Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Star of India with Pelicans!
The star was under full sail when this string of pelicans flew along side, nicely seen against the white sails. The crowning moment of a great sail.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Royals sheeted home, she's under full sail!
A big moment for the crew. Under full sail she reached a speed of around 8 knots, not shabby for the light wind.
Bow of the Star of India, with the Californian in the distance
That's the Californian off in the fog, the State Ship of California.http://www.californian.org/ says:
"The Californian is a re-creation of the C.W. Lawrence, a Revenue Service cutter built in Washington D.C. in 1848. In 1849, the C.W. Lawrence under the command of Captain Alexander Fraser was sent to California to secure revenue, relieve distressed merchant vessels and to make scientific investigations of the harbors."
The flying jibs
If I get the names of any sails wrong, I'm sure to hear about it from Paul, so will correct when and if.
She comes about
She's coming about, about to change to the opposite tack. Note the slight heel from the light wind.
Star Of India looms out of the fog
After about half an hour in the fog, the Star looms out of the fog. Quite an eerie sight. Hard to tell, but the sails are set. The VIP guests on the packed 
poop deck are all getting soaked as water drips off the sails.
My boss Paul Koenig, a crew member for years, told me this morning that they were worried about dropping the tow rope from the tug boat, because they don't have a legal fog horn. But minutes before the fog lifted, they just dropped it and set sail... Positive thinking did the trick.
poop deck are all getting soaked as water drips off the sails.My boss Paul Koenig, a crew member for years, told me this morning that they were worried about dropping the tow rope from the tug boat, because they don't have a legal fog horn. But minutes before the fog lifted, they just dropped it and set sail... Positive thinking did the trick.
Pt Loma, as we were leaving the harbor - fog!
As the Hornblower Pacific heads out to open sea, we get a glimps of a giant fog bank rolling over Point Loma. The Star has preceded us and is out there somewhere... A few minutes later we're completely socked in. The boat has to slow down, greatly increasing the roll. People are staggering around and the fog horn is sounding once a minute. The Captain announces that he's not 
sure where the Star is. Good thing we have radar and strong stomachs.
sure where the Star is. Good thing we have radar and strong stomachs.
Californian on way out of harbor
Here's the Calofornian, state ship of California, on the way out of the Harbor.
Star of India being towed out of the harbor
We had breakfast on Coronado and took the ferry over to the waterfront to pick up the Hornblower special tour that followed the Star. On the way over we caught her as she was being towed away from her anchorage. This was about 9:45AM. Note the tugboat.
