Jonathan Gutoff
Member
If Ants is riding in the Delta tell him to motor over to Oxbow. Or we can meet at Mei Wah in Isleton.
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What I Saw
- Thread starter Philpott
- Start date
- Featured
That would be fun! Unfortunately, that trip concluded with a fine visit in Oakland. Next time, I will be there!
Ants
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Icky weather out there, finding work tedious ... I know! Let's look through all those old videos on the little camcorder. Here's one from summer 2019: https://vimeo.com/521656457
brianb
Olson 34 Driver
Big ship (compared to a sailboat).
Small world.
Curious timing.
Time to lift the Rio Vista bridge last weekend.
Looks like same ship.
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Seeking swag for the 2021 SHTP, I drove over to Alameda. First I went to West Marine and considered the following jackets: West Marine Third Reef, Helly Hansen midlayer and Gill. I considered driving over to Pineapple sails but when I called ahead Amy told me that they don’t carry Musto anymore, so I don't know if that brand is still in the running.
Then I went over to the UK Loft where Sylvain Barrielle was his usual charming self. Sylvain has been good to the Singlehanded Sailing Society. A sponsor of our race since 2016, he has ordered for us the sailbags that we hand out to our racers before they sail under the gate and over the rainbow. Here’s a photo of the bag from 2018.
Pretty cool, huh? Sylvain is ordering more for this year’s race. It’s not too late to sign up if you want one.
I was also looking forward to seeing Dominic Marchal and his doggies, but the doggies have already flown the loft to Long Beach! Gone. Gone, along with Dom's wife. And Dom will follow them all down south April 1. Did you already read this in Latitude? Well, I missed it.
But, wait! Who is this sweet young thing at the mammoth sewing machine?
It is Siena Woodyard, sailmaker in training. Siena moved to the bay area in October 2020. I asked Siena what she brings to the UK Loft, and she didn’t miss a beat: “enthusiasm, a fresh perspective and optimism”. She also knows how to sew.
Then I went over to the UK Loft where Sylvain Barrielle was his usual charming self. Sylvain has been good to the Singlehanded Sailing Society. A sponsor of our race since 2016, he has ordered for us the sailbags that we hand out to our racers before they sail under the gate and over the rainbow. Here’s a photo of the bag from 2018.
Pretty cool, huh? Sylvain is ordering more for this year’s race. It’s not too late to sign up if you want one.
I was also looking forward to seeing Dominic Marchal and his doggies, but the doggies have already flown the loft to Long Beach! Gone. Gone, along with Dom's wife. And Dom will follow them all down south April 1. Did you already read this in Latitude? Well, I missed it.
But, wait! Who is this sweet young thing at the mammoth sewing machine?
It is Siena Woodyard, sailmaker in training. Siena moved to the bay area in October 2020. I asked Siena what she brings to the UK Loft, and she didn’t miss a beat: “enthusiasm, a fresh perspective and optimism”. She also knows how to sew.
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Well, I didn't see anything, but I listened to Ben Shaw's Out the Gate podcast, the one where he interviewed Joe Balderrama, our Commodore. What is a podcast? I had no idea. So I went looking and found it on my iphone. Yup. It's in there somewhere and now I can follow the Out the Gate offerings. That was fun. You can do it, too. Joe was incredibly articulate about singlehanded sailing, the Club and sailing offshore. Go for it.
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
The Sisters
I mentioned to an E Dock sailing friend (another David) - that our next race takes us around the Sisters.
"Really? I'm surprised," said he.
Seems he gives the Sisters a wide berth because his understanding is that they're surrounded by mud.
Oh, dear.
So Mr Hedgehog and I decided to test the race. By the time Dura Mater and I exited Potrero Reach he and his boat were almost under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. He's that fast. We're that slow.
Hedgehog the boat with her spinnaker up, and Dura Mater with her drifter and mainsail wing on wing sailed up to the Sisters in the south wind. This is what they look like.
They are off a quarry along the Marin shoreline, and six huge mooring balls surround them, meant for the barges that can be seen coming and going throughout the bay.
Except for a bit of 13' depth, everything was copacetic: 20+ feet deep and deeper still between the Sisters and land. So there you go. As Race Chair Tom Boussie noted, a bit of reconnaissance for you all.
I mentioned to an E Dock sailing friend (another David) - that our next race takes us around the Sisters.
"Really? I'm surprised," said he.
Seems he gives the Sisters a wide berth because his understanding is that they're surrounded by mud.
Oh, dear.
So Mr Hedgehog and I decided to test the race. By the time Dura Mater and I exited Potrero Reach he and his boat were almost under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. He's that fast. We're that slow.
Hedgehog the boat with her spinnaker up, and Dura Mater with her drifter and mainsail wing on wing sailed up to the Sisters in the south wind. This is what they look like.
They are off a quarry along the Marin shoreline, and six huge mooring balls surround them, meant for the barges that can be seen coming and going throughout the bay.
Except for a bit of 13' depth, everything was copacetic: 20+ feet deep and deeper still between the Sisters and land. So there you go. As Race Chair Tom Boussie noted, a bit of reconnaissance for you all.
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Thank you Jackie and David for the recon. Before writing course to paper, I called the Tiburon Yacht club that still uses Sister's for a rounding. Many years ago, they hosted the Express 27 Nationals and I recalled this scenic rounding. Any faults for the SIs are on me as I drafted them with energetic input from my a few Richmond SSS sailors and my brain. One important thing was to have the slowest boats start early.
Tom is still in the driver's seat and I just wanted to take advantage of the energy of our enthusiastic sailors, so I decided to take a crack at drafting the SI and at the same time give Tom (and Jim our Race Officer) a breather. I have handed it back to Tom our Race Chair.
Tom is still in the driver's seat and I just wanted to take advantage of the energy of our enthusiastic sailors, so I decided to take a crack at drafting the SI and at the same time give Tom (and Jim our Race Officer) a breather. I have handed it back to Tom our Race Chair.
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Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
At the start of the SHTP 2021: ALOHA, Hobie 33 skippered by Kyle Vanderspek. What do I like about this one? Before we boarded Bob Johnston's boat Surprise! to accompany the fleet out the gate, I walked over to watch Kyle leave the dock. His father, Hugh, was there helping to untie the docklines. Kyle untied the bow line, tossed it onto the boat, then gave his dad a big hug. "I love you, dad," he said. "Love you," replied his dad. Then Kyle leaned over, untied the stern line and, in one smooth motion, stepped aboard the boat and was off.
Very cool kid. https://vimeo.com/565896485
Very cool kid. https://vimeo.com/565896485
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ToddArnold
New member
What I saw today? About as nice a day to be sailing on the bay as you can have. "Shorts and t-shirt weather" in a 20kt+ slot, and less wind elsewhere if you wanted that too.
I saw two pretty cool things out there today:
First, I saw this guy. Sailing an Open 5.70. I was able to catch up and was faster for a bit, but when we hit the 20kt wind line on the north side of the slot, he turned downwind and took off like a shot. It looked like fun.
Later, heading back home toward Sausalito, I saw another small sailboat heading north toward Raccoon Strait. I thought it might be a Cal. As I got closer, I thought it might even be a Cal 27 belonging to someone in the SSS. Sure enough! I circled around to sail along with Dura Mater and we waved hello to each other. But now what was Jackie doing up on the foredeck? That's right -- not missing out on a downwind spinnaker run back to Richmond through Raccoon Strait.
I kept my distance and watched the whole process --it looked great! (but what do I know? I only race non-spin). I wanted to yell "Great Job!" but Dura Mater was too far away by then -- one more boat outrunning me downwind today.
I saw two pretty cool things out there today:
First, I saw this guy. Sailing an Open 5.70. I was able to catch up and was faster for a bit, but when we hit the 20kt wind line on the north side of the slot, he turned downwind and took off like a shot. It looked like fun.
Later, heading back home toward Sausalito, I saw another small sailboat heading north toward Raccoon Strait. I thought it might be a Cal. As I got closer, I thought it might even be a Cal 27 belonging to someone in the SSS. Sure enough! I circled around to sail along with Dura Mater and we waved hello to each other. But now what was Jackie doing up on the foredeck? That's right -- not missing out on a downwind spinnaker run back to Richmond through Raccoon Strait.
I kept my distance and watched the whole process --it looked great! (but what do I know? I only race non-spin). I wanted to yell "Great Job!" but Dura Mater was too far away by then -- one more boat outrunning me downwind today.
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Hey, hey, Todd! I didn't know that was you, but you sure have a pretty boat! Thanks for the great photos of DM and me! We were just coming back in after escorting Green Buffalo in from the SHTP. Sea Star and Another Girl were out there, too, but they all motored home ahead of us. As you write, it was a really nice day on the water. No hurry to end it.
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Bodega Bay
After Drakes Bay 1, instead of sailing back to the bay with you all, Dura Mater and I turned north and motorsailed to Bodega Bay. Passed the Point Reyes lighthouse.
There was a bit of blue sky, but it never really cleared up. Got up to Bodega Bay just as some wind picked up, enough for me to unfurl my new 125% jib and sail over to check out the entrance to Tomales. Then we turned around and it was a beam reach over to Bodega’s channel entrance. It’s a long channel: almost two miles to Channel Marker 33, where we turned to port into Spud Harbor Marina. $21/ night for boats under 30’ . We got an end tie right in front of s/v Pelican, owned by Doug Lamb.
Pelican is a Westsail 32. Doug knows Randy Leasure and we were both relieved when Doug received a text from Randy telling us that his house in South Lake Tahoe had been spared by the Caldor fire up there.
Pelican has recently returned from three years in Alaska. Here is a photo Doug sent me of Pelican anchored in Alaska:
While DM and I were his neighbors Doug had begun to revarnish Pelican’s woodwork. He says that two coats West System epoxy, then any varnish that’s on sale worked well in Alaska, so it should work just as well here, right?
Doug has a small farm near Bodega and gave me a box of golden delicious and braeburn apples and Bartlett and Asian pears. I gave him my last chocolate bar and got the better deal for sure.
After Drakes Bay 1, instead of sailing back to the bay with you all, Dura Mater and I turned north and motorsailed to Bodega Bay. Passed the Point Reyes lighthouse.
There was a bit of blue sky, but it never really cleared up. Got up to Bodega Bay just as some wind picked up, enough for me to unfurl my new 125% jib and sail over to check out the entrance to Tomales. Then we turned around and it was a beam reach over to Bodega’s channel entrance. It’s a long channel: almost two miles to Channel Marker 33, where we turned to port into Spud Harbor Marina. $21/ night for boats under 30’ . We got an end tie right in front of s/v Pelican, owned by Doug Lamb.
Pelican is a Westsail 32. Doug knows Randy Leasure and we were both relieved when Doug received a text from Randy telling us that his house in South Lake Tahoe had been spared by the Caldor fire up there.
Pelican has recently returned from three years in Alaska. Here is a photo Doug sent me of Pelican anchored in Alaska:
While DM and I were his neighbors Doug had begun to revarnish Pelican’s woodwork. He says that two coats West System epoxy, then any varnish that’s on sale worked well in Alaska, so it should work just as well here, right?
Doug has a small farm near Bodega and gave me a box of golden delicious and braeburn apples and Bartlett and Asian pears. I gave him my last chocolate bar and got the better deal for sure.
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Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Tomales Bay
and then we sailed up and down and all around Tomales Bay until we ran out of water: https://vimeo.com/600452731
and then we sailed up and down and all around Tomales Bay until we ran out of water: https://vimeo.com/600452731