First Cruise of T.O.

TRIMMING OUT and I took our first cruise a few weeks ago.  I had moved the boat from the Berkeley Marina where I was berthed in a downwind slip that proved disastrous on my first sail.  Single handing a 35' full-keel sloop with a center cockpit was pretty straightforward I thought.  But moving bow in to a slip that was both down wind and down tide proved to be beyond my somewhat inexpert capability.  With the help of some of the locals I managed to tie up at the end of the dock as shown here after the wind died down.

While this shot looks placid and oh so tranquil, an hour or so earlier it was the scene of mayhem as I managed to ding a stern or two.  The next day I was able to nose into the slip for the last time, and since have moved to the Alameda Marina.

The first cruise was from the Alameda Marina to Sausalito.  I managed to sail up in fairly calm winds...a distance of only about 5 miles past Treasure Island, Alcatraz and Angel Island.  Look at Google Earth for those spots and you can see the route.  I brought up in about 2 fathoms, and set the anchor bridle.

Then, for the next two days I just stayed aboard taking stock of my surroundings (afloat and ashore) and my life.  The tide would swing me 180 degrees so I was either facing the head of the bay or back towards San Francisco.  I fired up my Dickinson solid fuel stove to take the chill off, and tried out my Magma gas grill for a steak.  Oatmeal and coffee for breakfast along with some Trader Joe's coffee cake, sandwiches for lunch, and something not much more complicated for dinner.  Wine and cheese when the sun was going down.

Finally I launched the dinghy (a Sumner 8...fiberglass built in New York in the 80's and kept on the bow), and rowed ashore to buy some fuses for the cigarette lighter inverter that keeps the cell phone and wifi hotspot charged.  I also repaired the AutoHelm windvane and tested it on the way back to Alameda.  We were on a reach for about 45 minutes without touching the wheel.  My first windvane experience.  I love it.

Depature was a chore.  The worst part was getting the dinghy aboard.  I used the main halyard and an improvised bridle that needs improvement.  While I didn't end up overboard I achieved the next best thing...half of me over the gunwale and half hooked onto the the lifeline.  This was the only time in my five days aboard where help was actually offered by a neighboring boater.  I managed to restore myself to T.O. but not without loss of dignity.

Actually sailed out of the anchorage.  Back to the north of Angel Island then downwind past the light on Treasure Island (light keepers quarters shown) and to the slip.  On the way I was passed by the Red Bull America's Cup team.

And past the cargo docks as seen through the dodger windows.

That's it for first cruise.  Nothing exciting, but really a great step forward.  Upcoming will be rigging an innerstay, reeving spinnaker and staysail halyards, and setting up running backstays.

No more name change

My first boat was a Pearson Triton.  28' overall, a Carl Alberg design, and just a wonderful first boat.  I had been really deliberating about a name, and had come up with all sorts of things.  Finally I settled on FIDELIO,  Beethoven's only opera that supposedly took 11 years to complete,   I liked the concept of fidelity, and I figured it would take me 11 years to pay for the boat.  It all seemed to work.

But I got married, changed jobs, and moved from Dade County, Florida, up to Broward County.  Instead of 30 minutes from condo to being under sail on Biscayne Bay, it was now an hour and a half schlep.  Interest waned, dockage increased, and she was put up for sale...reluctantly.

Along came hurricane Andrew and as mentioned in a previous post, FIDELIO was almost totaled and the insurance money plus the funds from the sale of the hull got invested. Almost 20 years later I bought the Westsail 32, GEMINI.  And...ignoring the fate of FIDELIO and all sailors' warnings, I changed the name.
GEMINI became the DELTA BELLE.  I loved the name, and it all fit.  I'm from the Mississippi Delta, and I found the boat in New Orleans.  Fate, right?  Wrong.

Hurricane Isaac blew the water of Lake Pontchartrain up the bayou where DELTA BELLE was docked.  She was raised to the limit of her dock lines and still the water rose.  It seems now that the previous owner had plumbed the galley sink with PVC and plumbers putty. Water rising through the galley sink drain, the putty gave way and boat flooded.

Long story longer, I bought the boat mentioned in the previous post, TRIMMING OUT.  TRIMMING OUT she will remain.  She's a 1966 Chris Craft Sail Yacht.  Sparkman and Stephens designed,  35' on deck, but with the added bowsprit and Auto Helm steering vane she's about 39'9".  Westerbeke diesel, new sails and standing rigging, a hard dodger, and lots of cobbled together electrics that will have to be sorted out over time.  For now she's functional.  Shore power works, engine has only 1500 hours, lots of projects to do, but I have the rest of my active life to do them.  I'm sitting aboard now with feet up on the opposite berth in the fore cabin. ( Being mid-cockpit I have to get used to fore and aft cabins).  

Sailing on San Francisco Bay will be different from the Gulf Coast, but I'm only 6 hours from home, have plenty of time, and am in the middle of a 12 day sojourn this trip.  I'll head out in the morning for Richardson Bay off Sausolito, and see how living on the hook goes.

I'm encouraged by Dani, Tate and James....all Westail owners whose experiences shared in their blogs help me realize that given some careful study along with a tremendous work ethic, nothing is impossible.  It helps that they're all fellow southerners.

So that's it for this time.  I'll try to include pictures in the future, and the blog title has to remain...no name changes ever again.  Two hurricanes and two losses can't be coincidental.