Maserati!

Soldini's Maserati at Pier39

Ran across Maserati on Saturday, just after they finished their record breaking NY/SF Route d'Or voyage. They finished the whole distance of 13000+ miles in just a little over 47d, shattering the previous record by more than 10 days!  

Ayala Cove!

Moored at Ayala Cove

Went over the weekend to Angel Island, Ayala Cove. We ended up moored next to a Tartan37, another classic S&S design, very similar to ours (center board, cabin layout with quarterberth,..). The owner came over to say hello and it turned out we had actually talked to each other on the tartansailing group! Quite a coincidence, but I guess the good spots are known among the locals.

After taking a quick plunge in the ice cold waters, we hiked up the island to check out the views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. Even though it was a bit hazy, the view from top of Angel Island is always breathtaking. The photo above is actually taken from the Sunset trail, high above the cove.

New batteries!

new house batteries (left, 2x73Ah), starter battery (right, 160Ah)

Replaced the aging house batteries with brand new Westmarine gel batteries. The old ones wouldn't hold any charge for more than a few days so I decided to replace them. The overall capacity is now somewhat smaller (146Ah vs. 320Ah before), but I went through the calculation, should be still fine to run a full night with navigation lights, navigation system and radio on, without going below 80% charge. To be safe I will replace the masthead tricolor with an LED and change the interior lights to LED as well.
The batteries are placed underneath the companionway on our boat. That way they are easy accessible from the quarterberth, and are high enough above the water to prevent shorting in case there is a water leak. The drain pipe above is from the kitchen sink and the refrigerator compartment. The yellow cables are from the Xantrex shore power unit. Also hooked directly to the house battery without any switch is the bilge pump and the VHF radio.

More TBF

Here are some more pictures from the race. First the GPS track. Start/finish line is where the little grey pointy triangle is. From there clockwise short tacks to Blackaller buoy and then our biggest mistake, south of Angel Island instead of going through Racoon strait between Angel Island and Tiburon. Red Rock is at the top of the picture, from there spinnaker run to Treasure Island. Round the southern tip and then in 1st reef tacking to back to the finish line. 

Three Bridge Fiasco: Constance track

Starting scene: 365 boats on the line!

Skipper at the start line (round buoy in the background)

Finally, spi is up (coasting towards Angel Is)