Catana in her new slip, G-307, at the Berkeley Marina, November 2003
Meet Catana, a 1975 Pearson 26' sailboat (hull #1026 for those of you keeping track), my lovely floating home-away-from-home. After sailing for two years on a friend's boat, I decided it was time to get a boat of my own -- and fell in love with Catana quite literally at first sight. Her previous owner, Andrew, was about to move to Minnesota and thinking of taking Catana with him, but after meeting me and going for a sail, he decided that she and I were a good match, and graciously sold her to me. Thank you, Andrew!! Catana now lives at the Berkeley Marina, and we're having lots of adventures together. If you have any comments, questions, or just want to go for a sail, please write me & let me know!
Catana in her new slip, G-307, at the Berkeley Marina, November 2003
The next day Cissie and Lora were the official First Guests, bringing bagels and champagne to celebrate this new venture -- cheers!!! Cissie of course wanted to know why we couldn't go sailing right away, but I didn't quite feel confident enough in my captaining abilities to take anyone but very experienced sailors/captains out yet (so they could tell me what I might be doing wrong, and answer my millions of questions) -- so Cis got into the relax-o mode instead. We also admired Catana's figurehead of sorts -- very weird, very 1970s-Charlie's Angels-esque, but oddly appropriate for what is now a girl-boat? (The boat's name, dating back to her original owner, comes from a character in The Captain From Castile, a historical swashbuckling novel from the 1940s, also a popular Tyrone Power movie -- Catana is a fiesty lass whose dancing makes men's blood boil, yet she also kicks ass -- seemed like an excellent name, so I kept it.)
And then sunday was the delivery sail to the East Bay -- it was very windy out in the Slot (everything directly east of the Golden Gate Bridge, where all the wind gets funneled through, all the way across the bay), so between that and getting used to a new boat, we had our hands full --and there aren't many pictures. But a major accomplishment: asserting our right-of-way in front of Larry Ellison's almost-200-feet-long monster power-yatch Ronin (see #81 on this list of the world's 100 largest yachts, ugh) in Sausalito -- they were motoring (slowly, thankfully), we were sailing, so they had to turn and let Catana pass. Take that, multi-billionaire! (Craig joked, "They probably burned an extra gallon of fuel making that turn!" We got a lot of scowls from the deckhands as Catana sailed past, all 26 feet of her, straight on her course.) From Sausalito we sailed downwind all the way over to Berkeley and tied up in a temporary slip, where Catana hung out for two weeks before being assigned a permanent one. A fantastic first weekend!
The boat's first real adventure was a trip to Angel Island August 2, to help celebrate my friend Matt's 30th birthday -- he owns a 22' Catalina, Nobito, also kept at the Berkeley marina (here she is in her slip; Matt's the blond in the green shirt), so we sailed over together, with a number of his party guests as Catana's crew. It was GREAT sailing in tandem, in a friendly competition -- Matt's boat is shorter but lighter, and Catana doesn't always point well, so we were mostly about even, although we did go ahead for a while, and were proud of it. After a slow passage through Angel Island's wind shadow, we finally arrived at the harbor dock, although not without drama -- Catana's outboard refused to start, and we actually had to sail into the slip -- good job, crew! Matt's girlfriend Laura P. had arranged a picnic (some guests arrived by ferry), so we enjoyed vegi-burgers and cake under a big palm tree with a great view of the harbor. We started back just as the fog started to roll back in over Mt. Tamalpias -- this time Catana had the advantage and Nobito fell behind (she's in the center-left of this picture). We had slightly different crew, as the birthday boy joined us, letting his friends sail Nobito -- here he is at the helm with Laura P. And we got back to Berkeley right at sunset, a gorgeous way to end the festivities.
And since Angel Island makes such an ideal destination, we were there again the following weekend, with a crack crew made up of Cissie and Lora and my friend Bill. This time it was HOT, no fog in sight -- as Cissie demonstrates by pointing at the fogless Raccoon Strait. We hiked over to a good view of the Bay -- here's our picture that says, don't you wish you lived here? -- but then retreated back to Catana for snacks. And soon, the lack of shade plus the allure of the cool water got the best of us; we went SWIMMING!!! My first time swimming in the bay, despite living next to it all my life. Here's me wet; here's Cis wet. Fortunately Catana has a handy little swim ladder, so we dove/jumped in and swam and floated (Lora, as the ferry departs) and basked and jumped in again for quite some time -- and then relaxed a bit more. As a result, we got started back late, in the golden light of sunset, and had a hard time finding any consistent wind -- and what there was blew off-shore, right on our nose -- so we eventually gave up and motored home. Still, it was an incredible night to be out on the water, with a nearly-full moon rising over Oakland -- here's the late-evening view as we neared the marina, salty and sunburnt but happy.
And finally, a week later we sailed yet again, with visiting Leigh and Teresa and their friend Stuart -- but we had somewhat more trying conditions, so there are few pictures. Here's Leigh at the helm, looking very heroic, and later relaxing on the bow as we headed up toward the Richmond Bridge. The oddest thing we saw (but sadly no pictures): a smallish shark -- 4 or 5 feet, definite dorsal fin, long & skinny, very shark-shaped -- jumping STRAIGHT up out of the water, flinging itself into the air several feet above the surface, three times in a row. Absolutely no idea what it was trying to do, unless it had seen some birds overhead and decided it wanted to try flying, too. SO bizarre. Up on deck, we got into some light wind and drifted a bit, enjoying some organic yellow watermelon (maybe that's what the shark was after?), but once we turned back, found ourselves caught in doldrums with a strong flood tide, carrying us toward Vallejo -- wrong direction! With much effort got ourselves headed back to Berkeley, but then caught the strong winds and choppy seas of the afternoon fog rolling in -- hard work to get home, but with this fabulous crew, we made it in with no troubles. And thoroughly enjoyed our pizza and beer after! Three weekends in a row of great sailing, who could ask for more?
First of all, my friend Jörg came sailing with us in the end of August and, wise man that he is, fell similarly in love with Catana. We had what seemed like a truly perfect day -- including inadvertently getting in the middle of a J-boat race -- I swear we didn't aim for them! but it was kind of cool to see these fancy boats crossing up with the Golden Gate in the background. Jörg, who'd only been sailing once before, took to it like a pro -- particularly with some sangria to keep us going! We passed under the east span of the Bay Bridge, eventually escaped Yerba Buena's wind shadow, and headed toward San Francisco. Headed straight to The Ramp, one of the most boat-friendly places in SF -- see Jörg's joy at arriving! Wouldn't you know, they had a salsa band playing to a PACKED house -- we enjoyed some wine & a few dances. Then headed home under the west span, passing the SF waterfront in all its glory. One of my favorite pictures from this whole season is this -- just captures the feel of that perfect evening.
And wouldn't you know it, the following weekend we did exactly the same thing? Except this time with a bigger crew: Jörg's friends Chad (left) and Igor joined the ride. Another perfect day! As you can see, the captain was pleased -- and the crew brought a tasty lunch, rounded out of course by our own house brand of sangria (that's red wine & Orangina, believe it or not -- delicious). Cheers! And like lemmings to the sea, we headed back to the Ramp -- despite their dire warnings. After a round of drinks and some tasty guacamole, Igor (a former racer) insisted we should put up Catana's biggest sail (a 130 genoa) for the ride home -- I said fine, as long as you deal with it. Jörg did his best to help -- and soon we were off, with truly one of the most hideous sails ever seen -- under zenful skies, but when the wind came up, it did its job! Igor had us heeled WAY over -- notice the nervous laughter of Chad in the lower right corner of the photo. But we survived the fog-at-the-edge-ofsundown wind -- got a bit of gorgeousness as the sun went down, and then a speedy ride home, wing-and-wing.
Catana had her first non-sailing weekend a week later, as I was too lazy to go out on a rather windy afternoon -- but we did do some quality floating in the inflatable dinghy. And as it turned out, this was gearing up for the big Moet Cup races the following week -- America's Cup boats racing on the Bay! Jörg and I watched from land on friday, at the Golden Gate Yacht Club -- I must mention that because Jörg is Swiss, and because Larry Ellison is insufferable, we were cheering whole-heartedly for Alinghi, the defending champion, and not the local Oracle. Credit goes to both billionaires, though, for designing a fantastic race course, passing very close to shore -- so close the boats often seemed to be headed straight for the rocks! Plus there were other delights such as the SF fire boat welcoming a tall ship into the bay between races. Alinghi won both races Friday (a third race got called due to an interfering tanker), so we went home happy -- and inspired to join the spectator boats the following day! Only Saturday morning brought utterly flat water -- we had to motor out to Treasure Island before finding any wind. It paid off, however; tacking up past the SF shoreline, we nearly ran into Alinghi herself, being towed to the start point! We hollered and waved and, gentlemen that they are, the whole team waved back! (Unlike most Bay racers, who never seem to smile, much less wave.) Needless to say, we were thrilled. By then the wind was picking up, so we took cover in the lee of Alcatraz and waited for the race to start -- but when it did, we were caught in what seemed to be an enormous washing machine, the waves churned up to an uncomfortable level by the over 400 other spectator boats. We hung in there to watch Alinghi take the lead over Oracle (who broke their spinnaker pole) and win the first race, but by then we'd had enough -- we put a reef in the main and limped over to Angel Island, to picnic in the relative calm of Ayala Harbor. We lounged around for much of the rather hot afternoon, cooling off with a swim. Here's me with Catana's mast -- how I love my sturdy little boat! We stayed past sundown and then departed around 8:30, when the park rangers chased everyone off the island, but once again had near-zero wind for our return home -- but did we care? No! We had one of the all-time slowest sails back to Berkeley, relaxed enough so that Jörg could steer with his foot. Home at midnight, a most wonderful Moet day!
Two weeks later (Oct. 18) Jörg was back in town, and we had a very lazy sail on a cloudy day up toward the Richmond Bridge -- it seemed like the clouds changed every minute we were out there. The big news of the day was sea lions lounging on the channel markers -- LOTS of them! We circled them for quite a while getting pictures. Wind was so light at times that I went swimming in the deep water channel, and Jörg looked some stuff up in Chapmans. Headed home around sundown -- here's me on the helm -- and were treated to even more spectacular clouds as the sun disappeared. Wow!! Other excellent daysails from October and November included: a hot afternoon idling past SF with Thomas; a trip just outside the Golden Gate Bridge (complete with leaping seals everywhere) with my stepmother Carol, Jörg, and tree-guy Bill and his son; another visit to the Bridge with Leigh, Beth, and John Stella; and a chilly late november sail to the Ramp with Stephen and Robin, including a gorgeous return past the holiday lights of SF at night.
Just before Thanksgiving, Jörg packed up all their stuff & rejoined his wife in Rome -- but insisted on one more sailing adventure before leaving! Our planned trip to Half Moon Bay got rained out, so when a friend of a friend invited him to a party in Sausalito the following weekend (Nov. 15), he got the brilliant idea that we should sail there! Of course it was pouring torrentially that day as well -- but when we saw a break in the clouds, we got Catana out on the Bay as fast as possible, before we lost our resolve. And we were rewarded with one of the most spectacular evenings I've seen in ages -- incredibly dramatic skies, including passing the only other sailboat out there just as the sun hit their sails, making them glow -- and an absurdly gorgeous sunset, with billowing clouds streaming out over the city. One seemed to perch on the Marin Headlands so long, it looked like a volcano! Here's Jörg's favorite picture of himself, all bundled up against the cold and smoking. We lost the wind near Belvedere, but were too early for the party, so we drifted down the mouth of Richardson Bay on the tide for an hour or more, sitting on either side of the cockpit, sipping red wine or whiskey, and Jörg kicking the tiller every now and then to keep the city lights in our view off the stern. The party itself was anticlimatic by comparison! Stayed overnight at an (unauthorized -- shh!) tie-up in Sausalito, and woke to hangovers and more rain. Eventually dragged ourselves awake and made tea and grumbled a bit about the wet ride home, but when we went for a walk to stretch our legs, the rain slacked off, & when we returned to Catana the sun was out again -- what incredible luck! Motored to Tiburon across an empty and still Bay, to regain our strength with brunch at Sam's -- first time I've ever seen their dock this empty. Then sailed home on one looong tack to Berkeley -- bon voyage, Jörg, Catana and I will miss you!
Don't forget to keep checking the site for updates in 2004... and get in touch if you want to go! We going to sail all through the winter, and there's always room...
Catana under sail (and me waving), a beautiful sight!
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