Sailing together since 1953

Due to the coronavirus all our sailing and race events are postponed until further notice. We look forward to sailing again in the not too distant future.

WE HAVE CANCELLED in-person meetings FOR time being .

We welcome your participation and help to keep the club running and successful.

There is a chance to also order some food during the meeting and meet new or re-connect with old (or young) sailing friends.
It’s also an opportunity to introduce and discuss ideas for club events, new or old.
Hope to see you there.

Location

Pizza Gourmet
1415 Fulton Rd
Santa Rosa
CA 95401

Link to the club calendar .here.

March 2020 Minutes

We have canceled all our scheduled events through the end of April. Everyone please stay apart and safe!
But stay tuned, we’ll let you know when can get back out on the water together.

MARCH 15 CANCELLED! The county has suspended all permitted events at county parks and facilities through the end of March—our race is one of these. Life keeps finding new ways to cancel our races:

• too windy
• not enough wind
• too rainy
• not enough water
• flooding
• too many weeds
• not enough sailors
• too hot and now…
• a pandemic !
• what’s next?

So this Sunday’s race is cancelled. Hopefully we can get safely through the Coronavirus and get back to sailing. Check in here.

The next scheduled race day is April 5. Racing begins at 2 pm for the rest of the series (daylight savings time).

Stay safe and keep washing your hands.

2020 Spring Series Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions

We had a nice day for sailing the final races on February 16. The results are posted below.
3rd and 4th place tie was broken using Rule A8.

2020 Spring Lake Winter Series Results

Notice of Race-SI

Jan 12 ,2020 USS Hornet in background

Commodore Bill, Past Commodore David, and Past, Past Commodore joined Never-to-be Commodore Pat and Sausalito YC Jack-of-all Officers Nick Sands for a full day’s tour of USS Hornet, CV-12. Now a museum ship at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, the WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the ship that recovered both Apollo 11 and 12 Lunar Moon Modules after they landed in the Pacific Ocean, USS Hornet has a rich history. The 8th “Hornet” in the US Navy, the ship replaced USS Hornet, CV 8 lost in the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 27, 1942.

Hornet’s keel was laid in August 1942, she was launched a year later in 1943, and USS Hornet, CV-12 was commissioned in November, 1943. USS Hornet immediately sailed for the South Pacific where she served for 15 months without docking and earned the nickname ‘Gray Ghost” by escaping damage from enemy ships and planes. She, however, suffered major damage in the infamous typhoon when her forward deck was bend badly damaged and she sailed for San Francisco for repair. She returned to the South Pacific for the final months of WWII.

USS Hornet’s next service was in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In 1969 Hornet was refitted to recover the Apollo 11 and 12 space capsules and their 3-man astronaut crew. The space capsules were hoisted aboard Hornet and the astronauts were whisked into an awaiting modified Airstream trailer for to contain any possible moon microbes. An Apollo capsule and the de-conamitation trailer a re displayed on the museum ship.

Other displays include several refurbished WWII Naval propeller fighter aircraft, Korean and Vietnam era jets, and Naval helicopters. USS Hornet ended her Navy days as a helicopter carrier since her hydraulic catapults were not capable of launching the increasingly heavier fighter jets.

The SRSC party joined three tours. First we toured the Fo’c’sle or Hurricane Deck with its anchoring gear. We all agreed that even one link of the anchor chain would sink our SRSC boats and an anchor the size of a VW was more than we needed for Tomales Bay. The Forward Auxiliary Generator, a 10 cylinder double piston engine, along with its mate at the stern could power almost all the electrical needs if the primary generators were knocked out of service. The Junior Officers Berthing facilities are also in the forward area. The tour ended with a visit to the 70 mm and 5 inch anti-aircraft cannon on the outside of the hull and the radar control room that controlled them.

Next we caught up with a tour headed down into the the ship’s bowels – the Aft Starboard Engine Room and Port Catapult machinery. We didn’t experience the 130+ temperatures nor noise created by super heated steam, turbines spinning at near supersonic speeds, and hundreds of yards of thick cables flinging fully loaded planes off the flight deck. We did experience steep “ladders” – the Navy’s name for stairways, tripping step-over bulkheads at watertight emergence hatch locations, and head knocking overhead pipes and hoist tracks. The tour ended in the geedunk bar where we could have purchased 10¢ Spam sandwiches or 25¢ hamburgers back in the day.

“Geedunk” is the nickname for a casual eatery where the uniform of the day is not required and where sailors could purchase food alternatives to the food served in the mess. No one knows why “geedunk.” Some suggest its the sound an old fashioned vending machine made after a coin was dropped in the slot and, knob pulled as it dispensed the selected item. But others think is comes from an old comic strip named Harold Teen. Harold eats Gedunk sundaes at a soda fountain. Since Navy ships have been “dry” since 1911, so soda, along with coffee of course, was a drink of choice. Whatever, it make for an interesting stop on the tour.

The final tour was to the Flight Control Center and Bridge located in the Island Superstructure five stories above the flight deck. More steep “ladders” and tight quarters. The Flight Control Center with its 360º views contrasted sharply with the Bridge with its inch think armor and small portholes. The Captain’s Duty Cabin in the armored Bridge provided him with a bed, toilet, and table. The Navigation Center below the Bridge housed the Officers and
Men tasked with telling the Captain where to sail.

With four turbines separated in 2 engine rooms, at least 3 emergency steering stations, two auxiliary generators – one on the bow and one in the stern, dozens of watertight hatches and escape scuttles, redundant systems everywhere, USS Hornet was prepared to suffer battle damage, but continue fighting. The “Gray Ghost” never had to test those duplications – one lucky aircraft carrier.

The SRSC contingent finished their Alameda visit to Nations Giant Burgers before returning to Santa Rosa. The next SRSC “Adventure” will be the Marina Bay/Richmond sail later this Spring. “Now hear this. Standby for further information.”

-Pat Broderick

https://www.uss-hornet.org/

Here are more details:

• It happens this Sunday, June 12.
• We plan to arrive at the Hornet in Alameda at 10 am to catch an early tour.
• You can either get their on your own or meet at the park & ride lot under the freeway in front of the County fairgrounds.at 830 am Sunday.
• It is usually about a 1 1/2 hr drive from Santa Rosa to Alameda.
• The plan is to spend about 3 hrs touring the ship and stop by Nation’s Hamburgers after for a meal before heading home.

I will send a email with info and contact info shortly.

We had the final race day of this series On Sunday, Nov 17. There was a total of six different boats that participated on three different race days. No rainouts or other weather-related cancellations for this one.

Fall Series Results

2019-Fall-series-details

Light winds

Race Observer

After determining some clarifications, please see the final results of the 2019 Labor Day Regatta below:

Centerboards

Keelboats

Pelicans

May 5, 2019 at the starting line L to R, Gail, Joe, Bill, Mark, Bob & Shannon

Race schedule can be seen here at our calendar page

This series is scheduled twice a month, six Sundays from March 3 to May 19. This is usually a great time of year to sail. Hope you can make it out for some or all of the races. Note that our “races” are really low-key. They can be a fun place to learn the fundamentals of racing.

If you have a sailboat and want to try sailing, come on out to Spring Lake and join the fun! There is sometimes room for you to crew on a boat, too. Post a message on meetup and see if anyone replies.

There is a $7 park entry fee or you can purchase an annual pass. Check at the entrance station.
More info on Spring Lake park here.

Keep up on the races by checking out our meetup site here. We would also appreciate you signing up for the race on the meetup site, so we can know how many to expect.

More details on the races can be found here in the Notice of Race.
Map to Spring Lake Launch ramp here.