Lets do the Encinal Mudslide!

Ensign Erik and I decided to take the Epic out for an afternoon float this Saturday. It was additionally decided that we were totally bored with the Oakland Estuary and that it was time to investigate the Encinal Boat Ramp on the opposite side of Alameda Island. This would allow us to bypass the Estuary Channel and be directly on the bay with less traffic.

Having not yet towed the boat legally on the road it took us some time to demast and rig for highway duty. During this process I somehow cut my right thumb. I think the souls of sailors lost were trying to tell me something, a warning perhaps. We drove across the island by way of major thoroughfares and arrived at the Encinal Boat Ramp around 330pm. The Encinal ramp really is an ideal place to launch except for a couple of minor issues we were unprepared for. Number one, there is no dock whatsoever; only three derelict pylons remain were there was once a dock. And two, the tide was very low.

Along the rocks near the ramp was a rather good sized Leopard Shark which had landed there and died. Another sign perhaps? Who was it who said, "Never launch a boat from a ramp with a dead Leopard Shark next to it." I can't remember.

Unsure as to whether or not this was our day to sail, we decided to crack open a couple of beers and think it over. We exchanged strategies over the best way to perform a dockless launch etc and came to the agreement that we should proceed. It would be a good learning experience and we like beer.

I drove the boat down the ramp as Ensign Erik walked her into the water. At the appropriate stopping point and much to our dismay, the trailer was still almost completely above the water. There was only about a foot of water or less to work with. Nonetheless we were determined to sail. Erik unhooked the boat and gave her a few good heaves until she slid off the trailer and into the water. The P15 has a nice shallow draft so the low tide wasn't a problem... yet.

Erik stood in the water holding the boat while I parked the car. When done, I climbed aboard and fired up the engine. Erik climbed aboard and off we went in full reverse. I somehow lost control of the motor while in reverse and unintentionally pulled the most bad-ass 360 degree whip around I have ever seen a small sailboat do. As were were now pointing towards the bay - off we went. We motored out a ways, raised the sails and basically nothing happened. No wind to speak of so we just sat there floating. We drank a couple more beers and talked as we watched the sunset over the SF Bay. It actually was a beautiful and peaceful experience.

Just before dark we motored back to the ramp. In anticipation of low tides we raised the keel and discussed our retrieval maneuvers. Then about 50 feet from the ramp we came to a halt in the mud. There was almost zero water to float us back to the ramp. This prompted some interesting discussion complete with many colorful metaphors. Erik proposed that we motor around the island to the Grand Street ramp then somehow retrieve the car. I vetoed this option as it was terribly unsafe to navigate in the dark. Then Erik suggested that we tie the boat up overnight and camp on it. I decided this was a last option as I don't fancy sleeping here in this smelly muck. And so, we disembarked and tried pushing the boat through the mud. It was nearly impossible. I then went to get the car and devised a new plan. I backed the trailer as far as I could without getting the car stuck. We then rigged a dockline to the trailer winch and let the winch strap all the way out. we proceeded to slowly winch the boat across the mud. It took about four or five total winch strap lengths to get the boat to the trailer. From there we employed the Dilly tilting trailer feature and winched to boat on with not too much hassle. We did it. I drove the rig off the ramp and we celebrated our genius.

Then we found a new problem. None of our trailer lights worked. The brakes and turn signals were fine but no running lights. It was after dark and there was no way I was going to risk getting pulled over. In my experience no matter what the cause, a run-in with Johnny Law is always very expensive and inconvenient. Fortunately Ensign Erik proved himself worthy and discovered a loose wire. Using duct tape, he fixed the problem and we were once again saved.

We towed the boat back to the yard at the Alameda Marina. We washed and scrubbed the mud off of Epic and finished the remainder of our beer. We drove home to the City where enroute I decided that Erik deserved a promotion for his genius with the electrical problem. He is now Midshipman Erik. Once home Midshipman Erik made us spaghetti.