Ahoy! Here is a brief recap of the fun:
SSS Winter Cruise Out - 1/20/18
Alan and his boat the Wildcat of Loch Awe were the mastermind behind the cruise out and the lead boat for the "race" for the Singlehanded Sailing Society's winter cruise out. Thank you Alan for organizing such a fun event! The idea was to gather at the north east corner of Treasure Island and then sail down to Brisbane marina for a friendly "race" down the bay and overnighter. There were 3 boats that were there at the start, Rob on LaDonna Jean a custom Cascade 36, Westsail 32 Tortuga and Wildcat of Loch Awe an S2 7.9, which was the "rabbit" boat and commenced the start.
We drifted around about 30 min waiting to see if anyone else was going to participate but it was only the 3 boats and at 1100 decided to go. Because of the really light air, the call was made to not round Alcatraz or Blossom Rock and just continue with the flood drifting down the east side of Treasure Island. When the wind completely died at the Bay Bridge, we all motored just past the Alameda shipping channel to catch the wind line there and recommence the "start". It was a light breeze with mostly 5-7 knots all the way down until right after the crane at Hunters Point. Then it got giddy up with a nice 15 knots of breeze to the "finish" at the entrance channel marker for Brisbane Marina.
The other folks with boats that showed up were Jackie on Dura Matter a Cal-27, John on Owl, a Pacific Seacraft 37 and Brian on the Olson 34 Red Sky. Brian sailed out to about Hunters point and met the "racers" and sailed back to the marina with us. Some of the other SSS racers that showed up at the docks were Bob from Ragtime, Rob from Tiger Beetle, Kristen (not sure of her boat name) and Dave from Domino. (sorry if I inadvertently left anyone out!)
The Sierra Point Yacht Club was hosting a chili cook off and welcomed us to their club for the evening. Jackie from Dura Matter entered her chili and was one of the winning chefs! A great way to spend the weekend and another reason to be thankful for year round west coast sailing!
Here are some pixs. For those that took any more pix, feel free to add them to this album too!
https://cluster.co/i/72YKFXSZ