Monday, July 12, 2010
July 11, 2010
Left the dock at 1300 with Sandra, Doron, Lynne and I on board. Winds were light, but strong enough to sail up the estuary and then over to Clipper cove. Doron did most of the sailing. We anchored out in the corner of Clipper Cover out of the wind and waited for Nanaimo to join us. Pete and Bethany arrived at about 1715 and rafted up to us. We hung out until almost 2000. Then we set sail and sailed back to Alameda. Got back to the slip after dark, about 2150.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
July 7, 2010
Took Wildcat out for a night sail on Wednesday night at about 1800. Sailed up to the Alameda Ferry station and then turned around. We then sailed to Quinn's lighthouse for dinner. Winds were light to moderate and we had a very nice night on the estuary. Lynne, Andrew Michelle (a visitor from WI) and I crewed the boat. After dinner we got back to the slip at about 2200.
July 5, 2010
Woke up fairly early to a very steady west wind coming up the river. That did not bode well for our return trip to Alameda. It meant that we would be fighting both the wind and the current most of the way home. We set sail at about 1100 and made pretty good time till we got to San Pablo Bay. There the winds picked up and were on our nose. We had gusts of up to 27 knts. We slogged across the bay and did not get to China Camp until 1700. We then turned south and headed towards the Richmond Bridge. The winds were gusting up to 30 knts and were right at us. In addition the tide changed and was against us as well. We decided to take down the sail and motor for a while. As we passed under the Bridge we got a text message from Nanaimo telling us that winds were gusting over 30 knts in the slot. We decided to keep on motoring and simply set the autopilot to take us home.
When we finally got to the estuary I put the sail back up to dry it out, and we had a nice sail down the estuary. We finally go back to the slip at about 2030, but had a bit of a mishap when docking the boat. We came into the slip a bit hot, and when I put the boat into reverse, the boat refused to go into reverse. As a result we slammed into the dock pretty hard. It left a nice dent in the bow's gel coat.
After cleaning off the boat we went up to the Island Yacht Club to de-pressure a bit. Pete and Bethany were at the bar and we hoisted a beer to celebrate our safe return to Alameda.
July 4, 2010
We slept in on Independence Day and then had a late breakfast/brunch. After cleaning up we read for a while and then I received a text message from Peter Butler that their was a slip available in Benicia. We soon set sail at about 1430 expecting about a 3 to 4 hour sail to Benicia. Well the winds were at about 20-23 knts off our starboard quarter and we flew across San Pablo bay. we were even able to sail on a run past the bride and up the river to the Benicia Marina, getting in at about 1700. We were greeted very warmly by the Island Yacht Club members that had organized a sail-in and had a nice cocktail party with them. That night we watched the 4th of July firework displays of Benicia, Valejo, Pittsburgh and Concord. Benicia's fireworks were very good.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
July 3, 2010
Woke up early on Saturday and headed over to Angel Island. Had a great day touring the Island. If you have not done so, I highly recommend it. We go a slip at the dock and then went ashore for a tour of the Immigration Station (Ellis Island of the Pacific) and the perimeter road. The pictures below are from the tour.
We then had lunch on the boat at the dock. After lunch we set sail for China Camp. The winds were moderate and we were able to get up there in about 4 hours. We set the anchor and spent the night on the boat. Although the winds were blowing when we first set anchor, it soon became a very peaceful and calm night.
July 2, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
