Clipper Cove, Nov 6-7, 1993
From: William Courington (billc@netcom.com) Subject: CyberCruise: One Report Newsgroups: rec.boats Date: 1993-11-07 16:01:42 PST This weekend's wrecked.boats Cybercruise raftup in Clipper Cove (San Francisco Bay) is history. So is the outcome of the crucial voice vote on splitting the newsgroup. I will let Fishmeal report the result; for now I can only say that it was terribly close and a dramatic mandate. Most importantly, it was short. Some wreck.boaters raft up to see what the people at the other ends of the network look like. Not Cybercruisers. Cellular modems and the new alt.cybercruise.hamsters.ductape newsgroup permitted nearly all communication to originate below the decks of the sailing workstations. (Just as well, given the abysmal weather--nobody could recall a heavier dew.) Paper bags and ski masks sufficed for maintaining the privacy of userids at the communal dinner. Although the faces couldn't be identified, their boats could. From north to south we had a Venture17, Olson30, Merit25, San Juan28, Catalina27, and Olson911S. Daytrippers who didn't stay the night included an Ericson27, Cal20, and Dash34(?). The average displacement-length ratio was well under 200; showers, microwaves and VCRS were not in abundance. The real cruising boats must have been on their way to Mexico. BILL From: Paul Kamen (fishmeal@netcom.com) Subject: Re: CyberCruise: One Report Newsgroups: rec.boats Date: 1993-11-08 01:48:52 PST Yes, the November CyberCruise is history. And the voice vote: Split the newsgroup: 0 Don't split the newsgroup: 1 We discussed this for about 15 seconds and went on to more important issues, like frisbee collections (did you know that Dudley's wife was U.S. Women's Frisbee Champ of 1979?) The contingent representing The WELL consisted of lizewen@well.ca.sf.us with her San Juan 28 (and she serves an extremely yummy pot of spaghetti), hchan@well.ca.sf.us with his Cal 20 for a day visit, and jimkent@well.sf.ca.us with his Olson 911s. Rec.boaters represented were: billc@netcom.com, Olson 30 (with an inboard, selft-tacking jib, and almost self-furling main!), dudley.gamman@corp.sun.com (Catalina 27), deering@pixar.com (Macgregor 21, out for his first overnight trip), haggart@ssrl.01.slac.stanford.edu (Ericson 27, but didn't stay for the night), and a "Dash 34," very interesting Laurie Davidson design, I think a friend of lizewen's who didn't stay for the night either. My Merit 25 was the only representive of CSC, BYC, or the Merit 25 fleet. They all decided to stay at BYC for the $16 frozen lobster tail dinner. A poor choice, by all accounts! T.I. Cove was as advertised. Calm, spacious, quiet enough, and convenient. We didn't stay around long enough to check out museums on T.I. or Vessel Traffic Control visitor tours. Next time! We also failed to display an anchor light (as far as I know) but nobody seemed to care. We were *way* over in the south-west corner, a nice work of aggressive anchoring by lizewen who was first there, and probably unnoticed after dark. Thanks again to all the people who brought goodies to share, and lets do this again real soon. -"Call me Fishmeal"- From: Jim Kent (jimkent@well.sf.ca.us) Subject: Re: CyberCruise: One Report Newsgroups: rec.boats Date: 1993-11-08 09:19:31 PST >Re: also failed to display an anchor light Not so. Since I arrived after dark I had to check out all the raftups to find the right one. None were showing anchor lights then so I turned mine on. Later I noticed someone had hung one up in front of their mast and someone else had a bow light on that was clearly visible to anyone approaching us from the beach. Liz promised to get in deeper water for us next time. It was hard to to sleep with our keel impaled in the mud and unable to rock and roll with Dudley's boat. Fortunately, about midnight we were afloat again and slept well to the gentle motion and absence of the sounds the fenders had been making. Liz also proved that you can cook spagetti on an alcohol stove. Just forget waiting for the water to boil. And it passed the stick to the bulkhead test on the first try. A great evening! Jim From: Greg Bullough (greg@netcom.com) Subject: Re: CyberCruise: One Report Newsgroups: rec.boats Date: 1993-11-09 06:42:27 PST In article jimkent@well.sf.ca.us (Jim Kent) writes: > > >Liz also proved that you can cook spagetti on an alcohol stove. Just >forget waiting for the water to boil. And it passed the stick to the >bulkhead test on the first try. The trick with boiled foods on an alcohol stove is to break the rules... ...cover the pot. This has the dual benefit of keeping the heat in the pot, where it helps to heat the water below it and preventing the escaping steam from turning the cabin into something which resembles a tropical rainforest. The latter effect is particularly annoying when the cabin cools down, and the precipitation begins. Greg From: dudley (dudley@treefort.Corp.Sun.COM) Subject: Re: CyberCruise: One Report Newsgroups: rec.boats Date: 1993-11-08 10:14:04 PST In article C4o@netcom.com, fishmeal@netcom.com (Paul Kamen) writes: > We also failed to > display an anchor light (as far as I know) but nobody seemed to care. > We were *way* over in the south-west corner, a nice work of aggressive > anchoring by lizewen who was first there, and probably unnoticed after > dark. We were legal! Both Fall Line and Invictus displayed anchor lights. Fall Line had a masthead light, Invictus a portable hung from the spinnaker halyard. I wanted to make sure that the SPs didn't board us in the middle of the night. BTW: Thanks, everyone, for the hospitality and eats. dudley . From: Hoover Chan (hchan@well.sf.ca.us) Subject: Re: CyberCruise: One Report Newsgroups: rec.boats Date: 1993-11-09 00:46:15 PST re: the only representative of CSC was fishmeal@netcom ... Don't forget me! It was fun to see more faces behind the online userid's. I hope we have more of these gatherings. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Hoover Chan - hchan@well.sf.ca.us {apple,ucbvax,pacbell,hplabs}!well!hchan hchan%well.sf.ca.us@cunyvm.bitnet
Clipper Cove, Dec 3-4, 1994
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 08:10:29 +0800 From: dudley@invictus.Corp.Sun.COM (dudley) To: cybercruise@treefort.Corp.Sun.COM Subject: Official Call for Votes OK, there is no clearcut winner in our Search-for-a-Date contest for the November CyberCruise, but November 19 and Dec 2 are the leading contenders. You've seen the debates, viewed the commercials, and read the records. Now is the time to vote. Please return the enclosed official ballot to register your preference. Only one vote per crew member. I will tally all the votes received by 8AM Monday, October 24th to determine the date. The location will be Clipper Cove. Employees of our sponsor, and their families, are not eligible to vote. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFICIAL BALLOT November CyberCruise Please check one: Nov 19-20 [ ] Dec 3-4 [ X] Don't Care [ ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two points will be awarded for each vote for a specific date. One point will be awarded to each of the dates for a "Don't Care". Note: We will be running a shuttle service from the Clipper Cove docks to the raft-up for anyone who wants to drive to Treasure Island. Kleeph *won't* be running the shuttle service. dudley CyberCruise Adventures, Inc. Official Sponsor, 1994 Mud Cup . Date: Mon, 5 Dec 94 09:38:34 PST Subject: CyberRainCruise The rain gods tried to rain on our parade, but the CyberCruise spirit prevaled. Despite the weeklong prognosticating about various frontal advances and so-many millibar lows by the local meterological establishment, we had a good turnout for the Dec 3-4 Bay Area CyberCruise. Amazingly, we managed to stay within a window of rain-free breezes for our 48 NM round trip, and actually had a few hours of pretty good sailing. But did it rain on Saturday night! It was a fitting climax to an evening of hardy partying. We had eight boats spend the night, but were joined by 3 rowing dinghys and a late evening visit by what looked like a floating Christmas tree. There were lots of familiar faces and a few new ones. Oh, those new ones! Ruth and her crew on Endeavor showed up just as the heavens began to let loose with a downpour. She requested some help tying up, to which I jokingly responded, "We'll get wet. Come back when it stops raining." I suppose Ruth, who was attending her first CyberCruise, thought that it was all part of the regular CyberCruise protocol. At any rate, she calmly motored off to find somewhere to wait out the rain. A couple of hours later, having successfully waited for a gap in the clouds, Endeavor re-appeared and was safely secured to the raft. The biggest laugh of the night occurred as we sat in Endeavor's cabin, warmed by the heat of the pot bubbling on the stove and raised a toast to one more person who has learned not to take me too seriously. It was a wonderful time, and a testimonial to the indomitable spirit of the CyberCruisers. When/where is the next one? Dudley .
From rsummers Mon Dec 5 07:15:28 1994 Subject: Sunday's excitement Even though Nipper's skipper was looking rather green he decided to leave before we did. Everyone handled lines, etc. and Doug got out between the sqeeze. He was pulling on his anchor rode, got quite far out, took a breather and we all heard splash !! Doug had fallen in the drink !! John make for his dink, Doug's eyes were rather big and did comment something like bloodie water being cold ! Another fella at anchor hollared over asking if we needed help, Don yelled back you bet. This guy tossed his inflateable overboard and hopped in. Don got the life ring off my boat,tossed it to Doug. Ring made a beautiful arch 90 degrees-away from Doug ! Don and I got my swim ladder down while Doug was swimming to my boat. The stranger in the Avon (?) rowed over, Doug was perhaps 3/4 of the way to my boat, declined a ride. Stranger rowed out and retrived my life ring. Some said towels !! I went below got a towel, tossed that up, someone said sheets ! So I tore my wool blanket off my v berth and tossed this up. During all this Lynne was sitting on the head ! The head is between the salon bulkhead and v berth so I'm surprised I didn't knock her off the head while ripping my v berth apart ;-) Doug got to the ladder, climbed up, dried his face off, John came around the stern in his dink, Doug got in and John rowed him to Nipper- who was just sitting there at anchor with the motor humming ! Now how Doug got into Hipper I have no idea-maybe John can fill us in on that, but probably the best show was Doug's strip. Lynne has it on film-pictures at the next cyber cruise. Sure looked like jockies to me !! While John was at it he rowed over and retrived a stray fender. I believe Lynne got a shot of his rowing abilities. :) BTW-I'm missing two fenders. Anybody find any fenders that says Endeavour on it-sure would like to see them again ! Well, this was my first raft up with the cybercruisers (I'd had been to the slough 'couple of months ago) and it was fun, although I'm not sure my eardrumbs have gotten over Doug's voice. ;-> Gotta get to work ! Ruth
From madhaus Date: Mon, 07 Mar 94 17:25:52 pst Top Ten Reasons I'm glad to have CyberCruised 10. Plenty of evidence to convince Cliff we need a bigger boat. 9. Excellent show watching folks try to lasso Grasshoppa on her way in. 8. Watching Paul ignore people who call him Max. 7. Our morning DJ, Craig of KYBR. 6. Playing Match the Boat with the Course: 1 Pizza a Grasshoppa 2 Sushi b Roxane 3 Mimosas c the Wylie (forgot its name) 4 Sausages d Leaping Lizard 5 Boatday Cake e Integrity 6 Coffee f Invictus 7 Tortelini g Pallas Athena 5. Little Nipper, sooooooo cute 4. "I CAN'T believe you sailed to Hawaii in that tiny thing!" 3. Sending Ryan off In Search of Missing Shoes 2. Well versus Internet comparisons And the Number One Reason I'm Glad We CyberCruised is: 1. May in the South Bay!
From Craig Haggart: subject: CyberCruise: maaaahhhvelous! Do we have it good here in San Francisco or what? Twelve boats made it for the CyberCruise, with ten of them rafted together for the night in Treasure Island's Clipper Cove. Saturday evening was breezy and a bit chilly, but the forecast rain never happened. It was a good night for boat-hopping, and I think we set a record for the most humans ever aboard a San Juan 28. Sunday, now -- Sunday was as good as Sundays come. The sun rose to a calm, clear day. We all lounged around in shorts and t-shirts, listening to calypso, drinking fresh-sqeezed orange juice, and munching on homemade muffins right out of Nakia's oven. Truly a wonderful morning. Almost half of the boats had sailed all the way up from the South Bay (the "muddies"). This fun-loving group had the foresight to include a birthday that we could celebrate, and they brought a unique birthday cake: a four-boat sponge cake raftup, with masts, tiny Windexes, and everything. (A word of warning: do not, under any circumstances, encourage any of the muddies to sing! Not that it takes much encouragement...) Here's the participating vessel list: Sand Dollar (Caliber 40) Twilight Zone (Merit 25) Cheyenne (Wylie 34) Leapin' Lizard (San Juan 28) Nakia (Hans Christian 33) Roxanne (Ericson 27) Integrity (Catalina 25) Invictus (Catalina 27) Pallas Athena (Pearson 30) Treefort (Hunter 25) Nipper (26-foot tug) Grasshoppa (Benford 30) You snowbound east-coasters don't have to be envious. Come on out next time, there's room for more! This is a great bunch of people to hang out with, and a great place to do it. -- -Craig Haggart, Ericson 27 "Roxanne"
From lizewen Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 22:25:59 -0800 Yet another reason to attend a cybercruise: no-one's first name is preceded by "Goddamn it ..." or "I can't see f***ing through you ---- ". An extremely civilized and respectful bunch, if you ask me. It's also the most fun way I know of to lose shoes...:-). See you next time! Liz
From Dudley The Treasure Island CyberCruise We shouldn't dwell on the negative, but I thought you Northern and Eastern sailors would like to know that the CyberCruise was riddled with problems. To start, it was blowing so hard when we departed on Friday that we had to reef down. When we got to South Beach harbor, we couldn't find the security guard, and were unable to pay the $0.35 per foot overnight fee. We are concerned about another drought, but the promised rain on Saturday never materialized. The wind was so steady on Saturday that Treefort arrived 1.5 hours ahead of schedule. We arrived at Clipper Cove to find that nobody had remembered to bring salt for the Margaritas. When we started putting out the food, we realized that we had way too much. It was very difficult to decide between the sushi, pasta with Alfredo sauce, barbequed chicken. And the birthday cake was a complete failure due to the fact that between the 11 boats in the raft, we couldn't find any birthday cake candles and had to settle for a storm candle. Fishmeal was late arriving because he had to accept his pickle plate for finishing in the money in the Champion of Champion's race. It was so peaceful in the anchorage that most couldn't stay up past midnight. Sunday was no better. Maddi hadn't picked all the oranges from the tree because some weren't ripe yet, so we only had enough fresh squeezed juice to mix with 2 bottles of California Champagne. John and Linda's oven was only big enough to bake a dozen muffins at a time, so there was a line of people waiting. When we broke anchor, there was only enough wind to push us at about 2kts, and we barely had enough sunscreen. It has been such a hard winter that I haven't sailed naked since November.
Clipper Cove, Sept 30-Oct 1, 1995
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 95 07:48:53 PDT From: Dudley Subject: TI Report Wonderful weekend, CyberCruisers! I'm sure more details will follow. They will no doubt mention that we had several new boats and lots of new faces. I counted 7 kids under 12 - they had a blast climbing around. We had FOOD! Great food, topped by Rick's barbequed chicken (Yum!). We got to watch Alex use his grapling hook to free a non-CyberCruiser from a cable. We can now verify that the rumoured cables in Clipper Cove *do* exist, *will* snag anchors, and *are* huge. Good thing Alex and Barbara had a practice run freeing the other boat or they might still be there. We had the first 2-night CyberCruise. Invictus, California Girl, and Espire had a very pleasant Friday night (too bad I was the only one there to watch California Girl circle me about five times as they got their fenders and lines ready - and then try to tie up to another non-CyberCruise boat). We have a new record for oldest boat at a CyberCruise. Jim and his crew sailed over in his 1949 Farralon Clipper. We had a boat smaller than Ken's (Tom's Laguna 18 from Oyster Point). And to top it all off, I got in two good days of sailing (yes, the wind did pick up at 3:20 Sunday). Hey, Redwood City CyberCruisers, I sailed all the way (except when I crossed the entrance to the Oakland Channel where I started feeling like a sitting duck). Great time! See you November 26th at Candlestick Cove. Dudley PS. There was no blimp at yesterday's 49er game. .
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 07:06:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Sam LaVanaway Subject: TI Fellow cybercruisers, another successful raft up. Here is the official count: Deborah Rose Laguna 18 Tom and son Greg Sanctuary MacGregor 19 Ken Schwarz Lively De-tuned Olson 30 Bill Courington Endorphin Pearson 390 Sam and Sheri and kids Andre, Alex, and Sara Stella Farallon Clipper Jim and ??? Steve and Carlita and son Nicki Espire (espuray) Cyrus Hamlin 40 Woodie Rick and Cat Invictus Catalina 27 Dudley Wildflower Cal 2-27 Don and Terry Celebration Tartan 37 Alex and Barbara Alley Cat Bahama Islander 28 Shelley Sea Dance Carl Alberg 30 Peter & Sandi Aton Ra Union Polaris 36 Lyn OJ, Alex, Mark Luda and others plus one kid left Saturday night) California Girl Cal 29 Steve, Virginia and kids Chris and Allen (left Saturday) Balena (Balehnah) Westsail 32 Ricki and ??? and dog Pixel (came late but brought food) Invictus, California Girl and ??? all rafted up on Friday night. I was going to make it but events conspired against me and I was still on the freeway at 9pm. At 11pm , I am now deep asleep, the phone rings. It is Steve from California Girl wondering where I was. I told them I had fenders out so they could raft up when they arrived. I finally arrived shortly after noon. The raft up was underway. After I arrived all boats arriving had an easy time rafting up and no further efforts were made to raft up to non-cybercruisers. Dudley was being very smart and alternating Snapples between adult beverages. I found a new cider brew and tried to convince him that it was just like a Snapple with a kick. I was trying to set up my sailing dinghy but decided to offer the main sheet block to the gods of Clipper Cove and row around instead. This raft up saw more kids than any other raftup I have attended. Sheri and I had 3, Tom had 1, Steve and Carlita had 1, Aton Ra brought 1, and including Stve and Jinni's 2 that make eight at the raft up. When Aton Ra showed up, all the kids left my boat and scurried over to Aton Ra. I called them back to make sure they were not boarding boats without permission and there was an extra kid. They must have vicinity transponders or something. About 6 Sheri and I sent the kids home, reducing the count to 3. The night belonged to chicken. Everyone I saw making dinner was cooking chicken. Rick made oriental chicken strips, Don and Terry were have Chicken Kabobs and Sheri and I had chicken fajitas. I did not go to bed hungry, er, roll to bed. It was warm on Saturday and Sunday until a gentle breeze came up. The raft up started breaking up and Alex and Barbara caught a large snake like object that kept them in the cove. Rick dinghied over while I helped Dudley pick up his anchor. I then got on board Celebration to help, but they had it pretty well under control. They lifted the cable above the water, put a rope around it and eased the anchor off the cable. About 1:30 Balena rafted up. This is Ricki's first, well she showed up at the last on her 17' scull. The raft up ended as Endorphin, Stell and Balena left the cove about 3pm and headed back to port. Some firsts: Most kids, 8 Smallest boat, Tom on Laguna 18. Dudley went to bed, self powered, at 10pm. First two night raft up. Oldest boat, Jim's Farallon Clipper, hull no. 7. ??? The next one is the Niner's raft up. Go Niner's. There was some talk about preparing to moon the blip with an appropriate message. Fair Winds, Sam
From: Ken Schwarz Subject: gettin to thrze on timecru Date: Wed, 4 Oct 95 13:16:04 PDT > > > The next one is the Niner's raft up. Go Niner's. There was some talk > about preparing to moon the blip with an appropriate message. Left Coyote point on Sat afternoon, steady wind- sailed almost to the cove @ ~5 knts, didn't tack once, straight shot. Inspected Endorphin's aft cabin- bout as big as my boat! Some different faces this time, and wood boats! (what a concept :) ). Drank many beers- switched to magaritas which sent me to my rack about 10. Next morning- hoped to sail back, but not a breeze in site. Experimented with motor speed vs. mileage on the way back- the Doelphins I added to the Evinrude really seem to make planing faster. Listened to the 9'rs on the radio- strange to be 2 miles away from the action. Pulled out near the end of the game, and made the big mistake of heading through the city and across the Bay bridge- took 30 mins to go 3 miles. Merging when towing a boat in traffic is easy tho- just start drifting over and watch the compact cars back off. See you at the 49r cruze kens (anybody know of a 26 Chyrsler for sale?)
Date: Thu, 05 Oct 1995 15:32:41 EDT From: PETER H EHLERT Subject: Re: TI CyberCruise Yeah! We had a great time! We arrived at 4 or so on Saturday and were both very tired. I was feeling a bit bashful so we anchored off and dingied over later. We visited an hour or two and then went back and made dinner and went to bed at about 9. Every one was very friendly, we were welcome to boat hop all we wanted! No games being played, just good people. On Sunday morning we pulled anchor and slid by the raft to say goodby but were convinced to raft up and stay awhile. Realy glad we did! It was a bit like a blind date that came off well. We will make every effort to join them again. They are realy our (yours and mine) kind of people, just there to relax, visit, and enjoy life! Peter & Sandi SeaDance (Alberg30)
From: bolest Date: Thu, 05 Oct 95 18:30:06 PST Subject: TI Cruise, Sept,95 "Spuddy & Tom at Clipper Cove" Well, we weren't actually the smallest boat there. We saw some suspiciously small craft rafting up from time to time, considerably shorter over all than our own "Deborah Rose", all 18' of her. We also weren't the last boat to actually raft up. While we did pull in very near to sun set on Saturday, there was that Carl Alberg design that came alongside the raft on Sunday. We did seem to have the corner on the kid population for a while. I believe that in any raft up, the kids will gravitate to the smaller yachts (especially if there is a kid with toys and chips aboard), while the big people will gravitate to the larger vessels, especially if there is conversation and libations aboard. It seemed that as soon as we pulled up alongside Ken's very well found Macgregor 19, I had three boys under 7 (and maybe a girl child also?) in the cockpit. We sampled the excellent smoked salmon graciously thrust our way (Thanks! we liked it!). And then my 5 year old son Greg (A.K.A. Spuddy) announced he was going to follow the other kids and climb around on the other boats. All sorts of parental alarms went off in my head (first time in a raft up, first time boat to boat, first overnight sail, Etc.), so I said as coolly as possible "OK, just don't let go of everything at once. Have fun!" and watched as his sandy brown head disappeared under the lifelines. I started to try and make sense of the jumbled mass of stuff that clogged the interior of the boat. My Laguna 18 is used mostly for day sailing, with the occasional jaunt to Vallejo or trail up to the Delta. The interior dates from that wonderful period of Orange County boat building when the designer made the hull & rig smaller and the builder put the interior drawing of the big boat in the series (in this case the Laguna 26) on the Xerox machine and reduced it to fit. Sailing, she is a sweet little boat with the feel of a bigger vessel (thank you, Shad Turner!). Inside, she has a dinette that converts to a berth, a sink, a place for a stove, a truly huge V berth, a quarter berth and a slide-out head. I'm 6'2", so even starting out small, she's SMALL inside. And has nearly zippo storage. So everything was pushed up in the V. It's like car camping in a VW bug and sleeping inside, too. What did we have that could possibly take up so much room? Well, I'm sort of a tool-using pragmatic optimist with a passion for ideas and a low-level flashlight fetish. I had 4 Crescent wrenches in 3 sizes (but it turns out, no comb or brush), 2 shoe boxes full of magic goo stuff in tubes and cans, a handheld VHF with a spare battery and a charger cord to the on-board electrical system, 4 spare battens, half a dozen screwdrivers, a pair of biggish Channel locks, 2 pairs of Vice Grips, a hacksaw, the obligatory plastic tool box filled with bits and pieces of boat hardware, 30 feet of 18ga marine electrical wire, a crimping tool & connectors, a brand new propane stove, a new pair of swim fins (we reluctantly left the complete deep-sea divers set on the shelf at West Marine), 6 flashlights, a battery powered anchor light, a 12V searchlight, a sanding block, a true RMS Fluke DVM, a moderate collection of Tie raps, several varieties of tape (duct, rig wrap, black self fusing, Scotch), 3 hard-back books, my day runner, 2 leatherman tools, 5 hanks of line from a spool of waxed nylon flat braid that must be 35 years old to 3/8" poly to 1/2" anchor line, charts for the area, a small black plastic attach? case of action figures, a largish ice chest, a cell phone with two batteries and another charger cord and a large plastic storage container for food stuffs. Thinking that I, my son or the other cybercruisers might become thirsty, on our cruise, we also had a modest collection of drinkables: a 12 pack of beer, a 12 pack of snapple, bottles of gin and whiskey (Dudley, you could have broken the seal and started the bottle!), a 5 liter box of Burgundy for heavens sake, 6 gallons of water in 3 containers, half a dozen juice boxes and 2 quarts of tonic water and a lime. In any case, on a small boat (or a VW Bug) engaged in overnight camping and meal preparation, to get at something, you must move something else first. I first moved my desire to make a huge G&T and start gamming with the other Cybercruisers and got at my very real need to fix dinner for Spuddy & I. In retrospect, this should not have been a primary goal. I learned later from Spuddy just how much he had eaten while climbing around on the raft and in various salons. He would NOT have starved to death. So, I started the spaghetti. I had earlier that day 4/5 cooked a pound of Angle hair. Why a pound? That's how much was in the package. I warmed the sauce, added the not yet defrosted meatballs and simmered away. Balancing pans of boiling water & hot sauce, I constructed dinner. It did taste good, even if spud had already had plenty to eat elsewhere. Ken's candle lantern helped brighten the cockpit and the bug candle burning brightly in their plastic cups did their job. I learned that Spuddy had never before eaten spaghetti from a paper plate perched on his lap. We had a bit of a lesson and managed to keep from baptizing the cockpit. This boy will go far with his new-found skills! Thereafter followed the usual Cybercruise activities of boat hopping, drinking, snack nibbling, drinking, gabbing, drinking, using tender parts of one's body to map out the location of critical pieces of deck hardware on other boats, drinking, arguing the merits of unusual pieces of sailboat rigging, drinking, Etc. Things settled down around 10:30 or so. At least that's what it sounded like from the cockpit of the smallest boat rafted up on the end. There were the sounds of fireworks from the City at 9:45, with great flashes of light. It was quiet after that. The next morning, I made Corned Beef Hash from 3 different cans and an onion. Spuddy accepted a cup of hot chocolate and was ready for toast & jam when Sam called out from the Pearson 39 that he had Cinnamon buns and hot cocoa. I foolishly declined, at which point Greg looked up and said " can't I have both?" I accepted the logic of this and we glided across the slick decks to Endorphin for breakfast. A minor tragedy occurred sometime later when "the green guy" an action figure who's hand could be removed from his arm and attached by a string, hung from various locations, only to wind itself back up, hand in proper location, when his legs were pressed together, went to Davey Jones Locker. This prompted a tremendous outbreak of 5 year old pain & agony, with no remedy (except time) in sight We left soon after, with a fine motorsail under main alone, back to Oyster point, where we winched "Deborah Rose" from the water back on to her trailer for the ride back to Foster City. I spent a couple of hours cleaning the boat, removing the piles of vital but never-used equipment from her cabin, installing her blue-tarp cover and bidding her adieu until the next sailing adventure. Spuddy & I had a great time. Thanks to all the Cybercruisers for making us feel more than welcome. We look forward to seeing everyone again at the next cruise. Spuddy & Tom S/V "Deborah Rose" Laguna 18
Clipper Cove, July 1997
Escape From NAS - 7/97 OK, time to write some letters... We decided to take advantage of the peace dividend and try a new anchorage in the area behind the breakwall, formerly owned by the Navy (and therefore restricted), but recently turned over to the City of Alameda. It wasn't long after the first boats arrived on Friday evening that we began being harassed. It started with security guards on the shore. They weren't much problem as they had no boat, but on Saturday morning, an un-uniformed guard shows up in a boat with blue lights. He told us that we were in federal property and we had to leave. We didn't. Then sometime in the afternoon, the same guard shows up with 2 Alameda cops (in uniform). They told us that if we didn't leave, the Coasties would soon be there and, one of the cops told us, "I wouldn't want to be around when they board your boats!" So we decided to call the Coasties to see what their side of the story was. Funny, it was completely different from the Alameda cop's side. They told us that someone had called the night before (We presume the security guards that tried to shoo us away), but that there was no clear answer and, in fact, a meeting was scheduled with Alameda to straighten it out. We asked the Coasties for permission to spend the night. They asked us to call on a cell phone (Guess they didn't want everyone listening on the VHF to hear the discussion) and they told us that we could spend the night there without the Coast Guard harassing us. So, we decided to stay, but were still somewhat leary about the Alameda cops re-appearing. And then it happened... There was a shout. "We're drifting!" And sure enough, 9 boats were merrily moving backwards across the anchorage at rapid speed. Within seconds, we had all motors started and the raft stabalized. We all broke apart, at which time we decided to head for the friendlier confines on Clipper Cove. It was a hell-of-a-sail over, the smaller boats opted for sail power and roared past the big boats, but wisdom allowed for the big boats to set their anchors first this time, and we had no further anchor problems. Indeed, it was a very pleasant evening and night. Beautiful Sunday morning. We broke up the raft at about 1PM and headed back. Another great weekend, but what are we going to do about Alameda? Anyone got Latitude 38's email address? Dudley For Dragon Lady, problems start Friday Night, just after getting everything read for leaving Saturday morning, our hot water heater started leaking big time. Not a problem for you non liveaboards but for us, a major disaster. We almost decided not to go, but sanity prevailed and we left Saturday morning as scheduled and had a great sail up. The threat from the Alameda Officers about the Coast Guard seemed to illicit a lot of discussion on board several vessels about meeting or not meeting the legalities of an inspection. Dragon Lady was definitely in compliance on all accounts except for an 'infant' lifejacket carelessly left behind, though we had plenty of jackets for everyone on board. Anyway, the usual discussion about holding tanks erupted briefly before the clarification was made by the coast guard that we *could* stay. I suggest some upgrades for some Cyber-cruisers. Then peace rained long enough for 3 more boats to join the raft taking the total to 9.... and we discovered we were moving. I calmly estimate 1.5 to 2 knots back towards a rocky shore. Motor's reigned supreme in this contest and as Dudley said, the raft was stabilised, and broke up rapidly as all skippers saw to their vessel's safety. Casualties on board Dragon Lady only amounted to our cooking dinner being put on hold until we ultimately were rafted back up in Clipper cove several hours later. Others had more problems. The wind was ripping through the navel yard when we left, and we elected to raise the main and motor sail, as Dudley ripped by us as if we were standing still... on their ear a lot of the time. We might have sailed with the jib, but for the difficulty of getting the kids anchored down inside for an unplanned rough trip. So we decided to take it easy. Arriving at Clipper cove ( a known area of poor holding ground ) we found Pelican had dropped their 50lb plow and backed it into the mud. They were sitting calmly at anchor so Dudley, after sailing into the cove had dropped his sails, rafted up. Sam joined the raft by dropping his hook and backing down the rode until he was rafted, followed by Tasherama following the same procedure with a bit more difficulty on the rafting part, and were joined by several other vessels. We on the other had decided to drop our own hook and swing on our own anchor. Mary says 6 tries, but I only remember 5 attempts to drop our 'original mark II' cast forged 30 lb danforth, dragging each time and having to retrieve 100' to 120' of #$%#!! chain. I was a tad tired out by then. We now believe the anchor we were using (untried) was not up to the task, and it will be relegated to either an office prop, or a flea market bargain (how we got it). We switched to a Fortress FX-16 with 25 feet of 3/8 chain and 200' of 3/4" nylon rode, and discussed the strategy. We believe this anchor is too light for Dragon Lady's 40' heavy displacement, but have never (ever) had any problems with it holding. While we were doing all this entertainment for the benefit of all in the harbour, several more boats had arrived and rafted, sans anchors. We decided to join the raft-up, motor out our fortress with a dinghy and drop it 'way out there' pulling it in to set it firmly. This last strategy worked well. In fact, our anchor was firmly set, and hard to retrieve the next morning. While we were practising our dragging and retrieval manoeuvres, one boat, not of our group, took exception to our antics and complained bitterly about our choice of location a couple times. The were quite rude, and seemed to think they knew better than us, and perhaps owned their corner of Clipper cove. I just brushed it off, but was quite pleased to see the next morning that the skipper in question had run his engine and wound his dinghy painter around his prop... his dinghy was at least 1/3 UNDER his stern. A very sad thing, but I kind of felt he got his just desert on that one. (He dived on it and freed the rode later that day). About the time We finally got tied up and secure, we saw Shellie coming in with Stu not far behind (at least that's the order they rafted in). They were very very late arriving, and have quite a story to tell of their own, being the last to leave the naval base and still at anchor when the other boats departed.... drag city, that place! I'll leave their story for them to tell... I believe we didn't have enough good anchors out for hold us at the naval base, and that it could still make a good harbour for a raft up, if you don't mind potential 'toxic waste' on your hook (naval bottom paint ??). I'm also going to upgrade my antique danforth to something a bit more modern. perhaps the West Marine Performance 35. Your comments here would be appreciated. We've got two plow's a 45 and a 50 but for mud, nothing much beats a good danforth style hook. And we should undertake to clear that bay for our use, phone calls and the like to who... coat guard... Latitude... the news paper... Alameda City Council... ?? Darwin Dragon Lady It was a lovely day in the neighborhood, once I FOUND the neighborhood, and rafted up to Stu at Alameda NAS. And The Guys were so kind as to dinghy my 45# CQR out into the mud along with 50' of chain and 120' of nylon rode. I opened the starboard ports, poured myself a glass of wine, and went visiting; seems the Superior Sex had congregated on Invictus, so there I settled, glass in hand. I think Dragon Lady came in next, then Pelican, then La Adriana, then Tasherana -- all the heavy boats came in last, starting with me, and I do believe every boat after me also weighed more than ten tons...Andhors and all, Tasherana was the very last straw. We started dragging. Amid much pointing and general unhappiness the boats started peeling off, leaving Stu and me still dragging, albeit not quite as rapidly, but the wind was building nicely and we had every promise of an awful lot of entertainment very shortly. Now, let me tell you about the first time Stu and I sort of almost met. It was the day he brought Dudley over to my boat, the morning of the race start. This picture-pretty-perfect boat showed up in the fairway to drop Dudley off, and Stu tied up and came over to check out the Pincoya Resurrection Project on which his friend was proposing to go out into the Pacific Ocean. Pincoya was not at her very, very best. We had gear piled everywhere, no jack lines up yet, I was throwing things to people and saying "here, put this on the boat, no, I don't know how, figure something out" and the starboard settee was in pieces while we tried to figure out something or other about the water tank under it (I don't quite recall just why I had the thing apart, but I'm sure it seemed important at the time) and as I recall the engine covers were off too. I don't think Stu had all the confidence in the world. *I* believe he *really* went out the gate with us to pick up Dudley in case we didn't make it that far. So we met again when I tied my boat up to his. The interior looked better, even with the new set of ever-present fresh flowers past their prime. And we'd survived Santa Barbara, so I guess he was now convinced she floats in spite of her appearance. At any rate he did not appear to be worried that she'd sink at the anchorage and take Balu with her... OK, everybody's gone. I couldn't borrow any crew to help bring the anchor up, because nobody had any to spare. I'm reasonably certain I am not going to pull up a 45-lb CQR by myself with no stripper on the gypsey (I can't believe I just wrote a straight line like that). Stu came over to help, and we discovered right away that the only way we were going to bring up 120' of nylon rode was if I stood down in the forepeak and hand stripped the line off the gypsey. I opened the forehatch so we could hear each other. We discussed waiting until the wind died down, but that sure wasn't happening any time soon, and our anchors were plowing through the mayonnaise on the bottom at an ever increasing rate. And we were dragging across about 90 degrees of the compass, depending on shifting gusts of wind. We were getting just a tad motivated. I had Pincoya's engine running, figuring I could drive both boats (Sam and I set a precedent by driving all over Clipper Cove once with Alley Cat tied to Endorphon, but that's another story...) up on their anchors while Stu, bless his stoic little heart, did all the work! We got my line up. His line was up to the chain. We weren't going to get any further on either boat without untying. So Stu set Balu loose, saying "I'll come back for you, I swear to God" and I'm scratching my head trying to remember whether in either life or literature I've ever heard that line before. True to his word, though. He did indeed come back after he tripped his anchor and got all his chain aboard. Now, we're tied together hanging on my hook, which is *almost* chain-to-gypsey, we're dragging faster than some boats sail, rocks in any direction the boats want to go and some directions the boats don't want to go, some bloody pole sticking up in the middle, and I can't get the boats headed into the rode. We keep blowing off. It took *full throttle* on a Perkins 4-108 to point the boat part of the time in sort of the right direction. Stu won my anchor anyway! Now we're not dragging, we're blowing down on a breakwater. You've never seen two people break two boats apart so fast in your life. It's blowing 40. Short steep nasty chop. Green water coming over the bow so heavily that the scuppers can't clear it, and I've got 2" of water standing on deck. And my forehatch and all my starboard ports are open. I'm polishing my vocabulary as waves hit me and the boat heels at 15-20 degrees under bare poles, bashing along just *barely* moving forward with all the throttle I've got. I keep looking back at Stu to make sure he's coping OK, not knowing how big his engine is, but knowing mine can barely cope, and can usually push that beast at 8 kts. But you know, silly people who live aboard and actually insist on using their boats just have to get used to wet boats. So I adjusted my attitude and actually enjoyed the pounding over to Clipper Cove. But when I got in, I was never so happy to snuggle up to Tasherana and relax in my whole life. Whew! Well, that's the story. --shellie
Clipper Cove, March 28-29, 1998
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 98 From: Dudley Subject: TI Report No Excuses! Yup, it's true, Invictus' lost her rig. Now everybody wants to know what happened... Well, we left OYC sometime after noon. Wind was pretty mellow at the dock, blowing straight down the estuary. Knowing we'd be beating to weather and tacking often, I opted for the 110% jib and unreefed main. Back and forth we tacked, perhaps 40 times, making fair speed. Every so often we'd hit a gust that would try to turn us up, but Invictus can handle that stuff if you're ready. It began to hail. As we got to the end of the estuary, we could see things were pretty wild toward the slot. We discussed reefing, but we were bouncing around pretty well so we just decided to tough it out as we were now out of the estuary. We had just eased off a bit when...BAM! The sound caught my attention and I saw the mast start to bend to port. The windward upper had gone at the turnbuckle. Then I saw the windward forward lower go...BWING! Suddenly, the entire rig was hanging over the side. Amazingly, my trusty crew, who is normally happiest when the boat is heeling less than 2 degrees, became a true help. She steadied the boat while I pulled in all the trailing lines to keep them away from the prop. I gathered the lines and lashed the mast, which was bent at a 90 degree angle, to the side of the boat. We then started the motor (I felt it was appropriate considering the situation) and began discussing what to do. I struggled to put the mast back onboard, but it was useless. I then tried to get the sails down. The halyards were hopelessly stuck due to the bent mast. I managed to lean over the side far enough to undo the jib halyard, slid the hanks along the forestay, and got it back aboard. The main wouldn't budge. We decided that we had to find the nearest dock if we were to have any chance of retrieving the mast. The Navy dock on the Alameda side, opposite the container ship dock was too rough, so we headed to the wide guest docks at Jack London Square. There was a lot of wind, and the part of the main out of the water was acting like a spinnaker. Despite the drag of the mast and the thrust of the sail, Teresa managed to keep the boat steady and heading, at about 1/2 knot, toward Oakland while I kept the rig from beating the boat to pieces. We got countless offers of help, all of which we refused. We set out by ourselves and we were going to get back by ourselves. And we did. Fortunately, the slips at Jack London Square were empty. We pulled in and tied Invictus to the dock on the side away from the mast. We then disconnected every line and shroud...and there are many on a boat with all lines run aft. We took several lines across to the other side of the slip and let the mast drop off the side of the boat. The mast, still with the main on, went completely underwater. We had a hell of a time getting it back up, thanks to the fact that the masthead got stuck in the mud. Somehow, we summoned the strength of several people and worked it up onto the dock. We were then able to remove the main. So, there we were, our mast lying on the dock and a weekend's worth of food on the boat. "What should we do now?", Teresa asked. "Go to the CyberCruise!", was my answer. So Teresa put a note on the mast saying that we'd be back to take care of it, and we headed back out. Yes, we motored to a CyberCruise, but we didn't let a little thing like a dismasting ruin our plans. The irony of having to leave early on Sunday morning...before the wind came up...was amusing, but when needed, the Atomic 4 understands and it performed beautifully, driving us all the way back to Redwood City. Failure analysis to follow. Pity on everyone who missed the chance to see Invictus as a stinkpot. And thanks to my trusty crew. From: Dudley Date: 30 Mar 98 Subject: Failure Analysis The first failure was in the windward upper shroud turnbuckle. The turnbuckle broke at the point where the lower end of the screw stud meets the round bale (around which the jaw goes). I'd call this a T-intersection. Some of these fittings appear to be made from one piece of material. Mine appeared to be 2 separate pieces that broke at the join. ~ ~ | | | | | | <-- turnbuckle body | | ----- | | | | <-- turnbuckle screw stud | | __| |_<-- point of failure | | |_______| The second failure was in the swage of the forward windward lower. This break appeared to be caused as a result of the extra force put onto it when the upper went. I doubt this would have gone had it not been for the failure of the upper. Ironically, turnbuckles are not usually replaced when you re-do the standing rigging. There are also a couple of other areas of my vintage Catalina known to fail: The I-bolt connecting the lowers to the chainplate (which I've replaced with U-bolts) and the spreader sockets (inspected but not yet replaced). Neither of these failed. I've regularly inspected my swages and wires, but never noticed any problem with the turnbuckles. From: Ruth Date: 30 Mar 98 Subject: The past cruz weekend I walked into Alameda Yacht Club late last night and one of the guys says with big eyes 'did you hear about the Cat'l 30 that was dismasted at the end of the Estuary Saturday???'. I said 'yeah. It wasn't a 30, it was a 27 and it was Dudley. He was going to the cybercruze at TI. Now it's a powerboat ! ' Ya know Commodore, it't not 'really common' for sailboats to be dismasted in the Estuary unless they get their rig caught on a channel marker (peskie racers) ! The guys at the yacht club were asking about the hull, if it was ok and I told them Dudley said the hull only had a couple of scratches or scrapes. The sailing was wonderful Saturday (if you did not become concerned about the two PanPan's that came over channel 16 on the vhf) ! From what I've been told it was really blowing at TI and Marianne called the two cruzers who were anchored (Wild Flower and Williwa) out to come in to take slips. ! Oh, and around 5 or so there were these really BLACK clouds over the Oakland/Berskerly hills that seemed to be coming around, the wind switched, blowing from the East. It may have been this storm that dumped hail at Fortman Marina but we got none of the bad stuff while we were sailing, nor at TI. Endeavour went into a side tie slip and of course the wind died and it turned into a wonderful evening. ! I really want to thank Marianne for her hospitality ! She and Andy had munchies at the Harbor Master's office Sat evening and the tour Sunday was wonderful !! Tks again Marianne for a great weekend !! Ruth From: Kathy Date 30 Mar 98 Subject: Last weekend's sail Well, we didn't expect the south bay to be the shake down cruise for Canada, but Saturday was the roughest weather we'd seen in 11 years of sailing those waters out of Redwood City. Penguin set a staysail and double reefed main, and dragged the rail in the water most of the way. We should have gone to the third reef but then it would take a looooong time to get past SFO and on to TI. Conditions near YBI were better. I could finally go below long enough to take aspirin and kill that hangover from the dock party Friday night :-]. We detoured over to watch Hawaiian Chieftain and Lady Washington shoot cannon at each other. After tying up at the TI slips, we noticed the conspicuous absence of the commodore. When he did arrive, our crew Jeff was ready with digital camera. Although it looks like he's waving hello, he's yelling "No cameras! No cameras!" Marianne was a gracious host, and Sunday's van tour of TI/YBI was outstanding. Thanks again for indulging us. As we sailed home Sunday, soaking in the nap-inducing sunshine, we asked "Did anyone put the chair back down on the floor after taking the group photo?" Cheers everybody, I'll be logging off on Tuesday, and heading to British Columbia. Kathy
Clipper Cove, May 30-31, 1998
As the CyberCruise and Pacific Cup became intertwined this weekend, this will cover both. The Official Sea of Anarchy Pacific Cup Ship left Alameda about 4PM, following a day of work and inspection. For those CyberCruisers who first met La Adriana when she was towed to the Cyber9erCruise, you may be wondering how we ever got The Ship sailing, let alone sea- worthy enough for a stringent PacCup inspection. Well, it has taken a ton of money and many hours of work, but the inspector's final words to us were, "Make sure you save some time in Hawaii. The Kaneohe YC is a great place to party!" It looks like she thinks we'll make it. After motoring up the estuary, we put of all the sails and took off for a sail. Sam handed me the helm and... We had a nice ride, hitting 8kts. Cruised up the cityfront, around the North end of TI, down the back side, and into Clipper Cove under full sail. There is nothing like doing loops-de-loops in a 47 foot ketch under full sail in a tight harbor to get people's attention. I was impressed with The Ship's steering at sea last weekend. I'm now further impressed with her ability to maneuver in tight spots. We did several passes, tacked, jybed, and pulled in (under power) to gather those who wanted a go see the fireworks. It was quite a sight as a mass of bodies began scrambling across the raft-up to the side we were approaching. To some, it brought back visions of the Titanic passengers rushing for the lifeboats. 26 people were onboard, and we were followed by two more contingents on StuBaLu and Wishful Thinking. Despite the protests of the racers on board, the sailors prevailed and we hoisted the sails, finally dropping them when we found ourselves a few hundred yards from the fireworks barge surrounded by dozens of other boats. What can I say about the fireworks show? Even I, someone usually unimpressed with fireworks, thought that it was great. Then it was back to TI. We had 12 boats, and despite the fact that this was supposed to be the CyberMudCruise, there were 4 boats from Redwood City, two of them first-timers. Things were soon into full CyberCruise mode...food, libation, song...and then it was morning. The morning's activitied revolved around watching the newcomers amuse us with demonstrations on cleaning a sleeping bag and cable snagging. Torpedo and I, along with Ryan and Shayna (on her first ever CyberCruise), hopped on Pincoya for a sail back to Alameda. Hope everyone made it back safely. Now it's back to work on The Ship. 29 days and counting. Nice weekend, all. Hope to see as many of you as possible for the next CyberCruise, July 17, Kaneohe Yacht Club, Oahu, Hawaii. dudley .
Clipper Cove, March 5-7, 1999
From Dudley Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 07:28:16 -0800 Subject: CyberCruise Report Well, last year we had to motor home because we lost the mast. This year we had to sail home because we lost the motor. All in all, I prefer the latter. Now the details: The ol' Atomic bomb has been behaving pretty well lately, and was purring along when, just past the Bay Bridge, we heard a loud bang followed by the sound of a sick engine. I immediately shut it down and went to have a look. The exhaust system had blown out. So there we sat, wallowing at the entrance to the Oakland estuary (Hey, Teresa, did you notice that the exhaust blew at almost the same place the rig came down last year? Maybe we should avoid that part of the Bay in the future). Fortunately, the flood was just starting and it began to pull us South. Teresa was worried about the ships anchored South of the Bay Bridge, but I assured her that it was a big Bay and there was very little change of drifting anywhere near them. WRONG!!! We missed the first one by about 40 feet, but we were heading straight for the second, drifting backward. When we got about 20 feet from its bow, we decided that prudence dictated starting the motor for a quick blast to get us out of the way. It worked. By about 12:30, after a couple of hours of wallowing, the wind picked up. Soon, it was blowing pretty well and we were moving at over 8 knots over the bottom. The following seas were building and now the water was entering the exhaust, pouring out the hole in the pipe, and flooding the boat. We were glad to have a working bildge pump. I plugged the exhaust and the hole with wooden bungs, but they didn't stop all the flow, but it was manageable. At about 2:15 we passed under the S&M Bridge, water still working its way into the boat, but the pump was having an easy time keeping up and at about 3:30, we were safely in our slip (with the exhaust now above the water line). All in all, a very nice sail. As for the CyberCruise, it was nice. Some took docks, some anchored out. Friday night was winding down when we got there about 10PM. Merilon, StuBaLu, and Mo went for a Saturday sail with most of the CyberCruisers aboard. Saturday evening turned into a boat-hopping party from raft-to-dock-to-raft. Pelican and Dragon Lady must have set records for most people aboard, with close to 30 people celebrating everyone's birthday for the past year. Lots of food, grog, and off-key singing. And again, the weather forecasters were WRONG! Despite threats of cold and rain, it was very pleasant. A great weekend to spend sailing and partying on the Bay. I think I'll get a stainless exhaust this time. Get ready for May! Dudley . From downwind_sailor Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 09:18:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: CyberCruise Report-Dragon Lady Dang we had a great time. Sailed up Friday after leaving Peninsula M. at about 3:30... only an hour late!! Pretty good for us. Anyway, on the way up, we responded to a CG report of an epirb going off, and since we were only about a half hour away... AND it was on our course.. anyway, acording the the lat and lon the CG gave us... and our chart... we were right on top of it and nada. Nothing as far as we or our binoc's could detect, so after talking with them again.. we sailed on up... Well, maybe we sailed for an hour or so, mostly motor sailed or motored though. Once in the cove, we retrieved our slip (THANKS M!!) and had a wonderful stay. Lots of boats a the docks with slips from our group and lots of good conversation, and food. The birthday cake Mary prepaired rusulted in at least 22 people in our boat... and more outside in the cockpit. And despite a few unresponsible people doing things that were very un-yachtie (who for the love of god would ever smash a pepsi can flat ON THE GELLCOAT!!) we had a great time. Sunday found us leaving about 11:30 and heading out to Ballena Bay for the fuel dock... and once there... yikes, two great fat powerboats takeing on fuel.. and one could hold 550gallons... but was only taking on 250 *today*. The other was taking on over 100 as well, so we had to find an end-tie and wait.. Stu rafted up with us and we had lunch while they fueld, then we moved on in and took on over 90 gallons to top up our tanks... Thanks Suzi and Ken for the 20% off cupon, only cost us $74. But we didn't get out of there until way after 2pm. That was a windy time and we raised the sails and sailed all the way back (very nice sail and very relaxing despite the fact that the temperature dropped through the basement and we were wearing about every warm bit of clothing we had onboard by the time we got to the San Mateo Bridge. Hope you all had a great time as well, Darwin, Mary, Tristan, Colin, Marshal Dragon Lady. From michael.kehir Subject: 3/99 TI Cybercruise- Pix of Raftup,Steve Miller Band & Paul McCartney! Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 13:40:55 -0800 Swabs, 1) The Merilon expedition North for above was awesome- the best yet. We left 6pm Fri nite for Gate, catching sunset on way out jaws/ Pillar Pt. Motorsailed on AP up the coast in real flat seas. About 8 miles outside Gate, killed engine and sailed at 3.5 kts catching flood tide under Gate at midnite. Into GGYC guest dock at 12:30am, dropped off crew and then onto TI, arriving at 2am. Everyone asleep. Sat am pix of Stubalu, Tyco and Merilon, Soy Libre... 2) Sat am ,Merilon ramped around Bay from TI , around back of Alcatraz, AI and down Raccoon Straits to SFYC where we had lunch. The Downeys and Don/ Terry and Chris/ Lisa onboard too! It was 45 deg outside and 72 below decks ( where Virginia and Terry were having a very good time!). We got back about 5:30pm to TI, right before Ebb and partied into the nite (see other e-mails). An awesome day/ evening, made even better when Bonnie and Christopher showed up! 3) Sunday am went on flea market excursion and then buddy boat sailing with Merilon and AK/ MC's Soy Libre. Not much wind till we rounded backside of AI. We both tacked up Raccoon Straits out to front of AI where wind picked up to 35 knots on the nose. I just got the 150 ( seemed like 180!) decksweeper down before getting flattened. Then we split off and Merilon proceeded to take crew over to Sausilito YC for afternoon happy hour. We left at 5pm and, with only 110 jib up, caught middle ebb out to N tower out of Richardson Bay and then broad reached at 7 to 8kts across Gate to S tower and then flood down past STFYC and into GGYC at 6pm. Really awesome: Here are some great pix of AK/ MCs' new boat Soy Libre! 4) Then, to cap off an impossibly great weekend, when we rolled into GGYC, there was private party on both floors. A skinny black dude helped us tie up and invited us inside for this party. Turns out he was the limo driver (having cigarette outside). The Steve Miller Band were throwing a "retirement" party for Jim Stickles, their Tour Manager. Every heavyweight Bay Area musician was present, with no groupies. just their family and friends. We caught the second set, which started with Steve Miller's Space Cowboy. Un freaking believable. There were h'oederves everywhere and an open bar. I think the last song was Fly Like an Eagle. After the last song, there were group photos and , as I was sitting in The Front Row with digital camara, proceeded to take pix. After I was done, the head waiter came over to me and said I was sitting at Paul Mc Cartney's table. I turned around and saw him walk by me, wink and walk out the door by himself into limo. Yep, the same guy was driving that helped Merilon tie up. If you think this is unreal, then CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING PIX (which pix/ guy is Paul ?; who are the other musicians??): 5) We took cab back to TI and made it home by 8:55pm, in time for X- files. This weekend was a ten (as in Bo Derek!)! A big Round of Applause for: 1) Marianne and Andy's hospitality!! 2) Great weather (forecast was wrong again; blowing 35 kts rain squall now as I type this in Moss Beach) 3) Great Birthday Parties and cake/ icecream from Darwin and Mary 4) Fantastic sailing conditions 5) Steve Millar Band (preceded by Norton Buffalo, which we missed)! 6) Paul McCartney ( who only stayed for 20 minutes)! We whupped em agin, Jose. Michael
Clipper Cove, November 10-11, 2000
CyberCruisers, Friday was one of the most beautiful sailing days we've had in a while. Teresa, Shayna, Kitty Catalina, and I left Coyote Point with the ebb at about 1:30PM. We had one of those wonderful days when the conditions spell flat water and steady moderate winds. Under the dodger, it was downright balmy. At the helm, it was a bit nippy, but nothing a few layers of clothing couldn't help. Our speed was between 6-7 knots the entire way to Treasure Island, without taking any water over the bow. There were a few other boats out enjoying the conditions, but it was one of those days when you feel truly lucky not to be hanging with the landlubbers. The sky was spectacular! Due to the early sunset and the fact that Sam said he was going to join us, we decided to find a spot in Clipper Cove rather than taking a jaunt along the cityfront. Just as we were about to drop the hook, Sam called to say he was on his way. There were only 3 other boats, so we had lots of good spots to pick from and were able to grab a nice sheltered spot. Not long after we were anchored, La Adriana was seen coming around the corner. Sam, who could have spun the Excuse-O-Matic(tm) several times (no crew, work to do, etc.), showed the true CyberCruise spirit as he single-handed LA into a beautiful fender-to-fender arrival next to Kia Orana. We were blessed with a spectacular full moon rising above the Bay Bridge and a crystal clear sky (whatever happened to the rain they were predicting?) Sam provided the libation and some cold cuts while we baked potatoes (on the bar-b-que), cooked corn and hominy, and divvied up the cold chicken breasts. We listened to music and played Scrabble until our eyelids were too heavy to hold open. It was a verrrry peaceful night. The next thing I knew, Sam was greeting us...and the new sunrise...with hot chocolate. We fired up the coffee pot and cooked eggs, toast, and some more of Sam's meat roll. Sam had to get back to his mast and Shayna needed to get home to study, so after breakfast we pulled the hook from the mud and headed for home. I raised the sails, but there was zero wind. After a while I was forced to throw in the towel and start the motor. We motored the entire way to Coyote Point, basking in the warmth of the winter Sun. And as we were on our way home, a car pulled alongside Teresa and Shayna and with the occupants waving madly. It was the Downer clan. They were returning from a shopping trip to the city. They had bought 2 new sailing pictures for their house. It's nice to know that they have something to remind them what a sailboat looks like. The next CyberCruise is in January. The location is usually Horseshoe Cove. The best weekend would be the weekend before the SuperBowl. That would be Jan 20-21, 2001. Any opinions? Dudley ---------------------------------------------------------------
Clipper Cove, Jan 20-21, 2001
CyberCruisers, It is always important to make a grand entrance. Unfortunately, the entrance to Clipper Cove is slightly less at low tide than the draft of a couple of boats. Kia Orana entered the cove at about 2:30 after a three hour trip from Coyote Point that included some sailing (coincidently about the same speed as the ebb) followed by some motoring. We'd raised California Girl and Wildflower as they were entering the cove and were warned about the lack of depth. We crossed the bar at the entrance at a very slow speed, but never felt that familiar South Bay nudge. Wildflower was anchored in about 10 feet. We dropped out hook nearby and backed down on Don and Terri with a little help from a line tossed across the gap. We were soon joined by California Girl who had been hanging out at the dock. Soy Libre was next, followed by Aveta (first CyberCruise), Merilon (after getting unstuck from the entrance), Tasherana, and finally (again) La Adriana. Tiger Beetle was seen stuck in the entrance for a while, but we can only imagine what was going onboard as they decided to pack it in and head home without even getting beyond the bar. The barbeques were glowing and the smell of CyberFood wafting across the cove when Kia Orana started living up to the Catalina reputation as a great party platform. There was food and grog everywhere. A chocolate cake was provided to celebrate Lisa's birthday, making its way into every nook and cranny for the morning clean-up. But that was hours away as Dudley played DJ and Chris and Alan (minus parents who had left for a party at City Hall) amused us with drinking games. It is interesting to watch the progression, in the many pictures taken throughout the night, from orderly dinner to dancehall chaos. Around 11PM, people began drifting back to their respective bunks. I guess someone was too tired to listen for the Downer's call for a dinghy ride back to the raft, but ol' dependable Teresa had her phone turned on and soon the Downers were back aboard Kia Orana for a replay of the evening festivities via jpg. Sunday morning arrived with the sun valiantly trying to break through what was forecast to be rain. None was seen, and there were occasional glimpses of blue sky and wonderful cloud formations. But alas, the forecast 25kt winds were also non-existant. After coffee, breakfast (I'm getting pretty good at barbequeing eggs, but we must remember to check the propane for the stove/oven before leaving the dock next time), and morning chit-chat about the previous evening...everyone looking quite chipper except Kitty Catalina whom, we guess, must have cleaned up the not-quite-empty cups of Bailey's...we began the orderly anchor weighing drill for the trip back home. We tried sailing, but despite the fact that the knot meter was recording about 2 kts, the GPS was holding at a steady 0.0. We finally fired up the iron genny and set the autopilot for Coyote Point. All in all, another wonderful CyberCruise weekend was had by the crew of Kia Orana (with the possible exception of the cat and camera) and we hope by the crews of the other 7 boats. San Leandro Bay for March? dudley . Had a great afternoon with the 3/4 oz kite up, jibing along in super conditions for the first try of doublehanding the kite. 6-11 knots of wind was enough to keep the kite full without causing any anxiety, and that was fun. Discovered the aluminum spinnaker pole is too heavy for the kite to support all by itself in those conditions, so I'm marking the pole lift to know precisely how much to let out prior to going forward and tripping the pole away. Tiger Beetle tried, but in vain, to clear the sticky deposits of mud across the entry to Clipper Cove on the minus tide. We draw eight feet, and the shallowest we saw (what with the speedo near the bow and the keel slightly further aft) was four feet. That did not bode well. We ungrounded and grounded twice on our first slow motor in, then grounded again on a much slower drift in, went around for a while and tried twice more, each time moving closer and closer towards the pier. Ultimately, we grounded out a seven feet and that was a deep as we could find. Rats! It looked like 9pm would work for an entry, but did not feel like hanging around that long. After our defeat at the hands of the mud folk, we motored back down the estuary and spent the evening at the Encinal YC guest dock. The club had the fireplace going and we warmed tootsies on its hearth. About noon Beetle was back in her slip, I was ensconced in my book and Sarita was out racing on Jean's Ranger 23 Quilla in the estuary - they had wind to finish, but just barely. 'Till next time! - rob ---------------------------------------------------------------
Clipper Cove, Jan 19-20, 2002
> From pelican@matelot.com Sun Jan 20 08:19:57 2002 > > So where was everyone? We rendezvous'd on the airwaves and decided to change the location to Treasure Island. We made several calls over the VHF and called all those who had committed and whose cell phone numbers we had. Sorry if you showed up to an empty Ayala Cove. Jason and Tobreth made a sweep of the cove and saw no one there, so we figured we had contacted everyone. > Had an exciting day outside on Saturday - the traveller 'uncleated' while I > was tightening the leech line. Almost ended up in the oggin and my hat went > overboard. Fast gybe to recover lost hat and the outhaul broke so retired > to Ayala sans chapeau for a beer. We had typical 15 knot winds when we left Coyote Point on Saturday, and had a nice sail for about an hour. That was the last wind we saw all weekend. Except for the occasional wake, Saturday night was very peaceful in Clipper Cove. We had the typical CyberCruise food-fest as we watched the Raiders implode in the snowy playoff game. We finally got the meet Bill on Endorphin, and were shocked to find out that it is a different Endorphin than we were expecting. And while we missed Sam, Bill filled the void with his own submarine stories. Don "Sky Pilot" and Terri were there on Wildflower, as were Jason and Tobreth on Aveta. Four boats ain't bad for a chilly January night. Next time, it would be nice to know everyone's intentions and have their cell phone numbers so that we can contact people if there is a change in plans. What are the plans for March? Teresa and I are busy the weekend of 3/16-17, but I think the others are free. dudley .
