Intermission
Member
I love the coast, I like Drake's Bay.
I'd been there several times before, but never with a large racing fleet. In keeping with my self appointed SSS groupie status, (blame Synbad), I anchored at Clipper Cove Friday night, with the intent of beating the fleet out the Gate the next morning. Half a large store bought ham sandwich was dinner that night and the other half was lunch Saturday.
In spite of getting up before 06:00, for a variety of reasons, I didn't get out of Clipper til about 08:15, and under the Gate around nine. I started with a full throttle and a single reefed main, but hoisted the full main before Duxbury Reef. I was glad crab season hadn't begun because I don't like playing "crab pot or seagull?", but the number of fishing boats out on a beautiful Saturday morning was quite impressive.
encore!, my Beneteau 32, Plan B, (my intrepid inflatable), and I, arrived at Drake's about 13:15 to an empty anchorage.
It was sunny and warm, bordering on humid; I took a very short skinny dip in 57 degree water, off the stern to cool off. The lecherous race committee with their binoculars had not shown up yet.
Eventually, several hours later, a tired and mostly defeated fleet began to motor in. Dinner was a small grass fed steak and some purple sweet potatoes with a spinach salad and some Ugandan fair trade chocolate
It is a good thing Drake's is large, because it seemed few of you like to anchor very close to one another; I only saw two rafts of three boats each.
Sunday morning was foggy at first. But that did not stop an eager fleet to check themselves in.
After listening to the 2nd check in and then the start, I rowed ashore to see if the Race committee had any ice cream with organic blueberries. Much to my disappointment, they had none, but did have an over abundance of sandwiches, which were quite tasty, and left me wishing I had gotten more. After a half hour of laughing and talking, I parted with the committee, and took a hike on the Headlands overlook trail to take this picture of Jackie heading North.
Then it was back down to the beach, (I need to learn to kick up the screen brightness more and squint less), where my dinghy patiently waited for me.
I had planned to leave Monday morning around 10:00, to hit the Gate an hour into the Flood around 15:00. It took my a little longer to get things squared away after hoisting the anchor. Once underway, I began to kill flies, for lack of much to do, while "Otto" drove and I watched for obstacles.
After an hour or more of this activity, there wasn't much to show for my skill with a flyswatter, so I began to collect them in the "Everything But That" bucket. There should be some dignity in death. Not enough for a pie though.
I managed to cross under at 14:51 doing eight plus knots. Got under the Bay Farm bridge with a good twenty minutes to spare.
A fun weekend.
I'd been there several times before, but never with a large racing fleet. In keeping with my self appointed SSS groupie status, (blame Synbad), I anchored at Clipper Cove Friday night, with the intent of beating the fleet out the Gate the next morning. Half a large store bought ham sandwich was dinner that night and the other half was lunch Saturday.
In spite of getting up before 06:00, for a variety of reasons, I didn't get out of Clipper til about 08:15, and under the Gate around nine. I started with a full throttle and a single reefed main, but hoisted the full main before Duxbury Reef. I was glad crab season hadn't begun because I don't like playing "crab pot or seagull?", but the number of fishing boats out on a beautiful Saturday morning was quite impressive.
encore!, my Beneteau 32, Plan B, (my intrepid inflatable), and I, arrived at Drake's about 13:15 to an empty anchorage.
It was sunny and warm, bordering on humid; I took a very short skinny dip in 57 degree water, off the stern to cool off. The lecherous race committee with their binoculars had not shown up yet.
Eventually, several hours later, a tired and mostly defeated fleet began to motor in. Dinner was a small grass fed steak and some purple sweet potatoes with a spinach salad and some Ugandan fair trade chocolate
It is a good thing Drake's is large, because it seemed few of you like to anchor very close to one another; I only saw two rafts of three boats each.
Sunday morning was foggy at first. But that did not stop an eager fleet to check themselves in.
After listening to the 2nd check in and then the start, I rowed ashore to see if the Race committee had any ice cream with organic blueberries. Much to my disappointment, they had none, but did have an over abundance of sandwiches, which were quite tasty, and left me wishing I had gotten more. After a half hour of laughing and talking, I parted with the committee, and took a hike on the Headlands overlook trail to take this picture of Jackie heading North.
Then it was back down to the beach, (I need to learn to kick up the screen brightness more and squint less), where my dinghy patiently waited for me.
I had planned to leave Monday morning around 10:00, to hit the Gate an hour into the Flood around 15:00. It took my a little longer to get things squared away after hoisting the anchor. Once underway, I began to kill flies, for lack of much to do, while "Otto" drove and I watched for obstacles.
After an hour or more of this activity, there wasn't much to show for my skill with a flyswatter, so I began to collect them in the "Everything But That" bucket. There should be some dignity in death. Not enough for a pie though.
I managed to cross under at 14:51 doing eight plus knots. Got under the Bay Farm bridge with a good twenty minutes to spare.
A fun weekend.
