Elise

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The bridge

In San Francisco, even the Bay goes up and down - that's a 12% grade right there

Inevitably, the majestic Golden Gate Bridge is part of our photo collection for our leisure sail on Oct 23.

Saling on Ay Caliente!

German lunch

Aaron does it right

Very maritime liquor cabinet on Ay Caliente

The Sunday after the Midwinter, Aaron hosted a German American and French yuppie summit on Ay Caliente - the PERFECT party boat, and so well maintained...

Check out the website, it's awesome and Aaron is a self-taught sailor, who has logged thousands of miles in the Bay!!!

http://www.aycalientesailing.com/

Berkeley MidWinters - Race 1

The foredeck Nat is foredecking

Our tactician Steve posing

Our trimmer Mark trimming

Our other trimmer Roger pulling his weight

Our driver Nathan driving

The Berkeley crew was

Nathan - driving

Nat - foredeck

Steve - pit and tactics

Roger - trim

Mark - trim

We had a great start...and good upwind speed. For some reason, crappy downwind speed. Not sure what's going on, usually it's one of our strong points. Wondering if it has to do with the rig issue...

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Putting Elise in the water - countdown

should you or should you not keep your Express 27 (or boat less than 30 ft or so) out of the water?

It's definitely cheaper (the spot is cheaper), and it is cheaper maintenance-wise: you may not need any bottom paint at all (Elise has some but that's because we do some long distance races that will require her to spend a couple of weeks in one place at the other end, she has a really really light anti-fouling). Boats that will remain in the water may need a dive every now and then to scrub off the bottom and once a year a haul out to do a thorough cleaning job. Bottom jobs probably every 3 years or so. It usually is a little easier to find spots ... not always but often.

It's a little hassle whenever you want to put the boat in and take it out of the water: with experience and 2 people, we can do it in 15-20 minutes (timed with Nathan) - you would have to rig the boat anyway afterwards, so that's not time you save there, and it's possible to just put the main up or the engine up and go and rig up the rest underway for most races.

If you are going to race both days over the weekend, it is usually possible to leave the boat in the water overnight. So you put it down on Saturday morning and you haul it out on Sunday night.

Supervising the cleaning up of dock lines and fenders...

Verifying that the mast is still up

Checking to see if the bar's open at the Golden Gate Yacht Club

Admiring the Lady in the water. She's white and blue, very very blue. Herve worked the 'hoist' (basically playing with buttons...), after he was done he said 'I had so much fun! Just like a little kid playing with robots! Got to do this again!'

Herve looking proud

Reversing back into the hoist area. Herve's comment was 'wow, what a nice line'

hehe...proud mother feeling...

Pulling the boat out of the slip

Getting ready to pull out

Securing the mule

Connecting the mule to the trailer (it's blue, it's very very blue)

Lining up the mule and the trailer (note: I am wearing a 'St Tropez Voiles 2009' shirt that Herve brought back from France for me!)

Getting the mule out of the shed

Unloading the car close to the dock (I'll park it legally after that!)

A day out with Herve and Heidy

a 420! French design...that's the dinghy my family owns back in France, and the dinghy Herve used to race on. What a coincidence!

Heidy ready to take pictures...Nat thinking that she should have fixed the boat cover earlier...you'll notice that Elise is growing into a tree...

Beautiful view as the fog lifted

a happy man

Quote of the day:

"Roger: galley treats?"

Quote of the day from Herve (who had brought a bottle of wine)

'Oh crap, I wasn't thinking. Do you have a corkscrew?"

Nat responding: 'Herve, this is a French boat. Of course we have a corkscrew. And glasses."

Herve as the boat was going downwind/reach: 'wow, she's fast!'

I bet you don't get to see the Golden Gate bridge from that angle very often...

Product placement: Stanford Graduate School of Business...

Herve to Nat: 'this is a civilized country after all, they sail 420s'

This was Heidy's first time on a boat. Ever. And here she is setting the cunningham. She ran around a few time pulling various lines...helped with jibes and all...Pretty handy for a first day!