November 13, 2011 Cruise on the Bay

After arriving in Sausalito late Thursday afternoon, we mostly played for two days in Sausalito, including a lovely night with some dockmates at the Cavallo Point bar (leather seats, sophisticated atmosphere) and the Presidio Yacht Club bar (stripper poles, hamburgers and a live band!).  We did get several good hours of work in on Cool Change on Saturday: Rick pulled lead wire through the boat for the windlass and for 12-volt receptacles at the helm, and Cindy restored about 2/3rds the interior teak – both very satisfying accomplishments.  We finally got out on the bay on Sunday.  There wasn’t much wind but we did our best, using our motor to supplement the wind.  Below is our route.  We had to double back on ourselves just as we got out into the slot into some wind, due to an outgoing oil tanker, so we didn’t get very far – just out around Alcatraz and back home.  Our highlight of the day was returning to dock.  It was slack tide by then, and there was no wind, so we decided it was perfect conditions to try our luck at backing into our slip.  It took each of us a couple of times to line it up right, but in the end, we both successfully docked Cool Change by backing in to our slip.  That is not an easy task with the type of rudder-keel combination we have, which is designed to keep the boat tracking, not turning, especially in reverse!  But it is an important skill to have, not only because we’ll have to prove our ability to do so as part of our US Sailing coursework, but also, and more importantly, because there will be times while cruising where it will be necessary.  For once, we got back to dock and got the boat and ourselves cleaned up and ready to drive home at a decent hour, arriving back home in the early evening.

Started at 9:26 a.m., 5 hours on the water, 13.9 NM, average speed 2.9 kts; max speed 7.1 kts (thanks to a flood tide), clear skies in the high 60's, wind max 8 kts

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