Aboard Astraea

Invest in experiences

January 26, 2012
by Nate

January’s Frostbite Race

At the start of the January frostbite race

Brian, Sherrie and I at the start of the 2012 Frostbite race in San Diego Bay. Photo courteousy of Mick.

Last Saturday I raced on Brian Yates’ boat, Hakuna Mata. Shameless plug: it’s currently for sale, and has a great engine and set of sails. Anyway, we sailed in Silvergate Yacht Club / San Diego Catalina Owner’s Association. The weather started out gray and drizzly, a reminder of good times sailing in Puget Sound. Later in the race it cleared up and we were just in t-shirts, then the weather cooled down at the end as we beat back up the bay. We hit all points of sail and ran wing and wing for a bit.

Get the shotgun, there are pirates in these waters! Yarrrrr.

Sherrie was at the helm for most of the race, a first for her. When we were running down past Naval Station North Island there was a funny looking boat off in the distance. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes, it looked like a pirate ship! Yes, it was a pirate ship. No need to man battle stations and get out the shotgun, they must have been friendly and just motored down the bay ahead of us.

Hakuna Matata, running wing and wing down the bay

January 25, 2012
by Nate

A weekend sail

natalie, clay, eric and jaime sailing airborne with the coronado bay bridge in the background

Natalie, Clay, Eric and Jaime sailing Airborne by the Coronado Bay Bridge

This weekend we secured the boat for sea and headed out to Glorietta Bay for lunch with Eric and Jaime off Coconutz and Clay. Clay is a buddy from back in my Scouting days. We were cub scouts in the same pack, sailed together in Key West with Captain Gerald aboard the Miss Jerry, and worked summers at Camp Tuckahoe. He’s just been transferred out here to San Diego to work on the USS Carl Vinson.

Clay and Koku at the helm of Airborne

Clay and Koku at the helm of Airborne

The wind was blowing about 6 knots from the west, so the sail up the bay was pretty effortless beam reaching. Hoisting the sails and shutting off the engine helped bring back fond memories of the week long sailing adventure Clay and I shared from the Boy Scout SeaBase near Key West. We did the Coral Reef sailing adventure – sailed close hauled past Key West at sunset, caught fish, and snorkeled coral reefs. There’s more info on the same type of adventure on the SeaBase website.

Natalie and Nate

Natalie and Nate... There I go referring to myself in the 3rd person!

Today’s adventure was way more laid back. On the way out Jaime spotted dolphins swimming near us. It was exciting to see them so far south in the bay. We drank some Tecate, anchored in Glorietta Bay, and grilled big burgers. Oh yeah, we also bumped the rudder against the bottom after anchoring. It wasn’t a problem, we just hauled the anchor and moved a bit further out.

Natalie and Koku

Natalie and Koku relaxing during the sail back

On the way back I decided to sail by Coronado Navy housing on the Silver Strand where our friends live. We sailed fairly close by in about 8- 10 feet of water, but our friends weren’t home to see us. The entire event was relaxing and fun.

The sun setting over the Silver Strand.

The sun setting over the Silver Strand

The worst part was waiting until Sunday because we have an accepted offer in on Astraea, another Cheoy Lee Offshore 41. We’ve given up hope on Miles of View, so we’ll see how this boat goes. There’s a listing for the new boat at YachtWorld and I’ve added a .pdf here for after the listing comes down.