The Temerities were out for a pleasure sail off South Beach when we had an encounter with the Hawiian Chieftan, the replica square rigger that often visits the Bay in the company of the Lady Washington.   We had a lot of fun sailing rings around her!

Well, some tactical mistakes were made, but we finished, and I felt we had sailed the boat well.

I was lucky this year to sail the 3BF with my friend Tom Warren, a.k.a. War Dog, and we had a great time.

Here is the report I filed on S/A.  More pics after the break.

Skipper/mixologist – pogen
Fordeck/color commentary – War Dog

Course: CW

Synopsis:

Start. Managed to get through OK and on course to BH, despite lack of good timing and disorientation as to location of the X-mark. Wind from S. Set the spin early.

BH. We had overtaken a good number of Moores and E-27 who had started before us, and so were feeling pretty good. Finessed our way around BH w/o scraping any paint.

BH to Raccoon, Phase 1. Sucky suck suck. Along with one or two other boats, got stuck in a patch of dead air, hopelessly corkscrewing around with no steerage way at all. Lots of boats passed us just a few dozen yards to the E. WTF?

BH to Raccoon, Phase 2. While the bulk of the CW fleet swung way left up towards Richardson Bay, presumably looking for some better wind off the Gulch, or who knows what, we proceeded straight across, which worked out great as we beat most of them to the entrance.

Raccoon. The ebb had started, so we thought that we would do better on the shallower, Tiburon side of the channel than over by the Angel Is. shore, where it is deeper. Big mistake, we got smoked by many many boats. By now it was 13:45, we knew we were in for a long day.

Raccoon to RR. Made up a lot of time here, boatspeed very good against fleet.

RR. Stayed to the outside, detouring the parking lot of boats being set toward the beach by the current. Set the #1 jib and took off on a close reach towards TI. It was now 16:00, and a great many boats near us that are based in Richmond retired at this point — they were just too close to home!

Long haul south. Made very good time against remaing boats until we got behind TI shore, where a lot of boats further from the shore than we passed us.

At this point, there was a brief waver in our resolve to finish, but we asked ourselves and important question and received an affirmative answer. Getting dark!

And so on, finishing around 18:14, followed by a chilly and all too brief 2hr motor home!

Approaching the start.

Robert Perry’s beautiful schooner Jakatan.

We’re in there somewhere.

David puts on his game face.

These guys all went left.

8 boat pileup.

Rick on his Tempest in background.

Flying the 0.6 oz spin, Raccoon Straight.

Drew and Garrett mugging in Boomslang.

“What woud Ku do?”  Drink some more rum, and finish the damn race.

Earning some free h2O t-shirts from photoboy.

Temerity will be out there with the awesome sailor War Dog as crew. Stay head’s up at the start!

Today we excercised Annika’ Christmas gift, an ATN TopClimber bosun’s chair, to climb to the top of our mast for the first time.  It worked out great, with Annika and I making it to the top, and Char up to the first spreader.  I didn’t do much besides finding out again how out of shape I am, and fiddling with the windex a bit.

Char ascends.

Annika working her way up.

Annika at the top!

Gnarly stuff at the masthead.   We are replacing the light, the windex fitting, and the wind instruments.

Temerity’s new rudder and rudder bearings.  Design by Jim Antrim.  Now we just need to fab, install, and pay for it.

Temerity is on the hard at Svend’s, getting some very expensive holes drilled so as to accomodate the new Nexus NX-2 intstruments that arrived on my doorstep this afternoon.  So no sailing for a bit, but great things to come next season!

So let the fun begin!

Temerity Racing went for a practice sail on Sunday August 9, circumnavigating Angel Island clockwise.  Wind was WSW 24 kts gusting to 30 kts in the Slot, and we had our hands more than full with a single-reefed main and 95% #3 jib up.  At times control was non-existant during gusts, as the helm loaded up and there was no one available with the physical strength to trim the main.   Two fishing boats and the mid-bay #7 red channel marker nearly felt our wrath as we rounded up on them.   Good practice for the Sarcoma Cup though, as conditions that day (especially the white-knuckle ride home from Richmond) were nearly identical.  We had good intentions about getting in some spin practice as well, and gave the 3/4 oz a good soaking in its bag in the bow, but were too tired by the time we got back to calmer waters.

Angel Island (west side), San Francisco Bay, California
23 August 2009

2009-08-23 02:16 PDT 5.47 feet High Tide
2009-08-23 06:32 PDT Sunrise
2009-08-23 08:15 PDT 0.72 feet Low Tide
2009-08-23 10:24 PDT Moonrise
2009-08-23 14:48 PDT 5.95 feet High Tide
2009-08-23 19:51 PDT Sunset
2009-08-23 20:59 PDT 0.72 feet Low Tide
2009-08-23 21:28 PDT Moonset

Southampton Shoal Light .2 mi E, San Francisco Bay, California Current
23 August 2009
2009-08-23 10:00 PDT -0.304375
2009-08-23 10:30 PDT -0.064573
2009-08-23 11:00 PDT 0.185711
2009-08-23 11:30 PDT 0.435001
2009-08-23 12:00 PDT 0.666230
2009-08-23 12:30 PDT 0.860946
2009-08-23 13:00 PDT 1.004053
2009-08-23 13:30 PDT 1.087042
2009-08-23 14:00 PDT 1.108167
2009-08-23 14:30 PDT 1.049622
2009-08-23 15:00 PDT 0.909720
2009-08-23 15:30 PDT 0.698364
2009-08-23 16:00 PDT 0.420200
2009-08-23 16:30 PDT 0.082726
2009-08-23 17:00 PDT -0.304444

Alcatraz Island, 5 mi N, San Francisco Bay, California Current
23 August 2009
2009-08-23 10:00 PDT -0.872457
2009-08-23 10:30 PDT -0.330710
2009-08-23 11:00 PDT 0.243586
2009-08-23 11:30 PDT 0.818410
2009-08-23 12:00 PDT 1.350785
2009-08-23 12:30 PDT 1.785022
2009-08-23 13:00 PDT 2.077986
2009-08-23 13:30 PDT 2.209899
2009-08-23 14:00 PDT 2.136519
2009-08-23 14:30 PDT 1.745965
2009-08-23 15:00 PDT 1.078139
2009-08-23 15:30 PDT 0.164417
2009-08-23 16:00 PDT -0.522384
2009-08-23 16:30 PDT -1.150628
2009-08-23 17:00 PDT -1.747235
Raccoon Strait off Hospital Cove, San Francisco Bay, California Current
23 August 2009
2009-08-23 10:00 PDT -0.245635
2009-08-23 10:30 PDT 0.258342
2009-08-23 11:00 PDT 0.911045
2009-08-23 11:30 PDT 1.451368
2009-08-23 12:00 PDT 1.774822
2009-08-23 12:30 PDT 1.845339
2009-08-23 13:00 PDT 1.767897
2009-08-23 13:30 PDT 1.596604
2009-08-23 14:00 PDT 1.341867
2009-08-23 14:30 PDT 1.009214
2009-08-23 15:00 PDT 0.602524
2009-08-23 15:30 PDT 0.130998
2009-08-23 16:00 PDT -0.389505
2009-08-23 16:30 PDT -0.918742
2009-08-23 17:00 PDT -1.406807

We took Temerity on her first cruise, starting with an overnight in our slip in Alameda Friday, July 3 and returning on Friday July 10.  Above, our route — Blue: Day 1, Alameda to China Camp.    Green: days 2 and 3, up the Petaluma River and down, to Benicia.  Red: Day 4, Benicia to Potato Slough.  Black: Day 5, Potato Slough to Benicia.  Yellow: Benicia to Alameda.

A hearty dinner was enjoyed Friday night, the new stern rail BBQ works great. 



Above, underway in hearty breezes through the Slot.   Single-reefed main and #4 jib worked out fine.

Red Rock, just South of Richmond Bridge.

The Brothers.

China Camp anchorage.   We arrived with lots of time to anchor, set up the dinghy and go ashore.

Char is a big fan of the new-to-us dinghy. 

We explored the shore in the afternoon, and returned to the boat for dinner and our first night ever spent at anchor.  As the tide turned, we found that we had spun about and got the rode wrapped on the keel.  I cleared the fouled rode, and a friendly powerboater (an ex-sailor) loaned us his spare anchor for us to set as a stern line.  I guess he didn’t want to spend the night worrying about us dragging down on him.  In the morning we found that we and several other nearby sailboats were firmly stuck in the mud, so that gave us a few hours time to again dinghy to shore.  At the minus low tide it was a bit of an adventure to wade through the knee-deep muck the last 50 yds. to push the dinghy up to the beach.  So I guess we learned something there.

Lunchtime motoring across San Pablo Bay, essential cruising gear deployed.   The North half of the Bay is crossable only via a very narrow channel, and the river is also not sailboat friendly, so we decided just to motor. 

Classic shot of crew footwear.

More cruising essentials.

Below:  Scenes along the Petaluma River, inbound.  It was pretty cold and overcast, with a 20kt North wind.

We spent the night at the Petaluma Turning Basin.  Ken the Bridgekeeper was very obliging and raised the drawbridge just for us.  We hosted our friend Ron for some drinks and conversation aboard, and it was good to see a friendly face in this remote outpost of civilization.  The next day we were stuck in the mud just a little bit, so we took the opportunity to walk into town to reprovision at the very nice Petaluma Market, where we also scored a $6 beach umbrella that was to come in very handy in the next phase of our voyage.

Below:  Petaluma River, outbound. 

Char made us go back and to see the swans.

Unlike our trip up the previous day, the weather for the trip down was sunny, warm, and with very little wind. 






Swan boat, mouth of the Petaluma River.


Navigational aid, N. San Pablo Bay.

We raised sail outside the Petaluma River approach channel, and had a great reach to Benicia, getting in at 1600, after a brief look into Mare Island Straight.

Above:  Approach to Benicia.

Following our sojourn in Bencia, were we enjoyed dinner ashore and the excellent facilities of the marina (and our first showers of the trip), we set out the next morning for the Delta, raising sail (full main and #2) past the Benicia-Martinez bridge.  The best sailing of the trip followed, running and reaching up the San Joaquin.

Our anchorage in the lee of Dingaling Island, Potato Slough.

The spinnaker gear finally made an appearance, once in the Delta. 




Hanging out.  The fresh water was great, though the swift current made for some interesting swimming.

  
Track of our first night at anchor in the Delta.  We covered 1.3 nm.

Char goes dinghy surfing.  5 kts wasn’t fast enough for her.

First Bedroom, Potato Slough.

Below, Korth’s Pirate Lair Marina, where we tried to provision but got in too late.  Pirate and Tiki elements seem to peacefully co-exist here.

Cornfields on Venice Island.

Thursday saw us motoring back to Benicia in the face of a moderate breeze right our nose.  We chose to go home on the Sacramento River, navigating Three Mile Slough and passing under its lift bridge. 

Windmills along the Sacramento.

Mt. Diablo seen from the ‘wrong’ side.

Our final leg home on Friday was rough.  A 20 kt Westerly and a strong ebb made for fast speed over the ground (8 kts) but a brutal ride.  We pounded into it for nearly 3 hours before things moderated off Pt. Pinole.  Crew morale was not high.  The wind was never off our nose before Richmond, so we wound up motoring the whole way.  I would have like to have got in more sailing, but it was a great trip all the same!

Over the Spring Break week Char and I did our first overnight  cruise to Angel Island’s Ayala Cove.   And forgot the damn camera.  Again.   Annika was busy that week riding herd over 16 sixth-graders as camp counselor  so we were on our own.

The exciting element was the weather, with a Small Craft Advisory posted, and winds in the bay forecast into the 25 kt range.  But we talked about it, and decided we could be OK by reefing the main from the get-go, and using our #4 (75%) jib.  We would bail if we had to.  As it turned out, we did see 20 – 25 apparent winds as we reached accross the Bay at 6 – 7  kts.  Whee!  But we never felt out of control, and Char was a champ!

 After paying our fee at the dock and a rather awkward effort of mooring, we settled in to a dinner of spit pea soup and hard tack, and enjoyed watching Pirates of the Caribbean on the newly repaired mini-dvd player.    The next morning winds were light and Easterly, so we had to resort to the motoring more than we might like to get home in a timely way.  But we were in cruiser-mode, the weather was spectacular, and it was OK.

The route.  After some shilly-shallying, we chose CCW, or did it choose us?  Pretty painful with the #2 up in light air, getting rolled over and over, but we were glad of it on the reach down to Alcatraz (curiously not on the map).    Char was responsible for the  upwind work in Raccoon Straight. 

Speed as recorded on the GPS.  The three legs of the race are pretty distinct.  Pretty exciting there in the end, kissing 9kts with the 0.6 oz blue kite up.  Pretty exciting getting the kite down on the wrong side, too, and entertaining the rest of the fleet in the ensuing shrimp-fest.

Crew enjoys hot chocolate race-day morning.

The next Sam Davies (?), spokesmodel for Gill junior foulies.

Char driving.

Char rocks!

At the end, we were DFL – 1, which is an improvement over DNF.  Next year we will beat 10 boats, the year after that?  We will see!

Some scenes from last year’s Great Vallejo Race.  We’ll be there this year,  enjoying the racing, the multiple bars, and Johnny Nitro and the Doorslammers.

The race starts near the Berkeley Circle on Saturday morning, rounds a single weather mark near Alcatraz, and then heads to Vallejo, usually under spinnaker for the remainder of the race. The challenge is to maintain speed through the shadow of Angel Island, find the best combination of wind and current past the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and East Brother Light Station and then avoid the mud shoals on the east side of San Pablo Bay. Depending on the day, the passage through San Pablo Bay can be a breeze (intentional pun), or a miserable drifter, complicated always by the currents, no matter its direction.

http://vallejorace.vyc.org/ (blog)

http://www.vyc.org/vallejo_race_about.html

still more info

Below:  more video of people having fun in the GVR.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Simon in Singapore sent in this sweet shot of his O-34 Sapphire

Hope you are well. Attached is the best spinnaker shot we have of Sapphire, taken from another boat as we were just overtaking the Hanse315 at 7am in the morning at the start of a 9 hour race. It was the first of 5 races in the recent Horsburgh Regatta in Singapore. We came in 2nd overall just a point behind the eventual winner – the Hanse in the picture.