The Boate

memorial sunday

a simply excellent day out there on the bay. cary was home for the weekend from new york, daniel dent came along and captured some cool images, and the dual captains piloted the boate some 24.66 nautical miles in seven and half hours of easygoing light summer wind. temperature was quite warm, and the boate averaged 3.2 knots/hour, with a maximum speed of 7.7 knots/hour reached. we travelled out to paradise cove, casually followed the shore north to san quentin, then meandered over towards the east brother light house and just north of point orient before heading back home to the berkeley marina. more photos, from steen's camera, are here.

more adventures in the marina

AIM IM with Bret Haller
10:20 PM
Bret Haller: so is that gps rocking?
Eric Haller: y
Eric Haller: my achilles tendon is wailed though
Bret Haller: what did ya do to it
Eric Haller: caught it between the boate and another boat
Bret Haller: ouch
Eric Haller: can barely walk
Bret Haller: ouch
10:25 PM
Eric Haller: gotta nice hardboiled egg on my lower calf
Bret Haller: bummer. who was with you
Eric Haller: everything was sweet
Eric Haller: there was a storm coming in
Eric Haller: we had like 25knot wind
Eric Haller: and swells
Eric Haller: totally soaked
Bret Haller: damn. who was on the boate
Eric Haller: but we handled it beautifully
Eric Haller: alberto and i
Eric Haller: then we sailed into the marina
Eric Haller: i brought her down to where the hornblowers are
Eric Haller: executed a perfect quick tack back into the wind
Eric Haller: dropped the sails
Bret Haller: nice
Eric Haller: al's hat flew off
Bret Haller: you getting pretty good at captaining?
Eric Haller: so i'm like
Eric Haller: ok hold on
Eric Haller: we'll go get it
Bret Haller: hat overboard drill
Eric Haller: we go past it
Eric Haller: just like with kin on sunday
Eric Haller: then i hear al say "we just ran over it"
Bret Haller: heh
Eric Haller: im all like....good
Eric Haller: hehe
Eric Haller: then the engine stalls
Bret Haller: hahah
Eric Haller: i look down the transom and i see the fucking hat wrapped around the prop!!!
Bret Haller: hahahahha
Bret Haller: you shoulda whopped out the cam
Eric Haller: too busy fending off the other boats we were trying to collide with
Bret Haller: damn
Bret Haller: gettin yer skillz down
Eric Haller: y
10:30 PM
Eric Haller: some dumbass was motoring around us not helping that much
Eric Haller: al threw him a line
Eric Haller: he tied it onto his stern
Eric Haller: then takes it off and throws it in the water
Bret Haller: haha
Bret Haller: wtf
Eric Haller: dunno
Eric Haller: so by that time i've jumped off and onto the dock and i have a handle on the boate
Eric Haller: the hat has, in the interim, dislodged itself
Eric Haller: and our prop is no longer fouled
Eric Haller: so i started her up and we cruised to our slip
Eric Haller: but it was pretty hairy for a while
Bret Haller: sounds like it
Bret Haller: thats pretty rocking tho
Bret Haller: all in a captains day work
Eric Haller: hahaha

more photos

man overboard drills

kin and i decided to do a little cruising on this beautiful sunday afternoon. we hoisted the main while still in the marina, and while pulling the halyard taut, kin lost his hat overboard. i turned us around almost immediately, slacking the main sheet and heading straight for the hat. we passed it another couple times, and finally grappled it aboard with a deck brush.
out of the marina, we headed up the bay towards red rock and the san rafael bridge. the bay is really big up there. we sailed a couple times around the bed and breakfast light house island up there, trying to read the signs on it and in general scoping the place out. we motorsailed on the way back, as we had a bit of a late start and the sun was beginning to make its way down. we pulled into the marina exactly as the sun dipped below the horizon. more photos .

night voyagers

phil and i were sitting around trying to decide where to go to dinner, when we spontaneously decided to sail over to the city and watch fireworks instead. more pics here.

sweet day

the wind was blowing pretty good when we headed out of the marina today, with emily, alberto, phil and i aboard. we actually spent a fair amount of time discussing what our strategy would be to reef in the main, in the interest of being a well-prepared crew. as it was, the breeze tapered off somewhat as the afternoon progressed. we made ripping good time sailing over to angel island, but as we reached the entrance to raccoon straits, the wind seemed to be shifting quite a bit, and some of the crew had places to be, so we aborted our course around windward of angel island. phil was being camera shy, so one of his favorite vessels, the hornblower, graciously consented to fill in (pun intended) for the photo collage below...and of course, the obligatory wearing-of-steen's-captain-hat-in-absentia-to-make-him-sort-of-jealous duties were performed by new swabby emily:

variable winds and weather

it was an unpredictable day out on the boate today. i picked up jee and steen from the bart, and there was nary a breeze. there was much consternation expressed concerning the apparent lack of wind. i pointed to the top of the nearest tree, which was gently moving with a wee puff of breeze. as we approached the marina, the flags were waving around quite energetically. we headed south out of the marina, through the gap at the end of the existing berkeley pier. the wind picked up, although it was gusty and changing directions pretty rapidly. we sailed through about 10 of the microclimates that the bay area is famous for on our way to leeward of treasure island, under the bay bridge, and towards the city. we put our jackets on, and took them off again, probably 5 or 6 times. as we neared the city, we were talking about the feasibility of cruising the boate to hawaii. this story came up as a topic of discussion. then, the wind became a bit too strong, and the swells had picked up. it was time to head home. after, of course, a visit to juan's.

the building of the new bay bridge span is a pretty awesome undertaking, and all the cranes and pylons and barges and whatnot provided a very massive-scale scenic back drop to our thoroughly enjoyable day. oh, and get a good look at steen's hat, because now it swims with the fishes. UPDATE: more pix here.

arrrrghhh

something rotten's in the bilge!

waiting for a welder

the boate is down for the next couple of days while i wait for the metal machinist in the berkeley marina center to come back from his bender. they think he's coming back monday. i have his phone number, and i am told he is "gruff" but good.