April 27, 2008

Another US Sailing certification completed today. I passed my Coastal Navigation class. We celebrated by taking some of my classmates on a sail on Wildcat. It was a slow gentle sail on opening day weekend on the bay. We had about 6-8 kts of wind and tacked up to Jack London and then back again on a run, about 5 miles round trip. All systems worked well.

April 20, 2008

A great day on the Bay this Sunday.  My good friends Michael Pattee, Pete Butler and Bethany Smith join me on Wildcat for a sail up the Oakland estuary, south to the Alameda Naval Station harbor entrance, north to the Bay bridge and back down the estuary, about  a 14 mile sail.  Winds were strong, ranging from 15-20 steady and justs to 25.  We double reefed the sail and still maintained almost hull speed.  It was a run down the estuary at the end and even with a double reef in we were passing other larger boats. A bit of wine and cheese at the end of the trip at the dock topped off the 4 hour sail. 

April 13, 2008

Lynne and I finally got to sail a bit this weekend. I have been busy with classes at Club Nautique and Lynne with school so we have not been able to take a weekend off for a trip yet. In fact, this weekend I was yet again in class for a Coastal Navigation course and Lynne was studying for a Chem 101 final. But we put down the books at 5 pm on Sunday and sailed up the estuary. As luck would have it Pete and Bethany were out on Nanaimo with our friends Doron and Sandra, so we paced each other up and down the Oakland Estuary. We were out for about 2 hours. Lynne was at the helm the entire time and brought her into the slip as well.

Next week - COB drills for Lynne and me. A little practice never hurts.