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Sailing into 2019

Imagine a picture-perfect winter day sandwiched between high-wind advisories and a frost warning. Now realize that this perfect day just happens to fall on January 1. The result is a perfect excuse to get the boat out.

Sequestor, a 1948 32-ft Tahiti ketch, sails toward Treasure Island on New Year’s morning.
© 2019 Latitude 38 Media LLC / Chris

The Master Mariners Benevolent Association raced from Clipper Cove to Point San Pablo Yacht Club. A potluck, chili feed, ‘Tacky Trophy Exchange’ and more followed the race at the club located at the end of the Santa Fe Channel in Richmond.

Tiger
The Pinky schooner Tiger was sailing ahead of Sequestor.
© 2019 Latitude 38 Media LLC / Chris

Cruisers from Treasure Island YC embarked on a 6.25-mile counterclockwise circumnavigation of TI and Yerba Buena. Clipper Cove was not to be left lonely, however. As the TI boats were exiting, another group of cruisers sailed in from Sausalito and Richmond — or dropped into the water from TI’s dry storage — for a raft-up to share food and good cheer.

Mistress II
Mistress II, a Farallon Clipper, was the second boat to arrive and drop anchor in Clipper Cove.
© 2019 Latitude 38 Media LLC / Chris

Friends visited between six sailboats and one powerboat: the Cal 40 Green Buffalo, the Santana 22 Byte Size, the Farallon Clipper Mistress II, the Black Soo Starbuck, the Cal 20 Green Dragon, the Wylie Wabbit Wasta and the 25-ft salmon fisher Ranger. Ranger and Mistress II were the first to arrive and both dropped anchor in about 20 feet of water before joining rails; everyone else rafted up to them. Byte Size had the youngest crew, a two-year-old boy and a two-month-old girl.

Lunch
No chance of running out of food.
© 2019 Latitude 38 Media LLC / Chris
Green Dragon
The Cal 20 Green Dragon, kept on the hard at TI, went for a short sail to join the group.
© 2019 Bill Rus
Wylie Wabbit
The Wylie Wabbit Wasta had a much longer sail, from Richmond Yacht Club, and was the last boat to arrive.
© 2019 Latitude 38 Media LLC / Chris
Jules up the mast
Starbuck crew Julian Lennon climbed the stoutest rig, Green Buffalo’s, to take photos from aloft.
© 2019 Bill Rus
Aerial view of the raft-up.
The view from the Cal 40’s spreaders.
© 2019 Jules Lennon
Raft-up
With two little ones to take care of, Byte Size’s crew were the first to depart. Her skipper snapped this as they sailed away. They only had to go as far as the hoist on TI.
© 2019 Anna Alderkamp

Another island formed the nexus of the traditional four-bridge circumnavigation of Alameda. By all reports this too was a sunny, delightful way to bring in 2019.

5 Comments

  1. Jim "Captain" Cope 5 years ago

    Very nice. Miss all of you guys.
    Sailed a 21′ sloop , a Caranita, out of Berkeley for 20 years. Need to make it back (been away 15 years). See you on the Bay once I’m back. Been reading Latitude since ’83. You’re a great rag !

    • Andrea Sommer 3 years ago

      You have a Caranita? Before you had it in Berkeley, was it by any chance it was in Coyote Point?
      In the 60s, my dad built a Caranita in the garage. He launched it in 68 or 69.
      It had a blue hill, and was very well built, once described as amazing workmanship by someone who owned it in the 80s & early 90s. I’ve been wondering what happened to it for the past few years. I’d love to find it and take pictures for my dad.

  2. Tom 3 years ago

    Looking for any Caranita floating or on the hard. They were an Al Mason design and designed for San Francisco so there should be some still around. I had 2 in the 90’s and should never have sold. Let me know thanks. Five three zero four four zero thirty eight ninety three.

  3. Austin O’Riordan 2 years ago

    I had a Caranita in the late 80s/90s named Koibito, a fantastic boat for the Bay.She was a showboat and solid mahogony carvell planked with fjll planks stem to stern-wish I still had her.

  4. David Omick 2 years ago

    In 1982-83 my wife and I spent a year sailing an engineless Caranita from Seattle down the west coast to near the Mexico/Guatemala border. We then trucked it across to the Gulf of Mexico and sailed up to Corpus Christi, TX.
    She was a great boat and we still have fond memories of her.

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