Logistics

Welcome aboard, we're excited to have you sail with us! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask the crew member who invited you, or Rod Neathery, the boat owner/skipper.

Location

We sail out of South Beach Yacht Club, which is located at the intersection of King St. and 2^nd St. in San Francisco. Below is a map of the marina that shows the Yacht Club, Pier 40 (where you can park), the entrance gates into the marina, and the boat slip (D-17).

Transportation

Carpool

You can sign up for a spot in a carpool on the Carpool page.

Driving

If you drive, you can park on Pier 40 in one of the spots that says "permit parking" (either inside the big hangar-like building, or in the small parking lot in front of the building). Once you're at the boat, get a guest parking permit from Rod, and go back to your car to put the permit on your dashboard.

Note that Rod's guest parking permits (the big laminated cards, usually yellow) are only valid on race days. If you need to park your car on a non-race day (eg, for a crew practice or for a fun sail like during Fleet Week), please go to the SBYC office on the second floor of the clubhouse and get a temporary parking pass for the day.

Public Transportation

The marina is located a stone's throw from Muni. Take N-Judah (toward Caltrain) or T-Third (toward Sunnydale), and get off at King & 2^nd St. (see the map above). The marina is also a (long) block from the Caltrain San Francisco Depot.

AT&T Park / SF Giants Games

The marina is adjacent to AT&T Park, so be prepared to deal with traffic (both street traffic and Muni crowds) during baseball games and other events at the park. You probably want to allocate extra time on game days, both to get to and leave from the marina.

Boat Slip & Entrance Gates

Rod's boat, Northern Light, is located at slip D-17.

Once you're at the marina, you need to go through a gate to get to the boat. The gates are numbered – both gates # 2 and # 3 are close to the boat (see the map above). The gates are locked, but there's a fair number of people going in and out on Friday nights – just wait until someone with a key opens the gate, and then ask politely to go through with them. If for some reason you're stuck at the gate and you can't get in, give one of the crew members a call and ask them to come get you. Note that you also need a key to get out of the gates (e.g., when going to the restroom). When you go out, ask Rod or one of the other crew members to borrow a gate key.

Schedule

Start

Please arrive at the boat by 4:30pm to help rig it up. Our goal is to leave the dock by 5:15pm if possible to get a little practice in before the race. The race for the first fleet starts at 6:30pm; realistically that means we need to leave the dock by 5:30pm at the latest. Do allocate some time for traffic (especially when the Giants have a home game), and please call if you're running late so we can adjust our schedule.

Finish

We're usually back at the dock around 8:30pm, and we typically finish unrigging the boat by 9pm. After the race we hang out at South Beach Yacht Club for a couple of hours for dinner and/or drinks – it's cheap & fun. You're welcome to join us for as long or as little as you like.

Gear

Here's a list of gear to bring with you:

• hat
• sunglasses (also bring a croakie/lanyard to keep the sunglasses secure around your neck)
• foul-weather gear (it can get wet when the wind kicks up to 25 knots, so bring foul-weather gear if you have any, otherwise bring some Goretex outerwear like a running suit, both top & bottom)
• change of clothes (the chances of going in the drink are small, but you may get wet in other ways – lots of spray, or sweat, or both if you're lucky; the ride home will be a lot more comfortable if you have some warm, dry clothes to wear)
• gloves & knee pads (there are usually some spare pairs of gloves and knee pads on the boat, but bring your own if you have them)
• life jackets (there are plenty of life jackets on the boat, but again, bring your own if you have one)

Crew Assignments

Rod posts the crew assignments for the upcoming race on the Home page (see http://northern-light-sf.com/#toc-crew-assignments).

Here's how to read the crew assignment table on the Home page (see the figure below for an example):

1. Click the checkbox next to your name. This highlights your specific assignments in yellow.
2. For each position assigned to you, click the "Details" link. This brings you to a page with a detailed writeup for that position.
3. Click the "Overview" link next to your name. This brings you to a (long) overview page that summarizes the main tasks for all the positions on the boat during each leg of the race. The tasks for your assigned positions will be highlighted in yellow.

The crew assignments are open for discussion, so if there's a job that you'd particularly like to do, or if you're not comfortable doing a specific job, please talk to Rod.