The Sailor Chicks

These are pictures of my girlfriends and me sailing the Torrey Pines Sailing Club's Victory 21 boats. Click on the thumbnail images for larger pictures.

Learning to Sail

Before we made it to the Torrey Pines Sailing Club, we started by taking lessons from Frank Dixon through Mira Costa College. I don't have as many pictures as I'd like from back then, but here's what I have.
Our gallant crew	Carrie on board
Carrie and Ellen after a lesson	Carrie, Ellen and me on our first solo sail!
Frank took that last picture from the dock, watching nervously as the three of us sailed his boat and wondering if he'd ever see it again. It took a while, but we eventually managed to get it back to him in one piece and graduated from the class to become ... The Sailor Chicks!

Maiden Voyage - 8/28/02

This was my first time as skipper and, well, mistakes were made. But we all had fun, made it back to the dock safely (although not on the first try), and repaired to Fiddler's Green to restore our spirits with Margaritas and dinner.
Ellen and Carrie crewing	Ellen at the helm
Me impersonating a sailor	Lorna and Ellen as we head back into the channel
Sailing wing-and-wing (or was that "spread-eagled?") down the channel	Some people can afford bigger boats than us!
Back at the dock, a woman's work is never done!	Finally, everything was stowed and we put the boat to bed for the night.

Tall Ships - 9/13/02

The tall ships were in town for the Festival of Sail, so we set out with our small ship to get a look at them. Lorna couldn't make it this time, so my friend Rennie signed on instead. We had great wind, the skipper seemed a lot sharper than last time, and a wonderful time was had by all.
The hardest part was figuring out how to get our boat clear of all the others.	There was a lot of head-scratching before we were ready to go.
Rennie took us out into the bay	...while Ellen and Carrie sweated over the winches.
We saw the Star of India	and cruised past the visiting ships
before it was time to turn our back on downtown	and boogie on home.
On the way back we saw a real tall ship!	We made it back just in time to watch a beautiful sunset from the shore on Shelter Island.

Lost In The Fog - 10/7/03

Rennie's sister was visiting from Pennsylvania, so we decided to take her out sailing and show her a good time, San Diego style. Little did any of us know what we were getting ourselves into! (I don't think Pati will be moving out here any time soon, or at least sailing with me again...)
Of course we know what we're doing!	Raising the mainsail
With the boat rigged and ready to go...	it's time to cast off!
Pati looked relaxed as we headed out the channel	and watched a nuclear submarine prepare to head to sea.
We cruised past the bait dock and said hello to the sea lions	...paying no heed to the fog that was creeping over the hills beyond.
Then we paid a visit to their cousins out in the bay	...and suddenly we weren't sightseeing any more!
"We're doomed!" cried the skipper	Pati waved sadly to the lucky people safe on shore as we vanished into the fog...
We did make it safely back to the dock, arriving cold and wet. The fog shut down the San Diego airport for the evening, and definitely impressed us. As the old saying goes, good judgement comes from experience and experience usually comes from bad judgement. I gained a lot of experience on this trip!