San Rafael Cruise by Bill Lewis

What a gorgeous afternoon! Chris & Bill Lewis drove to the San Rafael Yacht club late Saturday afternoon on a tight schedule. When we reached the marina, we saw the lone E27 burgee flying from the mast of Bonnie Breeze. As we approached, we saw Hugh and Joann Linn and Freda waiting on the dock. They had arrived about 4 hours earlier after a lovely sail and motor down the channel to San Rafael.

After greeting us, we went below and enjoyed snacks and wine with sparkling conversation. After a while, Amy, BJ, Lauren and Matthew Blackburn arrived with "Jazzy"-their dog. They had also driven since thier yacht was just up the channel at Loch Lomond. They joined us below (it was somewhat hot on deck), It was fun catching up with the friends and it became evident why we enjoy our Fleet organization.

Dinner was awesome! As you can see below, Lobster was the entree. Along with salad and clam chowder, we cracked and pried our whole lobsters extricating every last morsel of lobster tail. Our bibs were soaked by the time we were through. Hugh was exuding a bon vivant attitude as he dug into his lobster, saying it was the best he had ever had. (read Hugh's report!)

Tides and Currents...

WELCOME !
Our ad in the April issue of Latitude 38 which announced the opening of the Fleet to all Ericsons has achieved more results. We received applications from James and Julie Nelson of Sacramento. They have an Ericson 30 Sacre Bleu which is berthed at the McGrath Pacific marina in Sausalito. Their email is jabjnelson@aol.com.

Welcome also to Michael and Linda Mullen of Walnut Creek. Their Ericson 34 Anteres is berthed at the Sausalito Yacht Harbor. The Mullens' email is mullen1754@yahoo.com.
We invite our new members to tell us a little about their SF sailing experience- how long they have been sailing, owned their boat, etc. And, especially we would like to see them on a cruise.

Enclosed in this newsletter are Ericson Fleet One business cards made by BJ and Amy Blackburn to advertise the Fleet.. So-if you have
a marina-mate who has an Ericson (27 or otherwise, we would appreciate it if you would stick a card in their hatch. If you run out if cards, we'll get you more. As you can see, it pays to advertise.

A reply was received from former members Tim and Brenda McGinty. They have graduated to a Gemini Catamaran, but would still like to join us for cruises. Tim, let's hear from you.

Racing - June 25

Our annual opportunity to race our yachts will take place concurrently with the WHALE'S CHASE race off Ballena Bay. In the past few years at least one of our Fleet has taken one of the top three places. So-we are definitely competitive. There is a nominal racing fee to cover the cost of trophies. Several members plan to cruise over on Friday and have dinner locally (there's a good Thai restaurant within walking distance). There will be a dinner at the club Saturday night. It is important that you notify Bill Lewis mxbag@comcast.net by June 9 if you plan to cruise in and for how many nights. Also let me know how many for Saturday night dinner. You can decide if you want to race at the last minute.

July at the Corinthian

The Corinthian Yacht Club in beautiful Tiburon is opening it’s doors to Ericson Fleet one Saturday and Sunday, July 16th and 17th. This is a unique opportunity to visit one of San Francisco Bay’s most spectacular and oldest (founded in 1886) Yacht clubs.

Step out of your boat and into Lovely downtown Tiburon for shopping, dining, and walking. Enjoy a cocktail surrounded by San Francisco Yachting history so thick you can smell the salt air and musty canvas! Dine in splendor while beholding one of the most amazing views of the San Francisco skyline available to ordinary mortals! Check out http://www.cyc.org/dining.html for details and let us know if the dining room (cash only accepted) sounds good to you, or if you’d prefer one of the local haunts like Sam’s, etc.

If you’re coming you must RSVP to ensure that space will be available. Please email Amy Blackburn amyblack2000@earthlink.com to reserve. Have the following info ready: Your Name Boat Name, Length, and Beam. We need the head count by July 5th, so plan ahead and reserve your spot now!

J2's 2005 Haul by Eric Quamen

It had been three years since the last haul of the Josephine II, and guilt was beginning to drag on me as much as the slime was dragging on the hull. So I made my appointment at Svendsen’s yard to haul on Thursday 5-5-05. With my car packed with the usual air tools, carpet bits, ladder, and waxing rags, I barely made it to the travel lift ahead of a lunchtime survey that took several hours. The crew yanked the boat from the water, blasted off a few chunks of paint along with the slime, grasses, and tunicates, and set the boat in a cradle. The race to finish had begun.

I started with removing the prop, then random-orbit sanding the bottom paint, making a huge mess in the process. Hours later, I peeled off my Tyvek suit and moved up the hull to scrub every little stain off of the white I could find. The next day, I polished the boot and sheer stripes back to life, scraped off the peeling CF numbers, removed the screw-on boat name from the stern, re-bedded the ladder, waxed the stern, removed the toilet, and replaced the toilet water intake thru-hull and valve. That night I drove home to paint the plastic letters in front of the TV.

On Saturday, I waxed the boot and sheer stripes, and installed the new CF numbers and plastic letters. I then masked off the bottom, and created a drip-edge out of tape to keep the bottom dry in case it rained. After another couple hours of bottom sanding, I started waxing the hull until it got dark. On Mother’s day, no doubt because I had waxed, I woke up to rain. Lots of rain. When it let up a bit, I slathered on the bottom paint like a madman. The drip edge worked great except for with the rudder. I used two quarts of Trinidad that Sunday, first brushing over the bald spots, then rolling the whole hull. Suddenly, the boat looked great! After installing new zincs, I went to visit Mom on Mom Day.
Monday brought clearer skies, so I split my last quart and rolled the rudder and any thinlooking spots. Then I frantically waxed the white, barely finishing as the travel-lift drove up to hang me overnight in the slings. This was about 1330. Once in the lift, I scrubbed the squares that were under the cradle pads, along the bottom of the keel, then started in on the head discharge thru-hull.

This 1.25" thru-hull turned out to be quite a little nightmare. I removed the valve all right, but the nut holding the thru-hull was very stuck, and no tool in my kit could grab it tight enough to get it to budge. After trying the whole array of liquid wrench/heat/channel-locks/swearing/ praying to the Bronze Gods, out came the Dremel tool. That, too, should have gone easier than it did, but eventually I cut the damn nut off, and got the fitting into Sven’s to match the replacement just before closing. By the way, both my head thru-hull recesses were gel-coated. Ericson actually molded the hull to receive the fittings! Oh, although they were about 28 years old, and with awful looking valves, the thru-hull fittings were in pretty good shape.

With the valve done, I rolled the last of the bottom paint on about 1900. I ended up using every drop of the three quarts, which appeared to have given me two full coats. Back in went the toilet, with a new “joker” valve. Finally, I installed my new prop, a tipped three-blade that looks more like a blender attachment than a boat part. I sure hope it works in a chop.

At 0630 Tuesday, after spending the night aboard in the slings (that’s a thrill in itself), they put me in the water and I shot out of the fairway like never before! The J2 is like a new boat. The prop seemed to work great, and will pull the boat backwards just fine, though please note that I am not saying I have much steering while going backwards. The rest of the day was spent scrubbing the deck (trashed from the yard), cleaning up the cabin (trashed from me throwing things around), and varnishing the hatch (trashed from being outside).

Six days of labor and I’m done for quite a while. Now I need to get the feeling back into my arms...

Opening Day by Hugh Linn

May 24th. 2005 was marked on the calendar, the Ericson 27 was filled with gas. The coolers were topped off with plenty of food and drink for six people and we were all set. Sunday was one of those days that postcard pictures are taken where the clouds and blue water set off the islands of Angel and Alcatraz against the backdrop of bridges and towers of the city. We set sail from our dock in the SF marina about 10:30 in the morning. Reaching across the bay with not a lot of traffic with gentle breezes. For those of us lucky enough to have sailed on the bay for over 40 years there was a noticeable lack of craft. There was Alma the old bay hay scow, Potomic FDR's yacht and a few other of the picturesque craft on their way to where ever they were heading. One sailboat with a life sized cutout of a shark was motoring by heading for the parade route.

There used to be a large navy craft in Raccoon straits, but that is no longer the case, so there is no gathering for the blessing of the fleet as in the past. Passing Hospital cove, there were empty buoys and dock spaces, almost unheard of on the first day of the season, and not one water balloon to be seen. After passing the back of the island we decided to go see the new bridge construction at Treasure Island. Swinging into the cove at treasure we saw 15 or 20 sailboats at anchor. Thinking that this was where maybe the party was happening we were surprised to find them all buttoned-up with no sign of life. It seems that the anchorage is full of people getting a "free" anchorage as they used to in Richardson bay. The new bridge was impressive with the line of cranes in silent row from the shore to the gap where the new suspension is to take place.

Seeing the ballpark in SF full of people we sailed over and made a couple passes through the spectator fleet in McCovy cove. Not seeing any baseballs flying out of the park we headed back to the city front. One of the guests hat blew off about the time we were at pier 39. So it was an attempt to "man-over board" drill. After wrapping the jib in a double twist on the forestay, I elected to "down the sail" and finish the last mile or so under power. We never did get the hat back. It sank!

All in all a great day, fresh air, sun and good fellowship. I did miss seeing any other Ericsons out, but I know they were out there in spirit.

The Racing Sheet

We received a recent notice from Josh Dvorson (Homus) who is our only regular racing member. Josh and his crew participated in the Sausalito Yacht Club midwinters (non-spinnaker division). There were 5 races with what looks like a dozen boats ranging in size from 23' to 36'. Homus was third for the series and, according to Josh - "can still medal". Josh has also done very well in the three "whale's chase" annual regattas he has entered. I'm sure he will be entering our competition on June 25.

Congratulations, Josh and crew of Homus!

San Rafael Revisit by Hugh Linn

If you missed the cruise to San Rafael you missed one of the best seafood dinners that the E-fleet, has had in a long-long time. The whole lobster for each of us was a treat that usually you have to go to Boston to enjoy. Thanks to Bill Lewis for the arrangements.

We sailed up on Saturday on a flood from the city marina. 2 hours to the Richmond bridge.then a pass through the various barges that the construction crews anchor out between tasks and up the channel by the Loch Lomand yacht club, motoring on up the channel till we got to the end. Unfortunately we were the only Ericson at the dock, with not a lot of water. In fact during the night with a minus tide we were in the mud. After the dinner and a good night's sleep we left at 10 on Sunday morning, motoring out the way we came in. There was a good flood tide so after sailing about for an hour or so we motor-sailed up the main channel, under the bridge and took a course heading to Raccoon.

The winds were light, about 5 to 8 knots from the Southeast, so progress was slow. There was almost no breeze, even at yellow bluff, and half away across the bay. But as is usual here in the summer, abeam of Alcatraz the wind shifted around to the West and hit the 20 to 30 knot range. Lots of race boats to dodge that day, and we were at the dock, wet and happy by 2 in the afternoon. While we cleaned up and put the boat away we were able to watch a group of dinghy sailors in the 8 foot prams race a course in the inner-harbor. Great way to top of a great weekend.

The Ericson Fleet One Newsletter is published monthly during the cruising season. You are invited to contribute articles, comments, recipes, or just about anything of general interest to the membership. Please review our content submission guidelines for details.