We finished

All sorts of details coming on moons, roundups, doldrums and
"racing". Right now, I'm tired and proud of our so not last place
finish.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Just put on the running lights

You know what that means? Yep, people are going to start wearing
goofy hats and headlamps!

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

I smell chicken tacos

Dinner time and we're 43 miles from the finish line. This is downwind
sailing. I think I might need my jacket soon.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

7.5 miles to pigeon point

And it's still light out. We have the kite flying and are sailing at
about 9 knots. Still a ways to go but we'll make it ahead of schedule
Neptune wiilimg!

Need binocs to see galaxsea.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Off montara

Just had a croissant and are abeam of HMB's giant golf ball. We are
sailing fast and the fleet should fear us.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Catching some boats

Looks like they're parked a bit ahead of us. We got ahead and to
weather of galaxsea. Tiki J is in our sights.

We just had cheese its and passed Pacifica. Montera just ahead.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Passing the cliff house

Wave if you see us. Oh yeah, we're the boat After GalXsea.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Can still see the fleet

But that won't last long. We are ahead of galaxsea now and might
clear seal rock. Morale is good we still have snickers bars.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Under the bridge

2+ hours later and we're ocean racing! Soon we turn left and go &yo
Monterey.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Made the start

We fought the flood and really kind of lost. We're headin for the
bridge a have seen about two dozen dolphins.

We are racing!

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

A dolphin, a postponement flag and no wind

Sounds like the Ryle of a bad movie but really it's just a relaxing
morning.

More once we're racing.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

At the start line

Drifting around, no wind and about to be a lot of current!

Phil on the helm.

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

Early morning docktime

Heading out to the boat for an OCEAN RACE! Spinnaker Cup woot!

All Typos Courtesy of iPhone

A challenge to John Bertrand

Over at the mighty O Dock, there is great consternation over Senor Rouse's demotion from the Tillerman List of Worthy Blogs.  After several months of blogging silence brought about by an injured "SWX" finger (you know the one that types those letters), I have decided that I can blog again.  I'm not over the emotional turmoil of all that silence but I can at least maintain home position on the keyboard again.

During this absence, this blog was apparently dropped from the Top Ten list.  I saw it coming (you don't need the SWX finger to read blogs) but am still somewhat disappointed as I thought I had some sort of lifetime exemption due to my mad blogging skillz.  I was wrong.  Tillerman pointed it out to me very succinctly:

And there are so many great sailing blogs out there, such as the one written by John Bertrand. Surely, Edward, you wouldn't want me to demote John Bertrand to make room for you? 

Well, hell yeah, I think he should demote John Bertrand to make room for the newly re-branded SuperbBlog.  I have a new confusing blog name, last post I put a picture of a freakin' Ericsson 35 up, and I know the difference between "it's" and "its".  What part of that last sentence doesn't scream, "this guy knows sailing and blogging and is a badass!"?

But, I guess after 5+ years of blogging about sailing, it's time to take it to the water.  I hereby challenge John Bertrand to a race.  Not just any race, but a very important race that is near and dear to my heart.  You see, John Bertrand is possibly a better sailor than I am so I need extra motivation.  I am willing to put my world record on the line.

I'm talking about the First Annual Slip J106 to the Berkeley Marina Breakwater Grudgematch Invitational.  I'm willing to put up the Catalina 22 half-hull model that I never had made as the trophy (please note, it will live in the form of a sketch of the never to be made half-hull model).  The owner of this perpetual "trophy" will only have to promise to periodically challenge someone else to a Grudgematch. 

Since I expect to win, I might go after Cayard next to settle our outstanding dispute from last Pac Cup.  Either way, are you in Bertand?

Spinnaker Cup or Bust

I'm doing the Spinnaker Cup on Valis this weekend.  I think it's my first ever overnight sail that doesn't include crossing an ocean.  That's pretty weird when I think about it.  Probably the closest I've ever come to an overnight sail that wasn't crossing an ocean was the Farallones Race a few weeks ago; we didn't cross the line until just before 10PM and didn't get to the dock until an hour later.

But now I'm sailing to Monterey.  We leave around Noon on Friday and should arrive in Monterey just before daybreak.  If the forecast holds, maybe a a bit before just before daybreak.  Either way, overnight.

I was admitting to a friend the other day that despite all my bravado of being a bad ass oceangoing racer, I don't know how to get to Monterey from San Francisco.  It's not like you just go out the Gate, turn left and look for the aquarium.  There are points and bluffs and currents and a lot of ocean.  I don't even know how far out we go before turning left.  I guess I'll find out this weekend.

On another note, check out this sail trim:

If you like that photo, either click on photoboy's photo galleries or contribute over at PressureDrop, the new sailing forum.  The guy responsible for those FLAT sails is on Valis for the Spinnaker Cup.  Should help.

Pac Cup crew finalized

Our fearless captain has picked the sixth and final crew member for the Pac Cup.  The guy wearing the green/yellow shirt over on the right backed out since his son's baseball team is gunning for the little league world series title.  Or maybe he realized that 2+ weeks on a 44' boat with five other guys isn't all it's cracked up to be.

So Paul went through an exhaustive crew replacement search that was coordinated much in the same way that American Idol auditions are run.  A few crew members plus an insane lady that we grabbed from Cafe Roma near the marina sit behind a table and make the prospective crew members sing sea shanties while we amuse ourselves with blistering personal attacks and quips.

Only one sailor emerged from this process unscathed and has become Valis' sixth crew member.  He is a well known blogger, online personality and appears to be a new media expert.  I won't out him any more than that quite yet but look for some mid-ocean synchronized blogging.  Maybe.

The order of things....

Since I've apparently messed up the whole order of the universe with my surprise blog post yesterday, I decided to pile on.  I am going to write about sailing.  Not getting ready to sail, or bad ass oceangoing tricks, or the bike race I'm going to check out at lunch.  But sailing.

See that?  It's me sailing a boat.  I'll give a little explanation.  The first step is to get on a boat wearing some nautical stuff.  Then place a big green tarp behind you and the boat.  You lean a little to your left (what the landlubbers call port).  Then have the cameraman, lean to his left (what the landlubber would call starboard).  The cameraman then depresses the "shutter" button.  He emails this picture to you.  You open photoshop, key out the green (I know, this is getting technical) and put a layer behind you of water and blue skies.  Put it on the internet and you are sailing!

Expert tip: don't wear green or be seasick at the time.

Loose ends to tie up before the Pacific Cup

The Pac Cup is less than 50 days away and I am starting to feel like it's real. In 2008, I didn't start keeping a journal until start minus 30 days; this year I'm going to start earlier. Maybe tomorrow.

But in preparation for this epic bout of journalizing, I pulled out my old journal with the intention of just adding on to it. I did a quick scan and the first thing I noticed is that mid-way through I declared Paul Cayard my mortal enemy over a perceived mid-ocean VHF slight. He apparently didn't respond to our hails on 16. In retrospect, I now know that it wasn't even him so I have a dilemma ... sworn enmity can't just go away without some sort of ceremony or a declaration or a writ handed down by the city council. What am I going to do? I assume I have to have this resolved by July 5th.

And that's just one thing on a long checklist. I have to get a new headlight since Noah has been using mine to look under his bed for the last two years. I need to avoid having another day of seasickness. I have to plan my flight home. This is not going to be an easy 50 days if I have to add in some sort of Paul Cayard enemy reconciliation project.

I guess looking at the entry list and seeing if the boat that was most likely responsible for the VHF slight is entered would be a good start.  I can transfer my grudge to them and plan some sort of revenge.  You know, like snubbing them at the awards ceremony or giving them stink eye when they pass us.

Ultimately, it's good for me to have an enemy in the race so I will most likely transfer it.  Maybe to some random boat that won't expect it.  Sun Tzu style.