EVK4 SuperBlog

A sailboat lists

2009-05-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

I am arriving late to Tillerman's latest group writing project, Lists. I could give you three reasons why I'm late or five reasons why Tillerman does group projects. But I won't. Instead, I will give you a sailboat list:

Sailing in San Francisco: 1976 style

2009-04-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Borrowed from:
Gordon Waldear Productions - SF Bay Folkboats

Honor RKJ Every Day

2009-04-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

In July of last year, I sailed to Hawaii. Before going I begged desperately for halfway gifts...letting people know that it isn't a Voyage One Third of the Way Across an Ocean without halfway gifts (what's that 1/6th gifts in reality?).

Many answered the call but only one "virtual" friend, Lonnie Bruner. Lonnie wanted to send me a bottle of whiskey and the picture above of him and Robin Knox-Johnston. In almost all ways, RKJ's way is the way to sail the ocean...full of salt and whiskey (disclaimer: I don't drink while sailing but consider it pretty darned salty anyway).

Long story short, Fedex shot down his plan due to some crazy ATF regulations about interstate commerce and alcohol. So he sent me the picture and a CD of raunchy sea shanties designed to offend anyone and everyone. I bet Robin Knox-Johnston would have enjoyed them.

Take Your Daughter to Sea Day: April 5th

2009-03-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

I hate to double-post, but I wrote a fun article over at the Examiner about the first annual Take Your Daughter to Sea Day.

Three reasons for this excellent new holiday:

To increase participation in sailing, you have to start them young
Take Your Daughter to Work Day is partially responsible for an increase in women in the workplace (insert huge stretch here) so it goes without saying that Take Your Daughter to Sea Day will eventually lead to more women in sailing
I'm going sailing with my daughter that weekend anyway

Join in and post your own reasons in the comments (if I still have any readers that is).

Big Daddy Big Finish

2009-03-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

I like to do point to point races; it just feels like there's more of a reason to what we're doing. Going back and forth over a W/L race is like pacing. Kind of pointless. That's why the Three Bridge Fiasco, the Big Daddy, and the Great Pumpkin appeal to me. You're basically being timed on a tour of the bay.

The Big Daddy's Sunday pursuit race is billed as a little less serious than their Saturday races, they let in slower boats though the boats I saw didn't seem slow. We took it seriously but made it more of a family affair (more on that later).

The weather sucked; I had seen that the day before and pulled Camille out. She doesn't have foul weather gear and I saw no reason for her to go on a race where she'd have to stay below for 6+ hours. David, bless his soul, got foul weather gear for his 9 year old daughter the week before the race. Turns out, this was key.

We left Alameda about 9:30 or so, motored for a few miles and then set the spinnaker for the downwind journey over to Richmond. On our way there, we were hit by a few squalls and the weather just stunk. This colored our decision to start the race with the #2 Genoa. As we started, this became quite obviously a bad decision since everyone else was running away from us and pointing higher.

We decided wrongly to go CCW and committed to Raccoon Straits. This is when David made the BEST DECISION OF THE DAY -- he turned the tiller over to his 9 year old daughter. She steered her heart out for the next hour, right into the flood up Raccoon Straits. A bunch of boats passed us but I'm pretty sure nobody on that boat cared. Look at her smile!

I know that those miles between Angel Island and Tiburon were my favorite of the day. David had to go down below for a while and I got to work with her on her steering, it was wonderful, she listened, she got the feel of the boat and more than anything she enjoyed it.

As we got around Angel Island, the wind was picking up and the weather helm was too much for her, we tacked to make the island and Little Alcatraz. As we got into the slot, we gave loud thanks to the #2. We would have been a mess trying to handle the big genoa in that wind. We saw the CW leaders passing us as we made our way to Alcatraz, waved to a few that we knew and just fought the weather helm the whole way over.

We finally made it over to Alcatraz and our downind shot over to Richmond with only one boat behind us, the Flying Tiger Savage Beauty. They were now in their downwind comfort zone and we had to hold them off to avoid DFL. We set the kite beautifully and David's older daughter took the helm and pointed us towards Richmond. Savage Beauty had to take a hotter angle and we were converging right at the finish line. They were coming in faster but we had "leverage" on them. We all leaned forward at the last minute and beat them by mere seconds. Victory is ours! Err, Not Last Place is ours!

Then David and I somehow enjoyed simultaneous mental meltdowns. We had to get the kite down with no room in front of us. Two good options: 1) gybe and take it down in the channel; and 2) raise the jib, blanket the kite and take it down right there ery quickly. We chose the bad option number 3, gybe the main while simultaneously trying to take down the kite on the wrong side in absolute full view of a marina full of boats that already finished. When David finally got our several hundred square foot nylon drogue out of the water, we had entertained perhaps 200 sailors. At least it wasn't my sail number being flogged in front of the masses, sorry David.

Afterwards, I really wish I had brought Camille, she would have had a good time. But we didn't finish last, we had fun, and half the people we talked to at the dock commented on our grinning 9 year old blonde helmsgirl. We didn't win, but she did.

Microphone Check one two ... one two

2009-03-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

I got an invitation that I just couldn't pass up on Saturday. My dock-neighbor Chris asked if Noah and I would like to go increase our carbon footprint for a bit on the Bay. I could not say "yes" fast enough...a chance to go Boston Whaling, h3ll yeah!

Now, here's the thing, Chris knows Noah. His boat is close enough to Lady Bug that he can hear when Noah is scared (you know, scared of things like turning on the engine, touching a dockline, that sort of thing). Noah screams and Chris probably still hears echoes of these screams when he shuts his eyes.

But I worked my magic and through bribes of Tootsie Pops and assurances of fun, we set off. Noah was insistent that we should not go fast. So, Chris slowly ratcheted up the throttle and Noah's protests were drowned out by the roar of the mighty 35hp outboard. Maybe Noah was just too scared to scream but we probably wouldn't have heard him anyway.

Then the absolute worst thing happened, I forgot to set my velcro hat adjuster and the darned thing flew off. Proper protocol calls for an immediate drop in RPM and a rapid U-turn to go get the hat. Noah had his chance! He immediately let it be known that we were not doing any more of that speeding stuff and we were to return to the dock immediately.

Of course, we hadn't burned enough gasoline to return to the dock yet so we settled on Plan B....a quick tour of O Dock to find Mr. O Docker. We never did though Facebook assures me he was on his boat Saturday...he must dock backwards for a quick getaway or something.

Our slow tour of O dock (and N it turns out) gave us a lot of time to talk without the roar of the Engine. As fellow Serious Blue Water Racers (SBWRs), we discussed our 2010 plans (Pac Cup for me and possibility of SHTP for him). Chris is thinking about maybe not doing the SHTP but instead spending some time up in the Seattle area cruising and the beginnings of another idea had been in his head. The Bermuda 1 2 in 2011.

I got excited at this idea ... sailing to Bermuda was one of my favorite trips ever as my first blue water passage. Also, you end up in Bermuda. Chris has family in Bermuda and visits often but has never sailed there. So it's a perfect idea.

And then he hit me with another doozie, he threw out the possibility that I could be the "2" in "1 2". I'll take a step back in case you haven't clicked on the link above. The Bermuda 1 2 is a single-handed race from Newport to Bermuda; and then, double-handed on the way back because it's uphill and less fun. But still the family would get to go to Bermuda and I'd get to do one of the coolest sails known to man, ending at the epicenter of our country's sailing, Newport, Rhode Island.

This is still in its nascent stages, but it is another invitation I just can't pass up.

When Blogs Collide

2009-02-24T16:17:00.001-08:00

Sounds like an excellent soap opera. But it's not, it's a race...a super race. I am joining David over at Never Sea Land for the Big Daddy Pursuit Race. David has an Olson 34, Temerity, that is in training for the 2010 Pacific Cup. Part of this training apparently includes bringing sub-par sailors and their 8 year old daughters out for a race around the Bay.

The Big Daddy is a race I've always wanted to do. It's a reverse start pursuit race like the Three Bridge Fiasco but it starts over by Richmond then goes around Angel Island and Alcatraz and then back to Richmond. I'm pretty sure you can only go one direction but I don't know that for sure.

Since David doesn't have his own personal paparazzi (Zen, I have put a stamp on your thank you gift but haven't mailed it yet), I had to grab a picture of his boat sitting in the dock. We'll bribe some other racers to get some shots of us at the Big Daddy for the Temerity collection.

But there are two important questions. First, do you think both blogs will give the same account of the race (me for example: frickin' maniacal cap'n pooched up the start; him for example: how did that &*%#!@%$ guy make it all the way across one ocean and a third of the way across another?)?

Second question: what superhero am I going to dress as?

BMW Oracle's Big Fast Trimaran

2009-02-18T09:10:00.001-08:00

I'm not usually a fan of just linking to other people's stuff (not when there is so much to write about myself) but this is very very cool. One of the guys (Squid) over at The Anarchy Challenge posted this picture of Dogzilla, with cutout closeups of some technical pieces of the boat.

You have got to check it out.

Aloooohhhhaaaa!!!!

2009-02-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

Aloha means both hello and goodbye in Hawaiian. Whatever. Because what it really means is that I'm sailing to Hawaii again in 2010!

And this time I won't have to keep two blogs since the Captain already has his own blog...that's right I'm sailing to Hawaii on Valis! The Pacific Cup is slated to start July 5, 2010 which is only 507 days away though I'm currently involved in an internal debate over when to place that counter on the navbar. I'm thinking in a week when it gets under 500.

Valis is an exceptional boat, a Pacific Seacraft 42. Pacific Seacraft makes big heavy ocean going boats, the sort that tend to stick to waves rather than surf them; this will sound familiar to those of you that remember Oceanaire. It's my kind of racing. And, besides, Valis has a great PR history so she doesn't mind being written about:

Remember, this is the fun race to Hawaii so we are contractually obligated to have fun (it's on the waiver forms). Paul handled that with the shirts in 2008:

There will be more on this space regarding Valis over the next 18 months including plans to live-blog that will not be followed through. Aloha.

Edit: I couldn't wait to publish my 500 Days until Pac Cup article at the Examiner. Check it out.

That Red Hat

2009-02-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've talked about the "Red Hat". I had the good fortune of a rum-drinking crewmate who didn't wear hats. I'm a hat-wearing sailor who doesn't drink rum. And you needed to go to a rum party to get the hat. Hello synergy!

So now I have the red hat and can wear it until it turns pink. And sailors can make fun of me!

How to Make Fun of a Sailor

2009-02-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

New article posted at examiner.com: How to make fun of a sailor.

Quick synopsis: we're a quirky bunch and really deserve to get called on it. Feel free to click your way over there and subscribe to my ramblings.

Sailing with Phil

2009-02-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

I've milked a week's worth of posts out of the Three Bridge Fiasco. Actually, more like a month given all of my pre-3BF ramblings. I love the race but the best part was sailing with my old Pac Cup friend. Not that he's old or anything...

I absolutely 100% could not have finished this race without Phil. He helped me sort out the spinnaker rigging, placing blocks, getting the pole set up, and showing me where to lead lines. Once underway, he trimmed the spinnaker while patiently explaining what he was doing. When my driving concentration wavered a quick "watch your course" followed. He taught me some light air tricks such as using the current and the spinnaker trimmed in tight to create apparent wind for yourself. He wore the pirate hat.

Not that he's a sailing saint or anything...I stocked the frickin' cooler with beer and he didn't finish all of them. Now I'm stuck with beer. He didn't take the tiller from me when it was apparent that I was going to kill us. And the pirate hat *is* on backwards.

But he did help me to point the boat. Christy asked earlier what his secret was. It is actually pretty simple and I bet exactly what you already do. Obviously, you trim the sails in tight (we did not go traveler up though) and then you point the boat higher than you think possible and you watch the telltales. You can ease into pointing up but the second you're too high you drop down fast. Repeat this process. And concentrate concentrate concentrate on those telltales.

I had always been taught to drop down to 45 degrees or so during a tack then ease back up as you pick up boat speed. But in light air, you're losing boat lengths every time you do that so you need to end up your tack at a very close-hauled point. Since we were fighting a current this was absolutely essential. Any time spent perpendicular to the current is lost distance.

I don't know if I explained it very well but it is all obvious when you think about it. I was just always scared to have that windex pointing that close to the front of the boat and have never spent that much time steering to the telltales.

I got the best email from him the next day. Obviously, he had fun but when his wife asked him whether we'd flown the kite he said, "hell yeah, 4 times!" Now that's enthusiasm, but then she asked, "and how many times in the Pacific Cup?" In our 21 mile race we set the spinnaker 3 more times than in our 2100 mile TransOceanicVoyage. See, I like sailing with Phil because he finds that as funny as I do.

San Francisco Sailing Examiner

2009-02-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

I am the San Francisco Sailing Examiner.

About three months ago, the Seattle Sailing Examiner left a comment on Tillerman's blog; I have no idea what she said, I just knew that I wanted to be the San Francisco equivalent. You know, like a journalist.

Since I have 10 to 20 loyal readers of this blog, I need to make a distinction. This blog is about me and my sailing; the Examiner is about sailing in the SF Bay. You want to read about me (and my kids and my boat and the rivalry with O dock), come here. You want to read about how to find a crew position or where to anchor or who is the best sailor on the Bay, go to the Examiner.

And, please, click on those ads!

Leader of the Pack

2009-02-04T14:11:00.001-08:00

Remember in my recap, how I talked about being in the lead pack of boats? Well, there's no way to prove that. You look at our somewhat pedestrian 200th place finish and say, "sure EVK4, you were up with the leaders almost halfway through the race? Sure."

Luckily I went Flickr-diving yesterday and found this.

That's us right up there at the front...obviously taken by someone still behind us. Though I am positive they passed us shortly after this shot was taken, maybe even one of the boats we almost fouled trying to get out of that current.

More to come on the race but I like this picture and thought I'd share it...click it for a slightly bigger view.

Three Bridge Fiasco: Blogger Division Results

2009-02-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

The winner of the First Inaugural Annual Yearly Blogger Division of the Three Bridge Fiasco is: BreezeTrees on board his Laser 28 Firebolt!

BreezeTrees doesn't actually have a blog but is a loyal reader and friend of the program. I will be issuing him the badge as winner but will make a special concession to Valis as the winner with an actual blog and send him one as well.

Official Blogger Division Results

Breezetrees, 118, 17:24:38, recap
Valis, 169, 17:44:15, recap
O Docker, 183, 18:00:44
EVK4, 200, 18:42:57, recap
NeverSeaLand, DNF

The blogger division was an absolute success from my standpoint. Not just for the five racers but we had two bloggers shadowing the fleet aboard the J109, Knots Squared. As this particular blog is about me, I'm going to write about my interactions with the other bloggers in the order I saw them.

Lady Bug got to the starting line about an hour early so we had plenty of time to drift around, check out the scenery and eat doughnuts. Just as we were starting to get ready to think about how we were going to attack the start, a boat motors past and yells at us. By nature, I'm an angry man so I got ready to rumble until I looked up and saw a tall guy on a Laser 28 motoring by. Hey, that's BreezeTrees! We waved and then didn't see each other again all day. We didn't see each other because he beat us by almost and hour and a half! This was his first race with his wife and I'm happy to report they're still married...but kids, don't try that at home.

Next up was the super surprise of the day, Lady Bug's own personal photo boat came steaming into view, Knots Squared.

On board are Zen and Lady Zen, Captain John, and Admiral Anne (whose blog mysteriously disappeared). I awkwardly threw Zen the Z sign and he expertly threw it back!

Then we sailed and sailed and blah blah blah and finally made it near Red Rock. I was intently steering, Phil was wearing the pirate hat, and I saw a boat on port coming towards us. I looked over at the Dread Pirate Phil and said, "that boat didn't round Red Rock, where'd it come from?"; he said, "watch your course, sheesh" or something like that; so I countered with "I've been itching to protest someone, fetch me my red flag!" Then I saw them waving at us, WTF? "Mess with the bull and you'll get the horns", I thought angrily, clutching the red washcloth that I use as a protest flag. "It's your friends stupid!" Oh, hey, it's John and Anne again, this time they're under sail! Just one of those moments that make you smile, we exchanged some pleasantries and they kept sailing, obviously enjoying themselves.

Fast forward past the bridge/current/hours lost incident and we're getting back into the race on port tack trying to cross a bunch of starboard tackers. We're very very diligent about letting people know our intentions as we duck some and cross others but we cut it very very close about three times. I mean so close that you can feel the anger-waves emanating from the other boats.

We finally made it to our tack and bust over to starboard, heading towards Treasure Island. I see a Catalina 30 looking to take our stern on port...the skipper is yelling at us. I look over at Phil, "well after that last 20 minutes, we deserve someone angrily trying to hit us"...I figured it was someone doing the same to us after they tacked onto port...you know, to teach us a lesson. They passed about 10 yards behind us (might as well have been a mile after all of our close encounters) and I hear this doppler affect yell of "it's O doooccccccckkkkkeeeerrrrrr" as he sails away. Holy crap, now I recognize that boat. O Docker was the only participant that I didn't already have a face to the name and I missed my chance. He then stayed West of us all the way to TI, got through the hole faster and finished a solid 40 minutes sooner.

That was the last blogger I saw all day, never seeing David from Never Sea Land or Paul on Valis. I did encounter a few Pacific Cup buddies on the course and have listed their results (Valis is on both lists).

Official Pac Cup Buddies Division Results

Roshambo, 27, 16:55:53
Head Rush, 94, 17:16:02
Valis, 169, 17:44:15
Lady Bug, 200, 18:42:57
Moonshine, DNF

We're doing this again next year...maybe even for the Great Pumpkin Regatta in October so people, get your pens and tillers ready, it's sail blogging time.

Three Bridge Fiasco 2009 Recap

2009-02-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

Me: "If I were a better sailor, we might have gotten through Raccoon Straits a bit faster. I should have seen that counter current coming."

Phil: "What are you talking about, we're in the lead pack!"

This was all true for about the next 30 minutes and I held dearly to that conversation. I looked at the leaders barely 100 yards ahead of us and I looked back at the hundreds of boats still behind us at the second mark of this very long race. And I was proud.

We had started well, setting the spinnaker right after crossing the line, executing a beautiful rounding, got up into what I now know is called a headstay reach until the wind clocked too much, doused and headed upwind for a while until the next shift, set the kite for a wonderful ride down Raccoon Straits, doused again as the wind shifted, then set the darned thing for the third time as we exited the straits.

Here we were, flying the kite comfortably, talking to fellow racers in the light winds, and keeping up with the leaders. Phil had the pirate hat on and all was good. We got to Red Rock, doused and tacked. Still good. But I wasn't pointing high enough in the light winds and the current was setting us back to the bridge. We had to tack again, and this time we were on port heading into a wall of starboard boats.

We had to tack again to keep from fouling a JS9000. Back closer to the bridge, we tried to tack back but the current was keeping my bow down, we were going sideways through the bridge. One last chance to not get pushed through, I tacked and of course, here comes another starboard boat. She said very calmly, I'm not turning and whoops, we have to take our medicine and let the current push us under the bridge. Now we're screwed.

On the wrong side of the bridge, we saw probably a hundred or more boats pass us as we clawed back up, trying to get current relief over by the shore. There was a bright side to all this, Phil very patiently taught me how to point my boat higher than I thought my boat could point. Somehow in almost non-existent wind we were making headway against a 3 knot current pointing at what seemed like directly into the wind. If he hadn't been with me, I'd be down in Vallejo still.

But we made it, we fought the current and won. Now to claw through the rest of the fleet on port. Two boats we passed within feet of their stern while one boat we passed within feet of what seemed like the largest sharpest bowsprit ever made.

From here it was drift calmly toward Richmond. I then broke the tension and suggested if we were still off Berkeley at 5PM, we could just turn left and head into the marina. Phil didn't really want to hear that but I think he agreed. Then we started noticing something weird. The boats ahead of us were over on their ears. WIND AHEAD!!!!

We patiently sailed towards it and were suddenly engulfed in a 15 knot super-wind, completely blowing the remnants of that conversation off the boat. We were going to make it. Our only decision was whether to try to go under the Bay Bridge in the construction zone or the "safe zone". The construction zone was closer, that made the decision easier.

We got under the Bay Bridge and then, suddenly, another parking lot. This one was bad. We had a mild ebb pushing us backwards but about .2 knots of breeze to fight it. We set the kite for the fourth time and just eked out every bit of boatspeed we could. We could see our windline about a quarter of a mile ahead of us. It was 4:30. The decision was made that if we could get to the windline by 5:30, we could still make the finish.

We'd had the radio on the RC's channel for the past hour or so and had heard dropout after dropout; all we had to do was finish and we'd beat those guys. But still, covering half a mile in an hour seemed pretty difficult when the speedo read 0.0. We were passing boats and the ones behind us seemed to be falling backwards so it must have been a rounding issue, we were at 0.049 knots maybe. I'm going to drag this paragraph on and on so that you can feel what it was like to go that slowly. The word for it is "interminable". We could see the windline and the few boats that were making progress through the hole would just take off as soon as they hit it. Somebody needs to shorten that island or put a tunnel through it so the wind can make it through. Then, finally, the wind switch was turned on as we hit the windline at 5:31!

We were able to hold the kite for a few minutes longer than we should as we saw our Pac Cup team-mate coming back from the finish, we realized it was worth missing the finish so that he'd see us fully spinnakericized as he passed. But it wasn't him...damn low light conditions. So we doused and started our uphill climb to the finish line.

It got dark right after we passed under the bridge. We stayed on one tack up to Alcatraz, tacked over to Ghirardelli Square, back out one more time, back into Fort Mason, then one last tack to the finish. I got out my flashlight and we headed right for the pin end of the line. A J80 passed in front of us, tacked over and we had a drag race to the finish. I lit up the sail, we heard two quick hornblasts indicating that it was a photofinish with said J80. And we were done!

We had finished the Three Bridge Fiasco with 15 minutes to spare! A complete and total victory.

Note: The blogger division was a success and a non-success, I saw a few of the other boats and didn't see a few. All blogger interaction will be covered in a separate post so I can give it its full due. But I will mention that both photos in this post are courtesy of Zen.

Clutching Ropes

2009-01-30T10:35:00.001-08:00

The other night I was congratulating myself for getting Lady Bug all spinnakericized. I was actually pretty proud of myself that it had only taken three years or so to do it. I realized that I now had to update my "play book" (that powerpoint that tells new crew members how we do maneuvers on the boat, where to sit, etc.).

So I was visually how we'd hoist, gybe, douse. Hoist made sense, get the pole sorted, raise the kite, sail fast as hell. Then, the gybe routine...whoops, a hiccup. The topping lift and the halyard were sharing a cleat and the topping lift would be under the halyard; so to gybe, I'd have to uncleat the halyard...whoops, big issue.

The thing is I've had a new rope clutch ready to install for this very reason for about two years but I've never done it. And now I only had three days to get it done. Crap crap and double crap, I'd have to take an afternoon off work. But it's a two man job, somebody has to hold a wrench down below while another person holds a screwdriver on deck. And it's during a work day so there was nobody who could help.

Turns out that if I don't mind bruising myself and stretching into uncomfortable positions it can be done. I drilled the holes, I gooped everything up with 5200, I put in the bolts, I contorted and twisted until I could wrench the nuts onto the bolts from below and, voila, I had a rope clutch installed.

I went to put the lines through it and it wouldn't hold! If I pulled from the cockpit it would hold but if I pulled from the loaded end it would slip right through. Was the line too small? Nope, I put the darned thing in BACKWARDS!!!!

Quick, how long until 5200 cures??? I undid everything I had just done, pushed and prodded until the darned thing came off the deck, flipped it around, re-gooped, and repeated the whole process. Success! I ran the lines through and they hold. I can officially clutch ropes now.

Three Bridge Fiasco, Blogger Division Followup

2009-01-29T09:20:00.000-08:00

The race is on Saturday and I just want to make sure I have everybody for the blogger division.

We have Edward of The EVK4 UltraBlog on his trusty Newport 28.
Then super-commenter O Docker on his falsely rated Catalina 30 :) .
Of course, David from NeverSeaLand on his racy ass Olson 34.
Mike (aka BreezeTrees) on his Laser 28.
World Famous Coverboy Paul on Valis, a Pacific Seacraft 44.

John from Ayala Sandbox and Zen from, ummm Zen, are on the party boat I believe, following around the course without officially starting to keep the lawyers at bay.

One thing to note: the SSS forums have a great discussion of the verboten zone under the Bay Bridge.

The forecast is looking better, see everyone on the water Saturday!

Live Blog the 3BF

2009-01-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

Christy had an excellent suggestion: to live blog the Three Bridge Fiasco. Heck, it's an approximately 7 to 8 hour doublehanded race, there's plenty of time to pull out the iPhone and send a quick message to the blog.

I'm just worried that it might be boring. The current extended forecast is "N winds 5 kt...becoming NW. Patchy fog." Hmmm, maybe I will have plenty of free time for blogging. The only way I know how to do it now is to make each message its own post, I'll see if I can quickly and easily update it so it's in one post.

Either way, tune in on Saturday to watch the Incredible Windless Adventures of Phil and Edward (IWAPE). Live.

Topping Lift a Go Go

2009-01-26T11:47:00.001-08:00

On Obama's fifth day in office, I installed a topping lift. Finally. The boat is now completely rigged to fly a spinnaker. Well, it'd be nice to have the rope clutches installed so that we're not relying on cleats but heck, this is better than nothing.

I will now re-iterate how much I HATE GOING UP THE MAST. Even if I'm only going halfway. Please see the fear in my face:

Thanks to Tirso for helping me get up there (and back down) safely. And to my kids for playing somewhat patiently.

New Spinnaker!!!!

2009-01-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

I got my new spinnaker last night! Yay! I knew this new administration would change things. When Bush was in office I didn't have this spinnaker; with Obama in office I do. I will now end the gratuitous political crap and present a picture of Camille shaded in beautiful red light as we played underneath the spinnaker last night.

Since we couldn't go sailing last night, I pulled it out and taught Camille how to pack a spinnaker. This quickly devolved into playing underneath it and crawling around just enjoying the crinkly goodness.

Next stop: up the mast to install a topping lift.

Look what I found on Flickr

2009-01-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

A boat named ladybug. Mine is inexplicably named Lady Bug; I've never known why, Camille just said ladybug and I went and made it too words with a capital L and capital B. Either way, Lady Bug is not alone. She has a doppelgänger. Well not really, but a boat with a similar name.

First Step: Fly the Cloth

2009-01-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

How long have I been talking about spinnakers? A year, two years? I've sailed with spinnakers on other people's boats. I've seen pictures of spinnakers. I've even owned a spinnaker for almost a year. But I have never flown one on my own boat. Or any of my Dad's now that I think about it.

That all changed on Saturday. Phil joined me (and Camille and her friend Phoebe) for a short sail out in the Berkeley Circle. I broke out my "kite" after Phil helped me rig the boat mostly properly. Camille had joined us on the promise of seeing the world's greatest sailor in action and, man, he did not disappoint. Phil got on the boat and I dumped a hodge-podge of blocks, line, shackles and gizmos on deck in front of him. He looked at it, pulled out a piece of chewing gum to hold it all together and rigged the boat. Then we went sailing.

Phil worked the foredeck and I handled the cockpit (includes pit and mast and helm all at once)...he yelled hoist and I hoisted. Phil took a long look at the kite and said, "hmmm, we can use that one as a storm kite." It was a bit small.

Sidenote: I had packed the kite and Phil didn't even check my work...don't know where he got that level of trust in me but it worked out this time.

The wind had died quite a bit but we got some sailing in, Camille got to drive under spinnaker, and Lady Bug has entered the "Spinnaker Age." Prepare for battle, 3BF!

Overnight Adventure at the Dock

2009-01-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a long slow ride to get Noah to like sailing. We had many issues to overcome (fear of wind, fear of boats, fear of high tide, his father's annoying enthusiasm) but we eventually did. Noah now sails with me and enjoys the boat. All good news.

On our last sail of 2008, he went down below right after we left the dock and took a nap. This must have lit a lightbulb in his head. The next day while talking about sailing he asked if we could sleep on the boat, I said, "of course, you took a nap yesterday" and he got more specific, "can we go night night on the boat?". "Ummm, heck yeah we can!"

I envision weekend family vacations swinging from the hook by Angel Island or going off to the BVIs and possibly retiring early, getting some homeschooling books on tape and heading around the world. But you gotta start slowly. So we had an "Overnight Adventure" on the boat Friday night.

I rushed home from work, packed Noah, a heater, some sleeping bags, a laptop, and lots of good snacks and we went to the boat. We saw Chris in the parking lot when we got there...at the time, Noah was in the dock cart covered in sleeping bags and pillows so Chris didn't immediately know he was there. We talked all the way down the dock but separated when we got to our boats.

Noah and I had some serious plans to follow up on. We played Bakugon, pirates, cards, and assorted mixtures of those games. At one point, we even had one of Camille's old My Little Ponies shooting laser blasts with her tail. We ate badly, had all the apple juice we wanted and kept two heaters going full blast. It was the perfect Friday Night at the Dock.

At bedtime, I got Noah in his pajamas, built a nest in the v-berth and set up the laptop with a short bakugon movie. We read the three books we have on board twice each and fell asleep with the howling of 20 knots of wind in the rigging to keep us company.

Miscellaneous Sailing News for this Friday

2009-01-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

Neither of these two items deserve their own post YET but I have a blog and, darnit, I'm going to use it.

Tonight, Noah and I are doing our first ever onboard camping trip. We're going down to the boat after work, have a nice dinner, turn on the heater, play pirates and bionicles, and sleep at the marina. There's still the possibility he'll back out of it but if not we'll have a good night and further his evolution as a sailor. I did some back of the envelope calculations last night and realized I've spent about a year's worth of my life sleeping on boats with about 3 months of those nights being underway. It's about time Noah gets his first night in.

And, I found a picture of my soon-to-be spinnaker online:

Mine is the red and orange one that is in second place there. Hmmm, maybe I should have looked at J/30 spinnakers instead of Olson 30 ones.