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What I Saw

Okay. Back to What I Saw (last week's version). Motored up the Napa river to downtown and back. When I was going up river it was wind on the nose, then back down river it was ... yup. Wind on the nose again. Cold, too. I had long underwear on every day but those two hours going up river under sail, drifting in the flood between the Napa Valley Marina and downtown. What a great trip. I loved it.

A number of years ago Charlie Jeremias hosted a cruise-out at his dock just off the Brazos Bridge. I can't remember if it was this side or the other side. What a wonderful host he was: Brought down a coffee pot full of coffee the morning after, we drank it on his dock. His wife and I had a long walk. It's a great stretch of river there, and the neighbors are close.

Here was the Brazos Bridge on the way up river:

Brazos up.JPG

And here it was on my way down river:

P1013253.JPG

AAAUUUGHHH! I got on the radio: "Brazos Bridge. Brazos Bridge, this is the sailing vessel Dura Mater, do you read me?"
No answer.

Then a voice came over my radio: "You have to blow your air horn" I remember that Charlie told me that he and his neighbors liked to listen to the VHF radio, sort of like a local SSB community.

So I thanked the voice (might it have been Charlie? No, he would have called me by name), blew my air horn (generally so un used, but it sure came in handy this time). And Bob's your Uncle, the fella in the truck backed up off the bridge and raised it for me.

As I motored under it, he honked his horn at me twice and I blew my horn twice. Such a nice man.
 
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That was four years ago, in the depths of Covid. A north wind blowing down the river made it freezing cold. I turned on deck lights and we sat on our boats with our masks on. The French guys on an Archambeau 27 served a wonderful red wine and we ate some pretty high-end munchies. Then yes, the next morning we found a pot of hot coffee waiting on the dock for us. It was a great event enjoyed at a difficult time - note this comment from one of the linked posts: "...if the SSS ever sponsors another race."

https://www.sfbaysss.org/forum/showthread.php?2538-Cruise-Out-2020&p=27847#post27847
.
 
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