If Only She Could Sail

pics of the week

The Sailing Life is for Me!

Took out some old and new friends on Sunday for a very special day on the SF bay.  We departed about 10:30 and from a distance we could see the Berkeley Kite Festival in the fog.  Tacked out towards the City and the Louis Vuittan Cup Races.  New Zealand was dominating Italy once more.  Winds were in the 20's so we had a bit of jib out for a nice easy sail.  As we reached the finish line, NZ comes roaring through.  Nice view of these spectacular vessels.  Then we head to McCovey Cove for lunch.  We anchor and are eating lunch when one of the large brunch cruisers comes through the anchorage.  He turns and promptly hits our bow and bends up our bow roller very nicely.  I am a bit stunned and contact him on the VHF.  The captain says to call him on Monday and he will take care of it.  This will be a big hassle I am sure.  We did not let this ruin our day and it could have been much worse.  Had a great sail home in high winds and I look forward to the next adventure.

Bonehead move of the weekend goes to the brunch cruise captain!

Dolphinlove

Consider This...

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a son while living in the White House.
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both were shot behind the head.
Here is an interesting one...
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.
Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners.
Both successors were named Johnson.
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy was born in 1939.
Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are made of fifteen letters.
Mr. Booth shot Lincoln in a Theatre called "Ford".
Lee Harvey Oswald, shot Kennedy in a car called "Ford" Lincoln.
Booth ran from a theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
And last but not least,
A month before Lincoln was shot he was in Monroe, Maryland.
A month before Kennedy was shot he was in Marilyn Monroe.

Sex, Drugs and a little Roll!

What an amazing highlight of the summer!  My son and I got an invite to a private concert on Alcatraz!  We partied with the band and had an awesome evening on The Rock!  We left our slip in the late afternoon for a 2 hour sail to the city.  We arrived at our guest berth and departed for the ferry to the island.  The band was on board and we were greeted in style.  The wind was in the mid 20's as we approached the island.  A national company was treating their top sales folks to a grand event on the island.  We were shuttled to the prison commissary for the show.  The first act was a rapper with some great tunes.  Then came the headliner, Neon Trees.  They put on a great show with lots of energy and fun.  The crowd was going nuts.  We enjoyed the show and then just like that, we were on our way back to the city on the ferry.  My son and I felt like rockstars as there was a group of folks waiting for the band to return to shore.  We slept soundly in the guest berth and then sailed home in a nice breeze in the morning.  What a party!!

Bonehead Move of the Week

Dorade Wins Transpac

Dorade was a yacht designed in 1929 by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens and built 1929–1930 by the Minneford Yacht Yard in City Island, New York.

Dorade 1931.

Dorade went on to place 2nd in the Bermuda Race later that year. The crew for its first race received the All-Amateur Crew Prize. However, it would be the Transatlantic Race that would bring the boat its name. Placing first, she completed the race in 17 days – a race that takes an estimated 3–4 weeks to complete. A parade was held in celebration of the crew and ship's return with the mayor holding a reception in honor of Olin Stephens' victory.
Olin Stephens, the designer, was skipper through 1932 when he handed the boat to his brother, Rod Stephens.^[1] Led by Rod, Dorade sailed to victory in the 1932 Bermuda Race.^[2] From Bermuda, Dorade sailed back to Norway, down to Cowes, England, and finally back to America after winning the Fastnet Race. The victory of the 1932 Fastnet Race was of substantial significance given the unusually severe weather, several ships feared missing as well as one recorded drowning among the events that unfolded.

She is now on a quest to race in all the races she did in the 30's and 40's.  How cool is that?

cool pics

click any pic to make it bigger.

Greatest 1st Pitch Ever

Superyachts

Phaedo Drops Mast

Phaedo dismasting from Richard Langdon on Vimeo.

Heading to Hawaii on the Transpac, one of the coolest boats in the fleet (they have a pizza oven aboard), has lost her mast and is heading back to LA for repairs.  Bummer!  They had just set the distance record for a 24 hour period of over 400 miles.  It's going to be a long motor back to port.

Yacht Sinks after hitting Whale

Srecko and Olga Pust were taking part in the rally and sailing their Sweden Yachts 45 Ciao two-handed and were nearing the end of a long passage from Indonesia to the remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The were only 40 miles from landfall. The rudder was all but knocked off in an impact with the submerged object (possibly a whale). The first sign of the problem was that the boat was difficult to steer. When Srecko Pust investigated below he saw that the boat had been holed at the rudder stock. He put out a Mayday on the boat's long range SSB radio and then the two did everything they could to save their yacht, leaving only as the boat sank beneath them. They broadcast a Mayday. The only crew to hear this immediately was another a World ARC yacht nearby, J'Sea, a Jeanneau 52.2 owned by a highly experienced Canadian cruiser, John Cuzner. He alerted others. J'Sea and two other rally yachts, Royal Leopard and Spirit of Alcides, diverted and reached Ciao's position within hours. The video was taken from on board Spirit of Alcides, a Challenger 39 owned by Australians Gus and Linda Pallot. The whale was given some Tylenol and seems fine.

too much fun!

Weekend Raft Up

Just returned from a great sailing adventure on the SF Bay.  We started on Saturday with a sail with some (6 crew + the skipper) volleyball friends from Palo Alto.  It was blowing in the high teens so we went with the jib only.  We headed towards Angel Island and had a great sail across the bay.  For lunch we anchored in Paradise Cove.  Sunny and warm, I took Kona over for a swim to the beach and a romp in the sand.  There is a beautiful home here and the owner Scott said hello to me and welcomed me back to his beach (it had been about 2 years).  I asked him if anyone else swam up to his beach from a boat.  No he said, you are the only one!  We headed back toward home with Maureen driving and she was having a blast!  We made it back around 5pm and took a nap on the boat.  Tex and I then departed for Clipper Cove at Treasure Island.  We were to raft up at with My Girl, another Newport 30 from San Diego.  They had sailed up the coast over 10 days or so.  We had a nice dinner and and conversation on Rich's well out fitted 1986 Newport.  Back for some time on Addiction and then a nice sleep.  In the morning, we had coffee and breakfast of my fav, blueberry pancakes.  My Girl took off and we were out shortly after 10:30.  Had a great sail up to Tiburon with the sun popping thru.  Headed back to the barn about 1pm and cleaned up the boat.  So nice to have fixed our fuel delivery issues and now we can concentrate on having too much fun!  Here is to a great summer on the bay!!!!!!!

Zen crew abandons ship enroute to Hawaii

Zen and his wife were heading to retirement in Japan when their 30 foot cat started running into to bad conditions.  Stormy seas, rudder failure and a sick crew caused the crew to abandon ship and jump on a passing freighter.   They are safe in LA but heartbroken and homeless.  You can read about the misadventure here.

"I am not a sailor, l guess that is one lesson from this. I can sail, I can handle the boat well and blend with the element, however the moments of pleasure have been slight. There was a few moments when the flow was there, the sequencing , the harmony of movement, with water, wind and self was balanced, beauty. However a real sailor would live for this adventure. I have been measurable since we left. I guess I am just a weekend sailor. I do not want to do this passage stuff again. I would love to fly someplace, rent a boat and explore, then fly home. That would be excellent. Sail around the inland sea, exploring, yup I want that. Weeks at sea, wet, drifting, sleepless, tired, with a broken boat sucks."

zensailing

Foggy in SF

Adrift from Simon Christen on Vimeo.