Howdy yawl. I'm at the tail end of an overwhelmingly busy September and I wanted to take an opportunity to get a quick post in. Back in August, we had a proper Bachelor party for Jason. All in all, it turned out to be a great trip. Here are a selection of the pics:
Jason's brothers, Jonathan and Harrison, did a great job of putting together an awesome weekend of activity. It all started with getting this sweet house up in Guerneville.
There were 10 guys total in the house and prior to settling in for the first night, we decided to make a food run for groceries for a fancy dinner we would cook ourselves the next night rather than the original plan of going out. Critically, we also needed Jalapeño kettle chips.
We came prepared with a fine selection of board games and poker chips to help entertain us.
Several hours in, things got wild. By several hours, I really mean about 10pm and by wild, I mean Jason started nodding off (much to Scott's amusement).
After a good night's sleep, we wandered around the house while getting ready for the day's activity. In the backyard, there was a particularly tall sunflower. How tall? More than Scott tall.
The major activity we had planned for the day was canoeing down the Russian River. Here we all are, ready to hit the water and get moving.
What a glorious day it was on the water.
Not content to merely drink in the delightful visual experience, Nathan & I (right) engaged in several canoe skirmishes with Scott & Willy (left). Much excitement ensued.
Almost 2 hours in, we got to the first "bridge" which marked the completion of the first third of the journey. Boy did we not expect it to be this far of a paddle nor this time consuming. We opted to break for lunch on an empty bank of the river. Unless you've tried it, you don't know how tiring it can be getting up to ramming speed or executing evasive maneuvers for so long.
After a few more hours of paddling, we got to the end and decided to get some supplementary side dishes for our dinner on the way back to the house. Low and behold, we came upon a Hawaiian food restaurant (named "Ono"). A little slice of home (and a couple big platters of kim chee fried rice) out here at the Russian River!
We all split up duties for the dinner with some folks doing salad prep, cooking corn, cutting up watermelon and the like. Here's Imran manning the BBQ and making sure the steaks get done right.
And here we all are sitting down outside for our delicious dinner. Warm weather, good food, great company. What more could you ask for?
Awesome weekend for sure. Glad to have spent that time with all the gang out there on the Russian River (my first time out there also). Many thanks to Jonathan and Harrison for organizing and congrats Jason!
So, there's been this big deal event in San Francisco that I mentioned 3 years ago here. The build up started last year with this warm up event now we've come to the 2nd to last curtain raiser: the Louis Vuitton Cup. As the official competition for the potential challengers to the America's Cup, this whittles down the competitors to the single strongest. Who will be worthy enough to face off against the mighty Oracle Team USA?
So they set up a nice little America's Cup Park on the waterfront just off the Embarcadero at Pier 27 where folks can watch these giant video monitors to see the racing action. Mum and I decided to check it out during the round-robin part of the tournament to watch Emirates Team New Zealand face off against Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge.
The LV Cup stage and the fans walking around while the racing goes on.
In the first "real" race of the round-robins (the first with both boats in the water competing), ETNZ completely outraced LR to the line winning by a huge margin > 5 min. Good on you boys! Seeing the AC72 catamaran race by for the first time in-person inspired thoughts of wonder and awe in the design of the boats (these 10+ story tall sailing machines) and the skill of the sailors who guide them around in the water.
Mum and I went back to the AC Park the following week for more boating action. After seeing the ETNZ boys beat LR again (even without their headsail), we had to pick a place to eat lunch. Having read an article on the NZ Herald the day before, I thought Mum would like to try a taste of Kiwi Cuisine here in SF (since she missed out when South Food and Wine Bar used to be here). So we walked from America's Cup Park next door to the Waiheke Island Yacht Club pop up restaurant.
The menu looked pretty fancy but I'll admit I enjoyed seeing familiar things (i.e. plenty of lamb and ingredients sourced locally or from NZ). Mum opted for the Mt Cook Alpine Salmon (above) and I got the Free range pork in abalone & kombu broth (below). Both dishes offered fresh, delicious flavours. The only criticism I can offer being I wish the serving size matched my expectations based on the cost a bit better.
ETNZ wrapped up the round-robin series as the top dog, they progressed straight to the LV Cup Final. LR Challenge bested Sweden's Artemis Racing in the LV Cup Semi-final and earned the right to face ETNZ in the Final. So, come Race 1 of the LV Cup Final, to the AC Park I returned, this time with Mari. Excitingly, she'd be getting her first taste of boat racing and the AC72 catamarans.
The round-robin races all played out pretty quietly however this first Final race gave the crowd the most drama filled day of action so far. Luna Rossa encountered boat problems early on and then, while cruising along comfortably, ETNZ nearly crashed the boat bearing away at the 3rd Mark and lost two crew members overboard in the process. ETNZ kept it together two men down and won the race handily, but boy did the crowd get treated to its fair share of excitement!
With the winds rising above the 22 knot limit, the 2nd race got cancelled and a moderately damaged Aotearoa (ETNZ's boat) sailed back to the sheds for some repair work. Caught this pic of them passing by with Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge providing a very scenic backdrop.
While overly drama filled in the eyes of an ETNZ fan, you can't complain about the end result.
So we celebrated the victory by heading on over to my favourite NZ-themed pop up restaurant (well, the only one I know of) for a spot of lunch. Fortunately, the Waiheke Island Yacht Club diversified their menu by adding some more affordable dishes to their brunch/lunch menu including this delicious taste of breakfast Kiwi-style: Apple Wood Bacon, lamb sausages, homemade baked beans, hash brown, mushroom, spinach & poached free range eggs. Delicious!!!
Not having had enough of a true taste of NZ, I insisted that we try the TCHO "Crunchie" bar: crumbled honeycomb, mandarin & manuka honey over chocolate mousse. Cadbury Crunchie bars hold their special place in my heart, but this surely tasted even better!
ETNZ dropped Race 2 (due to mechanical issues of their own) but won the other races contested during the middle of the week, setting up the potential to clinch the LV Cup final during the second to last weekend of August. And why shouldn't I go back up there again to watch the action?! This time, I brought other friends with me for their first LV Cup action (you'll see in a couple pictures down). We got a tasty lunch at the Ferry Building Farmers Market before heading up to AC Park and getting a taste of Moa Beer (NZ's leading craft beer so they say). They even gave me an eye patch to go with the Breakfast Beer I tried!
Another beautiful San Francisco day, another ETNZ victory!!! Unfortunately, again, the wind picked up and postponed the 2nd race of the day, leaving the LV Cup to be clinched another day (which, in reality, turned out to just be the next day).
En route from NYC to SEA, Traci & Kurt stopped by SF for a visit! Where else would we go after the race than to the Waiheke Island Yacht Club for their Happy Hour Special! By the way, yes Kurt wore his Icebreaker shirt.
We opted for "Tasting Plate of New Zealand" special which featured: 1) Hawkes Bay Venison Tartare with, soy radish & horseradish, 2) Citrus Cured Mt Cook Alpine Salmon, yoghurt & anise herbs, 3) three Coromandel Oysters, wasabi sorbet & lime. All delicious but, if pressed to choose a favourite, I'd say the Salmon took the cake.
Anyways, thanks to everyone who came with me to America's Cup Park to watch this spectacle. I'm very much looking forward to seeing ETNZ face off against Oracle to see who earns the right to hoist the America's Cup. Not sure if I'll have a chance to see any of the AC Final racing, but I'll be proudly waving my NZ flag (probably figuratively) and cheering for the boys! Hope they'll be able to bring the Auld Mug home to NZ!
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