Tuesday, December 02, 2008

General Log, March 8, 2008 -

September 4-5 - Encinal Yacht Club Commodore's Cruise to Coyote Point.  Nice sail down to a great Saturday party and really relaxing Sunday morning in Indian Summer weather.  Great sail back, neck and neck with Steve Waterloo's Cal 40 Azure. 

July 13 - Sail around Angel Island with friend Batu and with Jim. Sailed beautifully with two reefs and a reef in the jib in winds hitting 28 knots.

June 14-15 -
Women's cruise at EYC. Sailed on Saturday, spent the night at the club docks, and returned to slip on Sunday.

June 25 - Deborah Stern becomes sole owner of Spindrift, buying out Jim Williams, who is buying a Cabo Rico 36 in Annapolis.

March 8-9 - Motored over to the St. Francis Yacht Club for a club cruise. Dinner at Teatro Zinzanni. Breakfast on the docks.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

General Log, May 11, 2007 - September 3, 2007

September1-3 - Sailed down the coast to Half Moon Bay (actually motored since there was no wind) for the Labor Day weekend. Nice trip. Discovered anchor light and tri-color light on mast did not work. Motored back to Alameda (little wind). The Perkins performed beautifully, and we had a good chance to test out our radar and chartplotter on the trip as well as use our motor and dinghy for the first time in over a year. For more go to my homepage (Sep 13, 2007).





July 22 - Day sail to Raccoon Strait. 19-20 knot winds. Beautiful sail across the back side of the slot and an even more beautiful sail back again. A crystal clear, gorgeous day of San Francisco Bay, but I forgot my camera.



July 21 - Day sail in the south bay. Moderate winds, very choppy. Tired so didn't stay out long.



July 7 - Deborah's son Jason went out with us for a nice afternoon sail in the south bay. He was at the helm almost the entire time and quickly picked up the feeling for keeping her on course and not over-correcting in gusts. We had a great time and ended the day with a nice dinner at the club.



July 4 - Took Spindrift out for a three hour sail today. Found a really nice, comfortable breeze in the south bay, and reached back and forth for an hour or so. Lost the wind coming down the estuary, and it got very hot. But got the sails down easily, brought her into the berth perfectly, and put her to bed quickly and went up to the Encinal Yacht Club's July 4th BBQ and pool party. This was great fun, too.



June 23-24 - Deb and I took Spindrift out for an afternoon sail on Saturday. We had a little wind, but it was pretty disappointing. We motored most of the time and never made it out of the south bay. We did use the autopilot and get used to it. On Sunday we left the dock a bit earlier and sailed up to Angel Island, past Tiburon, across the bay to the city front, and back down to Alameda. We had good wind, sailing the first leg from Treasure Island to Angel Island with two reefs in the main and a reefed jib. We shook out the reefs behind Angel Island, let autopilot guide us while we had lunch in very light wind, and then went on with full sails. Deb took us across the bay, and when the winds picked up to 17 or 18 knots apparent, she was thrilled at how well Spindrift handled. It was a really nice day on the bay.



June 16-17 - Deb took Spindrift across the bay to the Corinthian Yacht Club for the Encinal's All-Women's Cruise. Two other boats went - Kismet, an Alden 44, and Music, a Nordic 45 - altogether three of the nicest boats in the club's sailing fleet. First time she's ever taken the boat out without me aboard. She had a crew of three other women, and they all had a wonderful time.





































May 19-20 - Sailed to the Pt. San Pablo Yacht Club with fellow cruisers from the Encinal Yacht Club cruising group. Stopped at got fuel on the way (15 gallons), and had a nice reach up in light winds up past Angel Island to the Richmond Reach. Going down the Richmond reach we hit 7.5 knots. Had a chance to get basic familiarity with new chartplotter.



The club gathering was a great success. Returned on Sunday, and practiced putting in and taking reefs in the main. With one reef in the main and four-five turns in the jib, she hit 9.9 knots across the Slot between Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge. Deb is thrilled because Spindrift is so stable. The rig is tuned so much better than it was before, and the lines are really easy to work! We are very satisfied with the results of our refit.



May 18 - Ron Jones of Star Marine went out with us to calibrate our instruments and autopilot. Unfortunately, his minion forgot to make the SeaTalk connection between the instruments, autopilot, and chart plotter, so we'll have to go out again.



May 11 - We brought Spindrift back to her slip today. Spent the next several days cleaning her up for our first sail next weekend.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

General Log, September - December 2006

October 29 - Began refit work on Spindrift, which will lay her up into next year. See maintenance log.

October 21-22 -
Went on the EYC's Commodore's Cruise-out to the San Rafael Yacht Club. Departed at 08:30 on Saturday and filled up on diesel fuel at the Jack London Fuel Dock (24.003 gallons for $70.30). Expected no wind, so left the mainsail cover on and the jib sheets bagged at the foredeck. As it turned out a nice 10+ knot offshore breeze came up about the time we came to the east end of Angel Island. Some of the other boats in our fleet rolled out their jibs, but we motored the entire way up. It was probably the most beautiful clear day on the bay we've ever experienced. The offshore breeze was warm, making it all seem like we were in the Caribbean.

We arrived at the mouth of Santa Rosa Creek with the high tide, and motored up to the yacht club. The docks were already filling up with the 24 boats from EYC. We tried to back into a med-tie spot on the docks, but with the wind, current, and our strong prop walk, we just couldn't get her lined up. I thought we'd mastered this, but clearly we've got to go out a practice backing in order to get more control. So, we took a spot on the side docks, and became the anchor boat for about eight more who med-tied along with us.

It was a great weekend, although the heat got to me and I suffered a bit of heat exhaustion Saturday afternoon and again Sunday midday - it took until Tuesday morning to really recover. Lots of partying, enjoying Margaritas on the docks, and then a great Tex-Mex dinner cooked up by our Commodore, his commodorable, and friends. We slept well that night, and the next day I mixed fizzes and Bloody Marys for our traditional morning party. By noon we were all heading out, just as the high tide was coming in. We motored down to below Red Rock, and then put our sails up and had a nice sail all the way home.

Photos of the weekend

October 7 - With steering repairs completed, we took friends Batu and Mariska along with Mariska's mom, Jan, and Batu's friend, Karem, out for a sail on Spindrift. This is Fleet Week weekend, which means the Blue Angels air show and a very crowded bay. Nevertheless, we tacked across the bay to the west end of Raccoon Strait, and then drifted eastward past Tiburon on the port and Ayala Cove on Angel Island to starboard while having a lovely lunch. We rounded Angel Island and emerged into the slot under shortened sails just at 3 pm, when the Blue Angels show was scheduled to start. We were not disappointed, and sailed slowly down to the Bay Bridge ducking as the naval airplanes buzzed the masts of the hundreds of boats on the bay.

The wakes left by scores on scores of powerboats - we're sure many of them only go out once or twice a year and have no sense of etiquette on the water - made the return trip from the bridge to the estuary and down to Jack London Square very roily, but we made it back safely, washed down the boat, and had a fine dinner at our Encincal Yacht Club.

September 18-19 - What with traveling in August and spiffying up Spindrift for Caltopia, the San Francisco Bay Cal Boat Rendezvous, I haven't sailed her much. Also been busy trying to determine whether to put a bunch of upgrades into her which involves looking at boats and talking with riggers and electronics folks. It turns out that it's no contest, but it has eaten up the time spent at the marina.

Saturday was windy and cold, but Sunday turned out to be the best that Indian Summer can bring. Sailed across the bay toward Sausalito and then back to the city front, where Deborah navigated her way through some of the racers in the big boat series. Spindrift averaged 6-8 knots over ground, never heeling more than 15 degrees in 15-18 knots of wind thanks to one reef in the main and perhaps a third of the jib out. As we coasted into the south bay, we shook out the reef in the main and let out the full jib, and flew south and then back north to the Oakland Estuary on a beam reach. We finally drifted down to the Encinal Yacht Club under only a full main. It was like a day in the Caribbean, with ideal winds, generally flat water, and a warm breeze.

Monday morning, I cleaned off the teak and started putting on the canvas. I was about 1/3 through, when Deborah proclaimed that since it was another gorgeous day, we should go sailing. Off went the canvas, and we pushed off for the day with Tiburon as our destination. We went across the slot to the east side of Angel Island. Along the way we split our way through an outgoing tanker and an outgoing tug pulling a barge. As usual, I pushed the envelope a bit further than I should have, and Deb used the radio to contact the tug to insure we would cross its bow safely - the first time she'd really used the radio except to chat with friends, but it would turn out to be not the last for the day. The tug skipper clearly didn't like my pushing things, but was nice about saying so. Another lesson for me to learn from.

We landed at Sam's Anchor Cafe, Deb doing a perfect docking, me using a midship line to stop us on a dime, and then we had a nice lunch on the deck. At about 14:30 we decided to leave, and with Deb and the helm, I let go the lines. We had to back out to starboard, and when I saw Deb drifting more port, I "yelled" at her to turn the other way. Oops! We all know men have a problem with yelling on the boat, and I must say it's a hard thing to get under control. I didn't mean it that way, but my voice was raised, Deb was startled, let loose on the wheel, and it slammed around (which happens in reverse, if your not careful).

Well, now a silly thing that both of us were responsible for evolved. Our storage habits in the cockpit locker have been a bit sloppy, and we had stowed a light-weight polishing mop with a long handle haphazardly, so that it slipped on a heel to a position resting almost on the port steering sheave. When the wheel spun out of control, the cable passing through the sheave "sucked up" the mop head, which jammed between the sheave and the cable. Because we were in tight quarters in the middle of the little harbor and not able to go back into the spot we had just left, we had to go forward and out. We managed to move the wheel enough to get out of the harbor and a hundred yards past the ferry landing. The shoreline was to our north and east, the harbor to our west, and Raccoon Strait to our south.

Deb maneuvered as best she could to keep us in one spot, while I cleaned everything out of the cockpit locker (several fenders, lines, a horseshoe flotation device) and crawled down under to assess the problem. I discovered the mop wedged in the sheave and set out to try and remove it. I had to pop up a couple of times for tools (which solidified my decision to find a better location for our tool kit, now at the bottom of a hanging locker), while Deb made contact with Vessel Assist on the radio and then by cell phone. I finally got the mop head out, but the cable jumped the sheave, and the tension was simply too much for me to get it back on. I came topside, bringing up the emergency tiller. By this time, however, it was clear we'd better anchor.

I went forward to drop the anchor. I had to ask Deb four or five times what the depth was (she was on the phone with Vessel Assist and later said she was too occupied to know why I wanted to know the depth if we were drifting toward shore). Finally, when she told me 16 feet, I dropped about 50 feet of chain out and signaled her to back up. She asked which way to steer, and I replied: "It doesn't matter." The anchor set, holding us about 150 feet from the shoreline, and Deb killed the engine. Later that night, at dinner, when we were talking over our adventure, I told her that we'd had no steering from the time I climbed on deck with the emergency tiller and then went forward to set anchor. She really had to laugh, because only then did she realize what I meant: "It doesn't matter."

Deb got a lot of experience on the radio, using channels 16, 72, 14 (traffic control), and 13 (commercial ship-to-ship). After Vessel Assist, it was the Blue & Gold ferry Zelinski coming into the Tiburon ferry landing, and she warned the skipper that we were anchored and that he should be cautious. He offered assistance, but she advised him we had Vessel Assist on the way. By that time, I also had our emergency tiller in place, but we decided since it's turning range was limited, we'd just go ahead and get a tow from Vessel Assist.

The tow boat arrived by 16:30, and quickly we were under tow. The ride down Raccoon Strait and across the slot past Treasure Island and to the Oakland Estuary was pretty uneventful. It would have been a gorgeous beam-reach sail in about 15 knots of wind, which was sort of sad. But Deb manned the emergency tiller the whole way, discovering the tiller was not easy to steer with, but doable. An hour later we arrived at the estuary, and once we got down it, Deb decided to try maneuvering with the emergency tiller to see if she felt she could bring Spindrift into her slip without Vessel Assist having to side tie to us. She decided to try bringing her in, and we slowly went toward the slip, the tow boat standing astern to lend assistance if needed. Deb saw a friend on the docks and shouted to her to lend a hand with lines; we guess several others heard her, for we had several willing hands at the slip when Deb made what everyone would have to agree was a perfect entrance.

What a day! I called my best boat buddy, Rob Bastress, to see if he could help with repairs, and the next day met with him at the boat to discover we probably should replace one of the cables and replace one small sheave mount. Perhaps Spindrift will be back in service in a week or so. But it is a boat, so who knows.



Monday, September 11, 2006

Spindrift wins top honors at Caltopia...

At the first annual Caltopia, a San Francisco Bay rendezvous for Jensen Marine's Cal boats, Spindrift took top honors in the Concours d'Elegance as well as walked away with the award for the "Best Cal 39." The only thing nicer was the tremendous pleasure every Cal boater there had in meeting and exchanging stories and ideas with other Cal boaters. We can hardly wait until next year.


Click here for the whole Caltopia story.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

General Log, January - July 2006

July 23 -
A year ago we put a daysail on Spindrift up for auction at De Anza College's annual fund raising event, "A Night of Magic." It's taken all this time for us to arrange with the lucky winners our day on the bay, but at last we were joined by Allan Epstein and his children, Aaron, Aimee, and Jordan. It was a perfect day for it, with a major heat wave sweeping through the state. Getting out on the water made the weather bearable. And, we had a splendid time, from Alameda over to Ayala Cove at Angel Island for lunch, and then on to Sausalito, across the bay to Crissy Field, and then down the city front and home.

What a great way to make new friends! We hope they come back again for another sail on the bay.

















June 29-July 6 - A week on Spindrift began with our arriving at the boat on Thursday evening to prepare to sail to China Cove the next day with our club cruising fleet. Photo album.

Friday morning we awakened early, removed the Sunbrella covers, washed her down, and went to breakfast. We embarked at 10:00, and stopped at the Jack London fuel dock, where we put in 17.3 gallons of diesel. We had a lovely sail up past Red Rock, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the Brothers Islands, and then across San Pablo Bay to the China Camp anchorage. Nova and Bastante from our fleet were already there, and as we came into to anchor, Destiny arrived along side us. Eventually we had eight boats anchored, but because we were headed to the Petaluma Yacht Club for three days, only one, Freedom, had brought a dinghy. So, waving to each other, and occasionally chatting on the VHF, we all relaxed on our own boats. It was a peaceful night for most of us, though Aldebaran awakened the next morning to find her anchor rode had wrapped around her prop in the night – she had to have a diver come free her up before she could go on.

Saturday all waited until the flood began at 11:00 to head to the Petaluma River entrance and channel. San Pablo Bay is wide and shallow on northern side, and the river channel extends out almost three nautical miles. A couple of smaller boats set sail, but most of us motored to the river entrance and up the channel. Once we hit the shoreline and passed one of two swing-railroad bridges along the river, the bay winds died and we found ourselves on a warm and sunny river course, winding through vineyards and quaint river communities. The whole trip took about four hours, and we reached the drawbridge for the 15:00 scheduled opening a little ahead of time. Under the bridge and into the turning basin, and, oops, Nova, a Catalina 42 that draws 6’8”, bottomed out heading to the PYC docks. Our ten or eleven boats maneuvered in the small turning basin while Nova got free and cleared the channel, and then Destiny, came close to grounding but got through. Deb and I brought Spindrift (also a 6’8” draft), and, after watching the others, I simply powered through the silt. By 15:45, we were all med-tied to the dock, with our big powerboat, Destiny, anchoring the whole flotilla.

Let the partying begin. Unbeknownst to us, Mike Pernitzke sent out word to everyone that there was a party on Spindrift, and suddenly, just as I was dressing the boat with a string of signal flags up the backstay, we were invaded by between 25-35 people. We pulled out cheese and crackers, smoked oysters, popped open beer, and had the first of what would be a weekend of spontaneous boat parties. Almost everyone got boarded at one time or another by party-goers. It couldn’t have been greater fun. That night we all went to a great group dinner at McNear’s, a pub and restaurant.

Sunday we all awoke and found breakfast on our own. Deb and I found a great little bistro at the end of the docks that served the best quiche we’d had in years. Petaluma is a great destination. The historic town centered on the turning basin in the river. During the late-19th and early-20th centuries, it was the port for the Sonoma County agricultural region around Petaluma. The town has done a nice job of vitalizing the old town center, so there are loads of shops – antiques, knick-knacks, restaurants, pubs, and such. All day, we wandered around, bumping into friends from the club here and there, making one trip to buy some ice, and wandering back to the docks to relax or visit on other boats.

During the day a couple of other club boats joined us, and we reached a total of fifteen boats. Since some of them were leaving Monday morning with an early tide (07:00), Dave Dury (our cruise leader for the weekend) and I (in my capacity as cruise captain) decided to hold our “Fizz Party” at 17:00 on the docks rather than the traditional morning fizz party. We gathered for fizzes, adjourned to the Petaluma Yacht Club for cocktails, and then held a BYOF barbecue at the clubhouse. About the time we were thinking of wandering back to our boats, the PYC folks cleverly brought out a box of maracas, gourd shakers, and other rhythm devices, turned up the jukebox, and with needing no more encouragement than that, our entire group was up and dancing wildly for the next couple of hours. Whew!

Monday I got up at 07:00 to help those who were leaving cast off. We found another breakfast place a bit later, and spent another day enjoying paradise. Monday evening we had a spontaneous group barbecue potluck on the docks, which wound down into an evening party on Nova, which was tied up next to us.

Tuesday we arose at 07:00 to embark with the tide at 08:00. We all got out safely and had a nice motor down the river. One of our group, Rat-I-Cool, got stuck for a few minutes along the river, but a good-Samaritan power boater pulled them off – good thing, because we were leaving on an ebb, and he could have been stuck for the whole day.

When we got to the shoreline and motored out into the river channel, we found ourselves motoring directly into a 25 knot wind. The ebb in the face of the wind resulted in rolling waves, which, because we had to stay right in the center of the channel, we had to pound directly through. Deb was at the helm when this hit, and she was quickly soaked. She was a not-to-happy sailor. “You stay below,” she insisted. “No point in us both being soaked. And, when I leave this wheel, I’m not coming back up. So stay dry now.” She hung in at the wheel until we reached China Camp, and then I came up. Things eased by the time we went under the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, and I put up the jib. We managed to sail at a nice clip of five to six knots, and we began drying out.

West of Angel Island and off the Richmond shore, we sailed past a small open motorboat with three fellows aboard. They must have been fishing, but I got the feeling they were in trouble, so Deb fired up the engine and I pulled in the jib, and we maneuvered back to them. Turns out they couldn’t start their outboard, and they wanted help. I called the Coast Guard, gave the particulars of their situation, and then we stood by for thirty minutes while another power boat, Black Mariah, agreed to render assistance and made headway to our location. Once they arrived, we broke off, put the jib back out, and headed home. Our friend John Foy on Destiny heard the whole thing on the radio and congratulated us later for not only being good Samaritans but for being so professional in all the radio transmissions. That felt good.

We pulled into the marina, waited for a bit for a boat to clear the pump-out station, and then thoroughly pumped out and flushed our head. Then we put the boat into the slip and went up to our EYC clubhouse for a July 4th BBQ. We didn’t expect many people (nor did the club), but to everyone’s surprise it was crowded. We had a great time there, and eventually ended the night without even seeing the fireworks.

Wednesday we arose to clean off the boat in time for John Hansen, rigging forman at Svendsen’s Boat Works, to come out and consult with us on replacing the standing rigging, doing some rerigging, and adding some electronics to Spindrift. After he left, we put on the canvas and went to take a demo sail with Klaus Kutz on his Tartan 3400. The sail was great fun, and afterwards we decided to spend one more night aboard so that we could go over to Sausalito the next day, Thursday, to look at a Sabre 402 and a Beneteau 47S. We finally got home at about 16:00, a full week aboard Spindrift.

June 17-18 - Sailed over to China Beach, on the northeast end of Angel Island, and dropped the hook and waited for Chuck Wetteroth and Cat Gordon who were sailing over with Mark and Karen Brunelle on the Capt'n B's boat Aldebaran. They arrived and as they tried rafting up to us, one of our fenders made and escape, so they pulled away and picked it up for us. Got rafted up, and just as we were breaking out cold ones, a swell hit us and really through us around. We agreed that rafting in China Beach wasn't going to make it, and since neither of us had dinghies, we decided to try and get slips in Ayala Cove on the north side of Angel Island. We weighed anchor, followed them over, and, probably because it was around 16:30, had no trouble finding two slips together. Had lots of good food, Mark barbecued some sausages, and we lolled about for two hours.

At 19:00 we were underway, and the sail across the backside of the Slot to Treasure Island was great. With two reefs in our main, we didn't have Spindrift balanced as we should, and never got her quite right until I shook out the reefs in the lee of Treasure Island. This meant that Aldebaran, and Ericson 35, was threatening us all the way across - we should have walked away from them, but alas, our seamanship wasn't good enough this time. Photo album.

We finished the day, motoring up the estuary in the sunset. Deb and I decided to tied up for the night at the yacht club's docks. Docking in the dark with a strong ebb proved very frustrating, but we eventually got in safely, and adjourned to the EYC bar. Chuck and Cat showed up and we told lies about our great sail across the Slot until the place was empty.

Sunday morning we washed down Spindrift, went for breakfast, walked all round the marina, looked at boats, and then motored back over to our slip after lunch. A nice weekend.

May 28 - Went out with Rob Bastress today, starting in the south bay and then going north, across the slot, and to Tiburon. Sailed easily with two reefs in the main and a reef in the headsail. Between Alcatraz and Angel Island a Beneteau 470 had a hard time catching and passing us. We docked at the Corinthian Yacht Club (again), and went to lunch at Guaymas in Tiburon. It was pricey but okay, until Deborah discovered a maggot in the leg joint of her half-chicken mole. Yuck! We lost our appetites, but had a good sail back to the cityfront and then down to Marina Village.

May 14 - We had an unexpected break in sailing during April and May. We'd planned a cruise-out to Clipper Cove on Treasure Island on May 15, but inclement weather plus the fact that Deb's elderly father had just gone in the hospital and we didn't know if we'd have to leave at a moments notice, led us to drive over to the TI Yacht Club for dinner, make our "Cruise Captains" appearance, and then drive home.

We got the call, and the next week sat vigil at John's bedside, missing not only the Strictly Sail Show at Jack London Square, but also cancelling out on our club's Ron Byrne Estuary Cup (we'd hoped to be sailing against two Cal 40s in the club). Then, the first week of May, John died, and we cancelled our part in our cruise out for "Jazz Night at the Corinthian," which meant there was no live jazz band for the cruisers, a bummer for them, but couldn't be helped.

So, finally, May 14th arrived, and we went out for a great day sail, taking Deb's son Brett with us. On the way out we passed Mike & Ina on Nova, and then made the circuit from Alameda to Sausalito, to the Corinthian Yacht Club (where we docked and went to lunch in Tiburon), and finally east through Raccoon Strait, and back down to Alameda. It was a great day, and it was cathartic to be back on the water again.

More photos

March 19 – This weekend was the sort of weekend of which sailors on San Francisco Bay dream: sunny, almost warm, absolutely unlimited, crystal clear visibility, 12-16 knot winds. We went out with some friends on Saturday, but Sunday Deb and I took Spindrift out, reefed the main and the jib to keep us comfortable, and sailed across the south bay, then north across the slot to Belevdere, then east through Raccoon Straits, then down the back side of the slot and along the lee of Treasure Island, and finally, now under main only, down the Oakland Estuary and back to our marina. Yummy!

March 10-12 – In icy winds and rain on Friday afternoon, we put on our foulies and motored off to South Beach Harbor to celebrate Deb’s birthday and start our weekend yacht club cruise-out. Drinks with friends who also came early led us finally to an overpriced dinner at MoMo’s across from the San Francisco Giants ballpark.

Saturday we awoke fairly early and had friends Mike Pernitzke and Ina Tabak aboard for a breakfast of eggs and Locks and bagels. It was a nice breezy sailing day, but stayed ashore to help our fellow cruisers find their berths and tie-up. The rain held off during our afternoon dockside cocktail party and then we hustled off in fourteen cabs (55 of us all together) to Club Fugazi to see Beach Blanket Babylon. After the show, we all adjourned to Capp’s for a great North Beach Italian dinner.

Sunday morning we awoke to rain and threatening skies, but after an early breakfast at the Java House, we returned to our boats and hosted the traditional morning fizz party, which drew virtually everybody to the docks. But, the return trip across the bay was even more blustery than our Friday trip across, and we were glad when we returned to our home port.

February 25 - My sailing friend Bruce Sinclair picked up another mutual sailing friend, Lenny Reich, at the Oakland Airport today, and drove straight away to the marina, where I had Spindrift ready to cast off for an afternoon sail. We cast off at 14:15, motored out the estuary on the ebb, and were sailing as soon as we reach the bay.


A nice tack across toward SBC Park with the wind at 15 knots, and then we turned north, under the Bay Bridge and toward Angel Island. Winds reached 18 knots in the north bay, and even though we were a bit overpowered, we still closed reached to Angel Island on the end of the ebb at nine knots over ground. Then we turned back across the bay toward the city front on a beam reach. During the crossing the wind decreased to about 10 knots, but the ebb gave way to slack water, so we still made it back to the slip by 17:30, in time to enjoy a nip before Bruce and Lenny had to drive up to Vallejo.


February 17-19 – This weekend marked our first official cruise-in as EYC’s Cruise Captains. It was actually just a cruise-in to the club for a weekend of relaxation and dinner and a show, “The Raft Pack Show,” a musical tribute to the era of Frank, Dean, and Sammy. We had eleven boats cruise-in plus another nineteen couples drive over for the weekend, and the Richmond Yacht Club cruising fleet brought over another twelve to fourteen boats. More photos.

February 11-12 – Held off taking Spindrift during the beautiful warm weather, since Any Neuvecelles is varnishing our hand-rails for us. Saturday we washed her down, and then took Pup out for a row around the marina. Great fun!

On Sunday, we took Spindrift out, motoring all the way to Alcatraz, when we finally found a little wind and put her under sail. As we neared Sausalito and turned to catch a nice twelve-knot breeze across the bay to the city front, another Cal 39-2 came along our port side. We were off, and raced across to just off Crissy Field and then tacked back across to Sausalito. He picked up two boat lengths on us by the end, but we agreed we were pretty evenly matched. Our 200 feet of anchor chain up front offset the fact that his was a short rig. Deborah had a ball at the helm, and we made a nearly flawless tack half way through the race.

January 27 – Took Pup off Dog Days’ foredeck and rowed her around to Spindrift’s slip, where I secured her on the dinghy dock (photos of Pup). Think were going to leave Pup there for a while, which will make it easier to use her in the marina as well as take out Dog Days.

January 13-14 – We had a cruise-leaders weekend at the Encinal Yacht Club, and since Deborah and I are “Cruise Captains” for the year, we brought Spindrift over to the club docks for the weekend. It was rainy, but we had a good time, and a really successful hook-up with the cruise leaders.

Friday, December 30, 2005

General Log, 2005

December 4 - Despite the fact that it was between 40 and 50 degrees, we took two very close friends, Klaus Dehn and Rob Bastress, out sailing. Winds were light, which was just as well considering the chill factor, but we managed to sail out to Alcatraz and back in four hours, and reveled in the clean, crisp, and clear air.

October 20-22 We picked up Spindrift at Bastress Custom Boats in Grand Marina after a little over a month in the yard (see maintenance log), and returned her to Marina Village just in time to load aboard food and other supplies for a three-day voyage to Drake’s Bay and Bodega Bay, a total of 50 miles up the coast from the Golden Gate Bridge. Our friend Steve Katzaroff joined us at 15:00 hours, and we cast off for the first leg of our trip, over to the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon.

The new prop moved us along at easily a seven-and-a-half knot pace at 2500 RPM, and we saw little wind at the end of the estuary. Just south of the Bay Bridge, the wind picked up, and we raised the main. We should have put in a reef right away – clearly the skipper’s mistake – and just behind Treasure Island, we headed into the wind and reefed the main. We also put out the jib with a four-turn reef, which also turned out not to be enough as we entered the backside of the slot – again the skipper’s fault – and had to reef four more turns. Spindrift flattened right out and sailed beautifully at eight to eight-and-a-half knots, when suddenly we found ourselves in pea-soup fog with about 200 yards visibility. It was enough to avoid collisions, but still very unsettling to be sailing without radar and only a GPS system.

I was using my new “Coastal Explorer” charting system (my Dell laptop connected to my Garmin GPS), but this trip to Tiburon was to be my first actual use of the system, and neither Deborah nor Steve was familiar with it at all. I kept us on a course, which I was confident would take us behind Angel Island and to Raccoon Strait (and I assumed out of the worst of the fog), but Deborah and/or Steve decided we were moving so fast that we risked passing Raccoon Strait. So we decided to drop the sails – in a twenty-knot wind – which we did, and, with Steve and I exhausted from dropping and tying up the main, Deborah motored northwest into Raccoon Strait and to the Corinthian Yacht Club, where we tied up at the guest dock.

(I checked our GPS track log when we returned past the same spot two days later, which revealed that we had turned and dropped the sail about three-fourths of the way across the slot, still southeast of Angel Island.)

We celebrated our successful passage through the pea-soup at the bar of the Corinthian, where I met my counterpart at the Corinthian, the club’s “piano man,” and we talked of organizing a night of dueling musical groups from the Corinthian and the Encinal yacht clubs. We ate a great chicken mole dinner in Tiburon at Guayma’s Restaurant, before returning to the boat for a good nights sleep and the start of our trip out the gate the next morning. San Francisco sparkled across the bay in the clear night sky, a good sign we thought for our voyage.

Next morning we awoke to pea-soup! Bummer! Even the ferry boat captain, who saw our uncovered mainsail, shouted to us: “You don’t want to go out today!” So, we went into town for coffee, then breakfast, visited the San Francisco Yacht Club, and around noon returned to the boat. The fog was still heavy, but we could see the outline of Angel Island, and, although I suggested we still try the coast and go up to Bolinas Bay, just about 15 miles, we finally made the decision to head inland, up through the Carquinez Strait to Benicia.

Though disappointed, we cast off and motored east and then northeast up toward San Pablo Bay. We sailed briefly between Raccoon Strait and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, but ended up motoring the rest of the way, past the Brothers Islands and lighthouse, and into San Pablo Bay. Just below the Carquinez Bridge we called the Benicia Yacht Club, only to discover they had two groups coming in and had no slips, so we diverted into the Napa River at Mare Island and, after a phone call to clear it, tied up at the Vallejo Yacht Club’s guest dock for the night.

We enjoyed a nice sunset, a couple of cocktails, and Steve’s wife, Michelle, drove in to have dinner with us on the boat. Since they were fairly close by, Steve decided to spend the night at home and return the next morning, when we agreed we’d push on up the Napa River to Napa. Meantime, we cleaned up after dinner, and then went up to the club bar for a nightcap.

At the club bar, we met Todd Mehserle, Vallejo Yacht Club’s Commodore, who told us what to watch for going up to Napa. I also discovered that my old friend and sailor Bruce Sinclair, who I’ve known for many years through the Society for the History of Technology, had just joined the club.

In the morning, Steve arrived about 09:00 hours, and we discovered that the tides were against our going up the river to Napa. Spindrift simply draws too much at 6’8” to risk the trip at anything lower than median tide, so we decided just to head back to Alameda. Again it was foggy, but the visibility was at least a half-mile, and it got better as the day went on. We made the trip to Alameda in six-and-a-half hours, and were too lazy to raise the sails across the backside of the slot for the only twenty minutes of sailing we could have experienced on the day’s journey.

It wasn’t quite the trip we had planned, and we were all pretty disappointed. But we’ll try again. After Steve headed out to check on his own boat, Vroom, which he’d just gotten out of the yard, Deborah and I spent the rest of the afternoon and the next day organizing storage aboard Spindrift to make future voyages easier, and we realized that, although we had never left the bay, we’d learned a whole lot. More photos

August 20-21 -
We joined friends from our Encinal Yacht Club to cruise over to the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon. The Corinthian is adjacent to Sam's, a traditional breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinking hang-out for sailors all over San Francisco Bay. Tiburon is on the north side of Raccoon Strait, which cuts between the north bay's Marin County and Angel Island. Adjacent to Tiburon is Belevdere Island, which is home to the San Francisco Yacht Club - don't ask why it isn't located in San Francisco, it just isn't. In any event, the view of San Francisco is spectacular, particularly from the Corinthian YC.

We departed Alameda at 10:30, initially motoring alongside Tony and Vicki Kay in Chassaseuresse. They pulled ahead of us as we went down the estuary (more on why later), and we stopped to put up sails at the mouth, while they motored on. Our sail across was lovely, a nice close haul in 10-12 knots, which moved us along at hull speed. By the time we picked up the flood tide moving from the gate toward Richmond, we were hitting 9 knots over ground.

When we arrived, we at first missed the destination, motoring over toward the San Francisco YC in Belvedere Cove, but we quickly discovered our error, thanks to a radio check and the shouts of our friends, and reversed course to the proper guest dock at the Corinthian. The nice thing about cruising, when you're not the first to arrive, is that there are lots of hands to bring you to a safe landing. And, this was no exception. We soon were ensconced at the dock and rafting David and Susan Sherrill's Argonauta to our starboard side.

The party soon began, first on Argonauta, then moving to Chasseseuresse and spilling on to the docks. Eventually, we all tumbled into the Corinthian YC for dinner and a night in the bar (or on the town, depending on one's predilections). More photos

Next morning, Deb and I had breakfast at Sam's with Tony and Vicki, then helped a couple of boats away, and then wandered over to the San Francisco YC for a looksee. We weren't disappointed. One would expect a touch of opulence in Marin County, and both the San Francisco and Corinthian clubs have it. A fun place to visit with a lot of friendly folks.

By early afternoon, we departed, and Deb decided to try out some driving tricks she'd been told by Tony Shaffer, Encinal's rear commodore. So we hoisted the full main, set the full jib, and headed out into 20 knot winds across the slot from Belevedere to the lee of Alcatraz and on to the Bay Bridge. We started with an Olson 33 coming up strongly on our port side - two boats in the same direction are always racing, you know - and by the time we reached Alcatraz, we put at least twenty boat lengths between us and were doing upwards of 8.5 knots over ground. Deb was having the greatest time feeling out the boat.

It would have been a perfect day, but when I finally pulled in the jib, tightened up the main, and turned on the iron genny, we realized that our slowness down the estuary the day before was a power loss. We couldn't do over 5.2 knots at 3500 rpm. We got in safely, but now we have to troubleshoot the engine. Hope it's nothing serious, because we're looking forward to a trip up the coast to Bodega Bay in late October, and we need a solid engine then. So, it's off to call the mechanic...

August 12-13After a three-week hiatus, we returned to Spindrift to take our Glen Cove, New York friends, Neil and Ruth Cowan and their daughter Sarah (who lives in San Francisco) for a sail. Our Friday sail was short in duration, just out into the south bay, but a grand time.






On Saturday, we participated in the Gracie and George Regatta, sponsored by our Encinal Yacht Club, in which the driver must be female and the crew of only one must be male. The course was about 12 miles, and we managed to complete it in 3 hours and 48 minutes and capture the next to the last place. This was our first race in Spindrift, and we really captured our position at the start. Had we crossed the line more to the lee and closer to the gun, we might actually have placed. But we had a great time, learned a lot, and discovered we really enjoyed the whole racing idea. In the end that’s what counts, and we’re looking forward to another race in Spindrift.

July 16-17
Buddy-boated with Doug and Jo Leavitt to Sausalito this weekend. Hooked up with Jenny in the estuary, and motored out to the mouth, where we both set our sails. We double-reefed the main and the jib, and Spindrift jumped ahead. We read 19.5 knots true and 22+ knots apparent on the way across the slot, whereas Doug later said they read about 25 knots true – maybe our wind instrument is not properly calibrated. In any case, we arrived in Sausalito a good half-hour before Jenny, dropped our sails, and then motored over to the Sausalito Yacht Club moorings and picked up a mooring for the first time. Deb stopped Spindrift right on the ball, and I only needed a couple of swipes with the “Happy Hooker” to secure it. Needless to say, we were very pleased with ourselves.

We had a great weekend. Doug and Jo offered to use their dinghy (ours was tied on the foredeck), so we had a light lunch on Jenny and then went ashore and did the Sausalito shops. We had dinner at the Spinnaker Restaurant with a window seat overlooking our boats, ended the evening with a nightcap at the SYC, where I played the piano a bit. The rolly anchorage sent me to sleep right off, though the mooring ball knocking on the hull occasionally woke both of us up. Next morning we had an eye-opener on Jenny, and we dropped the mooring ball just before noon. The mooring line had wrapped around the mooring ball anchor chain, and Doug made it easy for me to get it free by coming over on his dinghy – I’ll have to remember to not let out so much line there next time. The sail back was smooth, pretty fast, and uneventful. We were in the slip by 15:00, and soon off to have dinner in the City with Deb’s son, Jason. (More photos)

July 9-10 – Cruised over to South Beach Harbor with our cruising group to go to a Giants game and spend the night. It’s a short trip from Alameda to South Beach, so we motored over. A strong wind off the beam made docking a bit tricky, but Deb handled it well and we had help from fellow cruisers on the docks. By noon we were headed toward our nose-bleed seats at PacBell (well...SBC) Park. Although there was a persistent marine layer over most of the bay area, the sun shone through at the ballpark, and we spent a glorious two hours consuming peanuts and beer and watching what was surely the shortest game I’ve ever attended. We then adjourned to Ken and Joanne Baker’s trawler, Fiesta Forever, for a visit, and by 18:00 we were at the South Beach Yacht Club for a barbeque and a fair portion of libations. Ended the evening with a drink at near-by Paragon.

On Sunday morning we awakened to a day without fog and with light winds. We joined the group for fizzes and Bloody Mary’s on the docks and then adjourned with our friends Mike and Judy Porfiri for breakfast at the Java Hut, an institution by the docks that one should not miss. We then stripped the canvas off our toe-rails and headed out for a sail on the bay. What a gorgeous day it was!

We tacked north past the city front, put a reef in the main and headsail, and sailed close-hauled past the lee of Alcatraz and on to Sausalito.



On the way back, Deb took the helm and we tracked back along the same course to the bay bridge, winds hitting 23 knots and, in a slack, speed over ground and through the water topping 8½ knots. We rolled in the headsail going down the estuary, and coasted along all the way to Coast Guard Island before dropping the main and heading into the slip.

July 1-5 – Moved aboard Spindrift on July 1st for a four-day stint. She’s a very comfortable boat to live aboard, though the icebox is very poorly insulated and requires a lot of ice, which soon melts away. We put a small block in and then poured in three standard sized bags of crushed ice. I added a couple of bags a day, and the block was still there after four days plus. Could fix this problem, but it would mean pulling major cabinet sections, and we’re not ready to do that yet; moreover, if we did pull out the cabinet, then I suppose we’d put in a refrigerator/freezer rather than just insulate an old icebox. Hmmm...another project.


deborah on her boat at the club dock

In any case, we had a great time at the club, exchanging visits to boats, going for a dinghy ride with friends, listening to music and playing music, lounging about, eating and eating and drinking and drinking (photos). Quite satiated on the morning of July 5th, we returned Spindrift to her regular slip.


just some of the boats that arrived for the weekend

June 29 – Moved Spindrift over to the EYC docks in the afternoon and tied her up for the duration of the July 4th weekend, a members’ cruise-in at the club.

June 24-26 – Cruise out to Angel Island with our Encinal Yacht Club cruising group.


la scala, spindrift, and impetuous - a hans christian and two cals

We started at our marina, hoisting the dinghy on to Spindrift’s foredeck, then sailing across the backside of the slot to the lee of Angel Island, where we doused the sails. At about 16:30, we motored into Ayala Cove, where EYC’s port captain, Chuck Wetteroth on Cat's Meow directed us to raft up with Mike Chambreau’s Cal 34, Impetuous. Mike had captured bow and stern moorings earlier in the day, and we added a line to the forward mooring. By 18:00 Michael and Judy Poifiri’s Hans Christian 42, La Scala, was rafted up to us, and Doug and Jo Levitt’s Jeanneau 42, Jenny, to them, and we had lowered our dinghy and put the motor on her.


our fearless port captain, chuck wetteroth

Friday night was great fun, drinks leading to an unplanned potluck on La Scala. We all drank a bit too much, and slept solidly through a roily night. The surge in Ayala Cove, caused mainly by currents and exacerbated by powerboats, is really something – and we had not anticipated it.

Saturday we arose to bacon and eggs (not going to cook bacon again on the boat; the odor took all day to dissipate), and then helped moor and raft up a dozen more cruisers. Ultimately, we had seventeen boats. The highlight of our day was a hike to the peak of Angel Island’s Mount Livermore, about 780 feet up along a mile and a half long trail, along with Steve of Varoom. The views going up are increasingly beautiful, and at the top the 360-degree panorama of the bay is absolutely stunning. Too bad the day was overcast with a thick marine layer, but we definitely plan to go back on a sunny day in late summer or early fall.


there are great views of the harbor from the hillside trail up mt. livermore


further up the trail you can see the harbor as well as belvedere and tiburon in the background


jim and deborah at the end of the long climb


ayala cove from the peak of mt. livermore

Saturday ended with a bring-your-own BBQ on the island, to which everyone dinghied over. Saturday night usually is pretty raucous on cruise-outs, but we had expended ourselves the night before, so the evening songfest aboard Jenny sort of petered out on, and we all crashed early to another roily night in the cove.


doug and jo leavitt among others at the saturday night barbeque


just a few too martinis for some of us

Cruisers started pulling out at 9:00 on Sunday. After breakfast, a dinghy trip ashore, and then hoisting up the dinghy motor and stowing the dinghy on the foredeck, we finally left shortly after 12:00. It was a beautiful sail back across to Treasure Island and a brisk wind dashed us down the estuary at six knots. We doused sails and docked at the EYC for a late lunch, then returned to our slip and put Spindrfit to bed. A great cruise out, which we’re looking forward to doing again, with or without the club group. More photos.

May 12 – What a lovely sail! It was Deb’s day to do things she hadn’t done before: backing out of the slip, raising the mainsail and securing the first reef, pulling out the jib, and so forth. We left just before noon, motored over to the Jack London Fuel Dock, and, after circling a bit while awaiting the departure of another boat and the docking of one other ahead of us, Deb smoothly docked Spindrift, and we tied her up with good professional help from the fuel dock staff. She took twenty-two gallons, and I added the requisite biocide. We then set off for our afternoon sail. Deb raised the mainsail easily, made sure the first reef was in securely, and, with a bit more effort, got the jib out. She then took the helm and we tacked north along the lee side of Treasure Island. Just past Clipper Cove, the reef in the jib seemed to have slipped out, so we headed up, and I brought in the jib about four turns. I then sailed her across the backside of the slot in winds up to twenty knots apparent and seventeen true, and we hove-to in the lee of Angel Island for some lunch.

After lunch, using the Cunningham, we put in the second reef, and Deb took the helm to backtrack across the slot. With the second reef in, in sixteen to seventeen knots true wind, the weather helm was really reduced, and she handled beautifully. Below the Bay Bridge we slowed for a container ship and then turned into the wind and I took out both reefs to go down the estuary. But the wind had faded almost completely, so we pulled in the jib, motored back to the marina, dropped the jib, and settled into our berth. Couldn’t have been a nicer day!

May 5 – No sailing today, but we did motor over to the pump-out station and thoroughly clean the holding tank. Deb did a great job trying to turn Spindrift around to bring her in on her port side at the station, but the wind was working against us, as was our starboard prop walk. Marina friend Tom McClellan helped out by taking the bow and walking us slowly around. Had he not been there, I would have eventually gotten off and done the same, but he made it easy.

June 2 – Jim took his friend Ed Todd, from Connecticut, and Ed’s brother Jim, who lives in Saratoga, out for a day sail.


jim & ed todd after lunch in the lee of angel island

This was the first time either Deb or I sailed Spindrift without the other on board. Jim was an old salt with small powerboats and had done some sailing years before, so he easily took over the helm when sails had to be hoisted and lowered. Ed followed directions well, working the lines and helping to douse the mainsail at the end of the day. We hoisted sails at the mouth of the estuary, putting a single reef in the main. We sailed north along the lee side of Treasure Island, across the backside of the slot to Angel Island, where in the wind shadow, we hove-to and had lunch. Going across the slot, with winds just under twenty knots, I headed into the wind and put a three to four turn reef in the jib, which, with the traveler on the main all the way lee, kept the rails just out of the water. After about twenty minutes for lunch, which saw us drift south about a half-mile, we turned north again and then west through Raccoon Straits, a port tack the entire way from Alameda to Belvedere Island. A few hundred feet from Belvedere Island, we tacked southwest, toward San Francisco, and crossed the slot again on a course to the St. Francis Yacht Club. It was gorgeous, with only three or four other boats on the bay, the sun bright, and the haze confined almost completely to the Berkeley/Oakland hills. The winds peaked at 1:30 p.m., so the second trip across the slot was more comfortable, and a beam to broad reach along the waterfront past Pier 39 was really pleasant sailing. The trip back to the marina was uneventful; we motored from just below the Bay Bridge, as the wind died away. They did yeoman work helping put Spindrift to bed – the new toe-rail covers do take time and effort to take off and put back. Took Jim and Ed to our Encinal Yacht Club for a drink to end a really beautiful day on the bay.

Motoring in a vibration appeared suddenly at 2500 RPM, seemingly coming from the prop. Throttling back to neutral immediately stopped the vibration, and powering back again did not restart it. But fifteen minutes later the same thing happened, again the vibration disappearing and not coming back. No visible sign that the shaft or packing gland was loose; the motor was fine. I think it’s the collar on the prop zinc, perhaps coming loose. By email, asked our diver to check it out and let me know.

May 7-8 – Cruised to Spinnaker Yacht Club in San Leandro with the EYC cruising group. A nice calm largely downwind sail on Saturday got us to the SYC in just under three hours. Rafted up to Doug and Jo Leavitt’s Jenny, and in turn Mike and Ina Tabak rafted Nova up to us. That night rains arrived, at least a half-day earlier than predicted. We awakened to what turned out to be a lull in the storm. Since the tide had bottomed out some of us, we had to wait for a rising tide until at least 10:30 or 11:00 to leave. When that came, we found ourselves pinned to each other and the dock by a 20-25 knot breeze out of the south and on our beam. Fenders were quite literally flattened between hulls. A couple of Catalina’s, including Nova, with a half-dozen folks pushing them out, got away by pulling out in reverse and taking advantage of a port prop walk. Spindrift, unfortunately, walks starboard in reverse. Boats all along Jenny’s port side fended and pushed us, and we managed to get the bow out far enough to pull away. But just as we got momentum, the wind on the beam pushed the stern in, and our stern pulpit collided with Jenny’s, damaging our life-sling bag and breaking an old GPS antenna, which we don’t use but had not gotten around to removing from the rail. We decided to motor back to Alameda, a two-hour trip of which half was in the rain. All in all, a good experience, and Spindrift came through it wonderfully.

March 26-27

looking none the worse for wear, we enjoyed easter brunch at the encinal yacht club after our cruise out

The great cruise-out to Clipper Cove, our first anchoring Spindrift using our new windlass with all chain, the first use of our dinghy and motor. Dinghy in tow, we set off just before noon on Saturday morning for the cove at Treasure Island, where we planned to navigate the shallow channel into the cove at high tide. Just below the Bay Bridge, Rod and Peggy Kidd overtook us in their Catalina 42 Sashay, so we followed them into the cove and to the anchorage. After two tries we got the anchor set; our friend Doug Leavitt dinghied over from Jenny, his Jeanneau 42, to assure us that things were as they should be, which is a nice touch for folks who are just trying out new equipment, as we were. We then hoisted our new Honda outboard down to the dinghy and made sure it ran.

We’d looked forward to spending a sunny afternoon polishing winches topside, but the wind came up and a cirrus cloud cover cooled things down enough to keep us inside. We discovered that Deb does not like to be confined. Like a prisoner in solitary confinement, she look out soulfully at the world, faced with the equally unwelcome choices of staying warm on Spindrift, or being cold and windblown on deck or making the rounds to other boats in the dinghy. Don’t expect much cruising from us, unless it’s gorgeously warm weather, short sailing legs, and lots of things to do ashore.


Deb stranded in Clipper Cove

EYC cruise-outs are evidence enough that ours is really a drinking club with a sailing problem. After we all dinghied ashore for an Easter Egg hunt that held hints to a buried treasure (a case of beer, which promptly was consumed), some of us retrieved hors-d’oeuvres from our boats, and all assembled at the Treasure Island Yacht Club, where the drinking and drinking and drinking and eating commenced. Later, in the glow of the lights from the Bay Bridge, a few of us stalwarts found our way to Rob and Carol Woltring’s motor yacht Perfect, the perfect party boat, for additional drinking, karaoke, and dancing (it’s a big boat). Eventually, after some sleep and morning Advil, we awakened Easter morning to gin fizzes and bloody marys on the docks.

It is a tradition at Treasure Island that anyone who is anchored in Clipper Cove on Easter Sunday awakens to an Easter basket on his or her boat. It remains a mystery as to who is the Treasure Island Easter Bunny, but for years the baskets have appeared. Alas, the Easter Bunny missed Spindrift (or the basket blew away before we found it), for we alone did not get one. We were appropriately sad.

Finally, Sunday, 11:30 hours, high-tide approaching, we hoisted the outboard aboard, attached a towing bridle to the dinghy, weighed anchor, and motored out. All morning we watched a storm approaching and knew it would hit in the late afternoon, but we were stunned as we came out of the cove and headed south, under the Bay Bridge, and toward Alameda. A southerly wind of twenty knots with greater gusts hit us head on and in the opposite direction of the tidal current, rolling up four to five foot waves every ten to twelve feet. Waves literally broke across the bow and down to the cockpit, soaking us quite thoroughly. While Spindrift took the waves with no problem, waves rolled the dinghy 360 degrees twice and then flipped her upside down and sucked her to the water's surface. We slowed to a crawl and tried to raise her to break the suction, but with rough seas simply couldn’t do it. When we reach the estuary breakwater and the wind and seas calmed a bit, Jim ran a line from the dinghy to one of the winches and managed to raise her enough to break the suction and flip her right side up. This time she stayed, and we completed our journey to homeport, but - and this is the nice thing about cruising out with a group like our friends at EYC - not without Doug and Jo Leavitt on Jenny, who had passed us on the way in, motoring back to see if we were all right.

March 13 – After a good night’s sleep, Deb and I arose to tackle setting up our dinghy. A task that should have taken a few minutes took us the bulk of the day. The U.V. storage cover was the wrong size, and it took us two entirely different trips to West Marine to get the right one and finally stow the inflated boat on the storage rack we installed the end of last summer. We were too exhausted to put the motor on her and try her out, so we’ll be back at the boat in two weeks, and we’ll be forced to try it all out since were doing an overnight cruise to Clipper Cove (Treasure Island) with our Encinal Yacht Club cruising group.

March 8 – Mounted motor mount on aft port rail and motor-mate hoist adjacent, picked up Rob Bastress as crew, and motored Spindrift down to Mariner Boatyard to pick up Honda 4-stroke 5 hp outboard. Put motor aboard, and motored back to slip. It’s nice to be on the water for any reason.

March 6 – After four weekends of grey, cold, and rain, we caught the ebb and sailed out the Gate again with our friend Rob. A good breeze reaching 15 knots, 10-12 foot swells coming about 14 seconds apart made for a beautiful sail two miles out the Gate. The tide changed just as we turned back, and gradually built as we neared the Golden Gate Bridge. Winter’s making way for Spring, and we can hardly wait for longer days.

January 30 – With the sun brightening the winter sky, we found a nice fresh breeze out the Golden Gate that easily carried us out past Mile Rock and Point Bonita. On the way back in, on a beam reach from the bridge’s north tower to Crissy Field at 7.5 knots, our sailing buddy Rob Bastress put it best: the old girl enjoyed lifting her skirts today. These are the days that make all the working days worthwhile.

January 17 – Shakedown cruise today, after six months of no sailing. Winds from 8-16 knots. Motored out the estuary, set sails with a two turn reef in the jib, and Deb drove a starboard tack across the south bay to San Francisco’s Portrero District shoreline, a bit south of Pacbell Park; I took the helm on the return. She’s always tracked solidly on a port tack as opposed to a starboard tack, and this was no different. This is not a big complaint. Much bigger is the failure of the wind directional instrument (which has acted up ever since our sail broker Sylvain Barrielle put his knee into it and pushed in the clear plastic cover). It never broke free to register direction, which may mean it’s corroded. Also, the knot meter didn’t register, which is probably just a clog in the paddlewheel in the thruhull; we’ll clear it later. All other systems seemed to perform flawlessly.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

General log, 2004

August-December – Work done on boat (see Maintenance Log) coupled with raining weather in December kept Spindrift in port for this entire period. Looking forward to some nice sailing in 2005!

July 17-18 – EYC cruise out to Marin Yacht Club on San Rafael Creek. Great sail across with one reef in the main and four turns in the jib. Had a fun weekend. Marin is a small, well-to-do yacht club. It’s a nice place to relax, and as always our cruising group seems to party a lot. Sailing back on Sunday, we agreed to go again with one reef and four turns in the jib. Deb took the wheel across the slot, and though we got banged over a bit and probably should have had another reef in the mainsail, she had a lot of fun at the wheel and felt really good about it in the end.

July 3 – On the start of the holiday weekend we sailed with Sarah Cowan and her friend Craig. With a reef in the main, we sailed close-haul to beam down along the San Francisco side of the bay to Hunters Point. We aimed to sail to Coyote Point and turn around, but doldrums embraced us due west of Candlestick Park. We drifted with absolutely no wind for an hour plus, and enjoyed a lovely lunch of fresh farmer’s market peas and strawberries plus goat cheese and crackers. Just about the time it got so hot in the cockpit that we all went below to cool down, the afternoon breeze found its way to us around 14:30. We decided to take the beam reach back to the estuary, and as we did the wind built steadily, reaching 22 knots true wind. A bit overpowered, but as we approached the estuary it slacked considerably. We shook out the reef as we went down the estuary, tacked back to avoid a freighter in the turning basin, briefly considered rafting up at our Encinal Yacht Club for the weekend party, and then returned to our slip. Sarah and Craig had a great time – he is a gem.

June 27 – Sailed across the Slot to Sausalito and back to the city front. Started with the jib rolled in about four turns and one reef in the main. Deb wanted the second reef in the main, so we put it in using the Cunningham (the lead on it needs to be shortened just a tad). She sailed well under 20-22 knots, but tended to knock over a bit in the gusts; just off Sausalito, we added four more turns to the jib, and she sailed beautifully back across the Slot to San Francisco. Had some choppy water, but not the rollers that one experiences on the backside of the Slot between Angel Island and Treasure Island. As we passed under the Bay Bridge into the south bay, I rolled out the jib and shook out the reefs in the main.

Deb and I both kid that Spindrift is a southern California girl. We had 15-17 knots in the south bay, but no choppiness at all and she seemed to be at home. Whenever she finds conditions like those along the southern coast, she sails flawlessly, but she’s fought getting adjusted to San Francisco Bay conditions since the day we brought her up from Monterey. Reminds us of Farley Mowat’s The Boat that Wouldn’t Float.

June 19-20 – EYC cruise out to Pt. San Pablo Yacht Club on the far end of the Richmond inner harbor. Motor sailed up with the jib with other EYC boats in sight. Rafted up with Deb at the helm; she did a lovely job bringing us in for our first raft up. A fun night with everyone! Jim played piano for a little while after dinner, and dancing to good cd music followed until at least midnight. Next morning we had a potluck breakfast and went over to the KKMI boatyard and saw Mari-Cha and a 112’ Swan. On leaving we put a single reef in the main when we raised it in the channel, then sailed the north bay up near Red Rock until about 13:00. We finally went through the backside of the Slot at about 14:00, and we paused to roll in the jib about four or five turns. Three to four foot rollers about one-second apart hit us abeam in winds up to 20 knots. It really knocked us over, and even putting the main out substantially didn’t help. We should have put in a second reef, but we toughed it across. Behind Treasure Island the rollers disappeared and she did well in the winds of about 18-20 knots.

June 13 – Took out Batu Berkok and Mariska and Batu’s mother and father (Sunna and Janber). Sailed with one reef in the main, and while she didn’t perform as well in light wind, from 12 knots up she performed beautifully. Sailed across the center of the bay to the west side of Angel Island and down Raccoon Strait, where we doused the sails and found a slip on the backside of the docks at Angel Island (depth was 8.5-9.5). Picnicked on shore, and then sailed east and south across the backside of the slot and Treasure Island to the mouth of the estuary, where we shook out the reef and had a nice wing-and-wing ride down the estuary. Couldn’t have been a nicer day!

May 30-31 – Sunday took Diana Drews and Frieda White for a beautiful sail in moderate wind straight out the Golden Gate about a half-mile past Pt. Bonita Lighthouse. Returned via Sausalito and Raccoon Strait, where winds were light and shared a bottle of French Champagne, then across the slot to the lee side of Treasure Island under full sail, touching 9.7 knots more than once in 19-22 knot winds.

Monday, Memorial Day, we took Bob & Laura Miller and Sandi Williams for a sail to Red Rock, just below San Pablo Bay. The predicted very hot day turned into an overcast and occasionally chilly day. On our return we put a reef in the main to cross the slot. Half way across, under 22 knot winds and choppy water conditions, we put a four-turn reef in the jib. Then the reefing cringle popped off the reefing hook. Deb turned downwind, and I went forward to reattach the cringle. To do this, I had to loosen the reef line a bit, which was a mistake. It put too much pressure on the reef ties, and the aft sail reef eye ripped out under the pressure of the tie just as I was starting to pull down the reef line again – five more seconds and I would have had it. Alas, the mistake was from the start – we should have hove to, which would have taken all the pressure off the main. (See maintenance log entry for June 1.)

May 21-23 – Cruise-out weekend with the Encinal Yacht Club. Sailed to Sausalito, where Deb got us a slip (D-509) through Elsa at the Sausalito Yacht Harbor. Windy sail over on Friday, but we managed our way into the slip without damage. Spent the evening at the Sausalito Yacht Club, where we watched EYC members Mark and Karen Brunelle moor. After dinner there, we caught up with them and there friends Rich and Deb at the Cat and Fiddle.

Spent Saturday shopping – what a place to spend money! Started the day with breakfast at the Lighthouse Café (our favorite). Then visited at least half the shops in town, buying sufficient clothes and jewelry to boost the economy for at least a week. Ended back at the boat at about 1600 hours, exhausted. At 1730 we joined the EYC cruise-out group at the SYC for hors-d’oeuvres and dinner. Jim played piano a bit at the group’s request, and then we joined Lance Bateman and Sue Rau on their zodiac to go out to where Dave Sherrill’s Beneteau was moored and watch the KFOG KaBoom fireworks display. Even at five miles distance, they were spectacular. Finally made it back to the boat about 2300. The winds never died down, reaching twenty knots even in our marina slip. Had to pull down the burgees to quiet the racket they made in the rigging.

Sunday we finally got underway at 1100, motored past the SYC and Horizon Restaurant (where some EYC folks saw us and waved at us), and then sailed out the gate. The winds were ideal, from 8-15 knots. On our sail back we passed Dave Sherrill and his friend Susan on their Beneteau, and, as we went down the estuary under our main only, Lance and Sue passed in their powerboat Excalibur. They took photos, which we look forward to seeing, as they’re the first with our new UK sails (well, with our main, anyway). Headed in to pump out the head, but there was a line at the station; Deb did a marvelous stationary 360, and we put off pumping the head for another day. Gave Spindrift a good cleaning and ended the day with a Sirloin Steak Salad at the EYC.

Apr 25 – Opening Day on the Bay! Took out Beverly Bryant and Rob Bastress, both very experienced sailors. Out the gate where we saw porpoises and glimpsed a humpback whale calf along the shore between Pt. Bonita Lighthouse and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Apr 16 – Test sail with UK sail maker Sylvain Barrielle. Got a good sense for tuning our new sails.

Mar 27-28 - Motored to South Beach Harbor to join the Encinal Yacht Club cruising group for Saturday night at Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco. Would have sailed, except Deborah stepped wrong in the boat on Friday, March 21, and sprained and slightly tore two ligaments and a tendon in her right foot. With her foot in a soft cast, we decided, for safety sake, not to sail. Had a wonderful time at the dinner theater, with club members. Motored back to EYC at about noon on Sunday.

Mar 14 – Nice sail out the gate with Pauley and M.D. Getting the new sails trimmed a bit better. Bringing down the new main, compared to the old, is a real joy; easy to flake, not too heavy to handle.

Mar 13 – A day sail to further evaluate new sails. Sylvain at UK Sails added a snap shackle to raise the jib luff; still seems too long. Had some trouble setting the main nicely; eased tension on halyard, which made a difference, but it appears the topmost batten is a touch too long. Need to have corrected, and we have a date to go out with our sail maker on Friday March 19.

Mar 7 – Sail with Beverley Bryant across the slot and back. Winds up to 20 knots. New sails performed beautifully. Looks like we need to raise the main more fully. Had some problems with the jib leech slapping – corrected with tensioning line on port tack, but it continued on a starboard tack. Also, concern about jib, that the luff track is cut a bit long, and perhaps the sail is cut a bit long. Will contact UK folks and work out both these issues.

Mar 6 – First sail with new UK Silver Tape Sails. Very nice. Sails easy to handle. Brought the mainsail down without incident; much easier to handle than the old main.

Jan 31 – We sailed across the bay to Sausalito and through Raccoon Straits with Sarah Cowan, daughter of our friends Neil and Ruth who live on Long Island.

Jan 25 – A lovely sail in the south bay and across the slot to Angel Island. Genoa out all the way in 6-12 knots of wind, and we made 7 knots across the slot. At day’s end, Deb brought her in the slip perfectly.

Jan 17 – Sailed out the gate, on a beam reach to the gate and broad reach out with 10-15 knots from the East. Nice close haul in, but lots of tacking outside the gate to get in. Once in, a straight port close haul to the Bay Bridge, where the wind died and we motored the rest of the way. The new guide on the roller furling line nicely guided the line into the drum (see maintenance log entry on rigging for 1/10-11/04).

Jan 10 – Spent weekend doing maintenance, but motored in estuary for a half hour. Deb worked on stopping, turning, backing, and such, and then she brought Spindrift into our slip for the first time. Did a lovely job!

Saturday, January 22, 2005

General log, 2003

Dec 31-Jan 4 – Spent the New Year aboard. On the 31st, Marty & Carol Garnett, Diana & Philip Drew, Ruth & Neil Cowan, Ben & Julie Kline came aboard for hors d’ouevres and champagne before New Year’s Eve dancing and dining on the U.S.S. Hornet. On the 1st, Neil & Ruth joined us for brunch; we cooked aboard that evening; Neil & Ruth joined us again for breakfast on the 2nd. Hilary K. & Lane joined us on the 3rd for dinner at EYC. The whole weekend was great fun, but very rainy and cold, which really taxed our little West Marine electric heater. Clearly a diesel heater is the thing if we’re going to do any cool weather cruising.

In the process, as we learn to handle this 39 foot, 17,000 lb boat (compared to my 7,000 lb 28' Islander), Jim crashed her once (no big damage, just egos and paint scratches on the port stern side).

Dec 26 – Afternoon sail to center of the north bay in cold air and light and variable winds. Overlapped starboard jib sheet on Anderson winch, which we managed to free; otherwise an uneventful, pleasant sail.

Dec 16 – Took a day sail with Doug, who lives aboard Angel I, a Catalina 27 berthed next to our Islander Bahama 28, Dog Days. Motored to north of the Bay Bridge, and then motor sailed to the Golden Gate. There the winds picked up and we sailed out to Point Bonita Lighthouse – a lovely sail with a twelve-knot breeze and very slight sea swell and porpoises swimming alongside as we tacked across from Point Bonita toward the Cliff House. Winds were from the east, which is the opposite of the normal bay area breeze; instead of running back, we were on a close haul all the way to the mouth of the Oakland Estuary.

Dec 15 – A short sail during which we got the roller furling line badly overlapped in the drum when trying to shorten the jib. Had to drop the jib and then slowly untangle the line. Decided the angle of the furling line into the drum was not quite right, so lowered the block guiding the line into the drum. Seems to work better. The new lines we installed are lovely, though the jib lines at 7/16” will take a little getting used to.

Nov 14-Nov 16 – After five months in the boatyard (see maintenance log), we picked up Spindrift on a drizzly, sometimes raining Friday afternoon. Lovely to have her back, though we still have a lot of rigging work to do on her to put her into the sort of sailing condition we want. Puttered and cleaned on Saturday, and generally got used to having a larger boat again. Sunday we went for a sail on the bay. The motor purrs, but we’re concerned about the cutless bearing, which we’ve arranged to look at in a week. The tachometer still bounces and freezes up; the alternator, which is fairly old, causes the bouncing. We’ll replace it soon. The instrument control panel shorted out during the day and then came back again. Probably corrosion, so a good cleaning will have to be done. The sail across the slot and back was lovely – her sails are surely for light winds – and we decided to get new sheets right away. The ones on her are probably 9/16” – old and unmanageable.

Jul 16-Aug 8 – While Spindrift is in Mariner Boat Yard getting new main winches and other work done, Deb and I have been sailing my Islander Bahama 28 (1981) Dog Days, which is berthed just four slips away from Spindrift. Having gotten used to sailing Spindrift, sailing a twenty-eight seems a lot easier. As a result, we finally decided to teach ourselves to use the symmetrical spinnaker. After a lot of reading and preparing a step-by-step guide for raising, jibing, and lowering the spinnaker, we went tackled it on August 2. Before we left the slip, we laid everything out on the deck and raised her part way. Once we were satisfied that we each knew what the other person was going to do, we went into the estuary, sailed up to Jack London Square, and then turned downwind back down the estuary and put it up. Lots of tension and stress, but we got the spinnaker up with only one glitch (the bag lid twisted around sail just at the sheet clew). In ten minutes we neared the end of our run in the estuary, and managed to reverse the process and lower it without incident. Needless to say, we were both very proud of ourselves and excited at the prospect of finally being able use the spinnaker. The next day we raised it again, this time as we sailed downwind from Treasure Island to the Alameda Estuary and with our friend Gaeir Dietrich aboard. Alas, I had twisted the sail when stuffing it back in the bag the day before, and we had to struggle with getting the twists out before we could fly it. But we managed and had a lovely forty-minute ride down to the marina.

Jul 12 – Sailed with Gaeir Dietrich up toward Red Rock. Had to recalibrate the KVH Quadro instrument system, and spent over an hour drifting without winds east of Raccoon Strait while Gaeir and Deb figured out how to reset the instruments. Motored into Raccoon Strait, and found wind which took us through the strait and into the slot toward San Francisco. Estimate winds at 25 to 30 knots, perhaps gusts at 35 knots. Couldn’t get true wind readings on instruments. Deb put the port deck in the water on a starboard tack across the Slot, both terrorizing and exhilarating herself – one reef in main and a slight reef in the Genoa. A beam, then broad reach smoothed things out from about Alcatraz on past the City front. Lost wind again at the Bay Bridge, motored to the estuary, and then went down the estuary on a broad reach to run with just the main. An all round great day!

Jul 4 – Arrived at boat midday. While raising signal flags by means of one of two spinnaker topping lifts, flag lines broke, leaving a halyard up the mast. I foolishly failed to have a lifeline on the end of the halyard! Michael Araneda agreed to come over from his Island Packet and help me climb the mast. We agreed that his 150 lbs was better up the mast than my 185 lbs, so we hoisted him aloft. Luckily another sailor stopped to give Deb and I a hand raising Michael – the halyard we were raising him on got jammed 2/3’s of the way up and we had to lower him to the shrouds so he could switch the safety halyard with the lift halyard and continue the journey to the top. At the top he found the signal flags had jammed the halyard block, which is why it had jammed taking him aloft, and he was able to clear it and come back down with the lost halyard. At Deb’s insistence, the flags were strung around the lifelines. I may get a chance to fly them aloft next year.

At 19:30, we motored out into the bay, east of Pier 39, to watch San Francisco’s fireworks display. Spent three hours on the water, joined by Phil and Diana Drew, Bob and Laura Miller, and Sandi Williams. Had a great time, but I thought the exhaust fumes were a bit too noticeable when I went below a couple of times (see maintenance log for July).

Jun 27-28 – Sailed to Sausalito on Friday the 27th, where we had arranged for a berth at Sausalito Yacht Harbor (C 131). Made the trip in four hours from berth to berth. Had a late lunch at the Cat and Fiddle and later went to the Sausalito Yacht Club for drinks – the best view on the bay! Window shopped and returned later that evening to the Cat and Fiddle for dinner.

Saturday morning Susie Hass joined us for breakfast at the Lighthouse Café and then a sail. As we headed toward the Golden Gate, only to find it fully fogged in, photographer Dennis Anderson sped up to us in his Zodiac and we agreed to have him take a roll of film ($100 for the negatives and regular prints, if we liked them). He had a ball taking shots of us as we tacked back and forth three or four times. (Several of the photos turned out to be very nice, so we paid the bill.) We then sailed through Raccoon Straits and up to Red Rock, thence south toward Alameda. Winds were eight to fifteen knots and sailing really nice. Entering the slot, however, winds picked up to twenty-five knots, and in trying to shorten the Genoa (roller furling is a new thing to us), we back winded the sail three or four times and in the intensity the sacrificial sail cloth on the Genoa tore about halfway up the leach (see maintenance log entry for 7/5-7/6). We turned northwest to Raccoon Straits, and headed into Sausalito, where we repaired to the Sausalito Yacht Club for libations and then had dinner at Angelino’s.

Sunday we had a leisurely morning and after breakfast at the Lighthouse Café and then sailed back to Alameda, where we messed about on the boat for the rest of the day and spent Sunday night at the marina.

Jun 14 – Cooked dinner aboard, entertaining friends Phil and Diana Drews.

Jun 8 – Day sail with Klaus Dehn and his San Francisco friend Anna Quillen. Klaus originally told us about Spindrift, when I told him we were considering purchasing a Catalina 36 MkII. After we bought her, Klaus took us out on his Cal 39 II (1979), which berthed next to the Golden Gate and St. Francis yacht clubs. He lives in North Carolina, but flies out monthly to run the flea market at De Anza College in Cupertino, where he headed the food services department for twenty some years. So, when he’s out, we have a chance to sail. He loved the boat, and we had a beautiful sail from Alameda, across the south bay almost to Pac Bell Park, then north through the slot almost to Sausalito, east through Raccoon Straits, down the back side of Angel Island, across the slot to the back side of Treasure Island, and back into the Oakland Estuary and to port. Left the slip at 11:30 and returned at 16:00. Averaged about seven knots, and topped 10 knots in the slot. Winds reached 19 knots.

Jun 1 – Took friends Marty and Carol Garnett out. After a brief light wind sail in the south bay, the winds died and we drifted for an hour and had lunch. Caught light winds north to the Bay Bridge, well distancing an Islander 36 on the same reach. North of the bridge the winds reached twenty-two knots or more, and Jim put the rails in the water once or twice. Would have had to shorten the main to continue, and we decided to turn back instead. Out for almost six hours when we reached port. Jim brought her in beautifully, using a spring line mid-ship to stern on dock end cleat to hold her once in the slip. Marty reached for the railing on the dock steps as he stepped off the port side, the steps pulled toward him, and he went straight down between the dock and the boat. Two bystanders quickly came to his rescue, and got him on the dock, while Carol almost went in herself trying to come to Marty’s aid. Quite a sideshow! Clearly the dock steps need to be weighted or the railing removed so another such incident doesn’t occur.

May 31 – Second attempt at maiden shakedown on SF Bay was a great success. We took her out easily, raised the sails at the mouth of the estuary, and once on a starboard tack she quickly reached seven and a half knots in a light wind of about ten to twelve knots. Sailed the south bay and then up through the Bay Bridge between the City and Yerba Buena Island. With the winds picking up to fifteen to twenty knots, we turned south and had a lovely broad reach down the estuary.

May 17 – Maiden shakedown sail on SF Bay with sailing buddy, Batu Berkok. We left our slip at Marina Village Yacht Harbor flawlessly at about 11:30 hours, and headed out estuary. Ten minutes out, not quite to Jack London Square, the engine died. Fuel??? Tried starter. Didn’t turn over. Checked electrical panel, smelled what seemed like electrical smoldering, and opened lazarette – no smoke. With little wind, we drifted until the incoming tide started carrying us back along the estuary, and rather than trying to sail back into the slip, we erred on the side of caution and called Vessel Assist. Anchored safely on the estuary across from Marina Village Yacht Harbor with both bow and stern Danforth anchors (a useful but unexpected experience) and awaited a tow to our slip. Returned to slip at approximately 14:00 hours. Oy vey! (See maintenance log entries for 5/28-29.)

Mar 1 – After a night aboard with friends Linda Tromblay and Michael Araneda, we left Santa Cruz at 06:15 for an anticipated fourteen-hour trip to Alameda. Motored through the morning and afternoon at an average speed of 5.6 knots against four to seven foot swells and moderate ten to fifteen knot winds. Mal de mar hit Michael pretty badly, and Linda had a migraine and was a bit queasy. Jim took sturgeron and developed pretty good sea legs, Deb took nothing and only got a tiny bit queasy. No one stayed below for long, though. Saw a gray whale surface thirty meters off port beam while west of Año Nuevo.

At approximately 15:15 the motor died from apparent fuel problems. We quickly hoisted sails, but since we couldn’t hold the boat into the wind, getting up the main was a struggle. We found wind from the northwest, and called Vessel Assist to arrange for a tow into port. We tacked west until we could bear on the Golden Gate channel markers, and then tacked northeast and eventually east to the Golden Gate Bridge – average speed about 6.0 knots against a two knot current. We lost little to no time.

Vessel Assist met us before we reached the channel markers, followed for a time, and then arranged to meet us at the bridge where the wind typically dies following sunset. At the Golden Gate Bridge, Vessel Assist took us in tow, and brought us across the bay to Alameda, bringing us to our slip at Marina Village Yacht Harbor at 20:30. Total time for the trip from Santa Cruz to Alameda – fourteen hours – was just about what we had expected without losing the engine. And, if we had not lost the engine, we probably would have never raised canvas and experienced such a nice sail. (See maintenance log entries from 3/8-5/2.)

During the trip we discovered that the Raritan PH-II head leaked at the bottom of the bowl (see maintenance log entry for 3/22).

Feb 23 – We motor her to Santa Cruz (no wind to speak of). Cruised nicely at seven knots, engine at 190 F. In Santa Cruz, Deb got her chance to crash the boat (again just ego damage and some more paint chipped on the bow). Also, after a harried experience learning to control her, Jim managed to back her into her slip after several tries.

Feb 22 – Started to bring boat from Monterey to Santa Cruz with daughter Lisa and her boyfriend Matt, but discovered she had little forward power. Returned to harbor and had Monterey Bay Boat Works haul her. Turns out the Martec feathering propeller was put on incorrectly after being removed to clean it and to replace the strut. It seems to have been reinstalled backwards, as forward and reverse were reversed after it was fixed. A second short trial in the harbor revealed that the propeller was not pitched properly, so it was hauled a second time and the problem was finally corrected.

Feb 17 – Launched boat at Monterey Bay Boat Works after being hauled for fifty-five days following initial purchase survey.