CATALINA 30 – FLEET 1

FALL ‘10 NEWSLETTER

Summer Sailing and Fleet Week

My apologies for not getting things going for the Fleet sooner.  I planned to get a newsletter out early this year and some cruises scheduled, but things just didn’t work out the way I planned.  I ended up getting the boat out twice, and unfortunately spending way too much time working.  And for 15% less!  I seem to recall something about the best laid plans of mice and men going awry.  Don’t know about the mice, but mine did.  And now I am seeing Christmas decorations in Home Depot! 

As I reported last Fall, we had a great National Championship on the Bay.  The weather was excellent, and we had a nice turn out of boats in all three classes.  Mike and Lorianna Kastrop did a great job coordinating all the efforts for the Nationals, and we ended up with some money in the bank.  So all in all, a great result.

The weather has been cool this summer, even up here in Sacramento.  I did help a friend take his boat to Santa Cruz, and we didn’t see sun until we got close to Santa Cruz  on the second day.  I am hoping for some nice October and November weather so I can get some time in on the water.    

I hope everyone else had a nice summer and got their boats out.  I saw one of our Fleet members, Mike and Lorianna of Goose, joined the Delta Doo Dah for a week anchored out at the “Bedrooms” in the Delta.  I didn’t get up to the Delta this year, but it is certainly on my schedule for next year.  Mike and Lorianna are also heading up the C-30 contingent in the YRA Fleet.  Right now Goose is in 1st place, with the Russell/Houlston/Woodruff group on Huge in 2nd place and Laurie Miller holding done 3rd place in Starkite.  After that there are a bunch of other (non C-30) boats in the remaining places of the SF180 YRA class.  Way to go C-30’s, showing the other boats how it’s done.

Well, it is late in the year, but it is not too late to plan out coming out for Fleet Week next weekend.  This year Fleet Week starts with a full airshow rehearsal on Friday, October 8th from 1 to 4 p.m.  A parade of ships is scheduled on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with the airshow on both Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.  The highlight of the show is always the Blue Angels who start their performance around 3 p.m.  It is also real amazing to see a 747 out there flying real low and slow.

For sailors, one of the best places to watch the show is comfortably anchored in Aquatic Park.  The nice thing about SF County regulations is sailboats can come into Aquatic Park and anchor out, but power boats are prohibited.  So if you don’t have anything on the calendar this weekend, come on out.  The only word of caution is to look out for swimmers in the water.  I know it’s crazy, but they swim in Aquatic Park at all hours of the day and night.

I am planning on leaving Vallejo at 0’dark-thirty on Friday for the City.  That should put me in Aquatic Park for lunch.  (One of the few benefits of furlough Friday.)  I am planning on staying through Sunday morning and then riding the flood back to Vallejo.  If you can break free, come out and anchor Friday night, or head over for the day on Saturday or Sunday.  Just be aware that the Coast Guard enforces a restricted area on the City front during the practice on Friday, and during the activities on Saturday and Sunday.  So if you are heading out Friday night or Saturday morning, make sure you time your arrival after 4 p.m. on Friday or before 10 a.m. or so on Saturday so you can get into Aquatic Park.  Otherwise, you will be slopping around in the Bay, dodging all the other boats out there.  And if you get down, stop by and say ‘hi.’

Dinner in November

I thought I would plan a dinner in early November to keep in contact with everyone.  I asked Lorianna to check on the schedule at South Beach Yacht Club and see if there are any open dates that we can use.  If there are, we can schedule a casual evening of pizza and drinks and talk about plans for next year.  I will send out a short newsletter after Fleet Week to update everyone on the airshow and dinner.  I will also update our website with some pictures of the weekend.  If anyone has photos of their summer adventures on their boat that they would like to share, let me know and I will see if we can put them up on the website as well.  I am also planning on looking into our C-30 Yahoo user’s group and block that bozo(s) who is/are sending garbage mail out on it.  (If you know who it is, tell them to knock it off.)

So that’s it from here.  Plan to get away next week if you can.  After all, is it better to be lost at sea or found at work?

 

Jim Sobolewski     

Fleet Captain, Fleet 1  

s/v Bella Luna 

SOBOL748@aol.com

916.425.3469 (cell)