Home |
Summer Sailstice 6/18/22
|
It looked like it was going to be a great event. At one point we had 9 boats that were considering joining the Summer Sailstice Rally. But then the national weather service came up with their forecast. For the better part of a week they were talking 15 - 20 with gusts to 30 for Saturday afternoon. Now that's just a bit higher than normal for June (15 - 20 is pretty much every day, with gusts to 25) but that extra 5 knots, particularly coming around the back side of Angel Island becalmed and them being blated with 30 knots isn't a whole lot of fun. So, one by one the fleet diminished until we had just 4 boats join the Rally. Full Circle, Mark Irwin, Windcatcher, Dan Throop, Luna Sea, Dan Knox, and Heidi Anne, Barney Brickner. Congratulations to Luna Sea who finished first, then Full Circle, Windcatcher and Heidi Anne. Here's the table of who sailed and who wanted to sail:
| | Score | | | | | Std = 135% | | | Raw | | Skipper | Virtual | | Correct. | Pics | Pics | Drone | Fun |
| Sail # | Y/N | Boat Name | Skipper | | P-Allow | Jib | J-Allow | Tall? | Rating | Skipper | Adjust | Crew | Burgee | Rating | Others | You | Vid | Rating |
| 420 | 1 | Luna Sea | Dan Knox | E | 0 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 144 | | | 0 | 1 | 145 | | 5 | | 150 |
| 6731 | 2 | Full Circle | Mark Irwin | I | 15 | 130 | 0 | 0 | 159 | Wife | 10 | 0 | 1 | 170 | | | | 170 |
| 38015 | 3 | Windcatcher | Dan Throop | I | | | | | 144 | | | | | 144 | | 5 | | 149 |
| 4 | Heidi Anne | Barney Brickner | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| DNS | ??? | Joe Raffa | | | | | | | | | 0 | | | | | | |
| 6697 | DNS | Bella Luna | Bob DaPrato | I | 10 | 135 | 0 | -6 | 148 | Me | | 0 | 1 | 149 | | | | 149 |
| 438 | DNS | Kapai | Rick Egan | E | 0 | 125 | 0 | 0 | 144 | Me | | 0 | 1 | 145 | | | | 145 |
| none | DNS | Tempesta | Bill Storm | I | 10 | 115 | 6 | 0 | 160 | Wife | 10 | | 1 | 171 | | | | 171 |
| 11543 | DNS | Vanishing Animal | Rick Van Mell | I | 15 | 135 | 0 | -6 | 153 | | | 0 | 1 | 154 | | | | 154 |
When your Webmaster agreed that the forecast was not to wife Sandy's liking and decided not to participate in the Rally, but to do our own "Lunch Cruise" on Vanishing Animal, we asked Dan Knox to be our Rally Coordinator. Thanks Dan for stepping up!
The irony is that the usually boisterous San Francisco Bay Slot was meak and mild (Crissy Field), while the generally tamer South Bay (SFO) outdid even the worst of the forecast. Here are the two screen grabs late Saturday afternoon that tell the story.
Note SFO gusts over 30 starting at 1200, rising to over 40 by 1600. All the while, hardly a ripple in the main Bay. It would have been perfect sailing day for anyone docked in the Estuary, South Beach, Sausalito, or Richmond, while a nightmare for those at Brisbane, Coyote Point, or Redwood City.
Enjoy Dan's report from Luna Sea, plus pictures from Luna Sea, Windcatcher and Vanishing Animal.
Luna Sea
As we were about to shove off, Jerry our neighbor and Heather one of Jerry's many gf's showed up and so we asked them to come along. (Jerry is a lucky guy!) They said yes and off we went. It was Heather's first time onboard.
The wind is Alameda was missing in action. Dead calm when we left. We put two kites in the v-berth and Justin said to leave the light weight kite and it was going to be blowing out there. So I said OK and tossed what I though was the half-ounce kite on the dock and off we went with the not so trusty Yanmar pushing us forward.
Every few minutes we needed to check the temperature gauge because, well, my brand new engine is not band new anymore. It is almost 20 years old. Wow time really does fly.
It takes about 30 minutes to get out of the estuary under power and so we put up the main and ate some oversized Costco muffins as we headed out. As we got to the end of the estuary Justin, with help from Heather, went down below to run the tapes and told me that I had tossed the wrong kite on the dock and we only had the half-ounce and some weird asymmetrical kite from a 27 foot boat that we have tested out a few times to try to put up two kites at one time. (BTW for those of you interested this is a big pain and way more trouble that it is worth but kind fun to figure that out.) Nuts. Oh well that probably means we won't get a DSQ like we did in the National's Regatta is all I could say.
The wind Projections for today had been the same for most of the week. 15-20 with occasional gusts to 30. As the week when on the number of boats in the Rally kept going down as it seems all people saw was gusts in the 30's. Well 30 minutes before the start we were seeing a blistering 5-8 knots and four I36's out there.
At 11:45 I did my best Rick Van Mell and got on the radio and welcomed everyone to the Rally and thanked them for coming. I did a time check and told them we have additional time checks at 11:50 and 11:55. After the first radio transmission we took down our big Pride Burgee, double checked the rigging, and motored up near the starting area. We did a 10 second count down at 11:50 and mentioned to everyone it was OK to run their engines to get up to the start line. At 11:55 did a last time check and wished everyone good luck.
We unfurled the head sail on Luna Sea and proceeded to get ready to start. Only there was no one around. The closest boat was hundreds of yards to starboard but was going to be late for the start. Two other boats were just a long way from the start. Anyway our start was not all that great either getting to the line about 15 seconds late.
We started on port and tried the best we could to run close hauled and try to get to get up near shore to try to get some relief from the current. But it was not to be. The wind now was about 10 but the current was ripping and well we were sailing pretty well, sometimes getting into the 6's for boat speed, but our SOG was 3-3.4 knots. Anyway we decided to take a slightly different course and sail up and around Alcatraz. So that is what we did. The flood tide was keeping the sea state very flat and the wind reminded a very moderate 10 knots. It was great sailing but our SOG was still pretty terrible. I rallied the crew by telling them this just meant we could do more sailing. After finally rounding Alcatraz we reached off just a bit and the SOG picked up to in the 6's. Who knew 5-10 degrees in course could made such a difference.
One of the fleet had caught up after our little detour and we were happy to see that. After sailing though the unused Start Line at Corinthian YC we were just slight behind the speedy Islander that was sailing well. (Editor note: Full Circle.) We could see the wind was very light ahead and we were right as very shortly the wind died. We saw three easter eggs on the wind gauge which does not happen too often in San Francisco Bay in the summertime.
So while we still were moving we rigged the half-ounce kite with a port pole to cheers from the crew of DSQ, DSQ! (Want to keep a happy crew, that is one way.) As we got the kite up the wind started to come back and pretty soon we had two knots! So we put Luna Sea on a beam reach and got her moving again. The wind slowly built from 2 to 5 and then to 10 and we were able the change our course and sail a deep reach which was actually in the right direction. Soon it was time to gybe. Which we immediately totally messed up. The half-ounce kite was now in an hourglass and we tried for about 10 minutes to get the hourglass to open by gybing back and forth but had no luck. Finally we ended up taking it down and Heather and Justin ran the tapes again below deck.
The reach back to the finish was easy with winds 10 to 15 pretty much all the way on a close to beam reach. About two minutes before our finish we saw 16 knots of wind, the high for the day. Pretty much the sailing conditions were perfect all day. As we finished I announced our time on the radio and invited the fleet to come down to Marina Village to join us for an after the Rally Party. We put the kite back up and sailed all the way back to Marina Village without gybing and then finished off three bottles of champaign and thanked the boat for a wonderful day before putting her away for the night.
Special thank you for everyone that showed up. There were a lot of good looking boats out there today and four of them were Islanders.
Happy Father's Day everyone. Hope all the fathers get to go sailing today.
--Dan
Nice Schooner |
Another schooner |
Wind Catcher |
Belvedire - Corinthian YC |
Rigging the chute |
Full Circle ahead |
Busy crew |
Happy Crew |
Into Racoon Strait |
Windcatcher
Here are pictures sent by Dan Throop from Windcatcher.
Full Circle |
Windcatcher
Starting 12:03 |
On The Bay |
Passing Angel Island |
Getting Passed! |
14:16 Finish |
Underbridge finish |
Full Circle. |
Vanishing Animal
Rick & Sandy Knew they would have to said across "Hurricane Gultch" between their slip in Brisbane Marina and Hunters Point on the 8 miles up to the Bay Bridge for the start, and more seriously, the 8 miles back later in the afternoon. The wind field in Hurricane Gultch is very similar to the San Francisco Airport (SFO) wind field. Wind funnels through "San Bruno Gap," just north and south of San Bruno Mountain with Brisbane Marina itself mostly sheltered as the wind flows around it. It is typically calm in the morning, then the wind start to blow about 1100 -1130, continuing to increase until about 1600 or 1700. Though we wanted to join the Rally, that 30 knots was more than we wanted to chance.
So, we decided to celebrate Summer Sailstice by having a lunch sail or at least a putt-putt ride. Before leaving home at 1100 we check the SFO winds - already blowing 20! We arrived aboard about 1140 and had hosed off and squared away in time to cast off at 1224. With the wind west northwest, we were sheltered for the 3/4 mile ride out of the harbor and the channel. But even on our way out, we could see the whitecaps in Hurricane Gultch. With burgee flying, we declared victory and made a loop back into the channel. Now we were headed almost directly into the wind. Sandy went below and closed the hatch. Several waves of spray crossed the foredeck and sprinkled the cockpit while mororing back in. We were back in our slip at 1255 and enjoyed sunshine and lunch. By 1330 we had gusts in the slip that heeled the boat, and by 1400 there was a symphony of halyards drumming up a racket in the marina. We were VERY glad we were in our slip.
Sandy worships ... |
Sailstice |
Heading out ... |
Rick steers ... |
White caps & ...
Storm jib? |
Mission Accomplished
Note heel - no sails. |
Water Music
The Islander 36 contingent was significantly smaller for Austin Texas (just us).
Here are a few pictures showing my first mate, some float planes doing touch-and-go landings, and the after-"race" paddle board set-up.
Enjoy seeing the great pictures from SFO. I commented to my wife Chris that it is strange to see you guys literally sailing downtown!
Best,
Fred & Chris Manley
SV Water Music
Sail #575
Water Music |
Made in the Shade! |
Dockside |
Beautiful waters |
Beach time. |