Hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans race across San Diego Bay during the 2018 Extreme Sailing Series.
What an amazing day out on San Diego Bay! Here come a bunch of cool photos!
I began my walk at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, where the Star of India sail crew was getting ready for their ocean journey next month. I then walked along San Diego Bay to Harbor Island to view a variety of events during this weekend’s 2018 Extreme Sailing Series.
As I arrived at Harbor Island, kids were racing O’pen BIC boats in an Un-Regatta. Next came an exhibition and race by world-class kite boarders. A lack of sufficient wind made the Element Sports Kite Boarding Invitational a real challenge for those great athletes.
At two o’clock the main event began. Seven hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans competed in the San Diego leg of this year’s Extreme Sailing Series. I watched the first race, then, while devouring a yummy quesadilla from a food truck, enjoyed a look around the Race Village and its US Sailing Education Zone.
To see lots of photos from the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series, including exhibits in the Race Village, and catamarans actually flying above the water under stronger wind conditions, click here!
The Star of India will sail next month upon the Pacific Ocean. The volunteer sail crew is busy preparing for the historic journey.The sail crew learns the ropes aboard Star of India, oldest active sailing ship in the world.Muscle, skill and coordination are required to sail a full-rigged iron-hulled windjammer.Pulling ropes to manipulate the yards and sails.Securing one rope tightly to a belaying pin on the ship’s wooden pinrail.Walking along Harbor Island, where various exhibitions and races are enjoyed during the 2018 Extreme Sailing Series.As I arrived, the O’pen BIC racing Un-Regatta was underway.Kids as young as ten years old learn about sailing competitively on the fun little O’pen BIC sailboats.Kids love sailing on San Diego Bay in the October sunshine.Lots of O’pen BICs in close competition off Harbor Island.Spectators were sitting on the rocks along Harbor Island watching the various Extreme Sailing Series events.Magic in San Diego.Next came a kite boarding exhibition and race, with downtown San Diego’s skyline as the backdrop.A highly skilled kite boarder flies above the blue water of San Diego Bay.World-class kite board athletes prepare to race during the Element Sports Kite Boarding Invitational.The kite boarding race has begun!By sheer chance the kite boarders produced this beautiful photograph.More magic on San Diego Bay.Now to the main event, as the GC32 Stadium Racing will soon begin.The super fast, hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans begin to maneuver before the first race starts. Seven teams would participate this weekend on San Diego Bay.The first race has begun! One catamaran tips upward in the wind, as its crew tries to obtain maximum speed.Team Mexico works hard to reach the finish line before the other competitors.Element Spark Compass, the United States team, is a wild card entry for this weekend. The members raced really well, even though they have very limited GC32 experience.The fast catamarans maneuver up the course into the sun. The wind was a bit disappointing today due to the mild Santa Ana-like weather this weekend.Someone on Harbor Island points toward one of the racing teams.They’ve navigated around a race mark buoy and are coming back downwind.Here they come again! Alinghi, the Swiss team, seems to always be in front. Their crew members have won multiple America’s Cup titles.Red Bull Sailing Team is tacking on San Diego Bay.Here comes the Element Spark Compass catamaran! The crew works hard to capture every inch of wind.Lots of action aboard Red Bull’s GC32 catamaran.Sails of many types were spotted today out on beautiful San Diego Bay!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
All sorts of wood can be found under the North Harbor Drive Bridge, where the historic boat Butcher Boy is undergoing a thorough restoration.
This morning, as I drove up Harbor Drive toward Point Loma, I suddenly remembered that the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s turn-of-the-century racing sloop Butcher Boy is being restored at Spanish Landing, where the galleon San Salvador was built a few years back. Work on the much smaller Butcher Boy is being carried out in a sheltered place under the North Harbor Drive Bridge.
Even though I’m no expert when it comes to sloops–or nautical stuff in general–I do love to look at boats and ships that sail. There seems to be something about white sails, sunlight on water, and wind-lashed voyages across rolling expanses that appeals deeply to the human spirit.
So, anyway, I decided to pull into the nearby parking lot to see what progress has been made in restoring Butcher Boy to its former glory.
I was able to take a few photos.
Even though no museum volunteers were at work in the early morning, and the large ship saw was covered with a tarp, a nearby sign provided some interesting information about these unique saws used by shipwrights. The angle of a ship saw blade can be changed as a cut is being made, so that compound curves can be created with a single cut.
“Butcher Boy, which had similarly named counterparts up and down the West Coast, was conceived by Charles S. Hardy, owner of the Bay City Market on Fifth and Broadway downtown.
‘Boss Hardy,’ as he was known, needed a boat sturdy enough to handle any weather and fast enough to beat competitors out to the big ships anchored offshore, off what was commonly known as Spanish Bight and Dutch Flats.
Hardy turned to boatyard owner Manuel Goularte, a native of the Portuguese Azores. The model was the double-ended salmon boat sailed so successfully on the Sacramento and Columbia rivers.
A boat-building style that originated in Italy and the Mediterranean can also be seen in Butcher Boy, said Ashley, a style then favored by first-generation Italian fishermen in San Francisco Bay.
‘The gaff rig originated with the 15th-century Dutch,’ Ashley said. ‘Even though she was built as a work boat, she was beautiful, really special even in her own time.’
‘Everybody around the bay stops to look at her now. It’s like she’s sailing out of a Winslow Homer painting.’
Framed in oak and planked in cedar, Butcher Boy is 29 feet, 11 inches long, with an 81/2-foot beam. The mainsail and jib carry 604 square feet of sail.”
If you are curious, and want to see historical photos of Butcher Boy under sail, and a detailed description of the restoration work now being done, please read the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s blog by clicking here.
A sign that describes a ship saw, recalling how this particular one was used to build the Spanish galleon replica San Salvador.Lots of lumber!I took this photo of the unrestored Butcher Boy two and a half years ago for another blog post. At the time it was on display on the barge behind the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s steam ferry Berkeley.Photo of the Butcher Boy’s restoration in progress, taken one August 2018 morning at San Diego’s Spanish Landing.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
I love to watch sailboats out on San Diego Bay before sunset.
Sails stretch in the wind and capture the late sun.
Turning, fluttering, then swelling again, the dreamlike sails glide through their radiant dance. A ballet of light between the water and sky. And then the curtain closes.
Here I go again posting more photographs of sailboats.
I took these today from the end of Broadway Pier.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
This evening, just before sunset, I stood on the Embarcadero and watched more than one hundred sunlit sailboats race across the north part of San Diego Bay.
From May 21 through August 1, the Cortez Racing Association, in partnership with the Silver Gate Yacht Club (which is based on Shelter Island), puts on Wednesday races called the San Diego Bay Beer Can Series.
As the sailboats began across the water, and late sunlight slanted over Point Loma, the colorful sails were so bright they seemed like a dream. The race was too distant for my camera to take sharp photos–so I have increased the contrast to make the images even more dreamy!
In case you’re curious, those two active aircraft carriers you see in my photos are docked at Naval Air Station North Island. They are the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70).
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Biking north along the east side of Mission Bay, heading toward De Anza Cove.
On Saturday I walked slowly along the east side of Mission Bay on my way to the Shaka Fest. Many were out enjoying the sunshine.
This is living in San Diego.
Resting in the shade of a tree.Shooting hoops outdoors with friends.Chasing a Frisbee.Walking near the De Anza Cove boat launching ramp.Some boaters come in from a pleasant Saturday out on the water.A sailboat in a corner of gentle blue Mission Bay, the largest man-made aquatic park in the United States.Enjoying the grass.The magic of Mission Bay.Heading down a path with the dog.Plaque on a park bench. In memory of Bettelu who love the walk (thru life).Enjoying another day of San Diego sunshine.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Evening photo of the beautiful tall ship Stad Amsterdam docked on San Diego’s Embarcadero.
An incredibly beautiful tall ship is now visiting San Diego. The Stad Amsterdam, an enormous three-masted clipper ship modelled after the 19th century frigate Amsterdam, is docked at the Embarcadero just north of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
Talking briefly to a crew member, I learned the Stad Amsterdam is operating as a luxury Dutch cruise ship. It recently cruised north along the coast of Mexico after passing through the Panama Canal.
The Stad Amsterdam arrived in San Diego yesterday and will be visiting our fair city for the next eight days.
I stumbled upon the amazing tall ship this evening as I walked across Harbor Drive from Waterfront Park. Fortunately there was still enough light to take a few photos. I’ll probably swing by again this weekend to enjoy another look at the ship in broad daylight!
One interesting thing I discovered while doing a bit of research. In 2009 the Stad Amsterdam was used to reenact the second voyage of HMS Beagle, made famous by Charles Darwin. The survey expedition to South America was aired on Dutch television.
Photo of stern of Stad Amsterdam as the sun is setting behind a bank of clouds. The sails of Star of India, pride of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, can be seen in the distance.A sailboat turns on gleaming San Diego Bay past the figurehead of Stad Amsterdam.The last rays of sunlight illuminate the furled sails of the amazing tall ship Stad Amsterdam.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The Maritime Museum of San Diego’s replica of explorer Cabrillo’s galleon, San Salvador, comes in from a short trip out into the Pacific Ocean.
This afternoon I ventured out onto the dock behind the steam ferry Berkeley, the hub of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. I learned from several people this floating dock is often referred to as “the barge” and that an extensive workshop runs beneath it from end to end. Until my visit today I had no idea!
All sorts of boats were coming and going across San Diego Bay. As I breathed in the fresh air, I watched one very cool ship come in to dock at the barge…
On a beautiful late January afternoon, many sailboats were gliding across San Diego Bay.A California Dreamin’ Match Race hosted by the San Diego Yacht Club was being held near the Maritime Museum.Lots of activity this Saturday at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. I learned museum volunteers and employees call this floating dock behind the Berkeley the barge.While I stood on the barge at the Maritime Museum, I spotted San Salvador turning as it made its approach.Californian’s sail crew was gathered on her deck having a meeting.Here comes San Salvador!Someone waits for the arrival of the amazing Spanish galleon replica.Tying up San Salvador. Lots of action to see out by the water today!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Dozens of beautiful sails out on San Diego Bay yesterday. In the afternoon I sat at the end of Broadway Pier and lazily snapped photos.
I spotted tall ship Californian sailing gently past, and a host of shining sailboats racing across the blue water in the San Diego Yacht Club’s Lipton Cup fall regatta.
This morning, toying around with GIMP’s Oilify filter, I created some dreamy images. I’ve never oil painted anything . . . but with the help of my trusty old computer, now I can pretend otherwise!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 