I Sail Away

Saturday morning, I headed up to the Cal Sailing Club in Berkeley to do a little sailing.

I have already discussed how I think the Cal Sailing Club is the best value in the San Francisco Bay for sailing.  But, to re-iterate–the Cal Sailing Club is the best value for San Francisco Bay for learning to sail and sailing.  At $60 and 4 hours of volunteer service to the club PER Quarter, it is the most economical–much more like a sailing co-op than a club or a school.

That being said, I showed up to the Cal Sailing Club a little after 9am on Saturday morning.  I helped rig a few dinghys, and around 10am, the instructors arrived and took us out on the bay for some lessons.

We sailed in a Laser Bahia–a lightweight, sport boat-type dinghy.  It is a bit tippy, but has a gennaker and retractable bow-sprit, is REALLY agile, and fast.  The square-topped sails keep the sail area high, and that little boat flies through the water.

A little time at the helm, some gybes and tacks, and then keeping my weight centered for the remainder of the time.

Great fun, great lessons, great people.  I love that little Cal Sailing Club.

The Cal Sailing Club may be the absolute best value in San Francisco for learning and practicing how to sail, repair boats, and just about everything else sailing-related.  In addition to running a fabulous sailing-co-op style club, they also like to barbeque, share with everyone involved, are welcoming, fun-loving, love to race, and even have members who have completed the Mini-Transat–a 30-day race with two legs from France to Brazil solo in 21-foot boats.  Uhhhhm–yeah.

Okay, Saturday rolls around, and myself and a friend roll up to the Cal Sailing Club.  We get a rigging lesson on the relatively new Laser Bahia (fantastic little boat), and then she gets a sailing lesson in a 14-foot Hunter dinghy.  Super-fun!

If you are looking for me during most of the summer, I have an idea where you might start . . . .

Last weekend, the Cal Sailing Club hosted an intensive sailing workshop.  As a result, there were more than a few casualties to the fleet of dinghys, and I swung by the club to help repair them last night.

The club has 5 Laser Bahia’s with a tiny Gennaker sail, a roller furling jib, and little square-top main sail (with reefing points).  They are cute little boats, pretty fast, and really popular.

I spent a couple of hours last night swapping out shackles, fitting cotter pins, and taping sharp things (that could catch wetsuits, cut hands, etc.).  Some of the other volunteers were working on different portions of the same boats.  Towards the end of the evening, we replaced two of the repaired rudders, and the bulk of the mini-fleet of Bahias were back into operation.

This was excellent fun–almost therapeutic.  Working on something, fixing something that was broken, and improving on designs with new ideas. And, then to have the product of your labors be seaworthy afterwards.

Great fun.