USA 38 - Wind Seeker Goes for a Winter Sail

A rare Saturday for me, time for myself to mess around on the boat... it wasn't planned so I didn't quite know what to do with myself. My project list has grown to 23 things, but with only 3 hours it's hard to decide what to do. So, I loaded up the car and decided that it would be smart to pick up a sandwich before getting down to the boat and while cruising the parking lot, I noticed USA 38 Wind Seeker getting ready to go out. January 12th and it's 60 degrees, light wind out of the north and a ripping ebb tide... sounds good to me.



I knew Rich had sold the boat and I had heard it was to a group of "young, ambitious, avid sailors who wanted to sail her more than work on her."
I walk down the dock and see Justin putting things in their place for departure. We'd never met, but Folkboats bring people together and soon we discovered that not only did we have excellent taste in boats, but we also teach middle school students. Yikes. He somehow has a job teaching underprivileged kids how to build bicycles from the various array of parts he has amassed and at the end of the project the student gets to keep the bike for free. How cool is that?
I couldn't help but notice the cleats he and his partners use and asked where the lever went? They thought it was too hard to use in a pinch and changed it out for the old fashion, very user friendly, wood cleat.









I surveyed the boat and took a few pictures and talked some more and then he asked the wrong question... or the right one depending on you perspective... what do you think?










Does she leak? Is your gooseneck track cracked? Your main halyard is wrapped around your backstay and... they sure are fun to sail, huh?











Yes, she leaks... a lot, but they have a battery powered pump. Yes, the gooseneck track fitting was cracked, but that's something Peter Jeal can easily fix. And, well... main halyards get tangled all the time. Nothing that will prevent a sail in medium conditons... I hope.








Gashouse Cove is a great location to have the boat because there are 10 Folkboats within eye's sight and most of them are right next to each other where this boat is kept.
Rich is a great guy, he lent them his outboard motor... and hasn't really said when he wants it back... how nice.
Justin had a funny story to tell me about being boarded by the Coast Guard... the summary: no CF numbers, no registration on board and no running lights 30 minutes after the sun went down. Hmmm, we may need to have a fund raiser to help these guys when the bill finally comes in. Regardless, the youth movement is strong here in SF and that dream of 20 boats on the line might come to fruition this season if we rally the guys on the fringe. I think it's Ok to have a party fleet within your group. As long as they don't try to barge at the start, let them have a beer in hand rule and let's have some fun when the Wednesday Evening Series starts up again. By the way, this is my 100th blog entry.