Home	Coyote Point Destination Rally 2019

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

The Coyote Point Destination Rally was designed to be a melding of racing and cruising to a fun destination with a party at the end. Though the signups were only 3, decreasing to 2 at the last minute, it turned out lo be a very fun weekend thanks to our Commodore Eric Mueller and the whole Serenity crew.

As you can see in the "Course" picture below it looks like a simple course that any cruiser could easily sail, given that normally predominate west wind makes it a reach all the way. But, San Francisco Bay isn't quite as predictable as we all think. First, just getting to the starting line south of Yerba Buena Island (at the center of the Bay Bridge) wasn't easy. Those coming from the south, as Eric and Serenity did for the 15 miles from their harbor at Coyote Point YC, and Rick & Sandy Van Mell did with Vanishing Animal for their 9 miles, had to fight an increasing flood tide with a max flood of 2.8 knots at 1112 - while trying to get to the 1200 start.

Coming north, Vanishing Animal experienced 12 - 15 knot westerlies after leaving Brisbane Marina at 1000 hours. The calculation was that leaving Brisbane at 1000 would get VA to the starting area by 1130 if we did 6 knots over the bottom, or 1145 if we only did 5. Starting out, we were just under 6 knots, but the flood was increasing so we rolled out the jib and got back to 6 knots -- even briefly 7 knots in the back eddy below Hunters Point. But, then the current increased and the wind decreased and we were at times only making 4.5 knots over the ground. After checking out each course mark along the way, winds lightened in the starting area.

Into the planning mix, a hot day was forecast for the Central Valley of just a bit lower than the 100 degrees of Friday, so there was likely to be a strong 20 - 25 knot sea breeze across the South Bay course by early afternoon. Vanishing Animal arrived in the starting area about 1145 with no sign of Serenity in sight. Rick tried calling Serenity by cell phone, and on VHF 72, but Serenity didn't get the cell phone and was on VHF 71 (the correct channel.)

Decision time. Aboard VA with just Sandy and me, well into our 70s, we weren't relishing the thought of double handling the boat in 20 - 25 knots to knock off sails on a lee shore at Coyote Point. We made the decision, since Serenity wasn't in sight, to just start at 1200 and sail the course with just a jib. (Many a time we've done 7 - 8 knots with just a jib in the normal SF Bay westerlies.) We crossed the line at 12:00:30 with just a jib doing about 3 knots. With the flood tide still strong we headed due west toward San Fransisco instead of SW toward the first mark. In 10 minutes, we were becalmed, and moving sideways south at 2.0 knots (GPS speed)

Eric got through on cell phone and said they were still tryong to get to the starting area, having slowed down thinking we wre behind them. Long story short, Serenity crossed the starting line 17 minutes behind us. But, they were under full sail with main and jib. At the first mark, red green SC, they were 10 minutes and 1.26 miles astern. The wind was fluky, and at times we were doing 6+ knots, but at others it was down to 4 or less. By the third mark, south bay channel marks G1 & R2, Serentiy was only 5 minutes astern. With again some light winds, they passed us about 1400.

Then the wind we expected came in. It was 20 - 25 knots with seas when we both crossed the finish line. We both reached west to the Coyote Point channel where Serentiy with a 4 man crew doused their jib and heded into the harbor with their main up. We turned downwind as Sandy steered and handled the jib sheet, while I used the winch to furl the jib while rolling in the 20 knot seas.

When we were all tied up and got things sorted out about 1500, we called Bob & Maria DePrato (Bella Luna, the 3rd boat signed up. They were approaching at 70 knots down 880 from Alameda headed for Coyote Point. By 1700 we were all sharing good stories in CPYC's Regatta Room and Eric was stating what would become a epic fine dinner.

You may have read Eric's emails encouraging boats to sign up with offers of prizes for every boat and steak/chicken or fish dinner. To start, Eric was cooking sous vide, both steak and chicken as people requested. Once limited to the pros, sous vide (pronounced sue-veed) is a cooking technique that utilizes precise temperature control to deliver consistent, restaurant-quality results. High-end restaurants have been using sous vide cooking for years to cook food to the exact level of doneness desired. The steak and chicken were sealed in air-tight bags and cooked in water to either 129 degrees (steak) or 140 degrees (chicken) for an hour. While the meat was cooking we enjoyed several cheeses, chips and Eric's special stuffed mushrooms. Eric mixed up the stuffing and Bob DaPrato helped break out the mushroom stems and stuff the mushrooms. Eric finished them off in the oven and broiler and they were both delicious and gone in 15 miuntes!

Eric then took the fully cooked protiens to the super hot grills outside and put a sear on them. The result was perfection medium rare steak with appealing flame grill marks. Check out the pics and video below.

With Eric's pasta dish, a veggie dish from Bella Luna, quiche from Serenity, and salad from Vanishing Animal, the buffet was complete and we all settled down for a special meal.

Eric rounded out the night with his traditional awards for participating boats - check out the VA goodies picture below.

A very special thanks to Commodore Mueller for a cruise/race in the best traditions of the I-36 Association.

See you all at the Nationals Regatta on Sunday, October 6th, and the Fall Meeting back at Coyote Point on November 9th.

Pictures by Eric Mueller & Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

The Course	Here comes ...	Serenity passing Vanishing Animal ...	looking back at VA.
Serenity looks great.	VA dockside at CPYC guest dock.	The harbor.	Sandy, Maria, Eric & Bob
Nibbles time.	Rick & Eric	Steaks are cooked ...	sous vide.
Eric makes ...	mushroom stuffing ...	Bob stuffs ...	many 'shrums ...
Eric inspects ...	Broiled perfection ...	now gone!	Cooked steaks go ...
on the grill ...	to sear ...	flipping ...	Ready to serve ...
Delicious!!!	Sandy says ...	Time to eat ...	pasta and veg ...
salad and quiche ...	steak & chicken.	the gang's all here!	VA goodies bag.
Great Day!

Return to Main Menu