Oct 7 Fleet Week Sail
We took VALIS out to Alcatraz for Fleet Week, and what an interesting
day it was! In addition to some impressive ships, and some amazing
demonstrations of air power and grace, we learned first-hand (again)
what boaters mean when they say that anchoring is the second-most
stressful thing we do (anchoring next to dozens of other boats with
changing current and wind is the most stressful). Last year we were
lucky, I guess – while we saw several incidents we had none of our own.
This year, we participated in several of these “incidents”. It would be
interesting to hear the other fellow’s version of the story (if I could
keep from killing him first), but in any case, we lost an anchor, and
experienced both the bad and the good sides of several people.
After all was said and done, we still had a great time, and made it back
to our slip with everyone still intact. I will post some photos in a
few days, but in the meantime you might want to look at this Google
Earth “kmz” file showing the track of VALIS, and the tracks of all the
AIS-equipped ships on the bay during the festivities. VALIS’ track is
in yellow, and the other ships are in white. You can select individual
ship tracks to display or not. I don’t see any of the Navy ships here -
I guess they don’t feel that continuously broadcasting their course,
speed, and position is a good idea.
-Paul