We arrived in San Diego at around 10:00 am and stopped for a Starbucks before heading to Shelter Island. Here is a video clip of what we were up to for the afternoon.
This is one of the first generation International America's Cup Class Boats. This design was used from 1995 to 2007 for the America's Cup. We had been in San Diego in 1995 for the first event using this design of boat. The one we sailed on today (USA 11) was Dennis Conner's trial horse for his failed 1995 campaign. (it was a rout by Team New Zealand).
This was a first class operation, the boat had been meticulously restored to it's original 1995 condition. The skipper and crew encouraged everyone to participate in the sailing and it was a fantastic day. As an example, it take six grinders working full out at the pedestals for a few minutes just to raise the 110ft high carbon fibre/kevlar/mylar main sail.
For a while it looked like we may not be able to go out because of the upper limit wind conditions (The ACC design boats did not start a race in over 15 kts wind because of the huge sail area and fragile hulls). For the first hour or so it was fairly gusty and we were consistently over 10 kts boat speed, occasionally reaching 12 kts. with a blade jib and full main.
(The upper instrument shows boat speed, the third, smaller display is true wind speed TWS)
We sailed within the harbour and were afforded a great tour of San Diego.
We were pretty well tired at the end of the sail and were happy to check into our hotel. We did manage to venture out to old San Diego to a Mexican Restaurant where the small size Margarita is 17.5 oz (the large is 32 oz).Needless to say, it was an early to bed evening as soon as the blog was updated!
WOW, wow and wow! When you said an adventure,we thought it might involve sailing but had no idea you really meant SAILING! 10 knots, yahoo.
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