Tawodi Sailing Adventures

Last weekend was my last weekend ashore for a while.  If all goes according to schedule, I’ll be leaving thursday to deliver a Hunter 456 to Hawaii, a trip of about three weeks.  Saturday started with a nice treat.  As I sat in the cockpit having breakfast a small group of dolphins came swimming through the commercial basin, where I keep the boat.  They were joined by a couple of our local sea-lions and they all circled around here in the mooring area.  I think dolphins are always a happy omen.

Once I rowed ashore, I spent the bulk of the day on the Motorcycle.  I went out to Pine Valley, then north to Mt. Palomar.  When I road the bicycle up Palomar a couple weeks ago, I didn’t stop at the museum.  This time I did, as well a having a bit of a walk around.

Sunday I had a relaxing morning, then went ashore and did my laundry.  I had a nice chat with my brother, he’s currently buying his first house and is quite excited.  By mid-day the domestic chores were done and I spent the rest of the afternoon riding my road bike around Point Loma, including my old friend, the hill up from the tide-pools at the Cabrillo monument.  I was home before dark and had a great evening, including a good talk with my parents on the phone.  Sunday evenings I’m able to listen to Vin Scelsa’s radio show on the satallite radio.  A nice chilly-chill evening and another great weekend in SoCal.

Barring anything unforeseen, I should be back near the end of April

The NOODs have returned to San Diego.  National Offshore One-Design racing.  Fleets of boats, all the same within each class are racing all around the area.  Race courses off the Coronado roadstead, outside Mission Bay and in south San Diego bay are all being utilized.  I imagine it was interesting in Mission Bay this weekend, what the large semi-organized inner-tube floatilla of drinkers (in defiance of the beach ban on alcohol).  Something like 7,000 people were expected to show up and get drunk while drifting on their tubes.  I’m sailing in the Flying Tiger fleet on a boat called Niuhi belonging to Paul and Julie McPhearson.  Our fleet is in South Bay (how that qualifies as Offshore I don’t know), with racing all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  We have finished with two days of fun sailing.  Today is Sunday and I’m on my way in a few minutes to get underway for Coronado Yacht Club.  The fleet is very competitive and the racing tight, so mark roundings can be exciting.  These boats are little hot-rods, lightweight and lots of power.  They perform well and we get off about 3 races a day.  Each race is a standard upwind/downwind with one race comprising 2 or 3 laps.  We sail with 7 people on the boat and we’ve got a good group of people.  It’s time now for me to go.  Be well.

Last weekend was one my favorite events, the start of daylight savings!  I wish it was daylight saving time all year, I really value the time after work when it is still light.  Saturday found me sailing in my smallest boat, my dinghy actually.  I sailed over to a friends marina and made a splice for them on a furling line.  They just recieved a Code 0 type sail and wanted to look at it right away.  The boat was turned around in the slip and the sail unrolled, using the line I just spliced.  Almost immediately the backstay failed, followed by the topping lift.  The only reason the mast didn’t fall down was because the main halyard was stowed on the end of the boom and by way of the mainsheet, provided some support.  Needless to say, the sail was rolled up and taken down quickly.  I sailed home and spent the evening enjoying Pod-casts of “This American Life”

On Sunday, I went for a double-bike ride.  This is what I call it when I carry my bicycle on my motorcycle.  I rode the motorbike, with the bicycle lashed alongside, out to Santa Ysabel.  I parked there and rode the bicycle up over Mesa Grande to Lake Henshaw, then up to the top of Mt Palomar, where the Hale observatory is located.  I rode back and was seriously dehydrated, dispite leaving with two water bottles and five snacks by the time I returned to Santa Ysabel, some 4 hours after I left.  I sat down in front of Don’s Market and downed a big Gatoraid, three bananas and an orange.  I recovered quickly, loaded the bike onto the bike and rode to O.B. for dinner at the Barbeque House and a drink at Cheswicks.  Then I rode home, then I rowed home.

Next weekend NOOD racing comes to San Diego.  I’ll be sailing on a Flying Tiger all day Fri, Sat and Sun.

Be well- Enjoy the Sunshine! (for those of you not in So-Cal and without sunshine, Sorry)

San Diego survived the tsunami, but we did have some drama.  First, it started with a stormy morning.  I needed to take the boat downtown for my annual safety inspection.  The wind was blowing me sideways as I released the mooring line, which fouled on a bow fitting and caused me to swing into my neighbors boat.  I, the human fender threw myself between the boats, preventing harm.  I was able to reach a real fender, jam it into the fray, then leap aboard and run forward to clear the foul, then dash back to the helm for full forward throttle.  I just barely avoided ugly damages.  Once I got to the inspection dock, I was pinned against it by the wind.  I had four fenders out and all were squished flat.  I passed the inspection, but had to wait for a lull to leave.  I made it safely back to the mooring, no small feat when alone with a bit of wind, then it really got interesting.  The tidal action began around 12:30pm with the water rising and falling with about 20 minutes from one to the other.  I tracked the depth with my digital sounder.  The full moon is tonight, Feb 28th, so the tide was already extreme.  The scheduled low was for 14:26 and by that time the tidal wave action was beginning to peak.  I saw the biggest change just after 15:00 when the water depth at my mooring dropped from 15.3′ to 8.2′, again, in less than 20 minutes.  The current was huge and mooring floats were buried underwater.  There was so much slack in the mooring lines that boats were tangling with each other.  It didn’t help that along with fast current we had fierce wind blasts and squally weather with rain.  By 1800 it was all mostly over with not too much real harm, although there were some damaged boats and docks.  Much better that it arrive during a low tide.  A little over 30 years ago, we had one hit during a high tide and many marina docks came off the top of their pilings, along with shoreside facilities flooded.

Sunday was beautiful.  I did laundry in the morning then spent most of the day riding my bicycle.  My friend and neighbor Michelle joined me in the afternoon and we rode up to the Mt Soledad cross.  It felt good to be out on the bike.  I’ve been so busy with sailing that I haven’t been for a ride in weeks.  Now I just need a shower.