Sailing, Zen Recreation


I started sailing in grad school. I got turned onto it by a coworker and it stuck. When my parents split up, my dad bought a boat for my mom to live on (yea, that's also another story). Well, I really used the boat more than any of them, so eventually I bought it from him.

The boat is in San Francisco Bay, the most amazing place to sail in the world. The geography is such that we have great wind almost all summer. The down side to that is that the wind is cold and often wet (we call it fog). But, the bay is big enough that you can sail to where the sun is almost any day. So, depending on what kind of sailing you want, you sail different parts of the bay. The section right in front of the Golden Gate (known as the slot, the wind tunnel, the washing maching and the like) is where you go for the big wind. The bay south of the San Francisco Bay Bridge is often less windy and alot more warm, until late afternoon when the fog comes in over San Francisco. The north bay can be the mellowest, although the wave patterns can be rough. During the winter the sailing is very different. With the exception of the stormy days, the winter is characterized by warm, windless days. Winter sailing is very relaxing. In addition to sail boats, the bay is often quite busy, alot of big ships move through the bay. While the rules of the road give the right of way to sail boats, they must yield to commercial traffic. Besides, you don't stop the big ships on a dime.

Besides recreational sailing, I like to teach. The last couple of years I've taught Youth Sailing. It was a simple program that started with kids from San Francisco and taught basic sailing skills. By the time we were done, they really could sail. For graduation, they sailed around Alcatraz Island, in the windiest part of the Bay. We taught in cooperation with the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors. This is an orgainzation that deserves everyone's support. They make sailing accessible for the physically disabled. They have special boats that are adaptive so anyone can sail. We use their Freedom Independances to teach Youth Sailing. They are like 20 foot dingies, except they a super stable.

I also teach grown up crews how to race. This can be a blast. A lot of sailors are afraid to race because it seems so intense. But if you want to improve your sailing skills, racing is a great way to do it. It keeps you thinking about what's happening with the boat, and how you're sailing relative to other boats. Each year I try to work with at least a half dozen crews. With a little help, anyone can race, and once you're comfortable, it's a great sport.


Our Boat

CNSO 9.9 Meter Sloop


This is a CNSO 9.9 Meter Sloop. Built in France in 1971 and shipped to the Bay Area. It is built like a tank. Everything on the boat is way oversized, except the berths. So after I bought the boat I did a two year refit of the entire interior. All new woodwork, mahogany, teak, I think it turned out very well. I do not race this boat. There are two reasons. First, it's increadably slow. Back in 1971 designs were very different that today. Upwind she sails very well to her rating, but down wind, you might as well be parked. The second reason I don't race my own boat, I have to pay the repair bills when something goes wrong.

I'm not sure if there are any other CNSO's around. The only other one I knew of in the bay area had a little plumbing accident and sunk in it's slip. If you've got one of these boat, or know of someone who has one, I'd love to hear from you.


The other thing I love about sailing, is RACING.

I'm a good solid club racer. I've sailed with the "Rock Stars" once or twice, but that level of commitment is a little more that I can do. So I race YRA and Beer Can level. Every year or so I try to do one long offshore race. I have never done a TransPac or Pacific Cup, one day I'd like to try.

Since I'm 6 feet tall and weigh only 154 pounds (no I'm not skinny, I just have no fat on me) and am very strong and agile (aren't home pages great) I'm the perfect bowman. If you sail, you know what that is, if you don't sail, the bowman is the most important crew on the boat. The bowman is responsible for all sorts of things like calling the line at the start, setting and changing headsails and spinnakers (the big colorful sails) and handling the spinnaker pole during gybes. It can also be a place you can get real hurt. But, it's fun, and I enjoy it.

I started racing on a Cal 31, not much of a racer, but I got a spot on the crew and it was a good learning experience. We were not very good. We did alot of bad things. In retrospect, it's served me pretty well, since I also learned how to recover from bad things, and ultimately, how to avoid them altogether.

Since then I've sailed all sorts of things.


J-24

These are great boats. I love one-design racing. It really keeps the racing interesting knowing when you're in front, or in back, without worrying about handicapping is great. Since Js came out there have been alot of other fast one-designs, but this is the first planing one-design I remember.


Catalina 27

Another great one design. Not particually fast, but there are alot of them and their affordable. If you sail them hard you can sail them way beyond their rating. I sailed in one Catalina 27 Nationals (we took second). I also crewed on one of these for years in the Beer Can Races.


Islander 28

I haven't sailed these alot, but they're fun boats. In one race we were so far ahead that we didn't know that we'd rounded the wrong mark for five minutes. That's how long it took for the second place boat to sail to that mark and keep going.


Santana 30-30

Great boat in light winds, a bear to manage in anything close to strong winds. This may be the original "Round Hound". The trick to these things is keep it flat. Usually that means underpower the boat and you'll go faster. Also, the modified larger rudder helps alot.


Hunter 31

If anyone knows how to tune this rig, let me know (it's got one of Hunter's double diamond rigs). This has been the boat I've raced most in the past couple of years. In light winds we're very competetive, as the wind builds, we have alot of trouble pointing as high as the competition. I'm pretty sure that the rig is not well tuned and that it shows up more as the wind speed increases.


Santana 35

These are super boats on San Francisco Bay. The fractional rig makes the spinnakers managable even when the wind is over 20 knots, which it is alot on the Bay. These boats were produced from a design originally intended to be 41 feet long, so they have very little reserve bouyance forward. Keeping weight off the bow is very important. Also, you've got to sail this boat flat.


Baltic 51

Alright, I know, this is not what you'd think of as a race boat. But that's what a handicap system does for you . Any boat you can rate, you can race. This is a super boat. Big, strong and stable. We've raced this boat down the California coast a couple of times and when it's blowing 30 knots with gusts to 45, you can still keep the spinnaker up (we have a Chicken Chute just for conditions like this).


I've sailed dozens of other boats, ranging from dingies to Swans, someday I'd love the chance to sail something like a Santa Cruz 70 or a maxi, well everyone has to have dreams.


Some Sailing Links

San Francisco Sailing Homepage
More San Francisco Sailing
The Racing Crew List
Realtime SF Bay Winds
Tide Tables
Weather Information


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