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Half Moon Bay Cruise 9/5/26
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Nice weather was in store for the 5 Islander 36s that sailed out under the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday, September 5th to kick off the Half Moon Bay Cruise. Gentle 10 - 12 knot winds from the northwest made for an easy ride south for the 24 miles along the coast, past Pt. San Pedro, then Pt. Montara before passing Sail Rock - the imposing backdrop for the famed Maverick's Surf Contest - before rounding green #1 and heading north into Pilar Point Harbor. As the fleet slid south, the breeze got lighter and went aft, time to turn on the engines to make better progress through the prevailing northwest swell and the conflicting southerly swell from hurricanes Karina and Marie far to the southwest.
Kapai and Luna Sea managed to get slips in the inner harbor on Dock E, right next to each other, Zenith got on on H Dock, while Green Flash, Windcatcher anchored out among the fleet spread before Half Moon Bay Yacht club. Until the last few years, the harbor had dozens of convenient moorings, but their deteriorating condition prompted the removal of all of them, so anchoring now the only option in the outer harbor. There was, however, a big fleet anchored, in part with Richmond YC boats that had also made this a destination cruise. Rick and Sandy (Vanishing Animal) sailed down by car to join the fleet, Nancy Ibison & Anthony Kleppe (Hurulu) arrived on a boat returning from MOnterey, and new members and new owner of Moon Dance, Donna Gaus and friend MiIchael Cutter arrived by car. that brings the total to eight Islanders represented. A great turnout for agreat cruise. Here's the Fleet list.
| Boat | Owner & Crew | How |
| Green Flash | Mike Patterson & Liz Munnelly | Boat |
| Hurulu | Nancy Ibison & Anthony Kleppe | Other Boat |
| Kapai | Rick & Cathy Egan, Bryce & Reanne | Boat |
| Luna Sea | Dan Knox Myphi Alloy, David Graff | Boat |
| Moon Dance | Donna Gaus & Michael Cutter | Car |
| Vanishing Animal | Rick & Sandy Van Mell | Car |
| WindCatcher | Dan Throop | Boat |
| Zenith | Anthony & Joanne Taylor | Boat |
It was just like "old times" as Rick & Sandy joined Rick, Cathy, Bryce and Reanna Egan aboard Luna Sea where skipper Dan Knox poured his signature champagne for everyone and, lest we not have some healthy protien, Myphi added a big Costco tub of edamame for everyone to munch on.
Then it was off to Half Moon Bay Yacht Club for a glass of wine and dinner. Unfortunately, the relatively late arrival had us at HMBYC a little after 1800 and by the time we got registered, tickets for wine and looking for dinner, it was 1830. Alas the food had been so good and the crowd so large that we had slim pickings. The chicken was down to the last few pieces, the corn was small ends, the tomato-cucumber-feta salad and bread were gone and only a little potato salad remained. The promised chocolate chip brownies were gone too. We made the best of what there was and the HMBYC team appologied as well.
But, it was wonderful to have eight I-36s represented.
Before we get to the pictures, here are the comments from each boat's perspective.
Kapai
Islander 36 Half Moon Bay Cruise
What a great weekend and turn out for this year's Islander 36 Fall cruise. I had the Admiral, Kathy, along with son Bryce and Reanne aboard Kapai. Luna Sea, Zenith, Windcatcher, and Green Flash formed a rendezvous off Fort Point on Saturday morning at 11 am and tacked out the Golden Gate under blue skies with a nice 10 kt NW breeze. Rick and Sandy Van Mell representing Vanishing Animal met the fleet traveling by land yacht later that day. All together we had 14 humans, two canines and 2 felines signed up! Two other canines appeared later that weekend. The Commodore could not have been more pleased with the number of participants. Thanks to all for making the effort!
RVM promised a light ebb at the start and as usual he was right on the money. Luna Sea led the way out the gate and the rest of the fleet followed with everyone within sight of each other all the way to Pillar point. The sunny conditions and warm light winds felt more like a cruise to Catalina than offshore in NorCal. Luna Sea even flew a spinnaker for a while. They also had a close encounter with a whale! We all had good wind on the beam until just past Montara when most folks cranked up their engines. Luna Sea, Kapai and Zenith picked up slips with WindCatcher and Green flash electing to anchor out.
Rick and Sandy joined the gang at the HMB yacht club which had quite a crowd and, in fact, ran out of food. HMB YC was very apologetic and offered refunds to those that pre ordered. I found out later that they had 150 pre purchased meals which overwhelmed the volunteer staff. A number of our gang went out to one of the many good restaurants within walking distance, so all was well.
We did have a very nice surprise running into Association members Nancy and Anthony of Hurulu and their great little dog Dante. Nancy was crew on a boat that was on a return leg from Monterey, and we enjoyed catching up with them. HMBYC had a nice live band and after a night cap and a little dancing most folks retired early.
Sunday morning found those of us with slips swatting a huge infestation of kelp flies. It was so bad that Dan Knox found a store open and purchased a can of bug spray which he kindly shared with Kapai. I think the flies developed a rapid immunity to the bug spray. The only way we could keep up with the flies was to completely close all the hatches. Every time we removed the crib boards to embark and disembark dozens of flies lurking just outside entered the cabin and became stowaways! Still beats the mosquitos in Florida IMHO.
Our Sunday brunch plan was to try out the famous Fish and Chips at Barbara's Fish Trap. Barbara's does not take reservations and has legendary lines. The Luna Sea crew arrived early enough to sit inside while Dan Throop, Anthony and Joanne Taylor and the Kapai crew braved the line and went for take-out. Mike and Liz on Green Flash took one look at the line de camped across the street to the HMB Brewery Pub.
A couple of days before the cruise I received an email from new Islander 36 owner Donna Gaus. Donna and her friend Michael Cutter are refitting Moon Dance and wondered if they could come over to HMB and meet some of our members. In particular, Donna and Michael were interested to see various modifications that owners have made to their boats. Of course, we were delighted to welcome some new owners. Donna Michael and Johnny, their dog joined our table at brunch followed up by a tour of Luna Sea, Kapai and Zenith (with dogs IO and Appolo). Always fun to look at other Islanders!
Most folks spent the afternoon relaxing, napping and swatting flies. Zenith departed a day early and returned to Berkeley. Dan Throop invited Bryce and Reanne to use one of his kayaks and they enjoyed a pleasant afternoon on the water.
Sunday dinner at the yacht club was very nice and had the bonus of being plentiful. Reanne's parents drove over from San Mateo and joined the festivities. We had more wine, lot's of dancing and created enough fly impediments to have a restful sleep ahead of our planned departure with Luna Sea at 8:30.
Our trip back was all motoring along with Luna Sea. We saw lot's of whales and even had some pea soup fog around the Mile Rock light. We had expected that the cooler weather and being offshore would cause the flies to disappear. It was not to be. About 20 flies made it all the way back to SF. These guys are survivors! We might need to refer to the weekend as the HMB cruise "lord of the flies edition." Flies notwithstanding, we had a wonderful time and thank the HMB YC for their generous hospitality. Commodore Egan.
Zenith
Good morning Islanders,
As some of you know, Joanne and I sailed back to the San Francisco Bay
on Sunday afternoon, what follows is a quick after action report so you
can prepare for your cruise back on Monday morning.
On our way out of Pillar Point Harbor we immediately ran into very
sporadic swell and waves. Wind and waves ran against ocean current so
every wave was steep. Swell was steep enough the leeward side of the
wave was smooth and untextured from the wind. We saw up to 2 knots of
Southerly current which definitely helped get us home faster. Once past
the buoys, when the phases of swell lined up, it was 10-12' trough to
crest. Waves were more on top of that... We saw ~15-22 knots WNW wind.
We initially made a long tack out to about 3 miles and then turned
north, we had to tack one more time to clear Pedro Point with a more
comfortable margin. Had we gone to 4 miles we would not have had to tack
again at all.
Have a nice sail home,
Anthony & Joanne
Zenith
WindCatcher
Hi all,
Well......
I think my sail back to the SF Bay on Monday was quite different from
Anthony & Joannes Sunday sail.
Light wind.
Foggy motoring.
For some contrast, here's what Saturday looked like:
Beautiful sailing.
Dan Throop
WindCatcher.
Luna Sea
Here's is a summary of our trip. I will publish a video, but I have to say it won't be very good as our batteries kept dying at just the wrong time. Lots of motoring but not any sailing on Monday. But there will be some good shots of other boats at the start.
The Luna Sea Racing YouTube site should have the video up.
And yes, we totally missed pictures of the "Whale encounter", where I thought we were going to die!
--Dan
HMB Fun! |
Kapai crew
Saturday departure. |
The Golden Gate
from outside |
Green Flash ... |
Tacks out. |
Myphi keeps warm |
Looking otu Gate .. |
Looking in at Kapai, |
Zenith |
Kapai |
Liz is happy ... |
so is MIke. |
Kapai & Green Flash |
Passing Kapai |
Bryce & Reanna
aboard Kapai |
Zenith with harbor
in background |
Luna Sea's
track to HMB |
Fishing fleet at
Pilar Pt. Harbor |
Commodore
and Sandy |
Dock E has ... |
fishing boats & ... |
Luna Sea & Kapai |
All secure |
Luna Sea too. |
Sandy and Dan |
Reanne & Bryce |
Rick & Kathy |
Dan pours
champagne |
crew is happy ... |
Sandy agrees ... |
Edamame for all. |
Pilar Pt. Pier ... |
Harbormaster Office. |
At HMB YC ... |
lots of boats ... |
anchored out. |
Checking out the ... |
wine choices ... |
mission accomplished! |
Here come ... |
John, Dan & Myphi. |
Slim pickings ... |
no more chicken. |
Liz & Mike, Dan T. |
Good sounds! |
Coming ashore on
ferry raft |
Fading sun ... |
Kick-back time ... |
light wind ... |
Old radar. |
Dan near
Barbara's Fish Trap |
Saturday evening. |
Sunday: Green Flash
and WindCatcher |
Mike, Dan, Donna
Michael, Kathy & Rick |
Donna & Ichael,BR>tour Zenith |
Zenith's IO & Appolo
get attention |
At Barbara's Fish Trap
Renaae & Bryce
Joanna & Anthony,
Rick, Kathy, Dan |
Dan's kayaks are
a hit. |
Kapai crew & Renaae's parents. |
Masts in
inner harbor |
Liz, Mike, Kathy
HMB Sunday ... |
wirh Dan |
Green Flash ... |
Sunday evening. |
Sunday night
Zenith at GG Br |
Monday Morning |
Foggy ride ... |
for Mike. |
Sunshie at the Gate. |
Luna Sea return Track. |