Sailing aboard 65' Brigadoon

Had a great day today on the bay aboard the 65' schooner Brigadoon designed by L. Francis Hereshoff and built in 1924.  A huge thanks to Lindsey for having us aboard!

 Dave at the helm.

 Kathy and Dave with Angel Island in the back ground.

Brigadoon was built as Joann in 1924 by the Britt Brothers in Lynn, MA. She is the first design by L. Francis Herreshoff, son of Nat Herreschoff. She sailed on the East Coast under various owners during the 1920s,1930s and 1940s. 

Sterling Hayden, sailor, actor, and writer renamed the boat Brigadoon of Booth Bay and sailed her to the West Coast in the 1940s. He sold her in the 1950s to a Southern California sailor who took her on the 1959 Transpac, and then to Tahiti for 6 months.

Brigadoon came to the Bay Area in 1960. She was owned by land developer Gary Reese for 15 years, and he sold her to Dino Valenti of the Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Patti and Terry Klaus purchased the boat in 1976, rebuilt her over the years, and have been successfully racing and sailing her for the past 30 years.

Brigadoon has been the flagship of the St. Francis Yacht Club, the Master Mariners, and has been a consistent winner in MMBA, Jessica Cup Races, and has been a winner at the MMBA/Corinthian Wooden Boat Show held each June in Tiburon.

Brigadoon has been sailed by two generations of family and friends over the last 30 years, with the third generation starting to come aboard. The Klaus Family still owns Brigadoon. She is berthed at the family home in Alameda.

Weather

Providing some Weather info to s/v Celestial as they sail direct from New Zealand to Hawaii.  They has a tough go through the ITCZ which as you can see in the image is very activated.  At the moment they are 14N and 152W and making good time to Hawaii.

Bay to Breakers 12K

Today marked the 104th running of San Francisco's rowdy Bay to Breakers 12K. After a hard day of sailing the Knarr on Saturday, soaking wet and pretty well frozen, I met Kathy in San Francisco.  Kathy cashed in some hotel points and we stayed at the Marriott in the city overnight, quite luxurious for Dave who has mostly been sleeping on boats for nearly 10 years.

It was kind of lame, seeing how we could have a big Saturday night out in the city, but we were both exhausted, Kathy had just wrapped up 2 weeks on the road and walked 5 miles in the city, and Dave 7 hours as wet foredeck guy on the bay.  So after dinner we headed to our room for an early evening in preparation for Sunday's big foot race. 

Sunday morning it was off to the races with about 50,000 other runners, walkers and rowdy revelers.   It's a 12K run from the bay, up and through the city, Golden Gate park and eventually to the surf pounded shores of the Pacific Ocean.  Flamboyant costumes abound and sometimes participants bare all, for it is San Francisco after all.  

 Near the start of the race we're in 29,000th place.

We had a strong finish with these super men at just under 3 hours.  For comparison, the ultra runners top man finished in 35 minutes and super woman in 40 minutes.

 Yep, 50,000 participants.

 This guy looks like a lot of cruisers we know.   Did he teleport here from the South Pacific? Or get ship wrecked here?

Girls in front of us get a snap with some boys with only gold glitter and angle wings for a costume.  You may not want to zoom in here😱

On the water in San Francisco

Dave raced aboard an iconic one design Knarr on Saturday.  Three races at the Berkley circle then a wet beat back to Golden Gate Yacht club with westerly wind blasting through the slot.  Borrowed this photo from the internet of the Krarr fleet sailing in San Francisco Bay.

Plenty of sailing on other peoples boats now that I broke down and bought some foul weather gear... we've never needed any aboard our Chris White pilot house catamaran 'LightSpeed'... including last summers sail through Alaska.   A few outings on a J105, a test sail on a Colgate 26 and a Wednesday race aboard a one design Folk boat.

Cruising sailors have the best friends in the world.

Mothers Day, 2015

As continuous travelers we meet the most amazing people... and then, far too soon, we move on tacking in different directions.     The only constant is change, friends and family always in our wake, new adventures on the horizon.

After 9+ years on the go, we were ready to drop anchor and reconnect with family, become active in a local community, plant a garden and recharge the cruising kitty.  At first we thought we'd sell the boat and build something, the mere idea of a grand change was seductive, lots of ideas, but nothing that stuck.  More reflection revealed that we're probably acutely infected with wanderlust and boat people for life, so why sell what we love?

Living in Alameda (East San Francisco Bay) is really nice, similar to Seattle in summer. Lots of sun, not too much heat.  Alameda is an island, so that a natural fit.  The community is really just one big neighborhood and bike friendly.  We've joined an outdoor community pool, so between living on the boat, on a island, and swimming several times a week, it sort of like cruising.  A few miles down the beach from our Marina is one of the better kite boarding beaches, the island of Alameda pretty much has it all.   We feel lucky to be here.

Last week I really put down roots.  Our marina offers garden plots to live-aboards, so we're fulfilling a long held desire to get some dirt under our finger nails and grow some amazing organic vegetables.

We're in transition, but keeping close to our new roots at least until fall harvest...

Dave

Garden plot had gone fallow for 3+ years.

 I excavated down 16" then screened all the soil to remove roots and rocks.  Then with laid chicken wire horizontally to prevent moles and ground squires from burrowing under the fence and feasting on all the organic goodness.

Next was some drip irrigation tubing burred in the sub soil.  The idea was to water the plants at their roots to save water from evaporation.   California has huge water problems, so were doing our part.

Perimeter fence is in and I'm now adding the third round of soil amendments to the silty sandy fill dredged from the bay, soil amendments were added to increase water retention and provide plant nutrients. 

 Just a few minutes from the garden is Ploughshares Nursery and the the manager Eric provided lots helpful advice.

 Picking out the plants was the equivalent of shopping for boat bling, but way cheaper.  I think I already need a 3' bigger garden!

 Plants are in!  Strawberries on the left, garlic, onions, lettuce, broccoli and cucumber on the top.  kale and spaghetti squash in the middle, Beets on the bottom.  To the right are tomatoes.  Not pictured, Rhubarb, pole beans and hot peppers. Wish I had more room!

First taste of the fruits of my labors.  To promote root growth and more abundant harvest later in the year, I pinched off  (most) all the flowers, so my plants can focus on root growth over fruit growth... 

Roots are down.