Home
Half Moon Bay Cruise
October 21-23, 2011

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

Here's Dan Knox's description of a fun cruise to Half Moon Bay. The participating boats and their crews are:

Because (BIG Islander), Tim & Rhonda Shea

Luna Sea, Dan Knox & Myphi Alloy with crew Anne-Marie Lebas
Freedom Won, John & Nanci Melton
Tacoma Blue, Rich & Takae Watters
Orion, Ray Duran & Barb Carpenter
Renaissance of Tahoe Vista, Steve Douglass

On Friday there was no sailing. We left at 8 am and got to Half Moon Bay a bit after 3. We had 6 boats in our group, one large I36 (Because) and 5 of the regular kind. We sailed for 10 minutes and motored the rest of the way on a calm Pacific Ocean.

As we got into the harbor and were taking down our sails we saw 12 knots of wind! There was also a group of 11 boats from Club Nautique, so we got to see Debbie and talk with Marianne.

We were scheduled to have a pot luck on Friday, but about half a dozen bottles of Champaign and a few beers later, the pot luck turned into more of just a big party. No one complained.

On Saturday there was a lot of hiking around and generally just checking out all the changes that have occurred in Princeton-by-the-Sea, which is the quaint name for the tiny town that technically holds Pillar Point Harbor -- what we all call Half Moon Bay. Half Moon Bay itself is the town about 3 miles to the south, centered around the junction of Highway 17 coming south through the coastal range and CA Highway 1 - the Pacific Coast Highway that runs the length of California along the Pacific Ocean.

Pillar Point Harbor

In the image above, note the large "LT OBSC" sector where the harbor entrance light doesn't shine. Then check the depths between Pillar Point and the G3 bell just over a mile to the south. No only is almost all of it less than an Islander needs, but this is the home of murderous Mavericks Surf Contest. One of their top surfers died just over a year ago in breaking waves over 30 feet - and maybe 50' - high. The contest itself is held just west of the tiny Sail Rock marked less than a quarter mile to the southwest off the beach. Here's a link to some SPECTACULAR pictures of the event: Mavericks Pictures.

Tim scheduled a dinner at the Brew Pub for 12 but I think only about 6 people showed up. But we sure made the best of it and had another wonderful evening. Many of us left after dinner but a few diehards stayed and danced the night away.

On Sunday morning we planned to leave about 8 but didn’t get out until closer to 9. For the first hour once again there was no wind but then it picked up a bit and we got about 4 hours of very nice sailing in.

But once we reached the Golded Gate Bridge, the wind, which was from the east, dropped to the 3-4 knot range. Not a good thing when you are trying to fight a 3-4 knot ebb! Most of the boats tried to make it to the north side of the entrance but many could not. We were the only boat that tried for current relief by going south toward Mile Rock and were swept out past the Cliff House twice! After about 90 minutes of that we finally made it under the GGB.

The conditions were amazing. The water was just glassy and the temperature in the mid 70’s with very light winds. I have never seen those conditions under the Bridge before. We tried to sail but just could not make any headway and we turned on the motor and headed back to Marina Village. We tired one last time to sail when we saw a guest of 4 knots but it was not to be.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

--Dan

Pictures from Luna Sea, Because, Orion, & Renaissance. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

In addition, here's a link to more pictures in Orion's Log.

[Click to enlarge]
Sf Piers ...
[Click to enlarge]
Anne-Marie is happy ...
[Click to enlarge]
Orion crew ...
[Click to enlarge]
very happy.
[Click to enlarge]
Golden Gate ahead ...
[Click to enlarge]
traffic & Islanders ...
[Click to enlarge]
bright city front ...
[Click to enlarge]
good day to go ...
[Click to enlarge]
glassy smooth ...
[Click to enlarge]
Islanders astern ...
[Click to enlarge]
nice schooner ...
[Click to enlarge]
under the bridge ...
[Click to enlarge]
into the ocean ...
[Click to enlarge]
Freedom Won ...
[Click to enlarge]
up close ...
[Click to enlarge]
under the Gate with ...
[Click to enlarge]
Freedom Won &
Because
[Click to enlarge]
nice shadow ...
[Click to enlarge]
Pt. Bonita ...
[Click to enlarge]
heading west ...
[Click to enlarge]
Islanders ahead ...
[Click to enlarge]
heading south ...
[Click to enlarge]
Myphi at the helm ...
[Click to enlarge]
Orion heads south
[Click to enlarge]
Pillar Point ahead.
[Click to enlarge]
here's Renaissance ...
[Click to enlarge]
and Orion ...
[Click to enlarge]
Approaching HMB ...
[Click to enlarge]
outer harbor ...
[Click to enlarge]
inner breakwater ...
[Click to enlarge]
a touch of wind ...
[Click to enlarge]
Luna Sea
[Click to enlarge]
what else ...
[Click to enlarge]
a party!
[Click to enlarge]
Freedom Won
[Click to enlarge]
looks good ...
[Click to enlarge]
next in line ...
[Click to enlarge]
across to Tacoma Blue ...
[Click to enlarge]
Renaissance ...
[Click to enlarge]
bow on and ...
[Click to enlarge]
port side ...
[Click to enlarge]
Pillar Point radar ...
[Click to enlarge]
Meanwhile, back aboard ...
[Click to enlarge]
getting acquainted ...
[Click to enlarge]
all smiles ...
[Click to enlarge]
right on!
[Click to enlarge]
John checks in.
[Click to enlarge]
Girl time
[Click to enlarge]
Freedom Won from
Luna Sea
[Click to enlarge]
Ray Duran & Barb Carpenter
[Click to enlarge]
Happy Campers ...
[Click to enlarge]
Dan, Pam & Anne-Marie
[Click to enlarge]
Tom Allegretti, current
I36 Crew of the Year
[Click to enlarge]
Rich Watters &
John Harold
[Click to enlarge]
Fun in town
[Click to enlarge]
Hiking out to ...
[Click to enlarge]
Pillar Point ...
[Click to enlarge]
beautiful Pcific!
[Click to enlarge]
Half Moon Bay harbor ...
[Click to enlarge]
inner harbor beyond.
[Click to enlarge]
Myphi looking good
[Click to enlarge]
Anne-Marie at the
Brew Pub
[Click to enlarge]
A perfect day.
[Click to enlarge]
Nice morning.
[Click to enlarge]
Heading home.
[Click to enlarge]
Orion crew ...
[Click to enlarge]
is casual ...
[Click to enlarge]
well prepared ...
[Click to enlarge]
almost home ...
[Click to enlarge]
a beautiful sight.






Return to Main Menu