By Patrick Twohy Spinnaker’s fleet of sailboats is growing. The latest addition is the club’s fifth Catalina 28. Rather than a stretched Catalina 27, this Gerry Douglas-designed vessel was designed from scratch as a speedy, more modern, more polished-looking boat. In many ways, the Catalina 28 is mini version of the bigger boats you can […]
I’m a bit of a knot head. I find knots fascinating. The most efficient ones are both useful and beautiful. A bit of filament, a bit of friction and voila — you have something that didn’t exist before. Security. A connection. A fabric, even. If humans are the tool-making animal, knots were probably among […]
“Dave a little help?!!”A shout from the cockpit woke me from my slumber. Shocked and disoriented, I peeled myself up from the damp salon seating area that served as my sleeping refuge. Still in my foulies, I was able to spring up quickly to jam on my shoes and rush to the cockpit. To my […]
Photo by Patrick Twohy It’s 16 miles from Redwood City to Half Moon Bay on the the ocean side of San Mateo County. The drive ought to take about half an hour. Of course, in October the trajectory can be a good deal longer because you’ll be in the crush along two-lane Highway 92 heading […]
Many South Bay sailors have seen the USS Thompson, better known as the South Bay Wreck. At low tide, it looks like a small apartment house halfway across the bay straight ahead after you pass under the power lines on the way to open water from Spinnaker Sailing. The wreck has an interesting history, but […]
One of the best things about sailing is the view. There are so many sights to see and appreciate fromthe water that just aren’t available to land-based eyes. Here’s a short list of some of the things | like topoint out while sailing near San Francisco. Club members with the proper certifications can charter a […]
You may not have caught the recent news that Michelin isn’t handing out stars this year due to Covid-19. Instead, among other things, the French restaurant guide offered what it calls “discoveries” — and there are six of them in the Bay Area. What does this have to do with sailing? Patience, dear reader, we’re […]
My Favorite San Francisco Bay Overnight Anchorages In our era of Covid-19-enforced staying at home, we’ve had to live without travel. That means we’ve had to forgo the many opportunities to charter in interesting far away places. We’ve been served some lemons, folks, so let’s stay safe and make lemonade. Let’s charter here as if […]
Quicksilver, At Sea (actually Stockton, but technically still correct I asked my wife Monika what is the secret to mooring at Angel Island. She replied instantly and without emotion: “a prenup”. Monika and I moor our Catalina 34 Quicksilver at Angel Island at least once a month. We view the concomitant yelling from bow to stern as […]
TAKE A CRUISE TO SAUSALITO Sausalito’s waterfront offers amazing views, mild weather, beautiful streets to stroll and an embarrassment of riches for dining. Also, it turns out to be easy and accommodating for cruisers to visit. Depending on what and how you count, Sausalito has 13 different marinas along its roughly 2-mile-long waterfront, which must […]