Father's Day 2009

Lynne at the helm with Caitlin assisting!

Today Lynne, Caitlin and I sailed up the estuary and back. Good winds and warm weather. Lynne was at the helm until we reached an active dredge in the middle of the estuary just past the turning basin. I took us past that point until we turned around and came back on a nice run, passing all those slower sloops along the way. We were about 3 hours on the water.

June 17, 2009

I completed the Celestial Navigation course today and passed the test.  It was a long test, took about 4 hours to  complete.  The key is understanding the process and then the rest is relatively easy.

After the test Lynne, Andrew and Caitlin joined me at the boat for a sail.  We had great wind and Lynne sailed up the estuary until we got to the turning basin.  There was a very large cargo ship in the harbor being turned around, so I took control to get us past it and up the harbor. 

We then sailed across the bay to a point a bit south of ATT Park.  The wind was blowing about 16-18 knts from the west.  So the sail back was all down wind and very nice and warm.  We got  back to the slip about 1745.

Lynne chatting it up

Caitlin listening to music

Andrew doing what he does best

June 6-7 2009

Lynne and I sailed Wildcat over to South Beach Harbor where we had a slip for Saturday night. On the way there we stopped off at Clipper Cove to raft up to Nanaimo and enjoy the good weather. While rafted up Doron and Sandra drove over and Pete took his dingy over to the beach to pick them up. We had a soda and then had to get underway so that we could get to South Beach before the office closed so that we had a key to the doors. After leaving Clipper Cove Lynne was in charge of sailing over to South Beach. The wind was blowing at about 12-16 kts, and fairly warm for SF Bay. Lynne and I enjoyed the sail over and Lynne for the first time said that finally started to understand the concept of "feeling the wind" and sensing the boat pick up speed when the sail was in trim. That night we went out to dinner in the city with some good friends and we able to return to a warm Wildcat, as I had turned on the heater before we left.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Java House and then got underway. Again Lynne was in charge of the sailing. The wind coming though the Gate was quite brisk, gusting to 25 kts. Lynne enjoyed the sail, but I took oever when it was time to jibe the boat and head back to the east side of TI. We again stopped in at Clipper Cove to see Pete and Bethany, but they were getting ready to leave so we just headed back to our slip. We got back in about 1500. Afterwards Lynne noted that it was one of her most fun days sailing on the Bay because of the great weather and steady winds.