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View Full Version : Memorial Day Weekend Shakedown



AlanH
05-16-2008, 02:14 PM
I was going to do the Spinnaker Cup to Monterey, but I've decided to go mess around in the Gulf of the Farallones instead.

Friday night I plan to sail up to San Francisco

Saturday I plan to leave SF around 9:00 AM or so and will bash up to Drakes Bay.

Sunday is downwind to Half Moon Bay, trying out the "thong" on my 1.5 ounce spinnaker and seeing how the autopilots do with the chute up, but thonged down. I figure that's a 50+ mile spinnaker run, that should be a pretty good test and I'll get into Half Moon Bay well before dark if I get a reasonably early start from Drakes Bay.

Monday is back to the Gate, to windward from Half Moon Bay. I plan to deploy the emergency rudder and test it for 10-12 miles during this leg of the trip.

If anybody else wants to buddy-boat that weekend, drop me a line.

AlanH
05-22-2008, 11:32 AM
NWS report as of Thrusday AM...

...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON...
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ROUGH BAR REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH
LATE TONIGHT...

.TODAY...NW WINDS 30 TO 40 KT. COMBINED SEAS 13 TO 18 FT DOMINANT
PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
.TONIGHT...NW WINDS 30 TO 40 KT. COMBINED SEAS 13 TO 18 FT
DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.
.FRI...NW WINDS 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 8 FT.
NW SWELL 11 TO 14 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
.FRI NIGHT...NW WINDS 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 7 FT.
NW SWELL 10 TO 12 FT.
.SAT...S WINDS 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
NW SWELL 8 TO 10 FT AND S 2 FT.
.SUN...SE WINDS 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING W 5 TO 10 KT.
WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 4 TO 6 FT AND S 2 FT.
.MEMORIAL DAY...W WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT.
NW SWELL 2 TO 4 FT.

********

since the whole point of this exercise is to get a 50-mile spinnaker run to test the emergency rudder, the spinnaker thong/autopilot combination...

..and since it's pretty obvious that Sunday is going to be a hodgepodge of wind, and die in the afternoon, I think I'm going to just work on the boat this weekend. I'll get out for a few hours in the afternoon on Monday and test the emergency rudder in the Bay.