Friday the 13th Cruise to Clipper Cove

It was Friday the 13th, and a full moon. What better time to go on a cruise; what could possibly go wrong?

Eleven sailors in five dinghies left the dock at about 4:30pm. A little later than the announced departure time, but about when I figured we would actually shove off. The wind was very light in the junior area but picked up to a lovely 10 knots or so once we got a bit past the restaurant. We had a pleasant and uneventful sail to Treasure Island, and pulled our boats up on the little beach at Clipper Cove. Of course we had the traditional capsizing of the last boat to arrive.

[Left: Josh Leihe and Auric Horneman taking down the last Bahia; Right: CSC boats beached at Clipper Cove]

With the boats pulled well above the water line, we made the short walk to the Treasure Island Bar and Grill. I don’t know about everybody else, but while I enjoyed my food I kept thinking: I hope the wind doesn’t die, I hope the wind doesn’t die, I hope the wind doesn’t die. After eating, kibitzing and telling lies about how fast we had sailed there, we walked back to the boats. I looked out over the water and, you guessed it, the wind had died. Now, this wasn’t the end of the world. We had the sketch motor mounted on the Venture, but it was going to be a slow slog back with a 2 horsepower motor and 5 boats. As we looked despairingly eastward at the glassy water, what did we see? Could it be? Yes, it was Michael “The St. Bernard of the Sea” Moore coming towards us on the rescue skiff! He brought the skiff up to the beach and casually asked “Do you guys want a tow?” We got the boats off the beach, and Michael maneuvered around so we could each attach our bow painters to the tow line.

We had as nice a time motoring back as one can have when motoring. As our five little ducklings were pulled along behind the mother ship, the sun set, and a beautiful orange full moon came up over the East Bay. We got back in about forty minutes, at least twice as fast as it would have been without Michael’s help. Thank you, Michael. 

So despite recklessly sailing on Friday the 13th, there were no dismastings, no catastrophes, and everybody made it back in one piece.

Thanks to all the skippers and crew for making my first solo cruise fun and easy.

More photos can be seen at Jennifer Kroon Photography: http://www.jenniferkroonphotography.com/2014/Seamus-Friday-the-13th-Full/n-cfQBM/i-VnS8HMH