Half Moon Bay Cruise September 2-4, 2006

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

This was one of the best attended cruises! 15 boats sailed under the Golden Gate to Half Moon Bay, and four more were represented by the drive-in set - that's a total of 19 boats! For some it was their first time ever sailing to a port outside the Golden Gate. That's what this cruise is all about.

Throw in great organization and hospitality from the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club, and another two dozen boats from Oakland, Encinal and Balena Bay Yacht Clubs, and you had one GREAT party. Just look at the band pictures to get an idea of how much fun it was.

The sail down was easy - though there was a southwest wind which made for close hauled sailing rather than the typical northwest broad reach. However it did go light below Montara Point, as usual, and the fleet powered their way into the harbor.

With four large groups headed to Half Moon Bay for the weekend, mooring balls were quickly taken, and many boats wound up on their anchors. No big deal however, as the winds were light all weekend.

Saturday night, apparently, was one great boat hopping party. John Melton launched several pitchers of his world famous, knock-your-socks-off Margaritas, much to everyone's delight.

It was calm on Sunday morning, but the stratus layer (OK, fog) held firm, but fairly high so it was a lazy day to explore the inner harbor.

By Sunday afternoon folks were hungry and dinner started before 1600. there was a great catered buffet spread, plus an outside wine bar to take pressure off the inside bar. A blazing fire in their sculptured boiler fire pit was warmly welcomed by the crowd.

Then it was time to fire up the band - by 1730 - and the dancing began. With such an early start, it was also early to bed!

Here's the list of boats attending and represented. Enjoy the pictures, more will be coming.

Boat	Name
Dream Catcher	Verling, Vern & Cheryl
Evanescence	Stover, Smokey & Laurie
Freedom Won	Melton, John & Nanci
Gypsy	Callahan, Jim & Matt & Rhys Cheung
Luna Sea	Knox, Dan, Bonnie Aiello, Melissa Gilbert & Myphi
Mai Pen Rai	Brown, Noble, John Hickey, Jim Perry, Dave Braheny
Miss Kryptonite	Kent, Steve & Fred Wright
Moon Pearl	Morris, Cindy & Rich Smith
Natural High	Bush, Dennis, Judy and Mathew & Tucker
Ophira	Salvo, Gary & Pat
Tacoma Blue	Waters, Richard & 2-4 crew
Tranquility	Greenwood, Ralph & Bud Moore
White Horses	Brittell, Twig
Woodbine	Damsen, Ron & Karen
36 Double Ds	Dale and Dena Snearly
By Car
Diana	Zevanov, Lou & Diane
Midnight Sun	Szasz, Peter & Louisa
Vanishing Animal	Van Mell, Rick & Sandy
Zenith	Fowler, Art & Betsy

The first batch of pictures is from Cheryl Lawson, the rest by Steve Kent, Ron Damsen, Dan Knox and Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

sailingoutthegate	6797-Pt.-Bonita	coming-home	Evanesance
Evanescence-HMB	Freedom-Won	I36outgate	Kryptonite
Luna-Sea-	Luna-Sea-HMB	Mai-Pen-Rai-Pt.-Bonita	Mai-Pen-Rai-SF
Miss-Kryptonite-HMB	Moon-Pearl	Natural-High	Natural-High-HMB
Ophira,Evanescense	sail6797	tacoma-blue	Tranquility
Tranquility-GG	Woodbine	WoodbineSF
Bonnie leaves the Gate	Comming up on ...	Mile Rock & Seal Rocks	lots of boats headed ...
south.	Along "The Avenues"	Luna Sea catching up ...	light going.
Is that Phileas Fogg?	Dan Knox checks the main	"Hang on," says Bonnie	Past Montera and ...
happy about it.	Bird scavenging	Under power and ...	keeping warm.
Here comes ...	Phileas Fogg.	Miss Kryptonite heads south	Evanescence looks good
company.	Pushing on	Karen waves ...	Ron drives.
Wrong way???!!	Dream Catcher	Karen drives	The outer harbor.
Phileas Fogg	The crowd filled ...	the moorings and ...	anchor space ...
even rafting up.	One way to travel ...	is to row.	Keep going!
Looking toward shore	Woodbine	Fred Wright	Quiet Sunday morning ...
all around ....	peacefull	Calm	Mirror
Still	Building next to HMBYC	view of outer harbor ...
HMBYC at far left	Big fleet	Shore	Back toward Half Moon Bay
Outer coast	Landing dock ...	Dock "Ferry"	Hand propelled
sturdy, but ...	sea lion wants to board!	Coming ashore	Dan Knox shows the way
Colors fly	Bar burgees	Outside crowd	Harbormaster - inner harbor
Fishing fleet ...	rules here.	Starfish	Big crowd.
Steve Kent & Fred Wright	Judy & Dennis Bush	Smokey & the gang	Ron & Karen
Chow line ...	is really good ...	Laurie agrees	Rick, Fred, Steve, Ron, Karen & Cindy
Good eats	John is happy	Art & Karen	Peter, Rick & Smokey
Bonnie	Smokey & Laurie - our heros!	Rich Smith
Peter Szasz	John & Art	Sandy, Louisa, Karen & Ron	Happy girls
Pelican flyby	Cheryl Lawson & Vern Verling	Lou & Diane Zevanov	Steve & Fred
Nanci & Bonnie	Dan Knox and family	Dennis, Gary, Pat & Ron	Canadian visitor
Nothing like a warm fire ...	to sit around.	Commodore Kay welcomes everyone	Mike introduces the band ...
good vibes lead to ...	dancing ...	can I do that?	You bet!
Hallelujah!

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