First West Coast GAM May
2009

Hi everybody. Iris and I have
returned from be the first West Coast GAM. Here's the lowdown:

Location:

Mariner's Cove in Mission Bay, San
Diego. We had originally planned to meet at Glorietta Bay
in the San Diego Harbor,
but switched to Mariner's Cove at the last minute when we learned Glorietta Bay would be closed off to ocean access
due to air races. Mariner's Cove was a friendly anchorage with a light breeze
which gradually shifted throughout our stay.

Attendees:

Phil and Anna from Chula Vista in San Diego Bay, CA SWII
#82

Cliff and Iris from Wilmington in LA Harbor, CA
SWII #35

Dave and Carrie from Oceanside,
CA -- Dave and Carrie were such
good company we didn't have the heart to tell them that their Catalina 42
wasn't designed by Gilmer.

It was a great trip, full of firsts for the Seawind owners: first GAM, first
anchorage (it was unsettling at first, not having experience with a boat
swinging on anchor with a different view whenever we looked out the
companionway, but by the second day we were enjoying it), first dinner together
(Anna made a fantastic pizole which she slow cooked all day and we enjoyed
aboard the spacious Catalina 42 named Serenity, after which we enjoyed the
fireworks show set off over Sea World), first sail into a kelp bed (a mile and
a half offshore in the dead of night RAN suddenly slowed down for no apparant
reason, that is, until I pulled out the flash light and realized we'd entered a
bed of kelp. The kelp extended farther out to sea than my charts showed. I just
turned out to sea until we cleared the bed and things were back to normal, and
since Iris was sound asleep and there are no witnesses I can denie this ever
happened), first grounding (I would have denied this had Iris not miraculously
found her missing camera and caught me in the act of having RAN towed off the
sandy shoal in Mariner's Cove).

Cliff and Iris SWII #35

Towing RAN off beach 2

Seawind II 7

Seawind II 1

Seawind II 3

Towing RAN off beach 1

Seawind II 8

Seawind II 4

Anchorage
1

Seawind II 10

Seawind II 5

Seawind II 9

Seawind II 13

Back at Sea 1

Seawind II 11

Seawind II 2

Seawind II 6

Seawind II 12

Iris Heading Home

RAN 2

RAN 5

RAN at Anchor

RAN 1

Seawind II at Anchor