November 8, 1998 - Ballena Bay, Alameda

The forecast of possible showerscaused most of the group to avoid this event, a sensible decision as it turned out. However, three Potters were launched in spite of the forecast, and two of them managed to get in a good day's sailing. Here are their stories. The directions to Ballena Bay are here

Potter 14 #234, Manatee, by Harry Gordon

I finally got my act together this morning and dragged Manateeup to Alameda, trying to ignore the doubtful forecast and heavy gray clouds in all directions. It was probably about 1100 or 1130 by the time I got to the Encinal ramp. (Jon, your directions were perfect, except I had trouble with that last turn to the ramp. It didn't look like a road so I drove on by and was redirected back by the guard at the Navy gate.

The Encinal ramp is in a small inlet between the Ballena Bay breakwater and the breakwater for the recently closed Alameda NAS. Some distance inside the Navy breakwater, almost within hailing distance, was the carrier Hornet, which has just become a museum and is now open to the public. It is the only carrier museum on the West Coast.

It was quiet at the ramp, no Potters in sight, just a Dilly trailer and van in the lot that I guessed was Jon Hinolt's. It wasn't raining, the Bay was smooth, and there was just a very light breeze, so I proceeded to untie and rig and launch. As soon as I had the boat tied to the dock and returned the trailer to the parking lot, the drops began to fall, slowly at first and then more seriously. I crawled into the cabin and hunkered down, soon discovering leaks in the cabin I didn't know I had.

I had hoped the forecasted possible showers would be in the form of a few light sprinkles, but this shower continued for about a half hour. I hadn't put out any fenders, and the boat was streaming from the end of the dock by a few feet of bow line, occasionally bumping against the dock. I dug out a couple of plastic parkas I had bought for such conditions but had never unwrapped. I found the pocket in the plastic where my head was supposed to go in but couldn't find any sleeves. I think you have to join some snaps to form the sleeves. I wasn't very comfortable, crouched on a pile of stuff in the boat, but I was out of the rain.

When the shower finally stopped, I emerged and began sponging out the water that had accumulated in the cockpit and in the lazarette. Then I walked around a while, still not seeing any sails in the Bay. The sun had appeared through a hole in the clouds overhead, but there were still rain clouds in all directions. The Bay was beautiful - flat water, and little breeze. I wanted to be out there even if I just electric-motored around a little, but not in the rain. I finally concluded I was just enjoying a break between showers and had best make hay while the sun was shining. I hauled the boat out, derigged, and headed for home.

The non-sailing experience today did tell me something about my boat that I had been ignoring. It is not set up for rain, especially the lazarette, which would have held a ton of water if the rain had continued. And I need some foul weather gear. I would have been pretty soggy if I had been caught out in that rain and had to remain in the cockpit to steer. Being a California sailor, I have managed to avoid sailingManateein the rain for the past 28 years.

I'm wondering what your experience was, Jon, if that was your van and trailer in the lot. You must have gotten a little wet. I know Judith and David in their P19 had new foul weather gear.

Mk II Potter 15 # 796 by Jon Hinolt

That was indeed my van and trailer that you saw. I got to the ramp at around 9:30 and started rigging. The sky was indeed ominous, I had checked the weather radar on the web and I saw the approaching storm, but it looked pretty clear after that. I was hoping to beat the storm.

As I was rigging I was joined by a prospective Potterer (whose name I forgot) who had seen the announcement for the sail on the web site. (So much for any thoughts of not sailing because of weather.) He carefully watched me rig the boat and asked polite questions. As I was launching he said a Potter might be just the boat for him, we shook hands, and I headed out.

It was very clear that the approaching storm was headed my way. I steered straight across the Bay trying to pick a course that was 90 degrees from the storm's path. It worked; I escaped with only a few drops, but it looked like Oakland and Alameda got plastered. My rain avoidance course left me headed for Candlestick Point [location of Candlestick Park, recently renamed "3-Com Park."] I had not planned this, but oh well.

I was almost exactly in the middle of the Bay, headed for Candlestick, when I heard what sounded just like a sneeze behind me. When I turned around there was a sea lion or seal about 5 ft behind me. I scrambled for the camera I brought, but he was gone. Soon I heard another snuffle and he was off my starboard side. He would dive down and pop back up in random locations around the boat. He stayed with me for about 15 min, probably growing tired of my leisurely 2 knot pace. I took some quick pictures, trying to catch him, I will have to see if any turn out.

I made it to the cove by Candlestick Point, then headed toward the city. The winds grew lighter, and, with the tide coming in, my GPS said I was making 0.0 kts. Nature was beginning to call (must have been watching all that rain in the distance), so I fired up the motor and headed for the nearest place I knew to stop - "The Ramp" - a funky little restaurant/bar. A quick two cups of coffee and a bowl of clam chowder and I was on my way. I was able to back away from the pier by backing the jib; hey, that actually works just like it says in Chapmans.

I headed back out across the Bay with a following wind. With my jib winged out on my boathook/whisker pole I was occasionally exceeding 4 kts on GPS. I glanced to port and there was another storm, darn. This one stretched from SF to Oakland and was about even with the Bay Bridge, no avoiding this one. I had plenty of time to don my now ex-new foul weather gear, throw excess junk in the cabin and put the hatch in place. The wind started picking up. Still on a run, I had too much sail up. I dumped the jib and continued on. The rain came in earnest and the winds grew swirly and unpredictable. After a couple of accidental jibes I realized I would probably break something if I kept this up. I dropped the main and fired up the motor. I was 2.3 miles from the Encinal Ramp surfing down whitecaps caused by the storm. Twice my Seagull swallowed some saltwater, sputtered and continued on. (Harry, I will have to find something to replace that Seagull storm hood.) I surfed my way back to the ramp at around 4:30. By the time I pulled the boat out it had stopped raining. I found a folded (and soggy) printout of the directions for the sail, so I knew some Potterers had been about. [I couldn't find a pencil - Harry.]

I packed the boat quickly and dropped it off in my storage spot by 5 pm. As I write this my sails are stretched out on the living room and dining room floors, the sheets and my gloves dripping in the bathtub. Sorry to hear that I missed you guys but at 10:30, it was leave or get soaked time. Was the prospective Potterer still about? The ramp is a pain at low tide and I was planning on offering to launch boats for anyone that needed help. This ramp is why I traded my Geo Metro in on the 4-wheel drive van.

Hope you guys had fun; lets try it again.

GPS plot of Jon's rainy day Bay sail, November 8, 1998

Potter 19 #266 Redwing by Judy and David Blumhorst

We set out from Alameda marina/Grant Street launch ramp about 11:00, just before the rain started. There was very little wind, so we started motoring out the estuary, thinking we would motor out into the bay and look for the Potters sailing from Balena Bay. By the time we were halfway out, it started to pour -- a pounding, cold rain. (Thank God Costco had rainsuits on sale for $20 this week!). The clouds were really black up ahead to the north, so we turned around and started back toward the marina.

Then we decided, what the heck, we're already cold and we're out here, we may as well have fun anyhow, no matter what the weather is doing -- so we decided to go out to lunch at Jack London Square. So we turned around again, and headed back up the estuary.

By the time we had motored back to J.L. Square (for the second time that day), we could see sunshine out on the bay. The rain had eased, and the water was glassy, with no wind to be found. Since the forecast called for 10-20 mph winds in the afternoon, we decided to skip lunch at the restaurant and go sailing. It about 12:45 by the time we made it out of the estuary into the bay. We took out the binoculars and looked toward Balena Bay. We could see the pier at Balena Bay, but there were no Potter sails to be seen.

It was still pretty calm, but we could see dozens of sailboats heeled to the west of Alcatraz Island, with the sun sparkling on their sails and shining strongly around the Golden Gate. So we kept motoring, passing under the Bay bridge. Finally, we felt the breeze come up, first lightly from the south, then clocking (or is it veering, I can't ever remember) around to the WNW and filling in to about 8 or 10 miles per hour. We spent a beautiful hour sailing around in the sunshine, practicing our tacks and jibes, trying (not very sucessfully) to run wing and wing and enjoying the fine wind and sun. The wind was just right for our first time out sailing our P-19 by ourselves. We kept looking for Potter sails down by Balena Bay, but never did see any.

Around 3 'oclock we noticed dark clouds building to the NE, and decided to head back to the esturary. Just about 3:45, a light rain caught us inside the esturary, and we furled the jib and motor-sailed for a while with just the main. The the wind started to build, and we chickened out and brought down the main. Good thing we did, because five minutes later the wind built up to about 15-18 mph and it rained cats and dogs. It was cold and miserable, with the rain stinging our faces and hands.

We got back to the Grant Street ramp around 4:30 and waited in the store about 15 minutes until the rain stopped. Then we hauled the boat out.

It could have been better weather, but we congratulated ourselves on our first time taking our boat out by ourselves. We were pleased that we didn't do anything like forget to put down the centerboard, or rig it wrong, or fall overboard. The hour and a half of sun and wind was worth the rest of the miserable weather to us. One thing we did learn: the Alameda Marina is too far up the estuary for a P-19 with a 4 HP motor; it took nearly an hour to motor out to the Bay. We're going to look for a more convenient place to keep the boat. We missed you, Harry and Jon, if you were out there. It would have been more fun if we had gotten together. We hope you got to sail in the sun and the wind today, and not just in the rain and cold.

[Judy and David recently bought Redwing from Bruce Little, a long-time Potter Yachter. Bruce lived on board Redwingfor 8 years.]


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