2002 Memorial Day Freeze Out
Photos by Randy Devol / Report by Sandy Blackburn

Memorial Day Cruise Out 2002

It was an overcast, foggy, windy day on the Bay on Saturday, the first day of the Memorial Day Weekend.  Despite the gloomy forecast, it was the largest turnout for a BAMA sponsored event in at least four years.  Below is a list of the folks who joined us:

Despite the winds, the group was determined to party, and we converged on Perception for a BBQ.  Big thanks to Glen for hosting the BBQ.  Jeff & Deb brought over some fantastic tangerine margaritas and everyone had a good time eating lots of food.  Those of us in the salon (with heater going) were quite content.  All total there were 26 folks at the BBQ on Saturday making it the largest attendance at a BAMA event since the Christmas party.

We had quite an impressive raft up.  The estimated overall beam of the raft up was 110 feet wide with a total of 14 hulls.  Perception was the center, Joint Venture and Three Sigma on starboard; Flying Bye and Gerri de on port.  It was a sleepless night for some of us.  Randy & Rich K. were on watch because the winds were swirling around Clipper Cove and the raft up was doing 180 degree turns.  Rich K. was pretty close to a monohull for a good portion of the night.  I've been told that the raft up looked pretty intense doing a 180 degree turn on anchor.  Most of the cruisers decided not to go to China Camp on Sunday.

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Memorial Day Cruise Out 2002 - Part 2
By Glenn Fagerlin

Sunday morning the fleet split up with Three Sigma, Flying Bye, Feet and Perception heading to China Camp.  Most used a reef through the slot and shook it out behind Angel Island.  We had a nice sail up to China Camp. Deb Beeson on Flying Bye took some pictures and sent them to me (thanks).  They look good and prove we all make dumb mistakes - I still had my monster fenders out from the raft up.

Perception arrived to find Three Sigma and Flying Bye rafted close to shore. After checking the depths I decided that I would be in the mud at low tide if I joined them.  Perception anchored in a hole (13 feet) outside of the others and Feet anchored in front of me in the same depth.  If you check the chart it gets shallower then deeper away from the hole I anchored in.  It is a great place for multihulls with shallow draft - reasonably close to the beach.  Most of the other boats were anchored further out in the deeper water.

The day was sunny, warm and very little wind.  What a difference from Clipper Cove.  Tom and Deb in Flying Bye rafted with Perception later.  It seems that the Three Sigma and Flying Bye anchored and went to shore for some lunch (the clam chowder was great).  While in the restaurant someone mentioned that there were two "catamarans" on shore.  Panic struck and lunch was interrupted while the boats were retrieved.  No damage was reported.  Three Sigma apparently called it a day and Flying Bye came out further and rafted up.

I took a tour of Feet and the crew of Flying Bye and Perception had a potluck Sunday night - Bill and crew decided to stay on Feet.  Flying Bye left early and Perception and Feet returned to their berths later.  For some reason my windlass decided not to work and I got my exercise pulling up 100 feet of chain.  It worked later at my slip so - another mystery.  I did give me an opportunity to mark my chain - a dirty messy job.  The boat was a mess from the mud anyway and the chain was already spread out so I took advantage of the opportunity. China Camp was a great place.  I had been by it a number of times but never overnighted there or toured the park.  There is a little restaurant, historic stuff, a good sandy beach for the kids to play in the water, a pier to tie dinghies to with ladders and lots of room for anchoring.  The weather was great.  Warm and sunny with not much wind.  I am told that there can be a lot of wind but it was great while we were there.  There was another event at China Camp and I would guess about 50 boats anchored out.  Still there was plenty of room and good swinging room.  I think its a great destination for a cruise.

Glenn Fagerlin
PERCEPTION, Kronos 45 Catamaran
gfagerlin at qlcapital.com