Sailing on USA AC 76 under the Golden Gate Bridge.

So many people have asked why did you not go with a bigger boat. The answer always comes back to money. We want to do some traveling and as a teacher and civil servant, we have a limited budget. Last week we got the chance to do some of that traveling. We went out to San Fransisco, California rented an RV and drove 850 miles in a week. We visited the Redwoods and Sequoias, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Sonoma for a little wine tasting. To finish up the week BB and Myles took to the San Fransisco Bay for some whale watching and I got the opportunity to ride along on

USA AC-76 <click through to the link if you are in San Fran. The trip is totally worth it.

76 is the hull number for this American Cup Class Racing Yacht. It measures in at 86 feet in length with a 12-foot beam and a 14 ft draft. The boat has been outfitted for day charters so there are some stanchions and safety features added along with a motor. However, I'm told they still race it occasionally. It takes a while to get up to speed but once it is there it is really going. That said for pure adrenalin and speed my DN iceboat could take this any day of the week. It is a pretty marvelous machine to sail on regardless of the changes made and I highly recommend it if you get the chance. The AC 76 is a monohull non-foiling boat. To me, this is one of the last great sailing boats out there. The catamarans were used in the last few AC races and the next generation of AC boats are going to be hydrofoils. I personally don't see myself getting on one of the newer AC boats that foil even if the offer presented itself. If I want to fly I'll take a plane thanks.

85 feet is one long dock.

Once aboard we were all seated along the rail for the whimsical safety briefing.

Once the legal safety stuff was taken care off we pushed off and got underway. We all got a chance to hold the port side wheel before it and the trim wheel was installed These boats are built to be light carbon fiber everything and the wheels I think are under 7-8lbs. We motored to the main part of the city and used the wind shadow from the skyscrapers to set the main.

I was lucky enough to be one of the four people to help on the grinders and put up the mainsail. The mast is 115ft so it is a bunch of grinding. Their mainsail is in pretty rough shape lots of patches, and tape. They also had it recut from a square top to a Bermuda rig (pointed top). This allows them to charter on days with over 14 knots of wind apparently the original square cut sails were a bit much for your day to day sailing adventure. Note here they are getting new sails next week so this photo a week from now would have looked a lot less taped together.

Here is a photo of our captain working one of the grinders to trim the main. Instead of winch handles, these are used to turn all the massive 3-speed winches on board. They are all controlled through a hydraulic system below deck that is activated by buttons you step on in the deck. It is a pretty sweet system.

This is the winch for the main sheet line. It is pretty impressive and one of 3 on the boat.

So one of the cool things about this boat is it is not sailed by using tell tails. The boat is designed to tip just so far to maximize the waterline. When this is reached there is a canted floor that will be perfectly level for standing on at the helm. Once you have reached leveled the floor you are trimmed in. It is pretty sweet and gives you a nice comfortable place to stand while you steer. Even if the rest of the crew on hanging on for life and limb honestly though with a 12 ft beam the heal wasn't that much.

You can get a sense of the ride here in this little video clip as we sail out towards Alcatraz.

Once we cleared Alkatraz and the commercial traffic. (Yeah, ships) We made our way across the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Closer.

Yeap the mast cleared it.

After that is was time to head back for dinner.

We left the Golden Gate bridge in the evening mist.

Once back in the shelter of the city skyline the mainsail was dropped rolled and stowed back in its bag on deck. This was one impressive ride on a big boat below here are some parting shots as things were getting stowed away on the yacht.