One Under My Belt...

So, this weekend, I taught my very first solo Basic Keelboat 1 class. I had four students on a Colgate 26. My prep work Friday afternoon was put to good use. At the end of Sunday's Day 2, I was asked to step out while there was a nervewracking debriefing by one of the Club Nautique staff. In the mean time, the Director asked me in for my own debriefing. This was the instructor I audited the class with last week. He was very encouraging, gave me some great constructive feedback, and said that I had a great future with the school, so I felt a lot better. They even forgave that a rather expensive part on the boat was broken on my watch. I won't let that happen again. Everyone, both staff and students, seemed very happy with the way I ran the class.

They've booked me for another BK1 in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to polish my technique. They want me to add additional classes to my portfolio, plus they asked me to teach any number of "Winter Wednesday" topics I want (i.e. splicing, diesel troubleshooting, coastal navigation, etc.). Some have the course materials already made up. I would be making up stuff for any new class I might add to their repertoire. I also get to audit classes with Arnstein Mustad, the guy that taught my captain's class and whose list for yacht deliveries I'm on. All in all, I'm pretty excited about this new career. With that being said, after dinner and a TV show, I crashed hard.

Day One...

So, yesterday, I "audited" my first class with Club Nautique. The class was being taught in Sausalito by Jim Hancock, the Director, so I was in pretty heavy-duty company. Auditing is basically a way for a new instructor to observe one of the pros to ensure that they teach the Club Nautique way, which I totally understand and respect. I also picked up little tidbits here and there about general sailing knowledge, Sausalito, and Colgate 26's, which is the boat they teach "Basic Keelboat" on. It was exhausting, but very rewarding as a fledgling sailing instructor for the biggest Offshore Passagemaking school in the US.

Jim was obviously extremely knowledgeable and great to work with. Over the two days, he had me teach small segments and work with the students. We sailed a 26' daysailer out into the Slot in SF Bay, which is no small task for anyone, much less a boat full of newbies.

I gained a lot from the exercise and I will be putting it to good use on Saturday morning when they turn me loose with my own class. Only this time, it will be out of the Alameda base. Wish me luck!

Tomorrow, Kim and I are taking out a SailTime-SF boat on our own for the first time since Lisa bought the base, and we're very excited. It's Fleet Week, and the Blue Angels are practicing. We'll be on the 36 footer out of Emeryville with front row seats, without all of the hassles of being out there on the weekend with the other 500 boats. Thanks Lisa!

Be Careful What You Wish For...

So, last Saturday, the crew from SailTime-SF went to a diesel mechanics class at KKMI (one of the biggest boatyards in the Bay, where Team Oracle & Alinghi both set up shop a few years ago during the America's Cup races in SF). It was a five hour class that covered diesel theory, troubleshooting, etc. I was blown away by the amount of information they imparted on us.

While we were at KKMI, Discovery Channel was setting up to do a commercial about a documentary they've made on Zac Sunderland. Evidently, there's a sistership, with the same canvas color, in KKMI's boatyard. We didn't stick around long enough to see if Zac was actually going to be there, but it was still an interesting thing to experience.

To make matters more interesting, the 36 footer in Emeryville had some problems last weekend. I ended up replacing fuses in the lazarette locker and replacing the starter ON THE DIESEL ENGINE... It was incredibly difficult to get to some of the bolts, and I did bust a couple of knuckles. When I got home, I told Kim that if this keeps up, we'll have a bona fide diesel mechanic in the family. It's great experience if not a lot of fun.

Oh, thanks to Lisa's suggestion, we pulled the 100 pound batteries out of the bottom of the boat with the man overboard block & tackle system, greatly saving wear & tear on my back. I'm going to run the batteries up to KKMI for charging & stress testing in an effort to understand why this is the second starter we've blown in three months.

I can't wait for the boat electrical systems class this Saturday!

Another Part Time Job!

So, yesterday, I finalized my employment with Club Nautique, the largest offshore passagemaking school in the US! They do flotillas to the Farallones and Hawaii. I'm already setup to audit a class and take the US Sailing Basic Keelboat Instructor class in October. US Sailing is the "other" school vs. America Sailing Association (ASA) that we're starting with SailTime. As a result, I have to work my way up through the certifications with US Sailing just like I just did with ASA. My pay rate at Club Nautique will ratchet up as I go. One of my employee benefits is taking classes for free, so I'll be signing up for the next celestial nav class, so I can finally figure out how to use my sextant. They're an awesome club and they seem genuinely glad to have me on board. Hopefully, things won't slow down too much, since I'm joining at the alleged end of the sailing season. Between West Marine and Club Nautique, it looks like I'll have my weekends pretty much booked from here on out. It's a good thing we can go sailing on a Tuesday!

Tahoe Baby!

So, a couple of weeks ago, Kim & I, Chuck & Lisa, our new friends Chris & Karen, and the Pelotes (Kim's friends from "Family Tree Maker") all went to Tahoe for a long weekend. Chris & Karen wanted to go wine tasting on the way, so we stopped and got a few pics of The Twins in gold country. The wine was pretty mediocre. We finally got to our campsite that afternoon. I had booked our campsites in Emerald Bay State Park based on the 2D map indicating it was close to the water. In 3D, we were 300 feet above lake level and a quarter mile hike to the water. No rolling The Twins down to the beach.



We setup camp and Chris opened a huge can of chili (good thing the restrooms were right across the street). The other two couples showed up after dark (probably to miss dinner). Chuck's Jeep's caliper actually caught fire on the way up, so they were ready for a cocktail when they got there. Pelotes brought their kids, so they joined us in a libation too.

Saturday morning, we took Chris & Karen and the Pelotes crew sailing on the Twins. We had a bit of trouble finding a launch. We were already seriously overloaded and had to leave Chuck & Lisa to their own devices. We slogged about the marina on the south end of Tahoe and just as we were about to give up and head back in, the wind picked up. We wanted to get the geocache on Fannette Island, so we headed northwest as close as the wind and ballast would let us. I kept having to head out into the middle of the lake to make any kind of northerly progress against the NW wind. While we were out there, a rental boat full of obviously foreign tourists was heading toward us. At first, I thought they were just coming over to see the pretty boat. When they started to get a little too close for comfort, I yelled at them. The guy in the bow turns around, sees us, and runs back to the helm. He veered away just in time to miss us by about twenty feet. That obviously freaked everybody out a bit, but we escaped unscathed. Factor our near-miss with the fact that we weren't heading toward Emerald Bay anymore, and we decided to turn around. I was able to sail through the mooring field and place The Twins right on the beach where we launched. We put the catamaran back on the trailer and headed back to camp. The Pelotes seemed to enjoy our slightly extreme daysail and I learned to never overload the cat again, for safety reasons.

Sunday, we hiked a part of the Rubicon trail and saw the highest lighthouse on navigable water in the world. We also picked up several geocaches along the way.



Chris & Karen opted to stay an extra day, so we did some more geocaching after packing up the campsites. Kim and I hiked down to Vikingsholm so that we would actually see Emerald Bay. It was pretty cool looking, but a killer hike. Kim and I decided to head home after that. All in all, a great trip, even though we didn't make it to Fannette Island. Kim jokingly refers to it as my qixotic windmill. Next time, we'll have an inflatable dinghy and an outboard to get to that damn island.

Part Time Job

So yesterday, my buddy Chris McDowell came over while I was working in the shop and asked me to take a ride with him to Sausalito to look at his buddy's 1973 52 foot Ted Brewer ketch. I thought what the heck, dusted myself off and jumped in the car. With the Bay Bridge being closed half of that traffic diverted to the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, which made quite a little traffic jam. Luckily, Chris makes Kim seem introverted, so we didn't lack anything to talk about.

We finally got to Sausalito and there was a Art & Wine Festival right in front of the marina, so we had a bit of trouble finding a place to park. We finally met up with Dan, the owner of the boat and he took us down to his magnificent boat. It obviously needs some TLC, but she's build like a brick you-know-what. And you obviously can't say much about the design other than having an opinion of ketches.

While Chris and I were taking pics of every little nook and cranny, Dan was telling us all the stuff he wanted to do to the boat. We talked about a lot of nautical stuff and bandied thoughts back and forth. I was just making conversation because I appreciated the boat so much.



When the tour was done, Dan said that he'd pay us as we go along, or give us a hefty slice of the commission when he sells her. At this point I realized that Dan wanted Chris and me to do the work that we had been talking about for the last forty five minutes. He also said that we could use her anytime, once we get the mechanicals squared away. I thought, "Wow, what a great opportunity". Then I thought, "Wow, I'm already busy". Then I thought, "Wow, I better check with Kim on this one".



I thanked him for his offer and told him I'd have to think about it. On the drive home, Chris and I talked about the pros and cons. I think I'll take Kim on the shakedown cruise and see what she thinks. It's an unbelievable opportunity, but also a major committment. If I spend a year working on this boat and we get our boat next year, that means that I'll have to dive right in to another huge project. Another option is possibly purchasing the ketch, but that's not really what we've been looking for.

Payback!

So, yesterday, I had my very first official, paid captain charter (the day after my 40th birthday!). Lisa with SailTime San Francisco scheduled a gig with a family down from Napa. After making sure we weren't on a low tide, we took the Hunter 36 in our fleet out from Emeryville and sailed over to the San Francisco city front. It was blowing 25 knots (almost 30 mph), so I was heavily reefed, using the in-mast furling main. Because they wanted to see the City and we only had four hours, I fired up the diesel which allowed us to point much higher. We were able to get to the City in an hour and a half, which gave us time to buzz up and down past the Ferry Building and Pier 39 while dodging ferry traffic and other boats.

By then, it was time to head home. We had a nice series of jibes (with the main sail centered) to get back to Emeryville almost dead downwind. The fog had built so thick that everything north of us was a whiteout. Berekely was invisible as we dodged barges in the mooring field east of Treasure Island. We got the boat put back in the slip safe and sound, and after the family left for their next adventure, I put the boat back shipshape for the next member. We had beers at Chuck & Lisa's place and talked about the day. All in all, a very satisfying experience. I was also able to make my captain pay rate finally! Only twenty more charters and I should have my license paid off! Thanks Lisa!