Posts by John Riise
Bay Area Man Will Set Sail to Hawaii in 8-ft Boat
As far as we know, the smallest boat ever to sail to Hawaii is the 10-ft Yankee Girl. In 1981, relying partly on outboard power in low-wind conditions, 41-year-old Gerry Spiess made it from Long Beach to Honolulu in 34 days. More »
Briggs Cunningham: Sportsman, Gentleman, Sailing Gadget Inventor
Diesel, Kalashnikov, Graham (crackers), Mason (jars), Ohm, Edsel, Ferris — the list is long of items, properties or ideas named for the people who came up with them. One of the most familiar to sailors is the cunningham, that now-familiar tackle used to tension the mainsail luff. More »
Remembering the Big Bang
This month marks the 75th anniversary of one of the most horrendous events of World War II, which occurred right here in the Bay Area. On July 17, 1944, a mishap at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine (site of present day Concord Naval Weapons Station on Suisun Bay) triggered a massive explosion that killed 320 sailors and civilians; injured another 390; destroyed two ships, an entire pier, a railway and a locomotive that was on it; shattered windows as far away as San Francisco: registered 3.5 on the Richter scale at UC Berkeley; and blew shrapnel so high into the air that a pilot flying over the area saw debris flying by at 9,000 feet. More »
Angry Beavers Take R2AK
It was the best kind of win for what’s fast becoming the best kind of race. Due to glitches on boats and ashore, nobody knew who was ahead or who would win the 700+ mile Race to Alaska until they hove into view off the Ketchikan Yacht Club yesterday.
The Sinking of Wander Bird
We were shocked to receive the news that the German pilot schooner Elbe No. 5 — which several generations of Bay Area sailors will know best as 'our' lovely Wander Bird — sank on Saturday after a collision with a commercial ship on the Elbe River near Hamburg.
Bertie Lost off New Jersey
Peter Bailey’s lovely yawl Bertie was capsized by what he believes was a white squall 65 miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey, at about 8 p.m. on May 29. Bailey and his wife, Heidi Snyder — the only ones aboard at the time — managed to activate their EPIRB and were rescued about three hours after the capsize.
North to Alaska
The docks at Victoria’s Inner Harbor were a carnage-fest of broken gear, torn sails, drowned radios, lost hatches, hulls or amas filled with water, and things lost overboard.
The R2AK Starts Today
If variety is the spice, then the fifth annual Race To Alaska — the first segment of which started today — is a veritable jambalaya of waterborne fun. With the only rules being “no motor, no support,” pretty much anything that floats and can be motivated by wind or muscle power is going, including modern sailboats, an ancient sailboat (a 52-ft, 12-ton gaffer built in 1903), a variety of rowing craft, two stand-up paddleboards, and a “self-designed boat made from Hobie parts.” More »
‘Little Wing’ Sailing Her First PPJ
As you read this, a handful of 2019 Pacific Puddle Jumpers have officially arrived in the South Seas. But the bulk of the 110-boat fleet are still a few days out. More »
R2AK – Beware the Ides of April
Taxes or the R2AK . . . ? R2AK or taxes . . . ? Eenie, meenie, miney . . .
April 15 wasn’t just the deadline for filing tax returns, it was also the deadline for signing up for the wild and crazy Race to Alaska. More »
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