Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
May 25, 2009
Lynne and I went out for a quick sail on Sunday. We motored up to Jack London with Lynne at the helm and me trying to give her lessons on right of way issues. As we approached the JL fuel dock I took the helm as the winds were a bit gusty. After fueling up Lynne backed Wildcat off the dock and we put up the sail and sailed back to the slip on a broad reach/run with Lynne at the helm. She sailled by the lee at times, but the Nonsuch can sail up to 15 degrees by the lee, so we had no problems. It was a great day to sail the estuary, a fair amount of wind and quite warm for the SF Bay area.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
May23, 2009
Spent a large portion of the day repairing the head (that is the toilet for you landlubbers). Any time one works on any type of toilet, it is a disagreeable project. A marine head is about as bad as it gets! cramp work area, and much less water flushing through the system leads to a smelly area when you open things up. Plus just about every screw or bolt has fuzed or is about to distintegrate. everything strips when you go to take it out. I endedn up having to use my dremil to cut off about four screws or bolts.
Fortunately the repair kit from west marine had replacement screws and bolts as well as new gaskets, flappers and valves, just about all moving parts. So once I got the thing apart, everything when fairly smoothly.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
May 16, 2009
It was a very fine day to take a sail this Saturday. The forecast was for a very hot day on land, so getting out on the water was a good alternative. I had offered a day sailing as an auction item in my firm's United Way campaign and the two secretaries who won the prize had chosen this day for the trip. I asked my friend and sailing buddy, Doron, to assist me as crew. Doron tries not to pass up an oportunity to sail and agreed to help me with the sail. So at 1100 our 4 guests met us at the slip for our sail around the bay.
We motored out of the estuary and across the bay as there was very little wind in the morning. we motored along the city front until we turned the corner and headed towards the Golden Gate. We then put up the sail as the sea breeze picked up. Doron was at the helm and he took us out under the Golden Gate bridge. We saw some dolfins and other sea life. We then headed back into the bay and down Raccoon straights and around Angel Island. On the east side of the Island we passed Pete and Bethany in Nanaimo, who were on their way up to China Camp. We then continued past Treasure Island and showed our guests the construction on the Bay Bridge and continued down to the south bay. The wind started to die out so we headed back to Alameda. We had a nice, but warm sail down the estuary and as we approached the slip Doron's wife, Sandra, invited is all back to the Red Door Studio for drinks and a barbeque. Jen and Val took Sandra up on her offer and we ended our day with a very nice evening at the Paz's.
We motored out of the estuary and across the bay as there was very little wind in the morning. we motored along the city front until we turned the corner and headed towards the Golden Gate. We then put up the sail as the sea breeze picked up. Doron was at the helm and he took us out under the Golden Gate bridge. We saw some dolfins and other sea life. We then headed back into the bay and down Raccoon straights and around Angel Island. On the east side of the Island we passed Pete and Bethany in Nanaimo, who were on their way up to China Camp. We then continued past Treasure Island and showed our guests the construction on the Bay Bridge and continued down to the south bay. The wind started to die out so we headed back to Alameda. We had a nice, but warm sail down the estuary and as we approached the slip Doron's wife, Sandra, invited is all back to the Red Door Studio for drinks and a barbeque. Jen and Val took Sandra up on her offer and we ended our day with a very nice evening at the Paz's.
May 15, 2009
Today Lynne and I picked Wildcat up from KKMI after it had its bottom painted and I cleaned the prop and revarnished the swimstep. The sail back to the slip was good, with variable, but generally reasonable winds. As we approached Clipper Cover I hailed Nanaimo on the radio, and much to our pleasure, but not surprise Pete and Bethany were sailing up to Clipper Cove for the night. We followed them into Clipper Cover and rafted up for drinks and snacks on our boat. We finally got back to our slip at 2300 where we were met by Lauren, who took Lynne home and me back up to KKMI to retreave the car.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
May 5, 2009
I have been participating on a test of some new bottom paints and the test finally came to and end this month. As a result I had to bring Wildcat up to KKMI (a boatyard) in Richmond to have it pulled so that the manufacturer could inspect the condition of the test paint. KKMI is about 13 miles from Wildcat's home slip, and it took me about 4 hours to get to KKMI from Alameda. I motored out of the Estuary and put the sail up just before getting to the Bay. I tried to sail once I was out on the bay, but the winds were light and if I had sailed all the way to KKMI I would not have arrived until after 2230. So I ended up motor sailing across the bay. It was an interesting sail becasue the fog had come in through the Gate, so around Berkeley there was pretty heavy fog, but elsewhere it was pretty light. I got to Richmond Harbor about 2030 and to KKMI at about 2100. The next day I took a look at Wildcat while it was on the hard. I was amazed at how well the paint had held up. No major hard growth and the hair apparently sluffed off when the boat was pulled. The zincs were in pretty good shape as well.
So while Wildcat is out of the water I will have the bottom painted and will also re-Cetol the swim step. Hopefully the boat will be back in the water by the middle of next week.
So while Wildcat is out of the water I will have the bottom painted and will also re-Cetol the swim step. Hopefully the boat will be back in the water by the middle of next week.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
April 24-26 2009 CPM Tag on New Moon
This past weekend I successfully completed my CPM (Coastal Passage Making) certification (see picture below). Some might say that I had a rather stacked crew for my trip. My good friend Doron, OPM certified, college classmate, Gary Barg, CPM certified, Ricardo Poli, OPM certified, and Deb Fehr, CPM certified. We had chartered New Moon, a 2000 Hunter 41 for the trip. Although I am generally not overly impressed with Hunters, I must admit that New Moon was well equipped for ocean cruising and handled quite well.
When we started off from Ballena Bay on Friday at 1930 the winds were howling at about 25-30 knts. In many parts of the country that would be good cause to head back to the yacht club and start pounding down a few brewskis (or martini's depending on the type of club you belong to). But here in San Francisco it is just another opportunity to go out and pound away at some good waves.
Because we were on a certification sail we had to take care of a few administrative matters. We motored up to the Alameda Estuary where we ran the mile to check the accuracy of the boat's log meter (it was very accurate). We then raised the sails and checked them to make sure they were in ship shape before "turning" the boat to create a deviation chart for the compass on the binnacle. We next sailed over to Ayala cove and took a mooring for the night. Ayala cove requires all boats to attach bow and stern to two mooring balls so that the boats do not swing on the mooring. We used the mooring technique where you back the boat to the first mooring, attach a long bow line to the mooring, walk the mooring up to the front and then back down to the stern mooring. This makes it easier to attach to the mooring because you are able to pass the mooring line through the mooring collar while standing on the swim step (within hands reach) instead of trying to pass the line through the mooring collar from the bow of the boat (5 ft off the water) and hooking it with the boat hook.
Sandra, Doron's good lookin and good cookin wife, had prepared a great meal of stuffed peppers, eggplant and a great bread that was a cross between a pita and focaccia. We had some good wine (David Bruce Sarah) provided by Ricardo. After telling a few tall tales while drinking our wine, as men are apt to do, we called it an evening about midnight.
The next day we got underway at 0630 and headed over to Horizon's restaurant dock in Sausalito to pick up Deb. While at the dock I made breakfast and Deb brought all of us coffee from a local coffee shop (much better than the perk on board). We were at the Golden Gate by 0830 and on our way to Half Moon Bay. Winds were blowing at about 20-25 with higher gusts coming over our starboard quarter. We decided to sail down on a jib only so that we would not have to worry about an accidental gybe with the main. The other boats had reefed mains and jibs, which made them a bit faster, but meant that they had to be more careful about keeping track of the main in high seas. As a result of the other boats having a bit more sail up than we did, we were the slowest boat in the flotilla, but we also probably had the most relaxing sail to HMB. When we arrived our TAG boat, Belle Collette with the instructor (Capt'n Scott), was doing drills. We followed the other boats into HMB. The boat with the instructor on board, Belle Collette radioed over to us and the instructor, Dave Scott, told us he wanted us to raft up to his boat. Rafting up is a skill that you have to demonstrate proficiency at in order to pass CPM. When they finally had their anchor set we motored over to raft up to them. The winds were still blowing quite hard in the harbor, so rafting up was a little bit of a challenge. But with my experience crew it turned out to be a piece of cake. We gently glided over to Belle Collette and rafted up without a problem. Dave Scott came over to our boat, checked out our charts and log book and gave us a thumbs up. As we disengaged from Belle Collette its life ring got loose so we circled back and picked it up for them. We then headed over to our slip for the night. That evening we had dinner at the Princeton Brew Pub and ended the evening with wine and snacks back at the boat.
The next morning we got an early start 0630, because we needed to pump out the holding tank and we knew that we would have to beat into the wind the whole way back to San Francisco. The wind had been blowing pretty hard all night so we also knew that we would have pretty high sea swells as well. By the time we got out into the ocean the winds were already at 20-25 knts. We started off sailing on a reefed main and jib, but soon realized that the wind direction and leeway was pushing us too close to shore. We tacked back out for 30 minutes and then tacked back north. But again we found ourselves heading too close to shore. Also the waves were building and some were beginning to break. So we took in the jib and began to motor sail. That way we were able to point higher into the wind and make good speed back. The winds continued to build and at one point were probably close to 35 knts. We also had a wave break on the boat and a fair amount of water was washed down into the boat. But all and all it was an enjoyable sail (see pictures below). By the time we got back to the Golden Gate, however, the winds were almost non-existent. We finally passed though the golden gate and then did a few Crew Overboard drills while waiting for Belle Collette to come in. Somehow they passed us while we were doing our drills, so we had to motor sail to catch up to them. Just west of Alcatraz Doron and I saw a whale.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. When we got back to the south bay we once again did a Crew Overboard drill so Dave Scott could confirm that we knew how to do it (again another CPM requirement), and then headed in. We were at the dock at about 1445. Dave came in about an hour later and told me that I had passed and we put the US Sailing CPM sticker in my log book (picture below).
When we started off from Ballena Bay on Friday at 1930 the winds were howling at about 25-30 knts. In many parts of the country that would be good cause to head back to the yacht club and start pounding down a few brewskis (or martini's depending on the type of club you belong to). But here in San Francisco it is just another opportunity to go out and pound away at some good waves.
Because we were on a certification sail we had to take care of a few administrative matters. We motored up to the Alameda Estuary where we ran the mile to check the accuracy of the boat's log meter (it was very accurate). We then raised the sails and checked them to make sure they were in ship shape before "turning" the boat to create a deviation chart for the compass on the binnacle. We next sailed over to Ayala cove and took a mooring for the night. Ayala cove requires all boats to attach bow and stern to two mooring balls so that the boats do not swing on the mooring. We used the mooring technique where you back the boat to the first mooring, attach a long bow line to the mooring, walk the mooring up to the front and then back down to the stern mooring. This makes it easier to attach to the mooring because you are able to pass the mooring line through the mooring collar while standing on the swim step (within hands reach) instead of trying to pass the line through the mooring collar from the bow of the boat (5 ft off the water) and hooking it with the boat hook.
Sandra, Doron's good lookin and good cookin wife, had prepared a great meal of stuffed peppers, eggplant and a great bread that was a cross between a pita and focaccia. We had some good wine (David Bruce Sarah) provided by Ricardo. After telling a few tall tales while drinking our wine, as men are apt to do, we called it an evening about midnight.
The next day we got underway at 0630 and headed over to Horizon's restaurant dock in Sausalito to pick up Deb. While at the dock I made breakfast and Deb brought all of us coffee from a local coffee shop (much better than the perk on board). We were at the Golden Gate by 0830 and on our way to Half Moon Bay. Winds were blowing at about 20-25 with higher gusts coming over our starboard quarter. We decided to sail down on a jib only so that we would not have to worry about an accidental gybe with the main. The other boats had reefed mains and jibs, which made them a bit faster, but meant that they had to be more careful about keeping track of the main in high seas. As a result of the other boats having a bit more sail up than we did, we were the slowest boat in the flotilla, but we also probably had the most relaxing sail to HMB. When we arrived our TAG boat, Belle Collette with the instructor (Capt'n Scott), was doing drills. We followed the other boats into HMB. The boat with the instructor on board, Belle Collette radioed over to us and the instructor, Dave Scott, told us he wanted us to raft up to his boat. Rafting up is a skill that you have to demonstrate proficiency at in order to pass CPM. When they finally had their anchor set we motored over to raft up to them. The winds were still blowing quite hard in the harbor, so rafting up was a little bit of a challenge. But with my experience crew it turned out to be a piece of cake. We gently glided over to Belle Collette and rafted up without a problem. Dave Scott came over to our boat, checked out our charts and log book and gave us a thumbs up. As we disengaged from Belle Collette its life ring got loose so we circled back and picked it up for them. We then headed over to our slip for the night. That evening we had dinner at the Princeton Brew Pub and ended the evening with wine and snacks back at the boat.
The next morning we got an early start 0630, because we needed to pump out the holding tank and we knew that we would have to beat into the wind the whole way back to San Francisco. The wind had been blowing pretty hard all night so we also knew that we would have pretty high sea swells as well. By the time we got out into the ocean the winds were already at 20-25 knts. We started off sailing on a reefed main and jib, but soon realized that the wind direction and leeway was pushing us too close to shore. We tacked back out for 30 minutes and then tacked back north. But again we found ourselves heading too close to shore. Also the waves were building and some were beginning to break. So we took in the jib and began to motor sail. That way we were able to point higher into the wind and make good speed back. The winds continued to build and at one point were probably close to 35 knts. We also had a wave break on the boat and a fair amount of water was washed down into the boat. But all and all it was an enjoyable sail (see pictures below). By the time we got back to the Golden Gate, however, the winds were almost non-existent. We finally passed though the golden gate and then did a few Crew Overboard drills while waiting for Belle Collette to come in. Somehow they passed us while we were doing our drills, so we had to motor sail to catch up to them. Just west of Alcatraz Doron and I saw a whale.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. When we got back to the south bay we once again did a Crew Overboard drill so Dave Scott could confirm that we knew how to do it (again another CPM requirement), and then headed in. We were at the dock at about 1445. Dave came in about an hour later and told me that I had passed and we put the US Sailing CPM sticker in my log book (picture below).
Monday, April 20, 2009
Route for April 17-19 Sail
Above is a picture of San Francisco Bay. Our boat slip is mid way between the labels for the cities of Oakland and Alameda. Clipper Cover is the little bay just to the north of the Bay Bridge at the Island that the Bay Bridge passes over in the middle of the bay. Raccoon Straights is the waterway between Angel Island and the mainland (Tiburon). China Camp is north of the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge and the point to the right of San Rafael. As you round that point and hug the coast about 1 mile after rounding the point you reach China Camp.
April 17 -19, 2009
Lynne and I had our first overnight trip on Wildcat this past weekend. We motored up to Clipper Cove on Friday night. Our friends Pete and Bethany had come up to Clipper Cove in Nanaimo, their Nonsuch 30U, earlier in the day. We rafted up and had drinks and dinner on Nanaimo. we derafted for the night and I took the picture below with my Iphone Saturday morning.
Saturday morning we had a lazy start to the day. Pete had installed some new instruments in Nanaimo and he did some maneuvers in Clipper Cove to calibrate them. I had a call to take at noon, so we finally got underway at about 1pm and headed up to China Camp. I took two pictures on the way up to China Camp which are set out below. One is of Lynne about 1.5 miles NE of Raccoon Straits. If you look carefully you can see the Golden Gate Bridge through Raccoon Straights. The winds were blowing about 17-19 knts through the slot, but we were becalmed near Richmond Harbor and had to motor for about 45 minutes. Then the winds picked back up and we were able to sail on a broad reach to a run all the way up to China Camp. We got up there at about 4:40 pm and quickly anchored. After about an hour Nanaimo motored over to us and we tried to raft up for cocktails. But the current was too strong and rough, so we each separately hung out on our boats. Lynne made a great Indian dinner and we ate outside in the cockpit of the boat.
The next day was very hot at China Camp. We put up Wildcat's bimini to shade us from the sun, (made all the difference) and sat out in our cockpit reading and doing word games together. After lunch of leftovers from the night before and cheese and crackers, we finally go underway. Nanaimo had left much earlier as it was to hot to sit at anchor without a bimini and they decided to get some relief from the heat by sailing. The sail back was will very mild following winds but we had the tide pushing us so we averaged about 5 knts. We met up with Nanaimo again at the entrance to the estuary and sailed back down the estuary together. We then sailed over to Quinn's (a restaurant with a dock) for dinner. We finally got back to the slip about 9:30 Sunday night. A very enjoyable weekend.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
April 11, 2009
Lynne and I sailed out to Jack London Square. Lynne was at the helm
all the way out. I took her back in and Lynne relaxed. It was great
being out on the water with Lynne again.
all the way out. I took her back in and Lynne relaxed. It was great
being out on the water with Lynne again.
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