Tradewinds Sailing Blog

Sailors on the bay saw an unexpected and particular sight on Friday October 24, 2026. Something big, moving slow from the south. First noticed high above the large cranes that unload cargo ships in Oakland, the object took on an otherworldly sight. It was white against the blue sky, but not a cloud. The outline too rounded, too angular. It approached steadily and flew right over the BKB 101 practice area giving us an amazing view to the largest blimp/airship any of us had ever seen. The crew of Tradewinds Bravo joked that Sergei Brin, co-founder of Google was probably just taking a joy ride (Google leases most of the former Moffet Field). I think the crew of the airship was low enough to get just as good a view of us as we were of them.

Most aircraft have a tail number, and none was seen on this monster, so we thought it may not have been a commercial aircraft. Once back to the TWSC clubhouse we handed photos over to Google to check.

Sure enough, the airship is named “Pathfinder 1” and operated by “LTR Research”, a startup funded by none other than Sergey Brin! Pathfinder 1 is the largest operating aircraft in the world at 408 feet long. While a little smaller than the more famous Hindenburg, Pathfinder 1 uses the most modern carbon fiber composites and not-explosive Helium (probably a good idea) along with a hybrid diesel electric propulsion system.

Fleet week ended only a few days ago but with Air Force bases and so much experimental and venture capitol projects going on around the Bay Area, you never know what you might see on or above the bay!

So next time you see an odd, round slow moving UFO type object floating around the bay, it might be Pathfinder 1 taking another test flight.

by Jeff Hare, Instructor and s/v Emerald Sea Owner

Thursday July 9, 2026 at 10:AM

Greetings all members – ahoy from about 5 miles offshore from Coos Bay Oregon on our way back to Safe Harbor Marina Bay!   While the prediction is for wind to be in the mid-20 knot range, the skies are clear, seas calm, and winds only about 10 knots.   The sail is reefed however in preparation for the expected stronger winds as the nearest offshore buoy at Port Orford is currently showing 23 to 27 knots of wind there now.

While our cruising season was short this year, Emerald Sea spent eight months resting at the Charleston Marina in Coos Bay, Oregon.   This marina is mostly a commercial fishing base with a large processing plat for Pacific Seafoods – Emerald Sea was one of the few sailboats here through the summer so she attracted a lot of attention.

We have the balance of the month of July to cruise so will be taking our slow time down the coast and plan on making several stops along the way, starting with Brookings tonight and for perhaps a few days.

There are only a few Catamaran classes aboard Emerald Sea scheduled for this year, so clear those calendars for October 3 and 4, or 24 and 25, or November 21 and 22 to get your ASA Catamaran certification.   After that, with luck, Emerald Sea will continue heading south for a few months in Mexico – I will continue writing entries to keep you all up to date from time to time.

Fair winds and following seas to TWSC Members!

by Clayton Cook

A few facts:

Race To Alaska starts in Port Townsend Washington and ends in Ketchikan Alaska, 750 miles in total. It’s broken down between a “proving ground”, a 40 mile run from Port Townsend to Victoria BC Across The Strait of Juan de Fuca and the remainder of the race from Victoria to Ketchikan. Not a lot of rules involved, except no engine on the boat and no support that is not available to anyone. So that means you can stop anywhere you want and eat and or buy things as long as that’s available to everyone.

We completed the proving ground yesterday so now there’s a few days of activities and rest in Victoria prior to the main event. That kicks off with a Le mans start on Wednesday at noon.

Anyone interested in the Race can look it up and see more detail and or follow along. (https://cf.yb.tl/r2ak2026)

Our team name is Nothing to Sea Here. My buddy Brian and I are doing the race on my Hobie  Tandem Island. You can look it up if you’re interested in seeing what it is, it’s not a lot of boat for this adventure. With a maximum payload of 600 pounds you have to be very intentional in what you bring. We dehydrated all of our own meals, with the exception of lunches, which are tortillas with various components. And lots of snack items, burning a lot of calories, you need to eat a lot. Last year we did the Washington 360 race, a smaller sister Race to this one, and we each lost about 10 pounds.

We will stop and camp each night, so we have everything we need to do that in relative safety.

We expect to average about 40 miles a day, but that can be quite challenging some days. The tides up here are much greater than the Bay Area, which means the resulting currents are no joke. Yesterday we got 2 miles from Victoria before the ebb turned to a flood, and instead of going forward, we went sideways.

If you want to follow the race, YB Races is the place to do so. You have to add the Race to Alaska to your “races“, then you can see where each team is, at any given time.

If you want to follow us specifically, we have an Instagram page that we post to. https://www.instagram.com/nothing_to_sea_here_wa360?utm_source=qr

By Jeff Hare, Instructor

Ahoy TWSC Members and Sailors! Our club holds several networking events throughout the year and most recently our member social was held on March 30. There were freshly BBQ’d gourmet hot dogs, some members are in the wine business so we had some very nice tastings, and amazing side dishes to go ‘round. You really missed out on the spinach salad with generous strawberries and the quinoa salad bursting with flavor.

Make sure to check the calendar for upcoming events so you too can network with other members, trade tall tales, and increase your sailing networking.

Stepping onto a boat that smells like a bad gas station bathroom isn’t bad luck. It’s a flush procedure problem. And on boats with high-mounted holding tanks (looking at you, Beneteaus), the procedure matters more than most members realize.

Here’s what’s actually happening inside the system, and how to leave the boat the way the next sailor deserves.

The high tank problem

On the Beneteaus and other boats with the holding tank mounted up high, anything you pump through the head has to travel about six feet of vertical 3-inch hose, loop over the top, and drop into the tank. Once it clears that high point (call it “the hump”), it stays in the tank until the next pumpout. So far, so good.

The catch is everything **below** the hump. When you stop pumping, gravity takes over. Whatever’s still sitting in that vertical run of hose slowly slides back down toward the bowl.

If what’s in the hose is salt water, you have a problem. Salt water carries living organisms. They die in the hose. They rot. That funk people blame on the holding tank is almost never the tank. It’s the hose.

Why fresh water at end of day

During the day, you use the saltwater intake to flush. That’s how the system is designed to work, and that’s fine.

But before you leave the boat, two things need to happen:

1. Pump the holding tank out completely.
2. Close the saltwater intake seacock, then run 2 or 3 full bowls of fresh water through the head, pumping each one fully over the hump.

The fresh water does two jobs. It pushes any remaining salt water up and over into the (now empty) tank, and it leaves the entire hose run filled with fresh water instead of salt water. Whatever seeps back down the hose between now and the next charter is clean, not a science experiment.

About that joker valve

The joker valve is the small piece of rubber inside the head that’s supposed to keep things from coming back. People love to blame it when their boat smells.

On a boat with a high holding tank, the joker valve was never going to stop anything in that hose from seeping back. Even when it’s brand new, gravity wins against a piece of rubber. As the valve ages and saltwater buildup keeps it from sealing fully, the backflow just happens faster.

A new joker valve doesn’t fix a stinky head. A proper end-of-day flush does.

The procedure

1. Pump the tank out fully at the pumpout dock.
2. Close the saltwater intake seacock.
3. Fill the bowl with fresh water from the sink/shower.
4. Pump it all the way through and over the hump.
5. Repeat with 1 or 2 more bowls of fresh water.

The whole thing takes about three minutes. The next person on the boat (or future you) will be glad you did it.

If you ever step on a boat and it smells, it’s almost never a bad valve or bad luck. Someone skipped this step.

By Jeff Hare, Intructor

Here at TWSC, we’re busy training hundreds of people each month and thousands each year using the American Sailing Curriculum to help them become skilled, safe, and confident mariners in our beautiful waterways—at least that’s what most of our students aim to achieve.

One of our January Basic Keelboat classes had a unique group of students with different experiences and goals than what we usually teach. These students were all three of existing Captains here in the bay each with a 100-ton license, who already spend their professional lives navigating the bay’s waters. They already know the right-of-way, sound signals, knots, and ATONs, so it was an extra challenge to engage them during our class. For instance, after demonstrating the required knots, they kept challenging each other with increasingly complex knots, like, “Yeah, but I bet you don’t know this one!”

Overall, it was a pleasure to help these three learn sailing skills that motor vessel operators don’t often use: reefing, crew overboard recovery under sail, sailing up to a mooring ball, heave-to, and refining their tacking and gybing skills. I’m looking forward to seeing them take their families out on the water and enjoy the bay recreationally, just like we do.

In the photo below, the student who is the professional Harbor Pilot for the bay borrowed the instructor’s handheld VHF radio and had a whole conversation with this tugboat on its way out to assist a tanker at the Chevron pier.   

By Jeff Hare, Tradewinds Instructor

TWSC would like to give a big shout-out to the crew of August Moment on January 15, 2026, for their amazing rescue of a tricky balloon setup that had drifted into the bay. Sadly, we don’t have any pictures, but the balloon arrangement had numbers like 16, 19, 91, or 61 (depending on how it was facing), so it probably came from someone’s birthday party! We hope everyone involved is okay, and we know accidents can happen. However, balloons can be a real danger to marine life, birds, otters, and seals, as well as boat engine cooling water systems and equipment underwater.

TWSC members are encouraged to pick up any floating debris (or if you’re a “Burner,” MOOP stands for Matter Out Of Place) from our waterways whenever it’s safe to do so. For the crew of August Moment, this was a chance to practice their crew overboard recovery drill, so they got to check off several “good for you” boxes.

Balloons are especially harmful to sea life, so please check out the link and video below for more info: https://www.oceanconservation.org/be-balloon-aware/

We’re looking forward to seeing you all out there on the water!!!