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June 20, 2004 - Father's Day and Summer Sailstice. What better way to celebrate than to take the family out sailing?

March 29, 2009 by jarndt
June 20, 2004 - Father's Day and Summer Sailstice.  What better way to celebrate than to take the family out sailing?

 

Three generations of Guilds shared a Father's Day Summer Sailstice sail'
'Starfire sails San Diego Bay'
'Sunshine, fair winds and a great sail greeted the full Starfire crew'

Our family tradition on Father's Day is to play golf, my 87 year old father's favorite passion. My oldest son, Rus, an avid surfer, and I normally join my dad for a 3 generation golf game. But this year Father's Day was also Summer Sailstice. So we decided to pursue my passion for sailing and try out some of Starfire's new cruising amenities.

Our Peterson 49 sloop, Starfire, which we had actively raced for 5 years, had been relatively idle for 18 months. I retired in October 2002 and began a complete overhaul of the boat to make her more of a cruiser. The goal was to improve comfort and storage down below while converting the rig and deck layout to accommodate short-handed sailing. But the wear and tear of an aggressive schedule of 50-60 races a year for almost 5 years had to be addressed first. It took a year to strip, rebuild and repaint the deck and make her look like new. During that time I also began the interior rehab and modifications.

By January 2004, while still not finished with the interior work, we were far enough along to sail again. Not wanting to stop racing cold turkey, we decided to enter eight ocean distance races during the year. The rest of our sailing would focus on cruising. That brings us back to June 20th.

June 20 was a beautiful San Diego day. The family gathering included my wife (Jill), dad and stepmom (Don and Marcy), son and his girlfriend (Rus and Lisa), and cousin (Alison) with her son (Dana). We all met at Coronado Yacht Club at 1pm and set sail for a leisurely cruise around San Diego Bay.

Swinging through the South Bay we sailed by Naval Station San Diego with its massive fleet of gray warships standing ready to defend our country. Then we reached under the Coronado Bay Bridge up to the beautiful San Diego Convention Center. As we sailed by we could see the new downtown baseball park, home of the San Diego Padres. Next we sailed along Seaport Village with its specialty shops and restaurants catering to out-of-town tourists. Then the retired Navy aircraft carrier, USS Midway, loomed into view. Midway just opened this year as an aircraft carrier museum.

As we sailed past the cruise ship terminal and along the Embarcadero, the majestic 140 year old Star of India, the world's oldest active tall ship, dominated the waterfront. Behind her lay the San Diego Maritime Museum's newest addition, the HMS Surprise, from the movie Master and Commander - Far Side of the World.

We tacked back out to the middle of the Bay, crossing tacks with Stars & Stripes, Dennis Conner's former America's Cup yacht. We watched as two ancient mariner tall ships meandered down the Bay. Then we ducked behind Shelter Island to sail past both Southwestern and San Diego Yacht Clubs before heading home.

Our downwind sail back down the Bay took us by two nuclear powered aircraft carriers at Naval Air Station North Island. As we glided down the City of Coronado waterfront we reflected on what a wonderful day it had been. We returned to our slip at Coronado Yacht Club late in the afternoon with broad smiles on our faces.

But that wasn't the end of our Summer Sailstice adventure. A few months later I received an email from Hunter Marine notifying me that I was a Summer Sailstice grand prize winner and a new Hunter X-cite sailing dinghy was on its way to me. The dinghy, sails, mast and hardware arrived a couple weeks later! The 10' dinghy fits on the foredeck of Starfire, so it can accompany us on our next trip to Catalina in the Spring. Can't wait!


Thanks to Hunter Marine and thanks to Summer Sailstice. What a terrific way to end a fun day of sailing. And I'm certainly looking forward to Summer Sailstice 2005!

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