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Bad things do happen and a group as organized as the Potters should be able to minimize the consequences when they do.
San Francisco Bay is a serious body of water with strong winds, complex currents and indifferent traffic. Many sailors believe that boats our size do not even belong on the Bay. While I don't share that belief I do believe that sailing as a group is the obvious way to minimize the risks.
Goose's proposal that the group establish a buddy system is an excellent idea. In the case of the boats sailing from Pier 54, we let one of our foursome disappear "over the horizon" as we made our way to Clipper Cove. That lone sailor is highly competent. Still the unexpected does happen. If it had we could easily have lost a friend.
Monitoring Channel 16 is another practice everyone should adopt. I suspect that this was not the case yesterday because I tried unsuccessfully to hale two different boats. On a typical Sunday afternoon the banter on 16 mostly is an irrelevant distraction. Still, keeping open this universal communication channel is good seamanship.
Finally, I would like to commend Steve Potter as example of the type of sailor we all should try to be. Winning a race is fun, rescuing a friend is noble.
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