Commander #155 'Mephisto Cat'

[Rico]

2010 Sailing Highlights (Continued...)

Picture 1
Assisting in an offshore distress call during the Baja ha-ha. We were relatively close (1 hrs sail) by and went to help out. This was sorted out, but the next morning we got another call from another boat in the group. A sailor from SF Bay who was actually heading north had missed his alarm and ended up on the beach... There are some tricky currents in that area and the beach is littered with hulls... Efforts by the locals to pull the boat back in were unsuccessful. At least there were some 50 people that volunteered to take as much equipment off as possible... This is just North of Isla de Cedros in Baja.

(Note: BTW - No, we did not do the Ha-ha in my Commander! It was a friend's nice big cruising sailboat)

Picture 2
A nice sunset at anchor...

Picture 3
Arriving in cabo at sunrise - 10 days after setting off from San Diego... This is the arch at the tip of the Baja Peninsula. The conclusion of the 2010 edition of the rally... The snd of a sailing adventure is alwas a bit sad.

Picture 4
Nice group during 'racing start' practice... This is how the pros do it!

I had the opportunity to do a bit of sailing with some top bay sailors (some big name world-class ones too!).
We also helped with some of the TV telemetry testing of the systems to be used for the America's Cup races in SF in 2013. Pretty nifty stuff... It is quite exciting to sail with some of sailing's most serious rockstars! - I was very focused and made sure I did NOT screw anything-up!!


Picture 5
A bit of a tour of Alcatraz Island.
I always sail around the island, but rarely get close enough to really have a close-up look... Pretty neat!