Home	'Round Alameda 1/1/20

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

What a great way to start off a new decade! Seven hearty Islander 36s were represented on the three boats that sailed (OK, motored) to the great feast at Aeolian Yacht Club. It was even hot in the sun at times, and as if Aeolian's tasty chili, jalapeno cornbread, black eyed peas and generous Bloody Marys weren't enough, three of the seven soldiered on to partake of Clam Chowder & Hot Dogs at Encinal Yacht Club.

Marina Village yacht basin, particularly Dock 8, is home to several Islander 36s. Our story begins at the Dock 8 gate where Dan Knox and Myphi Alloy of Luna Sea gathered friends and fellow Islander owners Ruby Wallis & Rob Blenderman (White Horses) to make up their crew for the day. Our 2020 Cruise Chair Liz Munnelly and husband Mike Patterson (I-36 Secretary) brought Green Flash from South Beach Harbor across the the south bay into the estuary and Encinal Yacht Club, next door to Marina Village, to pick up Rick & Sandy Van Mell (Vanishing Animal) and friends from high school days Robin and Dave to make up their crew. Sailing from Fortman Marina, Jim (Smokey) Stover added his beautiful Islander Freeport 36 Evanescence to the fleet, including crew of new I-36 owners from Idaho Dave Yeats and his wife. Their boat is Fresh Air, kept at Bitter End Marina, on Lake Pend Oreille in Northern Idaho. When we all arrived at Aeolian YC we met up with Charles and Kathryn Hodgkins of Mischief fame. Our count of 7 was complete.

This year the good news was that the tide stayed above 3 feet from about 6 am to 6 pm. The bad news is that it only got to 4.2 feet at 1515. That made for a nice noon run (on a rising tide) to Aeolian YC. Then it was a bit too nervous a choice to try the Bay Farm bridge and the shallows out to the Bay, so we declared victory and returned Encinal back along the Estuary.

For those that would like to know more, here are some basics. Alameda, CA is actually an island, just west of Oakland, separated by the Oakland Estuary. While the Estuary, particularly at its entrance, is wide and deep enough for 1000' container ships, when it narrows at its eastern end where three bridges connect it to Oakland, it's quite narrow and getting shallow fast. At the southeastern end, at San Leandro Bay, it is connected to Bay Farm Island - where Oakland Airport is located - by a 4th bridge. Going west from there into San Francisco Bay, there is an unmarked tidal slough that has 6-8 feet of water in an unmarked very narrow band and then a stretch of 2-4' of water to cross into the Bay itself. It's about 15.5 miles around the Island. Here's what it looks like on the chart:

Alameda - Overview

Alameda - Bay Farm

Alameda -Little channel

Here is a link to Aeolian's navigation page with a dramatic picture of the "channel" at low tide: http://www.aeolianyc.org/aeolian-navigation.html

As your web page maker, I must confess to getting a bit carried away with my Christmas present from Sandy - a new Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS70 that replaced my 5 year old Lumix DMC-TZ5. Going from a 10x optical zoom to a 30x optical zoom, combined with 5-axis image stabilization enabled shots just not possible before. Note in the center of picture 30, "We are the show...", of a large condominium complex there is a balcony with some people on it. Picture 31, "for the locals", has the people in sharp focus and you can see the woman on the left taking a picture of us! This also enabled the close-up pictures of crew on other boats. The down side is the the old camera typically produced pictures of 1 - 2 megapixels, while the new on is in the 5 - 10 megapixel range, taking up lots more card and disc space.

So enjoy the pictures and sign up for our Spring Meeting at Golden Gate Yacht Club on March 14,2020: http://islander36.org/sm20/sm20details.html.

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

Dock 8 ...	here comes Dan ...	of Luna Sea ...	with Myphi	and their crew!
Calm fairway ...	I-36 Osprey	Meanwhile Liz has ...	Green Flash tied up ...	that's Sandy & Mike.
Nearby are Spirit ...	and Mischief.	Out in the estuary ...	it's Luna Sea ...	Smile!
CG protects us from ...	War canoe!	mid-stroke.	Let's go says Mike ...	Mimosas? said Liz.
Catching up with ...	Evanescence ...	All smiles.	Alameda Marina	Rhonda & Lee zip by
Park St. Bridge ...	going up ...	details.	Great cruising.	We are the show ...
for the locals.	Miller-Sweeney bridge ...	ready to open ...	here we go.	Down the waterfront ...
to High St. bridge	Many thanks!	Silver lining	More spectators ...	watching us.
Slow and shallow ...	returning tri ...	waves hello ...	retuning cat ...	is happy too
seturning sloop ...	Happy New Year.	Approaching Aeolian ...	Bay Farm Br opens (but not for us)	into the harbor ...
great guide ...	in a slip.	Evanescence too	ditto Luna Sea	Joining the fun ...
we find Charles ...	Kathryn and Myphi	Rhonda and Lee	Luna Sea table ...	happy families!
Beverages ...	chili ...	all the fixins and ...	jalapeno cornbread ...	let's eat!
Green Flash table.	Light wind ...	time to go ...	calm water ...	heading back ...
fast cruiser	more spectators	High St. Bridage ...	lets us through.	Kids at Miller-Sweeney rail br.
Brig Kaisei	Pigeons at Park Street	Good times ...	Evanescence cruises	Back at ...
Encinal YC ...	Looks like figurehead had ...	a rough night!	Charles by the fire ...	Green Flash crew ...
At the bar, order ...	Chowder, Hot Dog, Wine	All is well	List of clubs.	Is it over?!

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