May 28, 2011

Went for a sail with Pat and Bruce Shewmaker to Clipper Cove for lunch. Winds were moderate and had a nice sail on the estuary. Had a bit of rain going out. A nice lunch at Clipper Cove and a fast sail back.

Start Time: 5/28/11 11:50 AM
End Time: 5/28/11 5:25 PM
Distance: 17.1 NM
Total time: 5h 35 min
Average Speed: 3.1 kts
Max Speed: 5.8 kts

BVI 2011 May 5-13 2011

Lynne and I joined three other couples (Sandra and Doron, Rosemary and Randy, and Catherine and Bob) for nine days on a Lagoon 42 catamaran, Cat Jak, a French boat, sailing the British Virgin Islands, BVI for short.

We left California on Wednesday May 4th and flew over night through JFK to St. Thomas VI. We then took a ferry to Tortolla and a cab to the marina.

Day 1: We arrived at 6pm and took possession of the boat. We stayed on the boat that night and got familiar with the boat and its equipment.

Day 2: The next day we took off for Norman's Island and the Willy T. On the way we stopped at the Indians and did some snorkeling. Willy T's was it's usual wild time. We jumped from the top deck and Lynne got a temp tatoo wild laying on the bar. That night Sandra made a great dinner and we had a fun time on the boat.

Day 3: On Saturday we motored out to the caves at Norman's and did some snorkeling in the morning. We then sailed across St. Francis Drake Passage and put in at Soper's Hole for provisioning. We then sailed over to Great Harbor at Jost Van Dyke. The winds we blowing as we crossed over from Tortola to Jost Van Dyke and we hit over 8.2knts over ground. We got a mooring ball at about 4pm. I when for a long Snorkel around the east side of the bay. Lynne went into town with the other women to explore. Later that night we all went to Foxy's for drinks and Music.

Day 4 Mothers Day: On Sunday we sent a few people into town for ice. It would have been nice to have gone into the local church for services, but the men wanted to get sailing so we took off. We first went to East End Harbor and Diamond Cay to walk the reef and look for sea shells by the sea shore. We also snorkeled and saw sting rays and sea turtles. I also saw two lobsters, but left them where they were.

Doron then wanted to sail directly to Cane Garden Bay and we started in that direction. We had some nice winds and the sail was nice and fast. But as we passed Sandy Cay we decided we had to stop. It was just too pretty to pass up. So we turned back and put the anchor down and went ashore. Bob, Lynne Catherine and Ro walked around the Island. I took another snorkel off the south end. I think they made the better choice.

We then headed over to Cane Garden Bay for the night. We went to shore for a drink, but ate dinner on the Boat.

Day 5: On Monday we left Cane Garden and headed over to Trellis Bay. Randy had arranged to rent a kite board and sail board and needed to pick it up. We sailed most of the way there. It was a long sail and there was a bit of a roll front the ocean swells. Some people got a bit seasick, so we all took turns at the helm. Steering a boat is a good way to treat mild sea sickness. We took a mooring ball at Trellis Bay and Randy got his boards. We then motored over to Marina Cay and got a mooring ball for the night. Once securely on the ball, Bob, Ro, Catherine, Lynne and I took a walk around the island and went snorkeling. We saw a ray and a few other colorful fish. Randy, meantime was windsurfing around Marina Cay and over to Trellis. Eventually we sent Bob, Ro and Catherine out after him. But he was able to sail back and needed only a short tow back to the boat.

Day 6: On Tuesday we set sail for the Baths. The Baths are a very interesting rock formation that

provides great hiking and snorkeling opportunities. In addition, there is a restaurant at the top of the hill overlooking the Baths which has a free swimming pool. We snorkeled the Baths, did the hike through the rock formation and then ended up at the restaurant for lunch/drinks and a swim. While we were there it rained quite hard, but it was a comfortable warm rain. We next set sail for the Dogs for another swim and snorkel. The Dogs are a set of islands off of Virgin Gorda that have some good snorkeling sites. We got a mooring ball and went for a swim. After the swim we sailed to Gorda Sound and Saba Rock. This was one of our longer sailing passages. But we got into the Sound in time to get a choice mooring ball right in front of Saba Rock.

Day 7: On Wednesday Bob, Randy and I went over to eustacia reef to snorkel while everyone else relaxed at the bitter end yacht club. The reef was great! We could even see Necker Island, Richard Branson's private island where Virgin Records has a studio. Later that day we took the boat across the Sound to Leverick Bay. While we crossed the Sound we sailed past the Maltese Falcon, a beautiful, dyna-rigged modern 200 ft long sail boat. Truly a beautiful ship. We then took a mooring ball at Leverick Bay and walked up the hill to Bob's friends house, Mike, for a visit. It was very interesting to see how one lives in paradise. That night we ate dinner at the Leverick's Bay Marina.

Day 8: Lynne's Birthday! On Thursday we set sail for Cooper Island, for guess what? That's right some more snorkeling. We tried to sail there, but the winds were too light, so me motored most of the way We took a mooring ball off of Cooper Island Yacht Club. After snorkeling off of an island between Cooper and Peter Islands, we went over to the yacht club to explore. It was quite new and very nice with a great bar. We then headed back to Maya Cove to return the boat. We got in about 5 pm. We all took showers and cleaned up a bit. After cocktails on the boat we went out to dinner at Pussers East. Lynne and I had Lobster as did several others. The service was not too good, but we had a nice evening.

Day 9 going home: We spent the morning cleaning the boat and getting it ready for inspection by the rental company. We passed and got our deposit back. We then started the long trip back home.

April 30-May 1 2011

Lynne and I went down to wildcat to get some gear for our upcoming trip to the British Virgin Islands. Once we got to the boat, however, the day was so gorgeous, we decided we had to go for a sail. I did not have any clothes appropriate for sailing on that day, but fortunately I had some spare clothes in the boat. However, the only boat shoes I had were my foul weather boots. We sailed up the estuary until we got to the ferry dock at Alameda. At that point one of the large container ships was leaving the dock so we had to drop the sail and follow behind under power. At about this time we heard from Bethany and Doron that they were up in clipper cove and were planning on rafting up for dinner. So we headed up to clipper cove as well and rafted up to the Nanaimo and Messing About. We ended up having baked ziti made by Bethany for dinner. It was great! We the had a few cocktails and ended up dancing on Nanaimo that evening. Our original plan was to head back after dinner, but we had such a good time that we decided to stay overnight and head back the next day.

The next day at 6 AM I disconnected us from the Nanaimo and we motored back to Alameda. We got back it at about 8 AM and headed home. Later that day I went back to the boat and re-oiled the bright work on the outside of the boat to make it look good.

Next outing - the BVI

April 9, 2011

Attempted to sail up to Clipper Cove for a raft up with Nanaimo and Messing About. Got as far as the end of the estuary when 30 knt winds, a tide against me and 3 foot chop stopped me in my tracks. It may be that my transmission is slipping, but whatever the cause, I had little headway and decided to turn around. So did Messing About. Nanaimo, which made it to Clipper Cove ended up coming back to the slip as well. Pete made a fantastic paella and we had a great evening on Nanaimo back at Alameda Marina. The next morning Sandra, Doron and I went up to the IYC and made breakfast and ate out on the deck. We then went for a day sail shown below.

Nanaimo

April 10, 2011

Sailing on messing about. Nanaimo behind us

April 3, 2011

Went sailing on Messing About with the Paz's. Had a great sail. Winds topped out at about 28 knots. Had to put in a single reef. Sailed around Angle Island up Raccoon Straights, across the bay, out the gate, and back. Left at 1149 and got back about 1834.

Start Time: 4/3/11 11:49 PM
End Time: 4/3/11 6:34 PM

Distance: 32.0 NM
Total time: 8h 44'
Average Speed: 4.8 kts
Max Speed: 7.8 kts

April 3, 2011

Doron at the helm

April 3, 2011

Panorama in the middle of SF Bay

April 3, 2011

Sandra at the helm. Golden Gate in the background

Latitude: 37° 49.453 N
Longitude: 122° 27.490 W

April 3, 2011

Returning from poking outside the Gate with Sandra and Doron on Messing About.
Date: Sun, Apr 3 4:04PM

Latitude: 37° 49.424 N

Longitude: 122° 27.417 W

Cool sailing in February

Sailing on Messing About

February 26, 2011

Sailing with Doron on Messing About.

February 13, 2011

Lynne and I took a quick trip up the estuary up to the Bay and back. Not much wind but a great sunny day.

Sent from my iPhone

__________

January 15-17, 2011

Wildcat was on the water or the three day MLK weekend in 2011. On Saturday the weather was wonderful. 65 degrees and sunny with a light wind. Lynne and I got going a bit late as we had to move what seemed to me to be a month of supplies down to the boat for our 3 day weekend. But as it turned out, Lynne was right to bring stuff down to restock the boat for the weekend.

Originally we were only going out for 2 days (Sat. and Sun.) We left the slip at about 1230 and motored up the estuary to the bay as winds were quite light and we wanted to get out to the bay to meet up with our good friends Sandra and Doron in their new boat Messin About. When we got to the bay we hoisted the sails and Lynne was at the helm. We practiced reefing the boat south of the Bay Bridge, putting in a single reef and then a double reef and then shaking them out. We then set sail for Angel Island (AI) to meet up with Messin About (MB). We finally made contact with MB when we passed under the bridge and they were by AI. We set sail for an intercept course and met up with them off of the Berkeley Pier. We then both headed to Clipper Cove (CC), a small bay between Treasure Island (TI) and Yerba Berena Island, where we had plans to anchor and raft up for the night. The entrance to CC is quite silted in from work that is being performed on the Bay Bridge, so while we were able to get into the cove at near low tide thanks to Wildcat's shoal keel (only 4 ft), MB with her 6 ft keel had to wait for a higher tide. We set our anchor and soon thereafter MB rafted up to our starboard side for the night. We enjoyed some drinks and snacks while Sandra finished cooking a chicken curry and rice dinner. Below is a panaramic photo of CC with MB rafted to my side.

Shortly thereafter Bethany and Pete joined us in their boat Nanaimo and rafted up to our port side. We all enjoined a great dinner and drinks. We then spent the rest of the evening talking and playing dueling Ipods.

The next day we woke up to a whistling sound at about 0630. A sailboat off to our port was trying to hail a larger power boat that was pulling its anchor through the mud and drifting towards it. I got up and watched the power boat drift over towards us until it was too close for comfort and then woke Peter up so that he could unraft and motor to his own anchorage. The power boat's anchor finally reset as it drifted over into some shallower water, but it was still quite close to us. MB shortly thereafter headed back for home before the tide got too low. Lynne and I headed out for a sail, intending to go over to AI for a hike. But when we got out on the bay the winds were quite brisk (20-21 knts) and the fog was fairly thick. We realized that the great vistas at AI would not be available so we decided to cancel our hike and just go for a sail. After weaving between a bunch of racing sailboats we headed back to CC. We got back in about 1630 and rafted up to Nanaimo.

That night for dinner Pete had made a great paella. We dined aboard Nanaimo. Lynne and I brought over a salad, a bottle of wine and a bottle of Champaign. We once again had a great evening eating, talking, clowning around and enjoying each others company. Turned out to be a late night by the time we got back to Wildcat.

The next day was quite foggy. Pete and Bethany left for home about 1030. We got going a bit later and motored out of the cove about 1130. The fog was quite dense, about 1/4 mile visibility. I put on the radar, AIS and chartplotter to see where we were and see the boats around us. For some reason there was a lot of Tug traffic. But eventually we found the estuary and followed a tug down the west side. Eventually the fog lifted and we motored back to the slip at about 1330. Once there we gave Wildcat a thorough cleaning on the outside. It took the rest of the day, but she now sparkels. Next we will start on the inside.

January 1, 2011

Wildcat was out on the water on New Years participating in the Around the Island event on Alameda. We started the morning at the Island Yacht Club for breakfast. Deb, Dave and captain John then left our slip about 10 am and started motoring along the estuary to Aeolian Yacht Club. Along the way we passed under the Park Street, High Street and Fruitvalle bridges. At the AYC we stopped for chili and refreshments before continuing on to the Balenna Yacht Club. Lynne joined us at Aeolian for the rest of the trip around the island. After passing under the Bay Island bridge we set sail at the end of Bay Island and sailed up to Balenna Bay marina. At the BYC we had lunch of hamburgers and irish coffees. After lunch we set sail for the Encinal Yacht Club. As we passed Alameda point Doron and Sandra Paz met up with us on their new boat Messin About. We all met up at the EYC and the crew of Nanaimo joined us there for a drink. We arrived back at the slip at about 1800.

Sept 26, 2010

After attending my 30th law school reunion our good friends Dave and Kathy Gallo took us out for a ride on their power boat. We left from Manhasett Harbor and motored over to LaGuardia Airport, passing under the Whitestone and Throggs Neck Bridges and past City Island and the Kings Point Military Academy. It was a fun afternoon on the water.

October 9, 2010

Doron and I sailed around the bay all day for fleet week weekend. We saw the naval boats come in and then the air show. The number of boats on the bay was amazing. Wind we light in the morning but were blowing above 20 and gusting over 25 in the afternoon.
>

Fwd: Fleet week

>

Sept 12, 2010 Partial trip view

Below is a partial track using Navionics Iphone Chart app. The app
turned off on the way back (where the yellow line goes from off
Alameda point to my slip. The actual track was simply
back the same way we came out. Additional pictures and a description of the sail are posted below.