TUESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 08 -- RACE BOATS PRACTICIING FOR THE BIG BOAT SERIES UNDER OVERCAST SKIES.

Susie and her mother, Patsy, joined us at 1 pm for our afternoon outing at about 1 pm, and we headed out into the central bay with a reefed main and small jib.



What do we see out there-- blasting toward the pier 39 west marina-- that stupid Rocket Boat.




More interestingly, a race boat named JAM sailed past with the Rolex seal on her bow. As you see, she was flying main only and had only three crew on board so was probably not practicing for the races to start on Thursday. A boat of that size needs at least 8-10 crew.




JAM headed west, sailing through a freighter wake while we tacked away from it, toward the pier 39, where the flags were fluttering lightly in only a few knots of breeze. It was tempting to put out more sail since we were just ghosting along.




We tacked away from the west marina seawall off which the freighter wake was reflecting, and continued westward as, in the distance, this small race boat was sailing downwind under spinnaker-- the overcast skies are horrible for photography, so hope we have sunshine for the racing starting Thursday.




The city was grayed out under the overcast marine layer.




Few cruisers were out on the bay, but this small boat was passing Aquatic Park as we continued westward.




We eventually spotted that boat from Mexico, RAINCLOUD, heading our way and flying a different spinnaker-- a much larger one-- probably because the winds were lighter.




She passed astern and had about 14 crew aboard.




Closer to shore, ROCK & ROLL was practicing also, heading downwind under spinnaker.




ADVENTURE CAT was heading home from an outing to the gate.




Susie and Patsy were enjoying the outing as we continued beating toward the gate....



... and watching the race boats practicing on the bay, like this one.




A large ketch was playing around near the gate, and passed close to us as we approached the shore of the city.




This 1D35 was also out there practicing for the upcoming races...




... as was BLADE RUNNER.




A lone kitesurfer was playing on the bay in winds that were now in the 15-20 knot range.




We spotted RAINCLOUD heading back upwind toward a practice windward mark and we took this video of her rounding the windward mark and setting the spinnaker.




We then sailed out the gate a short ways and then came about and headed back inside, pulling out a bit more jib for more downwind power and eventually passing other race boats practicing on the bay, like this one...




... and this one....





... and 'Vincilore' here heading upwind and passing us to port.




As we passed Alcatraz, we spotted the S.F. Fireboat heading back toward home port near the Bay Bridge.




The city was still grayed out under overcast skies.




This small race boat was sailing past Alcatraz on port tack with both spinnaker and jib flying....




... and then gybed onto starboard tack, but somehow managed to get a terrible twist in the spinnaker in the process, and soon had to drop it.





ADVENTURE CAT was heading our for another outing as we approached home port.





Winds outside pier 39 were moderate.



We sailed into the lee of pier35 to douse sails and ready for landing and then motored into port. A gray day, but still fun to be out on the water.for a few hours.