Corinthian Blogs

Opening Day on the Bay 2012

The weather was stunningly beautiful and warm the entire weekend for Opening Day on the Bay 2012.  That had the downside of a no-wind bobfest Friday Night Race that nobody finished - but Saturday and Sunday more than made up for it.  Seaya ended up with a front row seat at CYC and was dressed in the usual assortment of flags.  Saturday was fun day with members and Alison, Chris and John from the Seaya crew around for a great time just hanging out.  Sunday was more of the same, with the blessing of the fleet in the morning and a little mayhem over at Sams in the afternoon thrown in for good measure.  A great weekend seemed to be had by everyone - and we look forward to a “blessed” sailing season.

It was exciting yet somber on Friday April 20 at CYC as the 2012 Friday Night Races got underway.  The somber mood reflected the feeling across the SF Bay sailing community in light of last week’s tragic loss of 5 lives in the Crewed Farallones Race aboard Low Speed Chase.  The race was the first since the incident.  Yet almost as if to celebrate the spirit of those who were lost, turnout for the race was amazing.  In fact almost 50 boats showed up to sail, despite only about 40 being registered!!  Prior to the start, there was a moment of silence, and the Tiburon Fire Department boat shot streams of water into the air in honor of our lost fellow sailors.

The race itself was otherwise relatively uneventful, there was plenty of wind to get around the course, though not enough to cause any real stress.  The wind angle made crossing the start line on starboard tack impossible, and Seaya was second across the line on port tack in front of a bunch of starboard boats who were just unable to shut us out.  The race went out to Little Harding mark and back.  We held our second place position all the way around the course, and corrected out third place as Kira corrected out ahead of us by 14 seconds.  All in all a fun sail, brightening the mood of the sailors, and the post race party on the CYC deck saw crowds of smiling faces. Thats what sailing is supposed to be about.

Friday, April 20, 2012

St Patty’s Day - Rob Moore Memorial Race

Seaya was out on March 17 during a break in the storms for the Rob Moore memorial race, a “bonus” race of the Corinthian Midwinters.  The race was to be up to Yellow Bluff in Sausalito then around Angel Island and back up Raccoon Straights to finish, but alas, the wind did not hold and no one finished.  The memorial to Rob was nice as each boat was given roses to throw into the water at the weather mark to honor Rob.  The picture of us above appeared in Lectronic Latitude’s story about the race.  The skipper wore the green St. Patty’s day hat in honor of a famous picture of Rob where he is wearing all sorts of hilarious headgear.

After it was apparent we weren’t going to finish - we did get some spinnaker practice in with the crew, some of whom had never sailed under spinnaker before.  So a fun sail, and a good remembrance of Rob, despite the wind eventually disappearing.

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Winter Sailing on SF Bay

Seaya went out for some light wind spinnaker practice on March 4.  Despite the calendar saying something about winter, short sleeves were the order of the day, even with a north wind!  A 10 knot breeze meant perfect conditions for practicing spinnaker maneuvers; heck Blake even let Otto do quite a bit of the driving.   After a nice run downwind toward SF, we sailed back to CYC for socializing with friends and a great CYC dinner.

Seaya Takes 3rd in Class in 2012 CYC Midwinter

The February weekend of the 2012 CYC Midwinter saw Seaya stumble a bit from the perch atop the standings we had established with two wins in the January weekend.  The sun was out, but winds were light for both Saturday and Sunday racing, and we struggled to stay up with boats we owe time to.  On Saturday, after a 2 hour postponement, the committee sent us on a short 3 mile course in hopes we could make it around and back to the Club in time for some socializing.  A big windshift about 1 minute before the start left us in a very unfavorable position and we watched most of the fleet start in front of us.  With light winds, we were unable to claw back time and we finished 8th on the day, dropping us from first to third overall in the regatta.  On Sunday, similar conditions prevailed and the committee ended up assigning the same short course.  However this time we got a much better start, rolled 2 boats on the way to the first reach mark, and held out for third on the day, which solidified our third place overall for the regatta.

Back ashore, the skipper (unbeknownst beforehand) was assigned the duty of emceeing the trophy ceremony.  So Dad brought Blake up to help hand out the trophies, which resulted in a proud Dad moment as he got to receive his 3rd place trophy from his daughter!

Here's a video with highlights of our Puddle Jump.
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Here's a recap and summary of Calou's three year voyage:
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