Home	Coyote Point Destination Cruise 9/24-25, 2016

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

Three cheers for Fleet Captain Eric Mueller who pulled together a really fun Coyote Point Destination Cruise. On a rare very hot, light wind Saturday, it looked like we not not have any wind to sail, but by waitng for both Serenity and Bella Luna to make it to the starting area south of Yerba Buena Island, the wind filled in for a great start at 12:45.

Now this wasn't a hard core race, but an invitation for racers and cruisers alike to have a fun sail ll.8 miles down the South Bay to end off the Coyote Point Harbor and Yacht Club. Here's how it was proposed:

The target was to rendezvous just south of Yerba Buena Island at 11:45 and use the outer Estuary channel marks as a beginning point at 12:00. This is a fun Rally so hoist your flags proudly! The start is GPS time based. From there we'll find two marks along the shore before Hunters Point, then the first buoy pair for the deep water San Bruno Shoal Channel G1 and R2 in the South Bay and finally Coyote Point Yacht Club mark Z where the route ends. That gives you a couple of miles to get sails down and motor in the channel. Details are in the "Route Instructions." Take your time as you go by each mark just for the fun of it. Here are links to details and chart images of the route: Route Instructions, Route Chart, Assembly/Beginning , Finish & range to enter Harbor, and Harbor Chart.

Rick scraped off the accumulated rust from not racing Vanishing Animal for many years, and, with Sandy at the helm, he pulled strings and called tactics and took line honors at the start. Bill and Susan Nork were close to leeward with Zenith and going fast. As the wind went light near the 1st mark, Rick's 3-blade prop trumped the tall rig and Zenith rounded just ahead. When they bore away for mark 2, Sandy held high and Rick trimmed to climb up on Zenith's wind and again pulled ahead in stronger breeze. Serenity, Hangover and Bella Luna rounded in order.

In the breeze we were hitting close to 7 knots, but ahead the 2nd mark was sitting in a lake of glass. From 7 knots to 0, and even drifting backward with the current, Vanighing Animal and Zenith slid into the gluepot. A puff or two from dead ahead separated them with Vanishing Animal edging toward the shore to the west, and Zenith drifting slightly east. After about ten minutes, while the rest of the fleet sailed right up to them, Rick caught the first puffs of the afternoon westerlies, reached up a little into them, and bore away past mark G5 and on for Hunters Point. The rest of the fleet progressively got the wind and we sailed on to the San Bruno channel marks. The parade continued to the finish, with Vanishing Animal rounding the finish mark at 15:07:18, and Zenith about 4 minutes later. That was more than enough to acccunt for Rick's -6 seconds/per mile tall rig penalty (about 72 seconds), without any allowance for the solid propeller. Here was the finish order - including Evanescence which Smokey powered down to watch and enjoy the fun.

Everyone gathered aboard Vanishing Animal for happy hour, then we all headed up to CPYC for a delicious spaghetti and meatballs dinner with salad and toasted garlic bread. Eric topped it all off with a bag of prizes for each boat - so everyone won. What a great way to wrap up the cruising season. THANKS ERIC!

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

Vanishing Animal ...	is ready to go ...	Linked to GPS ...	Morning Start	Under way ...
flat calm ...	starting line.	Starting Area ...	Zenith is waiting ...	At other end is ...
Hangover ...	bridge perfect.	Next up is ...	Serenity ...	Ex-Presidential yacht ...
Potomac	Waiting for wind.	Hangover & Zenith ...	get some wind.	Zenith has started ...
Serenity& Hangover ...	Bella Luna.	Top of course ...	Zenith has passed ...	RG Mark - Serenity & Hangover
Passing Mark G5	Middle of course ...	Vanishing Animal passing Hunters Point	Finish and Harbor.	Coyote Point YC ...
dock gate ...	At CPYC dock ...	Vanishing Animal ...	Zenith ...	Evanescence and Smokey.
Susan's dredger's hat	Chill time ...	Smokey smiles ...	David too ...	Masthead fly?! (Airbus A-380)
The gang's all here.	Nice afternoon ...	Time to ...	go ashore.	Flags flying.
From CPYC 2nd deck.	Dinner time.	Eric's prizes ...	for all hands ...	amaze & delight ...
hit the mark ...	with lots of fun ...	great humor and ...	are greatly loved.	Sunday morning ...
rise and shine ...	check the chute.	Time to ...	bring the coffee ...	Welcome aboard for ...
"Bob's No Problem" ...	perfect bloodies.	A great table ...	celebrate the morning ...	with smiles.
David stops before ...	heading home.

Return to Main Menu