By The Sea Sailing Blog

I did evening sails Tuesday and today. I think I have figured out a good way to run these short sails from 6pm to about 9pm: sail out the channel, sail close-hauled (and usually reefed!) out toward Red Rock or Paradise Cove (depending on wind direction), ease off on to a reach toward Southampton Shoal, then downwind back to Richmond. Quick, fun, kind of goes somewhere.

Tuesday was Nick, Lorraine and Audrey. Today was Bruce, Judy, John and Ike. I have to admit, tonight’s group really worked out well. The four of them all seemed to hit it off well.

As for the sailing, it was fun and a bit vigorous. We saw three huge ships coming in to Richmond as we stayed out of their way and dodged all of the tugs hanging out in that part of the bay. I managed to get a nice solid reef in place, and the mainsail shape looked good.

So today was the first sail of the new season! I basically shut down my sailing “program” during the winter, partly to do work on the boat, and partly because I hit it pretty hard last year and wanted to take a little time off.

The wind never really picked up today, so Sid, Ana, Cindy, newcomer John, and I motored out to the end of the channel and anchored to eat. Late in the afternoon a little wind came up, so we pulled up the anchor and sailed for awhile. Then we motored in and got things put away.

Last weekend I went sailing with Captain Dennis. He chartered a big ugly Hunter 38. It was pretty new, though it seems to leak already. Not my favorite sailboat brand. There was not much wind last weekend either, so we motored to Alameda, and had a little wind to sail home.

I’ve mananged to maintain a pretty good sailing schedule this year, despite my work schedule. Almost every weekend! But after the whole spring and summer, I’m tired and ready for a break. This is the time of year I take care of all the maintenance items that have been building up.

I like boat work, because it makes me feel empowered to learn new things, figure it out, design it the way I want, and see how well I can make it work. Just tinkering around on all the little things is fun.

So far my list includes changing the engine oil and filters, moving the fuel filter and re-routing the fuel lines, interior cleaning and maint., wood repair, epoxy work, plumbing work, caulking, the packing gland, new traveller hardware and who-knows-what-else. Oh, and the full-on-haulout bottom-painting with seacock replacements.

Popey and I sailed from Richmond to the Cityfront in mild winds (picked up to about ~15 knots at the slot, then mellowed out again). We saw the finish of the Star Championships off Alcatraz, then sailed toward Tiburon and stopped for lunch at Sam’s. The food was pretty good, and the weekday crowd was so much smaller and less annoying than the weekend glut.

Then we motorsailed back. Our docking was somewhat amazingly flawless. My neighbor Bob had just come in and we compared notes. Early in our sail we had passed him near the end of the jetty.

Then the usual cleanup…