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Thread: Cruise Out 2020

  1. #51
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    Aug 2010
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    Berkeley
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    Wow! great photos of high and low....seems tricky for the big boats, need a low tide to get under the bridge but a high tide not to get stuck in the mud! Ah well, all boats are compromises right?

  2. #52
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    May 2009
    Location
    San Francisco
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    Just wait to low tide to go under the bridge... and don't go north of Napa Valley YC.

  3. #53
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    San Francisco
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    113

    Default Wine tasting?

    Depending on the number of boats and people… and how folks feel about isolation… and where people decide to spend the night…
    We would host a gathering (wine tasting?) at our Napa house (530pmish after getting back from seeing Whittal)… guessing we would have enough room to give people enough “air space” if no more than 10 to 12 or so people.

    And our two toilets would be “open for business”. 😊

    Any guess how many people might show up at Charlie’s/Napa?

    We could run a bit of a shuttle between Charlie’s and our house (or folks walk from NVYC).

    And maybe this doesn’t work… but putting it out there!

  4. #54
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Berkeley
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    112

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    Well we are pulling the plug on this journey for sv Circe this year. Bummed not to hang with all of you. We thought we could pull it together but it is just a bit too much and last minute. Have a great time everyone and we will see you next time.

  5. #55
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    3,688

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    Bummer Tony - I was planning to follow Circe up the river!

    Wine tasting sounds nice - thanks for the offer Jim. I'll wear a mask and bring a munchie. I guess we need an address or walking directions from Charlie's place (edit: I re-read the posts and it sounds like that may not work. We'll wait and see what develops.)

    I'm bringing a dinghy (row only) in case I need to anchor off the dock a ways, or other folks do. The lower of the low tides is at 1:10 AM Sat night/Sun morning and only .13' above MLLW, so it would be good to know the depth off Charlie's dock.

    I pulled a tape up Surprise!'s mast and added everything up - her air draft is 55' so I could fit under the fixed bridge (it's 60'). But I may chicken out on going on up into Napa.
    .
    Last edited by BobJ; 11-07-2020 at 08:31 AM.

  6. #56
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    Aug 2010
    Location
    Berkeley
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    How was the journey? Any issues with the winds last night? We spent the weekend in our slip catching up on some projects but clocked 35knts at 3am!

  7. #57
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    3,485

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    Cruise-Out 2020 part one of two
    Yes, of course it was fun. It's always fun.

    We reconnoitered between Southampton Shoal and the entrance to Potrero Reach at high noon. Four boats showed up: Nathalie and two “non sailors” aboard Envolee, Romain and Frederic aboard Rom’s new Archibauld 30 Alchimiste, Bob on Surprise! and Dura Mater with me aboard.

    There was a nice little breeze right from the get go, and it carried us all across San Pablo Bay. Surprise! and Dura Mater sailed wing on wing, Alchimiste was trying all sorts of sail combinations back there. Envolee just lollygagged until she lost patience with our togetherness and took off.

    We clumped together at the Mare Island Causeway Bridge so the operator only had to open once, then we followed Surprise! up the Napa. Bob said he had three different chart plotters so we let him be the leader and besides, it was getting cold and dark so we all went below to get warm clothes on. Besides, if Surprise! led the way we all avoided the responsibility of keeping to the channel.

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    As we motor sailed below the Brazos Bridge

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    we saw that Jacqueline the boat was already tied up at Charlie’s dock, which was lit up like a Christmas tree with lights! Mike Cunningham stood beside Charlie and the two of them helped us raft up: Five sailboats rafted up along Charlie’s 36’ dock.

    It was really cold Saturday night, but of course we practiced safe distancing anyway, so Nathalie and her two friends stayed aboard Envolee and Bob stayed aboard Surprise!.

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    Then Charlie got hungry for peanuts, after a couple of glasses of really good red wine Rom and Frederic came aboard, Mike stepped aboard from Jacqueline because he wanted some of Bob’s little cheese squares, and I had to leave Dura Mater in order to distribute the prizes. Did we all wear masks? Well, of course we did. To have done otherwise would just have been wrong.

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    This was the sixth year of the Cruise-Out and the prizes were the same as always, but the participants always change so it doesn’t seem to ever matter.

    Nathalie won the friends and family award, Mike travelled the furthest, so he won that award, Charlie won the Best-Ever host award, Bob won for the oldest SSS shirt and Rom won as the youngest crew even though he was the captain. The prizes for the Cruise-Out are very forgiving.
    Turns out, Rom learned how to race from Max Crittenden, and he’ll try to get Max to come up from southern California if the SSS ever sponsors another race.

    Sunday morning we woke up to find a Mr Coffee maker on the dock full of … you guessed it – coffee!!! After a bit of breakfast aboard our boats Alchimiste and Envolee prepared to leave. After discussion with Mr Zavarin, the ZYC namesake, Nathalie promises to advise regarding her annual un-sponsored and irresponsible singlehanded tour of the Lightship.

    Envolee and Alchimiste were off. Here is Nathalie’s description of Envolee’s return to South Beach Harbor from the Napa River:

    Nathalie Criou
    Sun, Nov 8, 8:41 PM (2 days ago)
    to me, gilles

    Gilles and Claire loved the cruise back today.

    We had anywhere between 2 and 29 knots on the way back, from 29 awa to super downwind and anything in-between, sun, rain, hail, thunder and ultimate becalmed by treasure island, having to motor home.

    The heeling, the banging on waves, the freezing your wet butt on deck was lovely. So much so that Claire found the bunk actually more comfortable and spent the trip below.

    Gilles enjoyed playing with the VHF talking with Romain and Frederic in French.

    Now gilles had a cut on a finger from not sure which maneuver and Claire cannot bend her back after spending too much time on the deck.

    But ultimately the meringues saved the day.

    Thank you for organizing!

    The frenchies
    Last edited by Philpott; 11-10-2020 at 07:26 PM.

  8. #58
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    Jan 2010
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    Cruise-Out 2020 Part two of two

    Then it was Mike’s turn to leave for home in Discovery Bay.

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    Mike said he planned to stop off in his favorite anchorages along the way, and he also promised to send me the coordinates. But he hasn’t yet. People are protective of their favorite places in the Delta.

    Monday morning Charlie’s wife, Barbara, invited me to join her and her friend Penny for their morning walk. So we left Charlie and Bob sitting in Surprise!’s cockpit talking boats and we walked for two hours across the levees behind their home. Very beautiful. White pelicans and swans and tons of cormarants drying their wings on a log in the middle of the watershed behind their home. When we returned from the walk Bob and Charlie were still sitting in Surprise!’s cockpit talking boats.

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    Dura Mater and I had planned to continue upriver to downtown Napa and Bob wanted to do the trip, too, but Charlie wasn’t sure Surprise! would fit under the bridge between his dock and downtown, and I was pretty sure her draft was too deep to make it all the way without dragging in the mud. Bob didn’t want to get dismasted and he didn’t want to drag in the mud, but he was happy for Dura Mater to drag in some mud, so Bob came aboard DM and we headed upriver.

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    We dragged through some mud there at the entrance to the downtown dock, but that’s okay because we don’t mind mud and besides, we have BoatUS. We were what I call “prepared”.

    Napa is a nice town and it has a great pastry shop. But it was getting late in the afternoon, so we stepped aboard again after a bit, and headed back to Charlie’s dock. What was this? A north wind meant that it was behind us. What an opportunity! So we raised DM’s spinnaker without a pole and zig zagged all the way back downriver to Charlie’s as the sun set.

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    My understanding is that Bob J has raised a spinnaker during some windy conditions in his day, but he didn’t seem to enjoy himself Monday night on the Napa River. I don’t know why. He said it was because we were “oscillating”. Fooey. I don’t remember it that way at all. Besides, as I pointed out, if we crashed port or starboard, we would only end up in a mudbank, not a seawall or a dock. Right?

    The sun set red to starboard back of the eucalyptus trees and then it was time to pull down the spinnaker anyway. We ended up back at Charlie’s dock in the deepest dark of the Napa countryside. And Surprise! was still there.

    It was still real cold Monday night. How cold? Down sleeping bag, long underwear and wool hat sleeping conditions. And upon our return to the San Pablo Bay there were white caps in Mare Island Strait and significant wind. But when we exited below the Carquinez Bridge it was into flat water and we rode the ebb effortlessly all the way back to the RYC harbor.

  9. #59
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Berkeley
    Posts
    112

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    yay!!!

  10. #60
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    Sep 2007
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    Great photos and writing! It was all quite fun.

    The spinnaker... Jackie likes to fly DM's spinnaker, anywhere, anytime. So as soon as she realized the wind was aft of the beam, up it went. But without a pole or offsetting main to stabilize it, DM's over-sized masthead kite oscillated in the gusts. A narrow, winding channel, variable wind all afternoon, my own memories of epic round-downs... then she pointed out that if we crashed port or starboard, we would only end up in a mudbank, not a seawall or a dock. Well, THAT was reassuring!

    But what a great weekend. Thanks to Jackie for setting this up, to Charlie Jeremias for being an enthusiastic host and to all the other folks who came.
    .
    Last edited by BobJ; 11-10-2020 at 07:31 PM.

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