Mixed Message

Last week the Now Hiring sign went up. This week the yellow sign was posted.



Who would apply here?

Three Bridge Fiasco - Hate To Love It

The Three Bridge Fiasco is, for me, the official opening of the new year's sailing season. It is a race (hosted by the Singlehanded Sailing Society) that begins in front of the Golden Gate Yacht club and continues around three marks: Treasure Island (under the Bay Bridge), Red Rock (by the Richmond Bridge) and Blackaller Buoy (by the Golden Gate Bridge). Those are the Three Bridges.

The Fiasco is this, you can cross the starting line going in any direction and you can round the marks in any direction and in any order. Here is what the starting line looked like from the race deck:

Saturday morning started out cold, drizzly and VERY foggy, but if there is one thing I have learned from racing on the bay and out in the ocean it is this, you simply cannot tell how the weather will turn out and more often than not you will end up having a lovely day of sailing. Such was the case on Saturday.

The big question is always which way to start and which way to round the marks. Honestly, it's almost pointless to plan in advance, so instead of agonizing over the race course Synthia and I spent Friday night partying it up with a group of friends who were also berthed at South Beach Harbor the night before the race.

Saturday morning we discussed our route options on our way to the race course. We decided that if there was enough wind along the city front we would go counter-clockwise against the prevailing current with hopefully enough wind to round Treasure Island.

Luckily we had enough wind to start and Eyrie crossed the line from West to East and headed out along the city front for current relief. After the horde of Moore 24s caught up with us we grew weary of trading tacks with the crowd of boats and we headed out into the channel where we found worse current but better wind.

This strategy of heading across to TI early paid off as the wind died behind us on the city front. The boats in front of us seemed able to round TI fairly easily but as we approached the point the wind died and we almost had to abort the race.

We drifted perilously close to a Coast Guard ship and were warned away from it by a coastie. I started the engine just in case we had to drive away but I didn't want to put it in gear until all hope was lost. Literally, two seconds before I would have hit the Coast Guard ship (and one second before putting the boat in gear) a puff of wind came down to meet us. We trimmed in our sails and sped off to the Berkeley flats, waving farewell to the kind and patient coastie who allowed us to drift into his cove. What a close call that was!!

We had light but fairly consistent winds along the Berkeley shallows. This is the place where, two years ago, we finally gave up racing because 1) there was no wind and no hope of finishing if the wind finally did come, and 2) we were out of booze:

This year, however, we would be able to sail the remainder of the course. We rounded Red Rock, hoisted the spinnaker and set off for Blackaller Buoy via Raccoon Straights between Belvedere and Angel Island. When we got to Raccoon a small single-handed Holder 20 caught up to us. This little pest, skillfully sailed, was next to us for the remainder of the race. We could not shake him!

We rounded Blackaller and had a reach the rest of the way to the finish line. We crossed the line at 4:30:52 and the Holder crossed 2 seconds behind us. Here is a picture of us approaching the finish line. It looks like the Holder is in front but we ended up beating him:

In years past Eyrie has not finished this race more times than she has finished. This year was the best for Eyrie so far in the Three Bridge Fiasco. We finished fairly early, we finished in something like the top 10% of the boats, and we even got back to the slip and had the boat put away before dark, leaving plenty of time for fruity rum drinks and snacks before Tom and Spencer finished in their boat!

All in all Synthia and I had a fabulous day on the bay. We agreed that once again you can't always trust the weather predictions; the day that began wet and foggy turned into a classically beautiful day on San Francisco bay.

eyrie, three bridge fiasco, san francisco sailing, sailing, singlehanded sailing society, hawkfarm

Big Mouth

I ran across this funny picture while looking for something else. Tom took it of one of his work buddies.

Red Carpet Fashion

Just because we celebrate the Oscars in Cupertino instead of Hollywood doesn't mean we don't have our own Red Carpet Fashions. Check out the glamour:

Synthia said this outfit used to belong to her mother.

Halle Berry eat your heart out!

synthia petroka, red carpet fashion

Nude Jogger Exposing Himself To Trouble

This from today's Mercury News:

One of the strangest wildlife sightings in the Cupertino-Saratoga foothills has yet to be identified: a naked jogger, wearing only shoes, glasses and a black tam hat.

He's cordial and polite, not threatening. He doesn't do anything obscene. He avoids confrontations. A white middle-aged man with a paunch, he isn't much to look at.

But his frequent appearances in the Fremont Older Open Space Preserve are startling hikers, equestrians, runners and cyclists, whose idea of sightseeing usually involves something more scenic.

"He passed me and said 'Good evening,' " said equestrian Sue Bowdoin, while riding her horse Randy last summer on the Wedding Tree Trail in the south end of the park. "I thought: Ugh!"

Many sightings come from horseback riders at nearby Garrod Farms Stable who exercise their animals in the 739-acre preserve. One rider says that she chased, cornered and confronted him, yelling that he should not expose himself to children, women and the elderly.

He acted worried, she said, and backed away from her.

Bowdoin recalled a second sighting last fall. "He was running behind me, then started to cough and make noises so I wouldn't be startled," Bowdoin said. "I pulled over and he went right by. He never did or said anything." And he maintained a steady pace throughout.

Park rangers have never seen him and his identity is still unknown, although efforts are under way to identify and apprehend him, said Gordon Baillie, a management analyst with the district.

Nor have his clothes or car keys been found, leading some to suspect that he's a neighbor.

Jogging au naturel is risky, given the abundance of poison oak in the park.

It's also illegal. Open Space District Ordinance Section 412 states: "No person shall expose any part of the pubic or anal region or genitalia while on District Lands in Public View." If they catch him, rangers have to identify him -- a tricky proposition, given that he has no pockets to hold a driver's license.

How would he be picked out of a police lineup?

His skin is pale, turning red and sweaty with exertion. His hair is dark. So are the frames of his glasses. There isn't much body hair.

"He's frumpy. Plain. Not in good physical shape," Bowdoin said. "It's not a pretty sight."

My old cycling instructor Tracy is a ranger in this area. I wonder if she's on the lookout for him? I feel sorry for the guy if Tracy gets a hold of him.

Academy Awards - to eat and to mock

Is it me or do this year's Academy Award nominees seem a bit drab compared to years past? No matter, our annual Oscar Party will be fabulous and delicious, never drab. Here is last year's menu to start warming us up for this year's festivities...

PREVIEWS:
*Good Night and Good Duck on Paul Chiabatti with ApriCapote salsa
*King Konch fritters
*Felicity Stuffedham with Matt Dill-on Tim Burton’s Corpse Brie or Transamerican Cheeeeese, Gromit!
*Walk the Lime Joaquin Peanuts, Jake GyllyBellies

FEATURE PRESENTATION:
*Broke BabyBack Mountain of Ribs
*Franks McDormand War of the Wurst
*Roasted Michelle Willyams & Pommes de Terrence Howard
*Charred leeks Theron
*The Constant Gardener Greens with Tatsoi

OVATIONS:
*Charlie and the Chocolate Factory of Catherine Keebler crust,
Philip S’Mores Hoffman, a Heath Bar Ledge and a Hustle and Flow of Reese’s With-a-spoon.

DRINKS:
Star Wars Episodas III…
Orange Crash
William Sq-Hurt
The Squid and the ginger Wh-ale
Selection of Munich style Beers
March of the PenGuinness
Harry Porter and the Goblet of Firestone wines

The Folly of Humanity

Many thanks to Pratie Place for reminding us of this excellent excerpt:

Below is an extract of a conversation between Hermann Wilhelm Goering and Allied prison psychologist Dr. Gustave Mark Gilbert, as relayed in Dr. Gilbert's Nuremberg Diary (New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1947), pp. 278-279:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.
"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."
"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."
"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Pink Flamingos Home to Roost

It's all about the FLAMINGOS!!

Some people become very depressed around the holidays...not enough sun, scary holiday decorations, forced joy, there are many reasons to become bummed out this time of year. Several of my dearest friends suffer from this seasonal malaise.

My sailing partner Synthia did something this year to help alleviate her funk. She and her husband Terry distributed 20 pairs of PINK FLAMINGOS all the way from Santa Rosa down to San Jose. In the dark of night they stealthily planted these harbingers of Spring and goodwill on lawns, businesses, planes and boats of their friends.

What a great idea!!!!

This happy pair live high up on the side of our building at work:



This duo perks up an otherwise drab winter garden:


How about these sailing party animals?



Regarding the nautical flamingos, our midwinter racing series is called Island Fever. The first place price for each race is a...you guessed it, a PINK FLAMINGO. There have been two races and we got two firsts so voila, two more flamingos. Last Saturday the race was cancelled due to no wind but they awarded prizes for first to the bar. Yep, we got one more PINK FLAMINGO!

Our goal is to go into the last race with our boat a veritable Floating Flock of Fiesta FLAMINGOS.

NEWSFLASH: Nepal now located in Peru!

The caption reads:

HAVE YOU SEEN NEPAL?


However the picture is not in Nepal: Royal Nepal Airlines has apologised to Peru after mistakenly using a photo of the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu to promote tourism in Nepal.

From and article by Reuters: Peruvian mountaineer Ernesto Malaga, who was visiting India last month, noticed the blunder on a poster hanging on a wall in the airline's office in New Delhi. Peruvian authorities requested explanations from the airline via the embassy.

But the twist in all this? Peru's government is currently urging residents and visitors to vote for the Andean Machu Picchu site as one of the world's new seven wonders in a publicity campaign by the New7Wonders Foundation .

Built in the 1460s and abandoned for three centuries after the Spanish conquest, Machu Picchu, or "Old Peak" in the Quechua language, was rediscovered by US archeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911.

Could this blunder by the Indian government be a blessing in disguise for Peru? Time will tell. I had never heard of the New7Wonders Foundation but I intend to cast my votes and one of them will be for Machu Picchu.

Talk Like A Parisian

Can it be that Paris needs more tourists to boost its economy? The Paris tourist board is waging a campaign in England to try to lure more British tourists over to its beautiful city.

The Daily Telegraph states:

Aware of the widespread perception of the French as arrogant, rude and stuffy, the board hopes that explanations of how to perform the 'Gallic shrug', 'the pout' , 'the Camembert,' and the 'say again' will make tourists feel more at home in the capital.
"You don’t need to be French to understand Parisians or to blend in with the crowd ," the guide says. "Use the gestures the next time you’re in Paris. People will start mistaking you for a native in no time."

The Parisian Tourist Board website, C'est So Paris! even has click-on "cards" demonstrating how to cop the Parisian attitude. Here are some examples:

Bof! Cop the Gallic Shrug:

Les Boules, Bad Luck, I'm pissed off...as usual:

Le Camembert, French for shut the hell up:

If you have ever seen a Bardot movie you've seen Le Moue (petulant pout) ad nauseum:

The website is sponsoring a contest encouraging participants to compete. Here's how to play :
Take a photo of you imitating a classicFrench hand gesture.
Register and then upload your photos (3 max.).
Visitors to the site will vote for their favourites.
A jury of experts will pick the prizewinning photos from among the top 10 favourites.
May the best attitude win !

My sister is a French teacher. I wonder if she uses flash cards such as these as a teaching aid?

The website also features some of the amusing ads it is running in England as well as other travel tips meant to entice potential tourists, check it out!

french body language, parisian gestures, french tourism