If you are near the San Francisco Bay this weekend you may notice lots of sailboats on the bay. No really lots of them. Yesterday was the start of the Big Boat series on the bay. 115 sailboats of various classes on the bay thru Sunday racing along the Berkeley and San Francisco waterfront. It is just a beautiful sight. If you need a reason to come to the Berkeley pier or San Francisco Aquatic park this would be a great weekend to come, bring a picnic, a camera and or sketchbook.



Then it gets better.



Monday kicks off the Moet Cup. The Americas Cup boat and team Alinghi, will race the Oracle BMW Americas Cup boat in 2 races each day along the San Francisco waterfront. This will be straight up close quarter match racing. As if the Americas Cup final were to be held right here on the bay. The big kickoff is Monday with the first 2 races and fireworks Monday night. The races are scheduled for 1 and 3 pm each day. These boats are beautiful and even if you aren't into sailboat racing (I don't have or often go on them) just to see the big fast boats on our local waters will be a sight to see. There are 2 races a day thru next Sunday. Don't wait to check it out the next time it happens, it never has and might not again.



It will be on the Outdoor Life Network as well. Here is the schedule.



I'm going to try to see the first race each day and photo-blog here next week. Here are some links to get more information.



9/12 Lectric Latitude The online version of Latitude 38 a great sailing magazine. They have a blog that has photos and stories and I am sure they will have lots of good photos and stories up during the next 10 days. Fridays blog gives you a sense of what their coverage and pictures are like.



Golden Gate Yacht Club Home club for the Oracle team. Lots of info and links.



Oracle BMW homepage



Alinghi homepage



Jim Doyle is as they say "on it" covering the various events. Here are some articles from the local fishwrap.



sfgate.com article on this weekends Big Boat series.



sfgate.com article on riding with the Oracle BMW team. (lucky guy)



sfgate.com article with the schedule of events during the Moet Cup.