Meandering thoughts of a sailor, traveler and foodie.

More America's Cup photos

SFFD boat starting the proceedings.

California Air National Guard buzzing the race course.

Red Bull aerial team coming in for landing at Marina Green.

Food service cluster**k.

Hey cruisers--earn extra money, turn your sails into billboards!

The official committe boat at the end of Race 2. Yeah, baby.

Our Kiwi buds with their funny shirts. Massey Ferguson is a tractor for all you city folk.
Like the upside down Oracle.

We are large, loud and smelly and sometimes like to get on your boat.

Getting the marks in place.

Second day of races on top of Pier 39 parking garage.
(Another rant, the feed they had was YouTube, which stalled out so the announcing was 20 secs late)

Other sporting fans were there. Green Bay Packer fans.
(Note the ETNZ shore crew checking them out.)

Inside the Peroni Sports bar--which was filling up with Sammy Hagar fans,
he was playing Saturday night at the pavilion.

Jimmy Spithill and Dean Barker after Sunday's races.

Stuff that just cracks me up--look on the right. Yes, recycle your Mr. Potato Head here.

My main man Dean.
He was being gracious for fan photos, and husband was trying to encourage me
to have my pic taken with him. However, I felt for the guy, he looked more like he
wanted a shower and a nap.

Opening Weekend--Races 1 & 2

We watched the first two races in the grandstands at Marina Green. Saturday was sold out. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but the event management people need to really get their crap together. Especially considering the money they asked for the grandstand seats.

They estimated about 15,000 at Marina green......approximately 6 bartenders. Sailors and sailing fans--six bartenders. Needless to say it got a bit ugly.

The poor people working had to deal with a lot of grumbling and I felt sorry for them. Even getting a soda or sandwich to eat was a pain in the butt.

Don't get me started on getting water--since they are trying to be green, no bottled water was sold, you had to fill up in their hydration stations, and they'd even sell you a water bottle for about $25 to refill. Arrrgh.

So enough grousing.

Before the AC races started we were treated to the Multihull Internationals on Hobie 16 Beachcats, fun to watch, they slogged a bit since the wind was being flukey.

One of the AC45s. Illegal weight removed? Don't know.

Tim playing with remote control boats.

They look so tiny next to the big boats.

Go baby go!

Both boats foiling down wind.

Back to San Francisco--America's Cup Time--Restaurant Review

Just a quick weekend trip for the first four races. Definitely Kiwi nation there, so I had good company. The spouse keeps calling me a turncoat, but I gotta remain loyal to my boys.

When we were there in July we saw this funky little place inside one of the Pier warehouse buildings, we weren't sure what it was until later when I read about it online.

The Waiheke Island Yacht Club is a pop-up restaurant from New Zealand put together especially for the America's Cup. I spoke with the general manager and they are thinking of finding a more permanent location after their lease us up in December. Depends if business keeps up. Follow the link above to see picks on how they put the place together.

Not exactly a cheap place to eat, but delicious and fun. Everything is pretty much cooked on induction ovens. Fresh greens, homemade butter. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Ironically, because they are under the auspices of the America's Cup, they weren't supposed to serve New Zealand wines since Napa Valley had the contract. But they snuck in a few as 'specials'. Hell yes. You are a New Zealand restaurant, bring on the Sauv Blanc, people!