On Friday I took my usual lunch time walk out along the bay.  I've never really been down in this area on the 4th so I was pretty surprised by the crowds.  First there were just a lot of people out walking along the bay, sight seeing, shopping, what-have-you.  Then there were the folks loading and prepping their boats, my walk goes past a marina.  Then there were also all the boats on the bay already enjoying the long weekend...  Whoa...  I was really glad I hadn't scheduled a sail for the weekend proper...

I enjoyed the beautiful day, then got absolutely hammered by work over the next three days.  By the time Monday rolled around I was so very ready for some relaxing time on a sail boat!  My buddy Don decided to come along and at the last minute Sam decided he'd rather go out for a sail than spend a day at camp.

With that I packed a few beers along my standard set of sail gear.  We met Don at the marina, jumped aboard our assigned Catalina 270 and away we went.  Before departing I asked if we needed to be back for any specific reason.  The deck hand checked and told me the boat wasn't spoken for the rest of the day so come back whenever we wanted.  I didn't take him too literally but I was happy to not have to focus on being back at 2pm.

I could tell pretty quickly that Don was new to boats that moved the way a small sailboat can.  That was perfectly okay, he seemed game for the day.

As we did last time out we left at 10am under gray skies.  I decided we'd motor much of the first part again.  This time we had very little wind so there didn't seem to be much reason to be in a hurry to raise the sails.  Sam took the wheel early as we motored and I set up the few items I like to have out when I sail: binoculars, vhf radio, gps, water, and of course my coffee for a morning sail.  Just as I was thinking we'd raise the sails I caught sight of a massive haze grey moving structure.  The USS John C. Stennis was coming into port, her rails lined with Dress Whites clad sailors.  This gave us quite a show.  Since I wanted to have complete control of the boat until we were well clear of the Stennis we continued to motor and gave this floating city a wide berth.  Not that we had much choice since she was being escorted by several helicopters, three tugs, and numerous Navy security boats bedecked with mounted and manned M60's...

My how things have changed since 9/11.  In the old days of my Navy career returning ships were met by many boats who often got far too close to the ship.  All in an effort to see the sailors, the ship, and wave a hello.  I suppose the incident with the USS Cole contributed to these modern security measures.  Sadly necessary as I have always enjoyed welcoming our sailors back home.

Once past the might and mass of CVN-74 we raised our sails, killed the engine, and caught a nice puff of wind.  We tacked a few times on the way past Harbor and Shelter Islands and I thought we'd almost clear the pilings to the west of North Island's runway but we had to make two more tacks to finally get a clear shot at the mouth of our bay.

I had Don help with the jib sheets and even got him trimming the traveler after each tack.  He got into it and seemed to enjoy having a job to do.  With no other boats in sight and a clear line to the ocean we popped a couple beers and enjoyed an extremely easy reach on starboard tack.  The motion of the boat and the beautiful San Diego weather moved all of us to remark more than once how pleasant and relaxing sailing is.  We didn't have to touch the sails for the next hour.  We simply pointed the bow at the Coronado Islands and enjoyed the day.  Don got a chance at the helm and did an admirable job when he could see the islands to point at.  We managed to keep clear of the kelp beds and I pushed our turn around time as long as I possibly could.

It was finally past the time we needed to turn around so I called out Prepare to Gybe!

As soon as we gybed back north to enter the bay again I saw a black bump in the water with yet more armed security boats hovering around.  We passed within 50 yards of a LA Class submarine heading out to sea.  This isn't something you get to see every day so and we thought it was pretty damn cool.  The security boats are like little bee's running around getting between other craft and the sub.  Truthfully it's pretty easy to keep plastic boats at bay with a guy manning a machine gun on your super fast powerboat...  We knew to keep our distance but it was funny to watch the interaction with boats, and skippers, who obviously did not know...

Once past the sub it seemed we had no chance of getting back anywhere near our check in time so we lit off the engine and motored the rest of the way back.  With a smooth-as-you-please docking we completed another damn fine day on the bay.

The only complaint I could possibly have is that none of us wanted to come back when we did.  Another couple hours and a few more beers would have made a perfect day even perfecter!

Ciao,

Seaman Ray