Tuesday September 10

Off to San Francisco this morning to stake out a place to watch Races 5 & 6 of the Americas Cup! We left Sonoma around 10:00 to avoid the morning rush hour and arrived in SF in lots of time to get parked and make our way to our viewing spot in front of the Golden Gate YC. We sat on the rocks in front of the $145/seat bleachers. Not quite as comfortable but as good a view for zero cost. We were surprised that there is so much free viewing area and that nowhere is really overcrowded. Prior to the AC race, they were racing some Moth class boats, 12 ft dinghies that hydrofoil at high speed.

Race 5 was really exciting for the crowd as Oracle led Team New Zealand around the first turning mark that was just in front of us. Lots of cheers and flag waving. The downwind turning gate was about 3 miles down the waterfront but we could still follow the boats to the mark and saw Oracle still in the lead. The crowd went wild again. Then the blunder! Oracle failed to cover NZ. Looking down the bay, I couldn't believe it when two tacks later, NZ crossed in front. The crowd went silent.

NZ totally smoked Oracle on the upwind beat gaining nearly a mile lead which they held to the finish. Some photos of the racing action. These boats are travelling at about 50 mph.

A sad day on Larry Ellison's little motor boat which was out watching the races.

Oracle played their one free drop out card and declined to race the second race of the day.

We got to head home early and decided to visit Saucelito and grab a bit of late lunch.

When we arrived at Sonoma, we went downtown to the market at the town square and drank some wine and had some snacks in the park before going to the Sebastiani Theatre to see a movie. A cool original 1930's movie theatre.