2/26/12 – Grand Marina, Alameda, CA
Yesterday we planned on going for a nice sail and spending
the night at Clipper Cove to get a little more practice anchoring, but the wind
seemed really gusty and strong so it turned into an Autumn Wind project day. First up was installing our new 80amp
breaker for the windless. Once we pulled
the electrical panel apart we quickly discovered that the old one wasn’t broken
at all. We just didn’t know how it
worked, so we thought it was broken.
Lesson learned & fifty bucks saved.
Next project was to add a second 12V outlet to the nav station. It didn’t seem impossible, but it seemed a
lot easier to buy a splitter and call it a day.
Since we seem to have an endless number of projects in front of us, we
went with the splitter. 12 bucks saved. So at this point we’re almost making
money!
Off to trusty West Marine to get some part for Brian’s
projects now. A couple of shinny
stainless screws and a cord organizer latter I set to work drilling holes in
our boom. Before I even got started
Elizabeth had already finished her awesome cord organizer project. Organization is awesome! After getting myself pumped, I started to
drill holes in the boom. It’s scary
drilling holes in the boat. They seem so
permanent. A little later I had 13
holes drilled in the boom and my new reef track mounted. How exciting!
Let hope it works as planned.
2/27/12 – Clipper Cove, CA
We gave the new reefing system a try and with a few tweeks,
I think it’ll be a great addition. There
was no wind so we decided to stop by Clipper Cove and drop the anchor for lunch
just cause. Within minutes of getting there
the wind kicked up to 15 knots or so.
Sometimes you just can’t win. The entrance to Clipper Cove is shallow and you are supposed to stay close to the pier on the North side and follow the shorline in until it gets deeper. Once in you are pretty safe. This tactic put us on a collision course with about about 100 little sailboats from SF Yacht Club departing from the boat ramp getting ready to start a race. Even though we were under power there was no way to dodge them all, so with a little yelling, swerving and throttle we made it thru and anchored just off the beach for some lunch. Elizabeth keenly noticed the
winery on shore and was feeling a little jealous of all the people heading in. Maybe next time. This day we were content to watch the racing and have some lunch before heading back thru the maze of racing boats.
