Adventures of Bliss

Vessel Name: Bliss
Vessel Make/Model: Pearson 385
Hailing Port: Berkeley, CA
Crew: Jolanda de Boer, Tod Flak
30 September 2010
28 September 2010 | Napa, CA
26 September 2010 | Eden Isle
25 September 2010
24 September 2010
23 September 2010 | Bethel Island, CA
21 September 2010 | Suisun City
19 September 2010 | Pittsburg,CA
17 September 2010 | Vallejo, CA
06 August 2010
23 July 2010
31 October 2009
28 October 2009
26 October 2009
20 October 2009
20 October 2009
17 October 2009 | 34 14.75'N:119 15.94'W
14 October 2009 | Marina Del Rey, CA
Recent Blog Posts
30 September 2010

Wine tasting in Napa

Some times a change in plans is the best thing ever. In this case: taking a car with A/C and not a bike to do a wine tour as the weather was still in the lower 100's, and wineries are located on hills. I'm not a kind of person that wears butt padded shorts when I bike, so we'll take that tandem another [...]

28 September 2010 | Napa, CA

Leaving the Delta

We've enjoyed the delta, and were glad we checked it out. For us, September was a good time to go, as it was a quiet during the week, but not so much during the weekend, and we can imagine that the summer can get pretty busy here. It's a place where motor crafts seem to rule, and with that comes a certain [...]

26 September 2010 | Eden Isle

An adventuresome day

Jolanda: Tod wanted to spend some time fishing today, taking the dinghy, so we came up with the plan that we would tow the kayak 2 miles down the river to Paradise Marina, and he would go on his merry way into a more remote slough. Now, 2 miles might not be that much if you walk , however ½ [...]

25 September 2010

Eden Island

Down the Potato slough, up the Disappointment slough, you will find Eden Island, a small private island bought by some members of the BYC decades ago (principally motivated by microcomputer designer Adam Osborne) . Steve and Maureen [...]

24 September 2010

On the hook in the Delta

Friday 9/24: Time for some fishing and trying the tree tie. Three River Reach came up as a good location to anchor, but luck and weeds were not on our side. We approached from the river, and saw a couple of fishing boats close to shore. Ah, times you wish you had a retractable keel....The center of the [...]

23 September 2010 | Bethel Island, CA

Relaxing on pretty Bethel Island

As we sailed under the Antioch bridge on Wednesday and down the San Joaquin River to go to Bethel island, we both were not immediately warmed up to the scenery. Not much hills left, and surrounded by power lines. However, the moment we went up False River, we were more surrounded by tule, and pretty [...]

Bliss in the Vallejo race

10 May 2010
Long time no post, but we do still sail after we got married! We've enjoyed some lovely winter spinnaker sails, overniters in Belvedere, and on the hook at Paradise cove. And..Bliss got her bottom done at KKMI, and her topsides look shiny again. So we couldn't resist (well, in all honesty more Tod) to show her off and get some new scratch marks during the YRA race opener-the Vallejo weekend race, with over 200 boats signed up. Tod entered us in the single/doublehand division, and with our PRF of 180 we were not even the slowest boat. Our group started last, and we managed to start at the very last boat. It has its advantages, as now you only have to worry about beating others, and not getting beat.With flukky and sometimes strange wind conditions (spinnaker completely dead 1 minute, next minute full blown again), we managed to pass a few others in our division, and ended up 9th out of 16 in our division..need some more practise to keep Bliss going in light wind, but we had fun.

Arriving at the madhouse of Vallejo Yacht club, where all boats were rafted up in the marina. We rafted up in the last row, so we could get out first in the morning. Great ribs for dinner, but we passed on the big party. Next morning our Pearson 26 neighbor's motor didn't start, which caused quite some anxiety at some of the boats rafted up behind him. We saw some excellent motoring skills (boats didn't want to wait), some almost collisions, and finally the skipper accepted a tow, so we could untie ourselves and get out. Our group was first to start, and Jolanda got a bit stressed navigating with 100+boats in the small channel in front of the start line. This time, our start went well, and for the next few hours we enjoyed being on the front line. That didn't last though, as the wind was dying again, and we saw the pack closing in, and passing us (the view was great though!). Close to the finish line, we just got stuck with others in front close to the Brothers, and after a while with our GPS showing a backward motion due to current, we decided it was time to go home, and call it quits.
Fun time, we'll do it again!
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