Presidio Yacht Club

At the base of the north tower is the Golden Gate Motor Lifeboat Station, U.S.C.G., and the Travis Marina, home of the Presidio Yacht Club.  It is affiliated with the Travis Air Force Base, the heir of the Ft. Baker garrison which once manned the fearsome batteries that guarded the approaches to San Francisco Bay from Point Reyes to the Gate.

There I spent five days aboard the Herreshoff H-28 Fjord, a fine boat whose captain earned his slip under fire forty years ago.

The full slide show is here

Volvo: Green Dragon rounds Horn on St. Paddy's Day

Four of the five boats still racing have rounded the Horn.  Telefonica Blue - amazingly - is still racng - though 700+ miles from the leader and 500 miles from the Cape.  Impressive when you know they have no forestay.

And the Irish-crewed, Chinese-built Green Dragon rounded on St. Patrick's Day.  Normally I hate images of leprechauns and silly hats, but you have to forgive this one.

Here's the link

A Day's Work for Katherine Walker

Buoy tending at the GWB - replacing the ice buoy with the lighted tower in the morning, heading home at 18:00.

How to top Southbound 650 - hoof it

Southbound 650 was a great feat - Kawasaki 650 from Roxbury, NY to Tierra Del Fuego.

But Comrade Li hoofed it - horse hooves from the  Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia to Beijing.

There are more pictures here of the modern Marco Polo's journey to the east, the proud arrival in Beijing of the mixed Chinese-Russian rider who crossed Eurasia on horseback.

Goliath crane under tow to Romania

On March 7 the tug Allie B headed out to sea from Boston with the giant Quincy shipyards crane on a barge called Brooklyn Bridge, bound for Romania.

Tugster has all the details and links to photos.

Images above courtesy of Kreative Licence Art Studio where the entire voyage is tracked here

Volvo: Iceberg at 2 O'Clock

Green Dragon (the Irish/Chinese consortium) is sailing at 50 degrees South - what should be above the ice zone (that's why there are ice gates - to keep boats out of the ice zone.  But the icebergs don't know about the rules.

They saw three last night - and then these during the day.  Here is the video

Volvo: Just for the fun of it

Average boat speed 22.5 knots

Maybe 2,000 miles from the Horn.

Not so much when you are doing 500 nm days

5 day forecast predicts winds 35 - 50 kts at the Cape

Here's some fire hose planing video

Victory - Rich Wilson Finishes Vendee RTW Solo

New York times

PORTS / OTHER SPORTS

Sailor Finishes Ocean Race After 121 Days at Sea

By LYNN ZINSER

Published: March 11, 2009

At age 58, Rich Wilson is the oldest sailor to finish the grueling round-the-world Vendée Globe ocean race and only the second American

And for more details check the Vendee Globe site

Richard Hudson: Issuma Back in the Water

No blog post yet, but this shot from Richard's picasa photostream during a sail on the river from Buenos Aires to La Plata demonstrates virtues common to Richard's summer crews.

Vendee: Downwind for Rich Wilson - Sunday Arrival

Rich Wilson is sailing downwind for Les Sable D'Olonne, France, about to complete the solo, non-stop circumnavigation in 118 days.  The 59 year old American, aboard Great American III has not had an easy go of it, but he is on the verge of finishing in 9th position with two boats behind him.  19 starters retired. Vincent Riou was given redress for the damage he suffered in rescuing Jean Le Cam, whose boat capsized and turtled when the ballast bulb was lost.  Here's the link to the Vendee Globe