click each file to open it in Google Earth. After opening the files in Google Earth, select Sailing to Coyote Point - September 15, 2007 and then select Play from the Tools menu.

M6 at the dock (placemark)

Marker 8A (placemark)

Marker 8 (placemark)

Guest Dock at Coyote Point (placemark)

Sailing to Coyote Point - September 15, 2007 (path)

The Coyote Point Yacht Club is very nice! We went in and used the restrooms and looked around a bit. The bar is upstairs and has a great view of the marina and the bay. I'd like to go there sometime and just hang out.

We'd brought a picnic lunch with us, not knowing what we'd find there or if we'd even make it to land for lunch, so we found a picnic table and enjoyed our picnic lunch. The managers of the yacht club were very hospitable and gave us a key to get on and off the dock... no dock fees, deposits, or anything. Very nice people...

Around 4pm, I called Spinnaker and left a message for Dave with Mike that I was headed back from Coyote Point and would be late... probably around 6pm instead of 5pm. Leaving the marina was easy, and we headed back out to marker 8. After rounding 8, we set the sails to wing-and-wing and surfed our way back to Redwood City. Surprisingly, we didn't get back to the channel until around 6:30pm. We had the wind behind us the whole way and the tide was flooding, so who knows why it took so long.

Anyway, as we entered the channel, we saw three Merits coming out and realized that it was Spinnaker's Saturday evening cruise. Then we noticed a 4th Merit coming up the channel toward us with Dave single-handing it! He was coming out to meet me! How fun... I was very impressed!

After kidding around a bit about me jumping over to his boat (not!) and throwing him a bottle of water, we all headed back to the docks. As soon as we tied up, we went over to grab Dave's lines and give him a hand docking his boat. Norbert stayed and help Dave button up his boat, and Mike and I buttoned up ours. Dave and I actually met up later and had a nice dinner together with live music in downtown Mountain View. What a great day!

Page, Arizona (not sailing)

2007-09-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

I've decided that since I'm taking 3 months off from work and doing a lot of travelling as well as sailing, I'm going to blog my travels here as well, even if I'm not sailing (and I will be sailing on some of my travels). So this article is about my recent 3-day trip to Page, Arizona.

I've seen pictures of Antelope Canyon and have been wanting to go there for years. It's in Page, Arizona, which is right in the middle of the Grand Circle. As it turns out, I've been to all of the other sites on the Grand Circle on several other trips to the Southwest and hadn't even realized it! So, on this trip, I was able to complete the circle. :-)

I started out at 5:30am, made a quick stop at my local ATM on my way to the airport, and (although I didn't know it until I arrived in Page) left my ATM card in the ATM. Fortunately, I called the bank as soon as I realized I'd left it there. The ATM had eaten it when I didn't remove it, and they held it for me until I got back. Phew!

Page turned out to have much more to do than just the canyon. Lake Powell, which was formed when the Glen Canyon Dam was built in the late 50s, is a gorgeous lake, and the Colorado River is always beautiful. I'd been to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam outside of Las Vegas many years ago, so I decided to check out this dam on my first afternoon in town, since I had nothing planned.

The dam is awesome! It's taller than Hoover Dam, and the tour I joined (free, I might add, thanks to our tax dollars) took us down into the dam and to the power plant in the bottom. It was a really interesting tour that included information about how the dam was built in a 700-foot deep canyon, how the town of Page appeared on the map, and what's going on with the dam and the town now.

When I got back to my B&B, I was telling the owner that I'd seen the pontoon boats on the river below the dam and wished I had time to go on one of the float trips. She picked up the phone and, within 5 minutes, I was scheduled for a float trip on my last day in town. Thanks, Bev!

That night I was exhausted from a couple of crazy busy weeks with family visiting from out of town, hosting a big BBQ in a park for my family in honor of my grandson's 2nd birthday, and finishing up my last few weeks at Google. So I went to bed early and was asleep by 8pm!

The next day was my long anticipated visit to Antelope Canyon. Eight strangers and myself met at the tour office in downtown Page and were taken in a 4-wheel drive truck out to the canyon around 11:30am—just in time to see the shaft of light streaming down into the canyon. Since the canyon is very narrow, about 1/4 mile long, and 130 feet deep, the sun only shines into the canyon around noon. It was just as amazing as all of the pictures I've seen.

We had to fight the crowds to get pictures of the rock walls without people in them. I really wish I could go there when there aren't so many crowds. I thought on a weekday not in the summer, it wouldn't be a problem. But I saw more people in that canyon than I'd seen in the whole town!

Our tour guide was great, though, about pointing out the best shots and herding the people around the corner and behind rocks to keep them out of our pictures. I did get a few great shots.

On my last day in town, I had to get up at 6am and be out of the house by 6:30 to meet up at the float trip tour guide's office downtown at 6:45. It was a great group of people - mostly photographers at some level, some professionals. We were taken down to the dam and then through a tunnel that goes right through the dam to the bottom where the Glen Canyon section of river begins.

Interestingly, we had to put all of our bags, backpacks, etc on a separate truck while we rode the two miles through the dam in the bus. I guess the security regulations since 9/11 require that. I'm not sure if they want any bombs or whatever to go separately or what. There were no xray machines or anything like that. We just had to go separately from our stuff. Also, when we got off the bus at the bottom of the dam, we had to wear hardhats on our short walk down to the river. I guess that's in case of falling rocks. I'm not sure a hardhat would save me, if one of those big boulders came careening down the side of the canyon, but whatever...

We boarded the pontoons and started our float trip down the Colorado. The river trip was lovely... very calm water, only used the motor occasionally, and got to see a lot of beautiful scenery. We floated down through Glen Canyon, Marble Canyon, and ended up at Lee's Ferry, the beginning of the Grand Canyon near Vermillion Cliffs. It was very relaxing and a lovely way to spend my last day in the area.

From Lee's Ferry, we had a one-hour bus trip back to Page, where I ate lunch, packed up my things, and flew back to San Francisco via Phoenix. All in all it was a wonderful quick trip. Please check out the rest of my images from this trip on Picasa.

Labor Day Sail Out of SF on a 34' Catalina

2007-09-05T08:47:00.001-07:00

This was my best day of sailing yet! Six of us met at pier 40 in San Francisco at 10am on Labor Day and, after a quick coffee run, motored out in a 34' Catalina that Jean was kind enough to charter, since she's a member at Spinnaker SF. We had pristine SF weather... mid-70s, bright sun, with around 10-15 knot winds mostly out of the northeast.

I'm going to keep the words to a minimum, because I shot a lot of pictures, and you know the saying...

Our course was wherever we felt like going. Everyone wanted to go under the Golden Gate Bridge, so we headed north under the western span of the Bay Bridge and then out the Gate. It wasn't nearly as rough as I thought, which was great. When we passed under the bridge, we all howled on Norbert's queue and made a loud echo! Who knew...

Next we all got hungry, so we sailed around Marin and up to Sausalito, where we docked and had lunch at a nice little cafe on the water. That was a short stop, and off we went to sail around Tiburon, through Racoon straights, and around Angel Island. The back side of Angel Island is known for lack of wind, so we had to motor through for a few minutes. We passed a small sailboat without a motor, and one person was actually rowing with a paddle!

I wanted to get close to Alcatraz, so we sailed past the gate (which was funky with all the wind shifts and gusts) and around Alcatraz. Then we turned toward the cityscape and sailed along the SF waterfront, rounded Treasure Island, and passed under the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, where we could see the new bridge being built. By then, it was almost 8pm, so we headed back to the marina at pier 40, pumped out the head, motored back to our slip, and buttoned up the boat.

It doesn't get any better than this! If you'd like to see more pictures of this fantastic day, go to my Picasa web album.

My First Win!!!

2007-08-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last night was my first beer can race win! I was hoping I'd win at least once this season, and I was able to pull it off after a really great start to the day.

First, a bit of non-sailing fun... This is my last week at Google, after contracting there for a year. Google requires contractors to leave for at least 3 months after being there a year, so I'm taking 3 months off, will travel some, and hope to do a LOT of sailing. Yesterday was my send-off lunch, which was great. I couldn't believe how many friends I've made there this year, and I hope to be back there working with them again in December.

Anyway, I decided to schedule a bike conference for 6 Googlers and myself, since I'd never tried the conference bike and wanted to before I left. So around 1:30, we went over and commandeered the bike, thanks to Mike who remembered the lock combination and John who agreed to drive. We took it down to the entrance to Shoreline Park and back around the long way and had a blast! People driving by gave us odd looks and raised their cell phones to shoot pictures of us as we passed by. What a hoot!

Ok, back to sailing... Later in the afternoon, I showed up at Spinnaker for beer can racing and discovered that only two Merits were scheduled to race. I was in Dave's boat, M5, with Sandi, John, and John, and GP was in M1 with one crew member. I've sailed with GP (see video in "Racing with GP, Kerry, and Dave" on a previous date), and he's a very serious racer, so of course I wanted to beat his boat!

We crossed the starting line exactly on time - 6:02:58. (Later, GP told us the new start time was 6:03:01 and that we had crossed the starting line too early, but we won fair and square anyway.) We raced out to the Y marker with M1 close behind us. The course was relatively unremarkable, except for the huge waves battering us around.

When we got close to the marker, I was at the helm, and Dave instructed me to go 100 yards past the marker before tacking. I didn't understand why we should go so far beyond the marker before turning and uttered a few expletives (shocking the crew I might add, adding a bit of levity to the situation) to express my feeling that we should round the marker as soon as we pass it rather than going 100 yards out of our way. Dave explained about how the current and wind would be better 100 yards out, but in the end I rounded close to the marker and headed back to the channel. Dave later told me that was the right decision after all. Heh, heh, heh...

After splashing through the big waves again for a while, we got back to the channel and kept a watchful eye on M1, as they were gaining on us the whole time. At one point, they were about two boat lengths behind us, and we thought they were going to pass us on the high side, which would have not only meant losing the race to them in the final stretch but losing the wind as they passed... the little wind we had, which was about 5 knots, if that.

We decided to go wing-and-wing part way down the channel, which was a good idea, because we gained a little speed. Just as Sandi was saying something about wishing M1 would blow a halyard or something, they went aground! Oh my god, Sandi is so powerful!

We watched for a minute to see if they'd get free right away and saw them start their engine. I wanted to press on, figuring they'd be fine with their engine on and lots of big boats coming down the channel with radios, etc. But Dave, nice guy that he is, wanted to go back and make sure they were ok. So we tacked and headed back. Just as we did, they got loose and started heading toward us, so we jibed (gybed?) and continued the race. At this point, we knew we'd won, because they'd started their engine. We were pleased.

At the apres sailing dinner, we were presented with the coveted plastic beer glass with the yacht club insignia. Sandi and I were the only crew members left by then, and she said I could take it home and she'll get the next one. I'll display it in a prominent place in my home and think of this fun race whenever I use it.

A bunch of us have a 39' Beneteau reserved for an all-day sail out of San Francisco this Monday, Labor Day, so tune in after that for more news.

Cheeseburger Regatta - August 25, 2007

2007-08-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

The biggest fun race of the year was last Saturday. It was all Merit 25s, so there were no handicaps. There was a boat lottery, and we were assigned to boats with crews arranged by Mike at Spinnaker. My skipper on M2 was Kerry, who I'd raced with a couple of weeks ago. Also on our boat were my friend Sandi, Norbert (a BCC classmate), and Heli (who none of us knew but she'd just finished BKS).

As soon as we raised the sails, Heli informed us that she'd torn a huge hole in her pants and that we'd be getting to know her really well really fast! Sandi had some duct tape and took Heli down below to "patch her up". You can see the result of Sandi's handywork in this picture.

We got out to the starting line before anyone else and started timing drills... tacking back and forth to see how long it takes to tack and get back to the starting line. That way, we were able to time our start and pass the line right on time... which we did... exactly on time. We quickly took the lead and were so far ahead of all the other boats at one point that we couldn't imagine we'd take anything less than first place. Keep reading...

The course was to round marker 2 at the end of the channel, round marker 11 right in front of the main span of the San Mateo Bridge, round marker 2 again, and be the first boat back to the marina. After we rounded marker 2, still in the lead, we headed toward the main span of the bridge and noticed that M4 was heading almost directly east. We couldn't understand what they were doing, but we had plenty of wind, an ebb tide, and were speeding toward the bridge, so we didn't really care.

All went well as we kept heading up toward the eastern span of the bridge to take advantage of the ebb. We notice a boat much further west than us, heading for the western span of the bridge and thought it was M4 taking a different course. (We didn't find out until the race was over that that was M1, and M4 was way behind us.)

We were pretty confident that we could maintain the lead... until... we got close to the bridge and tacked about 110 degrees to head directly for the mid-span and hit a dead spot. We had NO wind at all! We were seriously dead in the water and couldn't move for what seemed like an eternity but was probably a minute or two. We turned in different directions, trying to catch any little breeze, but nada. Finally, we drifted out of the dead spot and caught a little wind and started to move.

Meanwhile, the boat we thought was M4 had rounded the marker and was heading back to 2. We rounded the marker next and headed down, setting up wing-and-wing sails, just as the boat in front of us had done. We watched them the whole way back to see what they were doing, and then followed suit, if they seemed to be moving faster. There was very little wind at all... maybe 4-6 knots, so we were trying to capture any small advantage we could.

When we got close to marker 2, we noticed the boat in the lead was fiddling with their spinnaker pole and trying to shift their jib to the port side to prepare for a beam reach down the channel. They lost a little time while they were fiddling... time we gained on them as our sail change was flawless. Thank you, Kerry!

We chased that first boat all the way down the channel and gained on them every step of the way. We crossed the finish line second by only about 4 boat lengths. Pretty good, since they'd timed us out at marker 11, and we were 3 minutes behind them at that point. If the race had been another half mile long, we might have won!

It was a really good race, though, and we all had a blast! At the BBQ afterwards, our crew and a few others decided to charter a "big boat" together on Labor Day and have a nice leisurely sail together.

Stay tuned for more postings soon.........

Racing the J/29

2007-08-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

All summer, I've been sailing and racing Merits with a Santana mixed in once. I'd been wanting to get on bigger boats and finally did last Wednesday... the coveted racing boat, Smokin' J!

I'd connected with Stan on the Sailmates crew list earlier in the summer and met him a few times on the docks and at the apres sailing drinks and dinner festivities, but I'd never gotten to sail with him. Finally, he skippered the J/29 this past week and selected me as one of his crew members. What a wild ride!

Rather than try to describe the experience myself, I've posted Stan's post-race crew debriefing here, because I couldn't have said it better myself.

"Conditions were challenging on Aug 15, with weather data for SF airport showing wind speed of 24 mph and gusts to 35 mph at 6 pm. My GPS shows we covered 14.6 miles (9.5 mile course, plus distance to the start line and extra distance tacking) at an average speed of 5.7 kts with a top speed of 8.7 kts. Victor saw higher speeds on his GPS. I was very pleased with the effort of every crew member to accomplish efficient tacks, gybes and sail changes while we were crashing through steep waves and heeling at extreme angles. I can only remember one other race that crew on the bow were submerged under green water (Monica did a great job holding on and smiling even as she was alternately air borne and submerged!). Smokin' J seemed to come alive once we got the sail trim balanced. She was responsive to featherweight pressure on the helm, and sliced through waves going upwind like a race horse. (There was surprisingly little hobbyhorse motion). Downwind, we surfed under the main alone prior to the start while changing sails, and several times during the downwind legs the warp drive kicked in. What a night!"

This was a big challenge for me, because it was the biggest boat I'd crewed on yet, had somewhat different rigging, much larger sails, and the wind and sea conditions were rougher than I'd ever experienced. I'd been used to (read: spoiled by) a roller furling jib, but we had to rig the jib by hand... and then change to a smaller jib, as well as double-reef the main, when we got out in the bay and realized we were way over-powered. I loved it, though! It was a really fun time, and the crew was great! We even got a chance to relax and get to know each other a bit on the last leg of the race, when we were speeding down the channel with perfect sail trim.

The same crew will race the J again next week, with a couple more crew added for weight. I'll be sure to post my experience after that race... and look for another post after the Cheeseburger Regatta on August 25!

Racing with GP, Kerry, and Dave

2007-08-18T18:51:00.001-07:00

One Wednesday night, I got to Spinnaker and was told I was on Howard's boat (one of the Spinnaker instructors I'd sailed with before). My buddy, Dave, caught me on the dock and said come sail with us! So I ditched Howard and crew (sorry Howard!) and went off to get M1 ready with Dave, GP, and Kerry.

GP and Kerry are serious about racing. We trimmed those sails perfectly, and it paid off! We passed the starting line along with four other Merits and were quickly in first place with two other boats only a few feet behind us. We sailed neck-and-neck all the way out of the channel, hugging the red markers on the left to keep M3 from passing us upwind. Somehow, they did get ahead of us, though, just before we got to the S marker.

Now we were in between two other boats in a staggered pattern, all on a port tack, and needed to tack left, keeping the marker on the port side. We were locked in, and none of us could tack until the last boat in line tacked. So we kept on going!

After a few minutes, the boat in front told us (because we were all within speaking distance) that they were going to tack. We noticed that the boat behind us was falling off, so we told them we were going to tack, too, and the first two boats started tacking. When the third boat saw us tacking, they changed their minds and tacked, too! But there wasn't enough space between them and us, and their bow collided with our transom and swept past our engine. It was a light tap -- no damage -- but both boats were disqualified from the race because of it. Damn it!

After that tack, we didn't lose much time. In fact, fairly quickly we regained the lead. Our sail trim must have been perfect, because we got so far ahead of the other boats that there was no way we could lose the race. If only we hadn't been disqualified! Our crew knows we won, so it doesn't matter that we didn't get credit for winning.

Here's a very short movie of the race:

The other boats are so far behind us you can hardly see them!

Racing(?) on a Santana 22

2007-08-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've been Beer Can Racing every Wednesday night since BCC. One race night, all of the Merits were spoken for, so Dave (one of the Spinnaker instructors), my friend Sandi, and I took out a Santana 22. The winds were really light, and it was just plain silly out there. It took us forever to make the course, and we came in way behind all the other boats, even though our handicap allowed us to leave the starting line ahead of everyone else.

I was at the helm on the way back, and Dave took down the sails in the channel and wouldn't let me start the engine. He had me sail in "by pole"! Never heard of that? Neither had I! It means that we sailed in with no sails and no engine. That means we had no power! Oddly enough, I was able to take it in all the way to the dock that way... escruciatingly slow! It did make that last boring part of the trip more interesting, though. Thanks for that experience, Dave!

A glorious day of sailing!

2007-08-18T17:59:00.001-07:00

After BCC, we were required to go out sailing with our classmates with no instructor on board before skippering a boat on our own. Norbert, Noel, Gary, and I happily arranged an outing a couple of weeks later and had a great day out on the water.

It was a gorgeous day... bright sunshine without a cloud in the sky, about 80 degrees on the water, about 12-knot winds, and low slack conditions, making it an ideal day for sailing. We got out of the channel and all looked at each other and said "Where should we go?" Since no one had any particular destination in mind, I suggested that we go try to find the S marker out near the San Mateo Bridge. Did any of us have a chart indicating the locations of the markers? No. But we went off on our S marker hunt anyway.

I remembered in some of the races that people said to count 6 towers to the east of where the bridge hits land on the eastern span. We did that and headed for that sixth tower. We sailed and sailed and sailed and got very close to the bridge but never found that S marker. We found some other markers that we later identified as X and possibly Y, but no S. (I now have a chart of the bay that I keep in my sailing duffel and have it with me at all times!)

Since it was still early and we all wanted to stay out longer, we decided to be brave and go under the bridge. We followed the south side of the bridge west to the mid-span, since we were pretty far east by this time. I'd been at the helm most of the morning, so I handed the tiller off to Norbert to take us under the bridge. He did a spectacular job of lining us up and getting us through with only 4-5 tacks.

On the north side of the bridge, we decided to try to find markers 8 and 8a and maybe go to Coyote Point, which we'd heard was a fun destination in the south bay. What am I saying? It's the only destination in the south bay besides our home base! We sailed north for another hour or two, munching on the crackers and hummus and drinking the sodas that Noel brought. Nice touch, Noel! We were loving the unusually warm weather and mild conditions out on the bay.

We never did make it to Coyote Point, because I had plans later that afternoon and was already going to be an hour or two late. So we headed back under the bridge -- piece of cake going south -- and back to the Redwood City channel. We even rigged the sails wing-and-wing for a while on the way back.

The next day, I plotted our course on Google Earth. (Yes, this is where the geekiness comes into play.) If you'd like to see where we went, you can download my KML files below. Download them all, if you want to see all of the placemarks and our course. If you just want to see our course, only download the last one.

M7 at the dock (placemark)

Redwood City Channel (placemark)

Eastern South Bay (placemark)

San Mateo Bridge (placemark)

North of the Bridge (placemark)

Our Course (path)

After you download these files, double-click each one to launch Google Earth and play these files.

Note: You must have Google Earth installed on your computer to play these files. You can download Google Earth free!

Basic Coastal Cruising

2007-08-18T17:25:00.001-07:00

My BKS certification allowed me to crew on boats up to 20' (22' at Spinnaker) in moderate wind and sea conditions in familiar locations. I decided I wanted to know more about the boats, navigation, tides, currents, weather conditions, and to be able to skipper a larger boat, not just crew. So I signed up for Basic Coastal Cruising (BCC) classes in July.

I walked in the first day and discovered that Leslie Waters was my instructor again! I was in for some tough love again. By now, I'd run into Leslie a couple of times at club events and knew that all that yelling out on the water was nothing personal. He just wanted me to learn... and learn I did.

BCC was great! We had a great group of people in our class and had a really good time out on the water. Not only did we spend all of our time in the south bay (not in the channel, as we did in BKS), but we went under the San Mateo Bridge and north. That was quite an experience! Because of the strong currents under the bridge, you have to tack 4-5 times to avoid hitting the pilings just to get through. After we got through, Leslie put me at the helm and went down below for a while. "Just stay on course, Cheryl!" Ok...

Leslie came back up and shot these photos of us on the return trip.
Before BCC, I was terrified to get up on deck while the boat was moving. I had challenged my fear to the point where I could stand up by the mast, holding on for dear life, while we were in the channel and the boat was completely horizontal. But Leslie made me reef the main out in choppy water in the bay, heeling at about a 45-degree angle. Everyone cheered for me when I was able to do it! Since then, I'm much more comfortable walking around up on deck... not completely! But I'll go up there and do what needs to be done now without hesitation.

I passed BCC with flying colors on July 22, 2007.

Beer Can Racing

2007-08-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Once I'd finished BKS, I wanted more experience and wanted to get out of the channel and into the bay for some "real" sailing. Also, I figured out that the more often I sailed, the better I got at it, and the more relaxed I was about the whole experience. That's when I discovered Beer Can Racing on Wednesday nights.

Someone told me that Sequoia Yacht Club and Spinnaker Sailing jointly sponsor these races every Wednesday night. I just had to call in and sign up, and they put me on a boat with an instructor. I could crew free of charge, learn more about sailing, and have some fun out on the water. Sounded good to me!

The person who told me about this race said that the yacht club ties beer cans to the docks and buoys, and we have to race around and pick them up. They said that the boat with the most beer cans at the end of the race is the winner. I believed this story. Hmm...

As you can imagine, it turns out that's not true. It's a real race, and the boat that crosses the finish line first wins. The only beer involved is in the yacht club after the race! In fact, the yacht club opens their bar and dining hall to all racers after the race, where we can trade sailing stories and revel in comraderie after the race. They even present prizes (like plastic beer steins and caps) to winners, losers, boats with the most pick-ups, and anything else that strikes them at the time. A wonderful time is had by all who attend.

I started racing every week and haven't looked back!

Basic Keelboat Sailing

2007-08-18T16:36:00.001-07:00

In April, 2007, I took a BKS class at Spinnaker Sailing in Redwood City, CA. We sailed 22' Santanas on Saturday and Sunday of two weekends in a row. Mornings were spent in the classroom, and afternoons out on the water. We stayed in the channel the whole time, so the winds were relatively light, and the water was flat.

The on-the-water part was much harder than I thought. I've been working out with a trainer at the gym for almost 5 years and have pretty good upper-body strength. But 3-4 hours of pulling ropes was more than I was used to. I went home after each class sore and tired, thinking I wouldn't go back.

Leslie Waters was my instructor, and he's very tough. He teaches more than the class level requires and makes you get it right. I now realize I learned a tremendous amount from Leslie, but it was tough going during the classes.

On the third day (the Saturday of the second weekend), I was exhausted and driving home when I checked my phone messages and discovered that my sister was in the hospital with a compression fracture in her spine. Needless to say, I missed the test the next day and didn't get certified.

After spending the next two weeks with family and getting my sister through surgery and finally back home, I went back and took the BKS test with Doug, another instructor at Spinnaker, and passed with flying colors.

I decided I needed to get some experience before taking the next level class, so I joined the sailing club at Spinnaker, got on some sailing crew lists, and let people know that I'm available to crew any weekend. I actually got some invitations right away and started crewing on Merit 25s with more experienced folks. That got me started with recreational sailing, and I discovered that it's much easier to just go out and sail than anything I ever did in my class. That class prepared me very well, and I was really starting to enjoy sailing.

Introduction

2007-08-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

I've loved all sorts of boating and water sports all my life. I spent a lot of time on a friend's boat last summer and missed it when we stopped hanging out together. So I decided to get serious about sailing this year and started my first sailing lessons in April, 2007. Well, not my first lessons... I took lessons once a week for a whole summer at Shoreline Lake about 12 years ago. Those were 17-foot daysailers that could be handled by one or two people. It was lame compared to what I'm doing now.

Anyway, I'm a writer, a photographer, and somewhat of a geek, and I've been wanting to do a blog for a long time but never felt like I had anything to say. Now I do! This blog is my sort of journal of my sailing experiences. Unfortunately, I've been really busy all summer and haven't had time to start it until now. So I'll have to back up a bit to the spring and then catch up to the present.