Caliber 33 'Tyche'

San Francisco, California

Hank, a retired mechanical engineer, has been sailing since he was 15 years old. Midge, his wife, learned to sail shortly after they were married forty-seven years ago. Hank has owned numerous boats and is very happy with his Caliber 33 and

Sudden High Winds    

"One day in April after participating in the Bay Opening Day Parade, we headed home in the usual 20-25 knots of wind from the NW. As we sailed under the Bay Bridge I noticed the wind seemed to become heavier. I dropped the mainsail and continued on under reefed genoa. We were still surfing off the waves and easily making 7 knots with only a fraction of the genoa out! By now the anemometer showed 45 knots. We furled the genoa completely and started heading in towards our marina. We noticed several other boats doing the same, but then suddenly heading off and running before the wind back out into the bay. We headed in anyway and went full-throttle up against the terrific winds and seas that had developed. We powered along at two knots and pulled into our berth. Our Harbor Master later told us that the winds were over 50 knots and many of our friends couldn’t make it in, so that is why they headed back out into the bay and further south towards another marina to wait out the storm! We had no problems due to the reserve power of my Caliber." --Hank