Windjammers

There were only 9 boats at the start of the race - 1 in the cruising division and 8 in the racing division, including Elise, double-handed by Nat and Nathan.

Weather forecast was for 25 knots out of the North West pretty much all day so when we saw blowing 10 knots at the start we still opted for the small jib.

Elise was the slowest boat type in the event which had a huge rating range - starting at 1... and going to 129. It makes for a potentially unfair race as boats could be racing in very different conditions, solely by the virtue of being a different boat type.

The start was pretty conservative. We started at the pin end and tacked immediately to make our way to the gate

Flat water from the recent flood and lighter winds made for a really fast sail out.

Nathan contemplating life ahead

The moon was hanging over the Golden Gate Bridge - it was beautiful. We would be treated to wonderful sights all day actually.

Elise sails under the gate. Oh man, this main is super well trimmed. 

 It was an early ebb so we stayed on the side to take advantage of the current on our way out. Like everyone else really...

Fisherman's boat coming home followed by A LOT of birds eager to get a piece of the action.

It was super warm at the beginning so I was quite happy in shorts and T-shirts. We chose not to go too far offshore as the wind were steady about 7 miles from the shore or so.

We were worried that come night time despite a strong forecast, the wind might die and that we would be becalmed in a hole super close to Monterey Bay, getting ready for a really really long night...

As the wind picked up we added clothes - this caused me to be seasick as the seas were also super confused with no prominent swell. I was mostly OK most of the day but painted the deck once and fed the fish another time during the passage. When I wasn't driving (we swapped driving duties every hour or so to keep sharp), I lay down waiting to die :)

It was heavy air so we put up France, Elise's heavy weather spinnaker. bigger cloth and narrower shoulder.

Elise was doing 8 to 12 knots steady - we saw 25-27 knots and the boat really likes this downwind. We managed to set the kite right after Half Moon Bay as the land recedes a bit and we went from a beam reach to a broad reach. We saw a lot of sea life. This bird was super curious about the spinnaker and kept doing turns around the boat, probably riding some weird air currents.

We used our gybe into Monterey Bay to swap to Frog, our lighter air kite as the wind was in the high teens by the evening and was forecast to stay like that.

We were catching up the boats in the cruising divisions and some of the boats in the racing division. However they chose to go inshore and we stayed out. Tough choice. It was a split from the boats we were catching up to but it carried the risk of having the wind die over there and being waterlined to the finish. Ultimately it proved to be perhaps the wrong choice.

We cross the paths of hundreds and hundreds of dolphins!! Large ones. A few played with Elise surfing for a little while and then rejoined their group. It was amazing.

Very similar to what I was during my Transpac qualifier last year. Hard to capture on film - I did a video but I am not sure if I got much of the action.

The sunset was stunning. I was quite happy not looking having recently repainted the deck but Nathan captured it for all of us to see.

Wow

A sky of awesomeness

We flew the kite up until about half a mile from the finish as we then need to turn upwind to make it to the municipal pier. We carried the big genoa as by then the wind was down to 7 or 8 knots.

Sailing along the broadwalk early in the evening. We made it at about 930, the fastest run ever for Elise who did the event 4 times now. Once with Nathan single handing her to victory.

Ultimately we got an attendance award for being the first in the short-handed division. Of one boat.

Except for two pics, the photos are Nathan's.