August 22-24, 2008

Wildcat had two outings this past weekend. On Friday I motored up by myself to Clipper Cove to anchor out over night. Pete and Bethany motored up on Nanaimo with Sandra Paz and we rafted up and had dinner and drinks until about 2300. The next day Andrew and his friend Rick Relinger drove over to Treasure Island and I picked them up at the guest dock and we sailed around SF bay, past Alcatraz, around Angel Island and back to Clipper Cove. I dropped the boys off and Nanaimo was still at anchor at CC. We rafted up again for another round and then motored down to Quinn's Lighthouse for dinner. Got back to the slip at about 9pm.

The next day I took Lynne's brother Scott and his daughter Katlin out for a sail up to Jack London and back. Very light winds and on the way back we met up with Nanaimo with B&P and Sandra and Doron on board. We raced back to the slip and Peter smoked me once again.

The pictures below are from Clipper Cove and motoring on the Oakland Estuary.

August 17, 2008

Spent the day today on maintenance items including:

1. Sanding down the cutting board at Lynne' request to make it cleaner looking.

2. Resecuring the float switch of the bilge pump to the hull (a bilge float switch that floats around in the bilge water is not very reliable).

3. Varnishing all the brightwork with Cetol High Gloss. This was much easier than I thought it would be.

Next on the agenda is checking the zincs and cleaning the rust of the stainless on the boat. Yes it is true - maintenance is never ending!

August 16, 2008

Lynne and I went for a sail with out good friends Vivian and Franz  and their daughter Simone on Saturday. We got on the water slightly after 1300 and sailed up the estuary to Jack London. There we pulled down the sail and motored up the estuary while we had a great lunch prepared by Lynne.

Once we got all lunch leftovers stored and everything put away, Franz and I hoisted the sail. Winds were blowing from 15 to 22 most of the time. We tacked around the south bay and eventually made our way over to just in front of South Beach Marina, where we turned around and headed for home on a very nice broad reach.

I had hoped to stay on broad reach all the way home, but the wind shifted a bit and we were alternating between a full run and sailing by the lee as we approached the turning basin. Of course as luck would have it there was a cargo ship in the basin and all traffic was held up. As i tried to turn up into the wind, the main sheet got twisted around the lifesling. I was motoring up into the wind, with the concrete docks about two boat lengths off my starboard side when another sail boat started sailing across my path. I had to turn off the wind (with my main sheet still tangled up around the lifesling). Well, long story short, there was enough wind and pressure on the sheet to rip the lifesling off the bar it was attached to. Fortunately I was able to retreave it and then staighten out the sheet. We ended up dropping the sail, which I should have done earlier, and motored in the rest of the way, stopping to top off the fuel tank and pump out the holding tank at Jack London.

Viv, Franz and Simone all appeared to have a good time. It was fun getting together with them and we hope to do it again soon.

August 9-10

Lynne and I got a late start on Saturday and motored out the estuary into the south bay. The winds were moderate as we sailed south and then turned to the northwest towards the delta/echo span of the Bay Bridge. We were on the radio with P&B and S&D who were sailing near the Gate and Angle Island, respectively. They reported good winds over by the GG bridge, so we headed in that direction. All of a sudden, as we approached the shipping channel coming out of Oakland Harbor the wind literally stopped. We sat around for about 5 minutes and then I decided to get under power, drop the sail and head over to drop the hook in Clipper Cove. Once we got to Clipper Cove we set the anchor and proceeded to have a drink and wait for the other two boats.

Nanaimo was the first to arrive. Pete pulled in and rafted up to my port side. Doron was next in and brought his chartered boat up to my starboard side, but then we decided the other boats were a bit too close. Pete took Nanaimo over to a better location and dropped his huge Manson anchor. Doron and I then rafted up to Nanaimo.

We ended up spending the night rafted together. I dropped my spare anchor off the back so that we would not drift too close to the marina docks or aground on the beach. Doron took off the next day at 7 am and Pete left at about 10 am. Lynne and I got underway at about 1100. We motored back to the slip after pumping out the holding tank at the pump out near the Alameda Sherrif's boat at Grand Marina.

July 26-27, 2008

Lynne and I motored over to South Bay Marina on Saturday the 26th of July to pick up three guests for a sail around the bay. The tall ships were in and docked around the bay and we were able to see a few of them. After we picked up Randa, Blaine and Evet at about 1330 we sailed across the bay towards the west end of Angle Island. It was a beautiful warm summer day. The winds were initially mild, but the picked up as we crossed the bay and were at about 18-20 as we approached Raccoon Straights. Once in the Straights the winds were fickle, but we were able to sail to the east end of Angle Island where we dropped the hook at the cove at the north east corner of the Island in its wind shadow. We had some snacks and drinks, and I took a dip in the bay (it really had turned out to be a hot day!) and then we crossed the bay and went behind Treasure Island on its east side. Once we passed under the Bay Bridge we put on the motor and motored back to South Beach to drop off our guests. Lynne and I then motored back to Clipper Cove and stayed the night on the hook. It was very relaxing. We each read a book and then got underway at about 4 pm. The winds were quite high and we had a fun sail back in to the slip. We got in about 6 pm and cleaned up the boat. Total 2 day distance about 25 miles.