Storms
Posted on 24 January 2010 | Comments Off
It’s January 24. Southern California had wonderful, warm, clear weather until a few days ago when we received three storms in a row, Locally, lots of rain and wind caused problems for traffic and maintenance crews. But the big news is the huge surf that is pounding our beaches. I’ve seen 15 foot waves breaking way outside the normal zone. Tornados have ripped apart houses and tossed cars around like toys. The local mountains are crowned with a thick blanket of snow. The local temperature here in Oxnard fell to 39 degrees briefly.
After the clouds, rain and hail moved on, I took a walk on the beach and recorded this:
Here’s a pic of the mountains behind us.
Making a movie
Posted on 4 January 2010 | Comments Off
Today we volunteered to help Frank Sullivan on Valkyrie. He was called on by Fool’s Errand Films to help the production crew shoot a short film that features the tallship, The Bill Of Rights.
Leaving the dock at 06:30, the Valkyrie crew (Dick and Bob from CIYC, Mary and me) was treated to a spectacular sunrise.
The day was filled with driving the camera crew around so they could film the story of some young people who charter a tallship, then discover that they are part of a ship in a bottle. I know it sounds nuts but that is what we were told. Scenes included a character jumping into the water, a small crew rowing a skiff and a ship in a bottle floating.
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Super holiday season
Posted on 4 January 2010 | Comments Off
The picture shows the sun setting behind Santa Cruz Island. I took the shot from Camarillo, at a friend’s house during a birthday party.
Parties
Posted on 21 December 2009 | Comments Off
After four parties, two trips to LAX and a boat ride it feels good to catch up on sleep.
End of the season
Posted on 7 December 2009 | Comments Off
Yesterday marked the end of the 2009 season. the last three races were sailed on Maine Squeeze and Fusee.
Mary and I teamed up for the Wild Turkey Classic, The AYC Fall Series and the PCYC TGIS series.
The Wild Turkey was unlucky for the Squeeze due to wind direction that only allowed us to fly the spinnaker for 20 minutes. Other boats, especially Wainui and Out Patient, were better designed for this reaching kind of sailing. Fun was had by all.
We sailed on Fusee in the Fall and TGIS Series and got a second and a first. The first place was a good way to end a great season! Mary and I are really enjoying sailing together.
Buccaneer Days
Posted on 7 October 2009 | Comments Off
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Beautiful wench Mary |
| This was my first Buccaneer Days. It’s been celebrated for twenty years and draws hundreds, maybe thousands of modern-day “pirates” who demand their ration of grog. Here we find a deckhand who was caught stealing rum. |
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Cap’n Harry sailed our crew to Cat Harbor on Catalina Island on his Beneteau 38, Fusee”. Leaving late on Thursday night, we arrived in the anchorage around 8 a.m. on Friday morning. |
| Doncha think Dave looks like Johnnie Dep? He and his bride, Sandra are regular crew on Fusee. |
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Small part of the crowd. They came in all sizes, colors and shapes. I never saw a thirstier crew. There were some great pirate outfits to look at. Some people went all-out. |
| Couple of buccaneers in full regalia | 
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A tent city sprang up. |
This was supposed to be a four day weekend trip, but due to gnarly seas, we spent an extra day. It was a good call and the return from Catalina to Channel Islands was easy and smooth. One bad thing did happen; we lost our inflatable dinghy during the night on Sat.
Ventura Cup
Posted on 23 September 2009 | Comments Off
Maine Squeeze sailed in the Ventura Cup again this year. This is a race with very tough competition. We placed 5th in Spinnaker A out of seven boats.
Ventura YC
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Awards party
Prison Break
Posted on 16 September 2009 | Comments Off
According to legend, a ship was denied entry into port because it was carrying prisoners. The ship sailed to Santa Cruz Island and dumped the prisoners, intending to retrieve them after visiting the port. When the ship returned, the prisoners were gone.
The Ventura Sailing Club sponsored a race/cruise called the Prison Break. Boats sail over to Prisoner’s Harbor on Saturday and have a big party. On Sunday, the boats haul up anchors and sail to the mainland without using motors.
I made the trip over to the island with Bill and Tina on their Catalina 42, Our Porpoise, and raced back on Maine Squeeze. MS got off to a great start, pulling ahead of the fleet in very light air.
As you can see, the party, hosted on Our Porpoise, was a success.
Maine Squeeze sailed to Victory with crew Richard and Paula, me, and Mike and Sherri.
Tequila Derby
Posted on 8 September 2009 | Comments Off
The Tequila Derby has two parts: a race from Ventura to Santa Barbara on Saturday and another back to Ventura on Monday.
As we motorsailed out of the harbor and headed for the start line, we were faced with choppy seas and about 15 knots of wind. Everyone donned foul weather suits as we took streams of water from the waves. Some in the fleet were feeling queezy. I was hopeful it would be a fast race. After the start, we quickly gained position and became the lead boat. Heading up the coast, we had good speed and were not too far off the rhumb line to the finish. Everything was going fine until we fell into a hole where the wind died. Had we gone offshore another mile or so we would have been in much better position. Live and learn. Everyone peeled out of the foulies as the sun warmed us. Our speed went from 6 knots to 2 knots in the last 6 miles of the course. Upon finishing, we learned that the other boats had gone offshore and beaten us (except for XS, who relied upon a malfunctioning GPS and sailed extra miles).
Anacapa YC sponsored the race and provided lots of food and drink for the crews to enjoy that evening. Doug Dodge was our host and did a great job accommodating the boats/crews. Later that night our crew went to Endless Summer where the drinks were cold and the one-man band was hot.
On Sunday we walked downtown after breakfast at the Breakwater. On the way we looked through the art faire on the beach by the pier. I visited the new Apple store on State Street. We returned after some refreshments and people watching on the busy street. Later that night we returned to Endless Summer where we were amused at the end of the evening by a young woman who was confused about how to behave in public.
The race back to Ventura was slow at first but as we reached out with the spinnaker up, we picked up speed. It was another war and sunny day, perfect for sailing.
Fusee’s crew consisted of Harry, George, Dave, Sandra, Bunni, Nannette, John, Brian and me. This was a great crew to sail with. Sorry, the pic of Nannette and Dave were out of frame.
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Another Fun Race
Posted on 31 August 2009 | Comments Off
When you combine a whacky race format like the Rotten Ralph Race with a great crew on a fun boat, the only possible result is cheek-itis (a condition caused by grinning too much).
Thanks to Harry, Bunni, Nannette, Dave, Sandra, Brian, George and Kyoko for having me along.
