May 27, 2005:  Last weekend involved yet more sailing and learning.  We've finally got the hang of trimming the sails at all points of sail.  Last weekend we took out some friends on both Saturday and Sunday.  The K family joined us on Saturday and, god bless them, provided an excellent lunch for Summerwings' crew.  Even Ben and Dale got steak!   

On Sunday we took out the McA family.  Unfortunatley there was little wind and we ended up motoring around San Pablo Bay for a few hours.

Yesterday was an excllent day.  With 25 knot winds we headed out towards Alcatraz under a reefed main and jib.  Kim spotted several seals and, as we came into the lee of Angel Island we unreefed and set a new speed record for Summerwings,  11.5 knots in 18 knots of wind on a close reach.  With our new trimming skills we also saw 5 knots running downwind in 12 knots of wind.  It just keeps getting better despite the fact that a paddle wheeler, the San Francisco Belle, managed to outrun us by a knot or two.  Check the photo to the right.

We also finally have a haulout date for the boat.  As of next Wednesday, June 1st, the boat will be out of the water for about 2 weeks.  During the haulout, in addition to scrapping and painting, we'll work to insatll the grounding plates for our SSB radio.

May 18, 2005:  More sailing with friends this week.  Our good friends T & S came down from the Sierras for the "Bay To Breakers" race.  Saturday we went sailing  and Sunday we ate a big breakfast with Ms. T while Mr. S sweated his way across San Francisco.  A couple of pics of  our weekend have been included on the photo page.

We are also awaiting the date for our haulout that should be occurring within the next week or so.  The entire bottom is set to be scraped, epoxied, and painted.  Those of you who drive Hwy 101 through central San Rafael may have noticed a large orange crane on the north side of the freeway.  The boatyard recently installed the crane and it means we can be hauled out 2 miles from the marina we live in rather than travelling all the way up to Napa. Once the boat has been hauled out I'll include some photos of her flying through the air over San Rafael. 

May 11, 2005:  Yesterday we sailed with our friend Mr. R and had a nice day on the bay.  Today things got more interesting as we gave Ben & Dale their first rides in the dinghy.  Both got in and out the dinghy with minimal use of treats.  Dale really seemed to enjoy the ride while Ben was a little skeptical at first.  After he got a whiff of the interesting smells around the marina, he perked up and also seemed to enjoy the ride.  Photos of these excursions are on our photo page.

May 6th, 2005:  8 knots in 25 knots of wind under a reefed main and jib as we sailed down the bay on a close reach.  A friend came along and commented that we really seemed to know what we were doing and worked well as a team.  One fooled, 4 billion to go.

Kim fixed a nice lunch which we ate as we cruised under the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge and down towards Tiburon, then made our way back to Loch Lomond. 

An example of how close the boating community is, an experienced sailor who lives on the same dock as us called us on the VHF an hour or so after we left to check in on us as the winds had increased noticibly in the marina.  His call was friendly and very much appreciated.  Once I let him know that we were reefed in and doing fine he wished us well and signed off but it felt very good to know he was looking out for us.

May 3, 2005:  For the first time we risked the lives of family out on the bay.  Kim's mother,stepfather & aunt joined us for a motor sail under the Richmond San Rafael Bridge and down to Tiburon.  We were only out for a few hours but it was a beautiful sunny day, everyone seemed to have a great time, and, most importantly, everyone survived. 

May 2, 2005:  Today we began to see the potential performance advantage of a catamaran.  Rather than entering the long standing debate between monohulls vs.catamaran, I will simply state that today, with 18 knots of wind, we were able to close haul at 40 degrees off the wind and made 10 knots of boat speed.  We think this is pretty good for two amateurs who are still learning to trim the sails efficiently.  I'm SURE there are others who could do better but it doesn't matter as those folks are not on our crew.  I've added a crew photo taken today to our photo page.