Home	Labor Day Rally 9/5/20

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

Let's see, COVID-19 Pandemic, hundreds of raging wildfires, what else could possibly happen to a modest attempt by your I-36 Association to hold a simple Rally on a September day? Who'd a thought a scorching heat wave with NO WIND?

Yet we eventually counted 7 intrepid Islanders on the Bay who were persistent enough to get in at least a little good sailing. An initial 5 signed up for a repeat of the Summer Sailstice course to rally from the west side of the Bay Bridge, around Angel Islnad, and back to finish at the Bay Bridge on the east side of Treasure Island. Bella Luna, Jonesque Jones, Kapai and Vanishing Animal arrived in the starting area by the center block in the 1130 - 1145 time frame, ready for a 1200 start, and we learned later that Zingara arrived later and crossed about 1230..

Alas, there was no wind and about a 1.5 knot flood current pushing into the South Bay. A quick consultation arrived at a consensus that we start under power and go see if we could find wind. Three fifths of our crew on Vanishing Animal had not seen the City Front from the water, nor had ever sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. So we elected to favor the port side and worked our way out to the GGB. Since we were under power anyway, we captured a travelog of pictures which hit most of the tourist sites along the way.

By the time we got to the bridge at about 1300 there was a nice 8 - 10 knot breeze, but also a rather roiled max 2.5 flood. We enjoyed watching a pod of dolphins cruising for lunch, and a flock of pelicans that hop scotched with them to pick off little fish trying to escape.

We turned back into the Bay and set the main and jib near Harding Rock bouy and had a delightful reach back past Alcatraz and on to the City Front. While sailing back we got a nice picture of Jonesque Jones sailing past Alcatraz, and they were nice enough to capture a picture of us (Vanishing Animal.) Then we thought we captured a picture of Kapai, but the black hull turned out to be sail number 50 - not on our Association list. So if anyone knows who it is, we've got a great picture for them. Bella Luna chimed in via radio that she had rounded Angel Island and so gets the prize for sailing the course. It turned out that Island Girl was also sailing in Raccoon Strait - towing a rubber duck. That accounts for the six Islanders.

FLASH: A minute after I finished posting this page to the web, I checked my email and found a New Member application for Flynn Kelleher's I-36 Sultana ---- with sail number 50. What a great day!

Alas, before we reached the Bay Bridge, the wind had again vanished. It was reported that on the western, ocean front side of San Francisco the temperature was in the 70's, but on the eastern side in the 90's. The high pressure and some offshore flow simply blocked the usual sea breeze.

But it was still a good day to be on the water. Enjoy the pictures.

Report from Kapai

Hi Rick,

Good to see you today. What a hot one! The best place to be was between Alcatraz and the GG Bridge. I finally rolled out my genny off of Aquatic Park and had a very pleasant sail. Definitely the place to be. South Beach was 90 degrees when I returned. Hope your guest crew enjoyed the day. I gotta figure out my handheld radio. Receives but no Transmit. My wife might view that as a feature!

Also, here is a nice shot of our warm glassy start to the day.


Best Rick Egan.

Report from Jonesque Jones

My friend and I had a nice pleasant sail. We racked up the city front and out under the GGB, then had a nice pleasant downwind sail back along the city front. My friend got some pics of your boat too when we crossed paths. I'll send them when I get them from her. We sailed back to a guest slip at South Beach Harbor and enjoyed sundowners in the cockpit in the uncharacteristically warm breezes and were entertained by a sea lion that hauled itself out on the next finger pier over from us.

Good to see you all out there even if we had to motor so much to get to the wind in the beginning.

Here's a picture of your boat that my friend snapped when we crossed paths on the downwind leg. (It's the Vanishing Animal pic at the end.)

Cheers,
Peter

Report from Zingara

We didn't leave Coyote Point Marina until 10:00 so didn't make it to the bridge by noon. We motored up to where the wind picked up in the slot, rounded Angel Island (saw the Matthew Turner under full sail), had some wind in Racoon Straits with some wind around the lee side of Angel Island (saw a big boat raft up on the lee side and Ayla Cove was packed), turned on the engine and motored sailed to catch the wind in the slot to the Bay Bridge where it died all the way down to Coyote Point! So different than June's sail around the Bay.

We saw 2 dolphins cruising south in Racoon Straits and also saw lots of pelicans especially near South Beach Harbor.

We also saw the beautiful blue Islander with the sail number 50--waved to them but don't know who they are. They were either going to Corinthian or San Francisco YC.

We go back to the marina around 6:00 p.m. The dog was soooooo happy to get off the boat!

Jocelyn

Report from Island Girl

Island Girl was out to meet the fleet as they rounded Angel Island. We even brought along our extra MOB system just in case. Had some nice winds, 7 to 10 knots in Racoon Strait. And some 1 to 3 knot winds earlier. Filled in nicely by about 1:30.

Frank Burkhart

Pictures by Jonesque Jones, Rick Egan, Frank Burkhart, Ariana Menhenett and Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

San Francisco	John & Ariana	Alina & Kayla ...	go forward ...	Ariana on the helm
Clear sky	Approaching Bay Bridge NO wind	Bella Luna	and ...	Kapai, and
Jonesque Jones.	Starting under power ...	Toward Yerba Buena I.	across the starting line	The Ferry Building
Coit Tower	Pier 39 limp flags	Lots of sea lions	Jeremiah O'Brien	Alcatraz Island
It's the submarine ...	Pampanito	Pirate ship and ...	Pelican	Balclutha is ...
big!	Heading for the ...	Golden Gate Bridge	Fort Point	Ouside looking back.
Pelicans & Dolphins	Great Sailing	Main is set	Old lighthouse	Travis Marina, Horseshoe Bay
Jonesque Jones	Who is I-36 #50? Sultana!	Vanishing Animal	Island Girl's mascot brings up the rear.

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