Tag: Sailing

America’s Cup World Series.

AC45 boats in San Francisco
AC45’s moored off of Marina Green.

When I arrived in San Francisco on Monday I saw signs welcoming the America’s Cup World Series races that were taking place here… this week!  Unfortunately my hotel and meetings were across the bay in Emeryville, so I had no chance of getting a glimpse of the heats and qualifying races that started every day at 2pm and went until about 4pm.  I would have LOVED to see them race, but was going to have to settle for getting a picture of the boats.

We did drive over to the city on Wednesday night, but didn’t make it to the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the home marina of the America’s Cup holder Oracle Racing, where the boats were moored.

So today I had a tiny window of time between meetings and the drive to the airport.  I was determined to make it to the waterfront.  So I braved morning traffic and made it to Marina Green and was able to walk up and down the boardwalk about 50 yards from all the boats.

The shot above is a bit into the sun, but it shows all the boats moored in San Francisco Bay.  Alcatraz is in the background.  The boats above are the AC45 (45′ class) boats.   The mainsails are “wing sails”  and they are catamarans.  These World Series races are practice for the America’s Cup Finals racing next summer with even bigger boats.  In February they will introduce the 72′ (AC72) catamarans that will be raced in the Challenger races of the America’s Cup.  If you think these boats are fast, just wait until next year.  The final America’s Cup will be in September 2013 in San Francisco.   If you want to see them in action, NBC will be carrying this Sunday’s final races live on national TV @ 11:30 AM Pacific.  And, you can follow the standings of this week’s races here.

The shot below is a closer picture of the Oracle Racing boats.

Oracle Racing #4 and #5 AC45 boats.

And, a trip to San Francisco would not be complete without the obligatory shot of the Golden Gate Bridge: 🙂

Golden Gate Bridge.

Good morning.

Room with a view.

We headed to the lake yesterday around noon.  We have a long list of chores and minor repairs to take care of on the boat, and we schlepped a bunch of tools and supplies out to take care of some of them.  Rain was in the forecast, so not a lot of people were out and about.

About 5 o’clock we called it a day and headed out of the slip to anchor out overnight in Arkansas Bend cove.  Lori, Dave and Jake joined us on Camelot.  We had a very pleasant night but boy did we get rained on.  We hunkered down below on one of the boats and played cards until it let up.  After the rains blew through it was quite nice.  Good breezes through the boat kept us cool.

This morning when I went up into the cockpit this was the view that greeted me.   A beautiful Lake Travis sunrise.   A good morning, indeed.

 

Perseids raft-up.

1st raftup with Nirvana in the books.

It’s Sunday night, and the end of another great weekend.  Yesterday my cousin Devitt and Aunt Joanne came over for a breakfast visit with Monte, Julie and I.  Monte made french omelettes, Julia Child style.  And we tried our hand at a potato recipe that we got from Devitt:

Browned Breakfast Potatoes

Large cast iron skillet
8 oz bacon, cut into 1-2″ pieces
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2″ cubes
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt & pepper

Cook bacon, onions and garlic in large cast iron skillet until browned.  Discard bacon fat from pan.  Add potatoes, salt & pepper.  Cook another 10 minutes or so over medium heat on the stovetop.  Then place skillet, uncovered, in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Lower temperature to 350 and cook for another 10 minutes.
Serve and savor!

Afterwards, Julie headed home to study up for the last final exam of Summer session (good luck!), and we packed for the lake.

We planned to raft-up with friends overnight to watch the Perseids meteor shower.  We made it to the cove by about 5pm and set our first anchor on the new boat.  It was a good set.  We were soon joined by Joe on Prelude, Rory & Greg on Sapphire, Nick, Laurene & Morgan on Kalliopi, and Kurt & Kevin on Dancer.  Everyone was tied up by the time the golden hour was upon us.  The shot above is of the 5 boats, stern to the sunset.  Nirvana is in the middle.

After dinner and stories from the day, everyone grabbed a cushion and laid on the bow of their boats to watch for meteors.  It wasn’t a knock-out show, but we did get to see some good ones.   The night was peppered with random shouts of “There’s one!” every 10 or 15 minutes.

This morning everyone floated for a while and then people started peeling off at about noon.  I’m pleased to report that we got the anchor up with little problem.  I am loving the electric windlass to bring up the chain and anchor!

Monte and I sailed ALL afternoon.  The breezes started out sluggish but filled in to some great wind that we haven’t seen in a long time on the lake.   At about 3:30 we dropped sail and picked up Devitt at Arky cove to take him out for a sail.   He did great, taking the helm as Monte and I worked the lines.  We dropped him off back at the park around 5:30 and headed back to the marina.

By the time we got home several hours later we were pleasantly exhausted.

I can’t wait to get out there again.   Friday soon come!

The old and the new.

We’re gonna do it.

The marine survey was scheduled for today.  I took the day off work so that I could be there with Monte for it.  The marine surveyor was fantastic.  He spent about 10 hours on the boat with us, inspecting virtually everything on the boat while explaining how everything worked as he went along.  He didn’t find much wrong, and no surprises.  So, pending getting the final report from him, I think we will be upgrading from our beloved, homebuilt wooden catboat that we’ve been playing on for the last 8 years, to a big-kid, plastic boat that we will be enjoying for the next 15 or so years.  🙂

Moving on up?

Cupholder II?

We went to the lake today early, to finalize an offer we’ve made on a new boat.  It’s not a done deal – we still have to take it out for a sea trial and have a marine surveyor inspect it, but if there are not problems found, this may be our new ride in a couple weeks.

We have infinitely enjoyed sailing and playing aboard our unique, homebuilt wooden catboat for eight years.  We treasure the friends we have made at the marina in those 8 years, too.   We are not ones to make big decisions lightly.  But we recently decided to make a move up to a bigger boat, and this is the one that presented itself.    If it doesn’t work out, no biggie, we’ll wait for the next one that feels right.  If it does work out, I look forward to another 10-15 years of fun aboard this boat on our beautiful lake with our sailing friends.

I’ll keep you posted!

Happy National Marina Day!

B-dock @ 642.20′

Today is National Marina Day.  Coincidentally, we were headed to the lake anyway because our good friends Teri and Jim were in town for the weekend.  What a great day.  We had lunch at Shades, then went for a sail on Cupholder.  Then floated for the rest of the afternoon with friends off of B-Dock.  Dinner at Flore’s.  Then home before we turned into pumpkins.

It was great to see Teri & Jim.  We miss them and Island Time.  But….once a b-docker, always a b-docker!   We’re looking forward to seeing them again, whether by land or by sea.

Weekend raft-up.

Calling all riff-raff.

We headed to the lake yesterday to raft-up overnight in Arkansas Bend cove with Marty & Sue, and Joe.  It was really pleasant out.  Overcast yesterday, but nice breezes.  This is a shot from yesterday of the windsocks on Joe’s backstay on Prelude.  It got into the 60’s last night.  Refreshingly chilly.  It will be hot again soon enough.

We made quite the fleet.  2 sloops, 1 catboat, 2 kayaks, a rubber dinghy and a stand-up paddle board.

Today, we kayaked and sup-ed around the cove, and then headed back early in the afternoon to prepare for Monday.  Today was much sunnier, blue skies with big clouds, and a nice breeze for the sail home.

I ♥ my kayak.

First raft-up of the year.

Raft-up!

It’s that time of the year.  This weekend was the first raft-up of 2012.  And it was a doozie!  We had 14 boats, 31 people and 2 dogs.  I don’t have a picture of all the boats, but I took this one of 12 of them as we were coming in to tie up, and Joe arrived later.

It took quite a while to walk from one end to the other.   Some of the boats’ lifelines couldn’t open, so it was a gymnastic feat crossing from boat to boat …with one hand free 🙂

Let me see if I can do roll call….left to right, we had Mark & Sarah on Serenade, Gray & Debbie on the blue hulled First, Bartlett’s parents’ Catalina, John & Claudia & 2 others on the brand new Solace, Tasha & Robert and Tony & Michelle (visiting for the weekend!) on Voodoo, Danny & Casey on the Beneteau 31, Rory & Greg on Sapphire, Camden & Terry on MoonRock, Kurt, Wally & Kevin on Dancer, John & Deanna on Caribbean Run, Mike on Allegro, Lori & Dave on Camelot, Monte & me on Cupholder, and last but not least, Joe on Prelude.  Whew!

As much fun as these are, we did have a rare, bad experience on our way to the cove.  Some <expletive> motorhead nearly crashed into us as we were under sail.  Coming within about 5 feet of us, and going about 30 miles an hour.  As they passed, they turned their boat, pushing up a wall of water that dumped into our cockpit, drenching both of us, and pouring water into the cabin, v-berth and lockers below.

Monte immediately got on the cell phone and called LCRA dispatch, gave them a description of the boat and their heading and … they pulled them over.   Goobers.   It could have been very bad.  I guess it’s good that we only got wet.

Anyway, we didn’t let that spoil our evening.

In true B-dock fashion, the party went on into the wee hours.  A good time was had by all.

It’s truly wonderful to have this bunch of people to play with.  Everyone really enjoys being out on the lake together.  We are very lucky.

Back to reality.

Fantastic journey.

I have been off-line for 10 glorious days – sailing through the British Virgin Islands.  We just got home, and I have hundreds of photos to dig through.  In the mean time, I’m posting a map showing each leg of our trip.

We headed to Tortola a week and a half ago:  12 sailors, 3 sailboats, 10 nights, 9 days and a ton of good times….  Our boat was a 51′ sloop called No Horizon.   We shared it with Marty & Sue, and Tommy & Bobbie.   Lori, Dave & Jake were on Sea Mist, and Wally, Kurt & Rod were on Pinta.   The map above shows the route we took on No Horizon.  Pinta and Sea Mist joined us for many of the legs, but everyone took their own route through the islands.

While I slept well on the boat every night, it’s going to be nice to sleep on my bed tonight and shower for as long as I want to!   If I make it through my first day back at work tomorrow, I will pick several photos to post.  More later…

…I go to come back!

Welcome to the Dam tour. I am your Dam guide.

Longhorn sailors.

Joe suggested a cruise down the lake to see the Dam.  It’s rare to see the basin when the lake is so low – at 627.85′ today.   It’s really not a basin anymore.  Sometimes Islands are all the way out of the water, and connected to land, so, islands no more.   The original river channel winds all the way around them.  Windy Point looks more like Windy Acres.  And many of the marinas have scooted out to what would normally be the middle of the lake, but is now the edge of the shore.

Monte and I joined Ken and Joe on Prelude for a sail.   It was a beautiful day.   We had nice breezes on the way down.    The closest mile marker to our marina is mile marker 14, and the Mansfield Dam is at, well, mile marker 0.  So, round trip was close to about 30 miles.

As we passed the Austin Yacht Club we got to see several of their regattas underway.  The shot above is of some of the University of Texas Sailing Team’s Flying Juniors fleet.   The 2012 Nationals will be in Austin.  So they’re working hard to get ready.  Good luck Longhorns!

Here’s a sight we don’t see very often…

MM 1.

And, finally, we snugged up as close as we could to Mansfield Dam.  They have a string of bouys in front to keep people from getting too close – which foiled my plan to get a shot of myself touching the dam.

Upstream side of Mansfield Dam.

Construction of the Mansfield Dam (originally called Marshall Ford Dam) began in 1937 and was completed in 1941.   Mansfield Dam and Lake Travis are the only structures in the Highland Lakes chain specifically designed to contain floodwaters in the lower Colorado River basin. The lake can store as much as 260 billion gallons of water.   Some other factoids from the Lower Colorado River Authority website:

Elevation when full: 681 feet above mean sea level (msl)
Volume when full: 1,135,000 acre-feet
Historic high: 710.4 feet above msl on Dec. 25, 1991
Historic low: 614.2 feet above msl on Aug. 14, 1951
Normal operating range: at or below 681 feet above msl
Spillway elevation: 714 feet above msl
Top of dam: 750 feet above msl

The floodgates are at the bottom of the dam and are used to generate electricity and for flood control.  The spillway openings are on the right end of the dam in the picture above.   Water will start to spill over them at 714′, but it’s never happened… yet.  The highest I have seen the lake was 701.5′, which was over the July 4th weekend of 2007.  Hard to believe there was ever that much water in the lake.

We had a really lovely sail.  A nice Sunday adventure.

I shake my tiny fist at this drought!

Beer Can Regatta

To the victor goes the spoils.

Today we held the first Beer Can Regatta of the year, and had a great turnout – Spike, Voodoo, Dancer, Prelude, Camelot and Caribbean Hug. Monte and I each jumped on one of the Catalina 30’s. Robert finished first and took home a bottle of Buckeye Vodka. So smoooooth!  After the race a party ensued.  More on that later.

Sep 26, 2010

What a difference a day makes

The temperatures were cooler today, and the wind showed up.  We spent the afternoon sailing up and down the lake.   We made a quick stop to pick up Joe and Wally at the dock.  Kurt was dragging several kids behind his boat and Marty & Sue showed up to play as well.

This is a shot of Caribbean Hug getting ready to wash the decks.

It’s fun to be on the lake on a day like today, but it’s even better with friends.

Jun 13, 2010

Floating fun

Day 3 – This morning the plan is to head downriver to Cow Creek at mile marker 32.    Kurt will head out today and join the raftup there.

I have to work tomorrow, so I am catching a ride with Tony and Michelle back to the marina.  Monte will come back with everyone else tomorrow night.

This is a shot from this AM.   The kayaks got a lot of use this trip.   Monte and Alex sailed around the cove in Porter Belle.

The winds are still blowing.   It will be another long day on Caribbean Run back to the marina.   But for now, it’s nice to enjoy the water.

Jun 12, 2010

Cast of characters

Day 2 of the trip.  Another windy, sunny day on the lake.   Today the plan is to pile on 2 boats and head even farther up river for a daysail.   The part of the river at Mile marker 55 is called the Narrows, and is about as far as a sailboat should venture up the lake.   We’ll anchor there, swim a bit, eat lunch and head back to the raftup at mile marker 47 for a second night.

This AM Mark and Pam drove to the park to spend the day with us.  They brought 100+ pounds of ice with them to replenish the coolers, which was AWESOME!

7 boats, 5 kayaks, a rubber dinghy and a sailing dinghy.

This is a shot of the boats rafted up outside Krause springs.

From left to right:   Pat &  Dave on Va Bene, Robert & Tasha on their latest Beneteau 34, Bay on Red Sky, Tony & Michelle on Caribbean Run, Joe & Alex on Prelude, Marty, Sue & Koko on Caribbean Hug, and Monte & me on Cupholder.  The sailing dinghy on the far right is our homebuilt Porter Belle.