Commander #155 'Mephisto Cat'

[Ariel 109]

That is so kool!

[Rico]

That is so kool!

It is a TON of fun. It really gets going too!

C38 - I opted for the inflatable because of convenience. The little inflatable fits in a nice bag that is easily stored below when we need to take it on the boat. It is small & light (<35lbs) - It is just big enough for two people - and maybe a dog. I only have it with me when needed.

It does not row very well (no inflatable does...) but I only use it to get from a occasional mooring buoy to shore or a dock while overnighting somewhere. It does this job sufficiently well enough and I think it is the right choice for this purpose.

On one occasion, I forgot the pump - and after thinking it was a horrible, horrible, trip-ruining mistake as we were on a mooring, but I actually blew it up by mouth in less than 15 minutes - breaks included... - it was not that hard to do!

The hard dinghy, I'd have to tow behind the boat as it is too large (8' LOA). A sailing dinghy is definitely the best use for it. This must have been its design intent as it has a nifty retractable keel - which I quickly learned to REMEMBER to lower after going DDW since sailing without a keel is quite difficult!

The little hard dinghy can still be used as a dinghy without any effort; All I do is pull the mast out (It is held in the tube by gravity and secured with a small line in case of a capsize), pull the rudder (secured by a clip), retract the keel, and detach the mainsheet. And Viola, is is now a plain dinghy again...




2010 Sailing Highlights:

Picture 1
A bit of Sailing with the pooch... She is quite good on the boat shifting to the low side on her own. Still I believe she is a bit large for the boat - and the paws also tend to slip a bit much. She is fine in light weather, and just snoozes in the sun, but I don't imagine she'd enjoy a typical SF Bay sail in the Summer.

Picture 2
Ahhh - Spending the night on the Mephisto Cat... One of the great joys of having a little boat. Sausalito is one of our favourite destinations.

Picture 3
Some more spectacular sailing weather in SF Bay. We have some of the fastest fog around! (Obviously not apparent in the still picture!) We had planned a meeting up with some other boats on Angel Island. This boat turned out NOT to be my friend's blue boat. I did get lots of pictures of it though!

Picture 4
The Mephisto Cat at the entrance of Racoon staits on a calm day

Picture 5
Running south under the asymetrical on the 2010 Baja-ha-ha. (San Diego to Cabo Rally). Here we are some 500 Miles south of San Diego some 80 miles offshore. (Right... I did not do this on C-155!)

[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!