SF Bay Ducks

Expedition 3 - Beat to the Dam

On June 17, 2005 I thought I'd go for a Father's Day sail with my boys. After loading up the boat and equipment, they punked out, so I went by myself. The destination was to be Del Valle, but I was planning on going as far as Swallow Bay and sailing around there. The winds were expected to be medium (10 - 15 Mph) but looked a little lighter to me. I had absolutely nothing to fix or prepare for the trip, just throw things into the boat and go.
	The launch was clean and easy. I took one tack across the lake to get  everything tuned up. Then I headed North, into the wind toward my destination. The wind was coming down the lake, as usual, and I made it up to the Hetch Hetchy picnic area pretty quickly. Along the way I talked to several people on the water. Some were pretty interested in the boat. I heard one guy tell his kid "Look, an antique sail boat." I hadn't the heart to tell him it was less than one year old. On the other hand, the blue polytarp does draw it's share of goofy remarks. If I never hear another "Hey! It's made of tarp! Ha Ha Ha"... it will be too soon. I even made it past the point at Venandos Camp easily. The wind was more westerly than last time. Plus the pointers I had gotten from Mike last weekend (6-12-05) let me point the boat much better. This was almost too easy. Once I was in Swallow Bay it was so easy I just kept going. I changed plans and decided to see the dam. I'd only been on the water 2 hours.
Once into the long narrow neck between Swallow and Heron, the wind wasn't as cooperative. It was actually spotty and died a few times. While I was waiting for the wind to pick up, I had a recreational experience, cows, by the water. Mooo. I finally made Heron bay in another 2 hours, total time on the water 4 hours. This was much faster than last week, which I attribute to more favorable winds. It was still a lot of work to get up here. If the winds held, I was going for the dam. There weren't too many boats up this far, although occaisonally the polic boat would show up to chastise someone. He left me alone. Another 30 minutes took me to the dam. Success!
The wind across Dam Cove was great! It was strong (perhaps 15 kts) and constant. None of this turbulent fooling around like the other 90% of the lake. I was able to sail 2.5 to 3.5 knots into the wind without really trying. That was fun! Between the rudder and lee board, the whole boat was literally humming. I know that if I shaped the boards like foils it would not do that, but what the heck, it's a board boat!. I had to pass the speed limit bouy on the way out. I was very careful to obey the posted limit. Since it was 5:30 PM and need to be off the lake by 8:00, I thought I better head back. The run down the lake was great and took slightly more than 1 hour. I had lots of 3+ kt. sections, with the rest in the 1 - 2 kt range. Not bad. I made it back to the dock about 6:50 PM.
	I was pretty pleased with my self, it was a good trip and the boat handled very well. Within the last 1/4 mile from the docks, I prepared my lines for landing and was thinking about getting my hands on the halyard so I could drop the main as I slipped up to the dock. About 100 feet from the dock I heard a cracking noise and looked down and saw my mast step had come undone! Disaster! I quickly lowered the mast and engaged my auxillary propulsion system (kayak paddle). I made it to the dock without any more problems. Earlier in the day, during some downwind runs, I felt the step flex a bit and I predicted to my self it would be the next part to fail. Right again, oh boy. When I looked at it, I saw why. I had screwed the two by four from the sides and the screws were only in the bottom 1/4 inch of the board. That's just shoddy construction! The partner also took a beating and was bent at and angle. The good news is that the mast, rudder, and new wind vane worked great.  Time to start thinking about a new partner/step system. Think think think! (then back to the lake).