Half Moon Bay Cruise September 1-3, 2007

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

Our annual excursion out of an Francisco Bay into the ocean was another fun ride. The fleet started out at 1000 Saturday morning in "low stratus" as the weather folks say, but just simply "fog" to the locals. Note the difference is that you have some reasonable visibility under the stratus in many cases.

Six Islanders made the trip, including John Melton's Freedom Won, Dan Knox on Luna Sea, Ron & Karen Damsen on Woodbine, Frank Mayo & Susan Brooks on Amante, Smokey & Laurie Stover on Evanescence, and their friend on White Horses.

Heading south was mostly a motor sail in very light winds - that is until everyone reached Half Moon Bay where a nice northwester sprang up. Go figure. But it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon to relax and watch the wrold go by. And go by it did. It seemed there were many more boats in the mooring field than usual, and many boats were anchored after the mooring balls were taken.

Sunday dawned clear and calm. that may not sound unusual for a summer morning, but at Half Moon Bay that is a day to be celebrated, since thick fog is more common. And celebrate we did. During the day there were the usual boat projects to attend to, plus some reading and relaxing. But by late afternnon crews began gathering on the raft of Luna Sea and Freedom Won. Peter & Lousia Szasz drove down by car, as did Rick Van Mell, and Ron Damsen provided dinghy service out to the rafted party. Hor de oeuvres were already partly consumed, but they brought more.

But it was a moveable feast, and so Luna Sea cast off from Freedom Won and circled alongside Evanescence for dinner. Peter made sure it was done right. But then came the good stuff. Already lightly lubricated by margaritas, wine helped dinner digest. A fun potluck cam together as Myphi provided a great, slightly spicy surry and sticky rice, Karen Damsen had delicous sausage chunks, Nanci Melton added fine baked beans, and Louisa rounded it out with a penne pasta salad. Cookies topped that all off.

Twilight was fading as Ron ferried Peter & Louisa ashore to their car at Half Moon Bay Yacht Club, while Luna Sea became the ferry to the fuel dock in the main harbor to drop off Myphi, Nanci & Rick, plus garbage and a head call for a number of the crew. The traffic was terrible for those heading for I-280. It took an hour to reach it, when it's usually about a 20-25 minute drive.

Monday morning's departure started out in light air and modest visibility. There was patchy sunshine when the fleet reached the Golden Gate and some wind to sail. A good time was had by all.

Pictures by Dan Knox and Ron Damsen. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Leaving San Francisco	It's typical fog	Other fleets head south	Crossing the tide rip
Amante ...	& Freedom Won	White Horses ...	looks good
Pt. San Pedro ...	collects guano	Bonnie's happy	Pillar Point ...
getting closer	Smokey's inside looking ...	for a mooring ...	gets kelp too.
Woodbine	Amante	Freedom Won alongside Luna Sea	White Horses & Evanescence
Freedom Won & Luna Sea	Nice breeze now	Amante	Others catch kelp
Very nice ...	Saturday afternoon	Ron's relaxed	Folks on the beach
Burgee flies	Freedom Won & Luna Sea	Ferry service ...	back to Evanescence
All is well.	Sunday morning	all is quiet ...	ashore ...
and aboard ...	the Islanders.	But, with breeze ...	comes breakfast
Pretty day	Peter Szasz makes sure ...	Luna Sea ties up ...	right.
Well done guys.	Rick agrees ...	so does Smokey ...	& Louisa too.
Myphi tells a story	Monday morning it's ...	good-bye time ...	to head north.
White Horses & Evanescence depart	Golden Gate ahead.

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