Delta Ditch Run

Elise did the Delta Ditch Run this year - one of my favorite events even though it goes inland. I like it because most years it is a 70 mile downwind race - it can be light or windy, but it takes good tactical work, some nice boat handling skills as there are many boats and narrow channels and you head into warm weather. 

This year we did it with new crew and opted for fun - we took the grill and we took turn at driving and doing boat stuff so very much a practice event. 

At that particular time Satch driving, Alex and Vlad doing trim, Nat doing pit  and Caitlin doing foredeck.

Sunset on the delta. How beautiful

a collection of spinnakers - a beautiful sight.

The delta

We met a big ship :)

PAU!

We spotted a hobie - I think they ended up 2nd overall

A beautiful foggy morning before leaving

Getting to the Carquinez bridge

On the way to the Start Line with the new genoa

The happy team!

Yup - holiday spirit

Light air sailing. Takes concentration...

Getting ready to start

We tried Elise's new spinnaker

Satch prepared wonderful grilled dinner - hamburgers for everyone and I ate a pound of grilled salmon!

Caitlin brought music so we had a party with dinner!

The kite had a lot of paper pieces sticking to it which we had to remove with the boat hook to look half decent

Light air also requires active weight management

These two pictures were purchased from H2Oshots with Elise powering up on a head stay reach.

The return trip was the tough part - over the years we have realized that motoring back is still the fastest way overall (as taking the mast down, staging a vehicle, driving back, stepping the mast again, etc... also requires a lot of time) so long as we can take shifts and sleep on the boat.

So we did this. We took the big engine and motored back. We had very light air sailing down so it was a long trip and we finished well into the night. We had 30 knots on the nose for hours on the way back!!! And short steep waves in the shallow water. It took skills and hard work to make it through.

Fortunately the wind abated after we got to San Pablo bay and we did have nice flood current to help us through the waves? We were very happy with a heavy brunch on the way back though!

What a weekend!