Daysail with Matt under the Bay Bridge and around Treasure Island

Upon our arrival in Oakland, I called my buddy Matt Smith who lives only minutes away from the Marina and scheduled a try-out sail with him. The plan includes him spending at least one night on the boat, and I wanted to give him an opportunity to try before buying. So he came over in his bitchin' Toyota Prius, took us out for a wonderful lunch and to the local Safeway for a massive provisioning. Then we came back to the boat and sailed from Ballena, under the bay bridge, to just off pier 39 and back.

It was an exciting, if quick, sail. In just under 3 hours, we covered some 14 miles, making as much as 9.25 knots (GPS) with Mandala crashing happily thru the sea chop and raising glittering diamonds on the sails. Absolutely wonderful, and after the sail, Matt drove us over and showed us his townhouse and then escorted us to dinner at a wonderful Vietnamese restuarant in his neighborhood before finally returning us to the boat at the late hour of 10:30 p.m.