I thought I'd report on our sailing trip in our Montgomery 15 to San Diego weekend before last. We had some pleasant sailing and even a sort-of celebrity encounter. The first day we launched out of the northeast corner of Mission Bay at the De Anza Cove ramp. We launched late morning and didn't use a motor. The ramp and parking lot was almost empty so launching was really easy. We had a nice sail through Fiesta Bay (not to many motor craft and what may have been a Potter of some sort a ways off going the other way) under the Ingram Street bridge into Sail Bay where we saw more sailboats. We beached at the Fanuel Street Park to use the restroom and then continued our tour. We went under the West Mission Bay Drive Bridge, visited Mariners Basin where we planned to anchor some night, and headed out the channel toward the ocean. The wind was pretty light, less than 10 the whole time and there was a bit of a current headed into the bay which slowed our progress out (the mountain lakes we usually sail don't really have current). I realize I didn't know when the tide would turn and, especially without a motor, it seemed prudent to get out of this particular part of the bay. We headed back under the Mission Drive Bridge and under a different Ingram Street Bridge and past Sea World to the South shores Ramp. From there we sailed back through all the motor craft to near De Anza Cove and then sailed south past the Hilton Hotel before heading back to the ramp. A very nice day of sailing. Two days later we launched at the Shelter Island ramp on San Diego Bay with a motor. We set up our boat next to a dually pickup with an Arizona license plate and a HPCC sticker in the window. We realized that truck was none other than SeanMulligan's who was starting the Border Run 2 race later that day, I think. We'd miss him, but oh so exciting to see the Mangler's truck! Right after we put the boat in the water, a boat was boat-towed into the ramp area, which is pretty small, and those two boats coming in and a few launching,things got a little tight. No problems though. From the ramp we headed out the mouth of the Bay until we were clear of Loma Point, turned around and started heading further south into the bay. The wind was better this day with it being a little hard to keep the boat down in the few stronger gusts (no reef). We sailed in around the moored boats near Lindbergh Field, past downtown, the Midway, under the Coronado Bridge up into Glorietta Bay where a fellow (I am really back with names), also from Arizona, hailed us over with a call of "Montgomery!". He had a Montgomery 17 at home, he said, and suggested we go to the Havasu Pocket Cruiser Convention. We'd been there, done that, and would do it again, we said. Further into Glorietta Bay there were some kids taking what seemed to be racing lessons in what I thought were El Toros. They were doing a great job and it looked like fun. We sailed back out into the main bay and then headed down to Coronado Cays and tucked back into one of there little waterways before heading back toward the ramp. We had a nice sail back north, but finally started the motor a mile or so from the ramps because it was feeling like dinner time. Another very nice day of sailing. Two more days later we went back to Mission Bay, this time to the South Shores ramp. We had the motor and I had looked at tides and it looked like we could have the current help us out of the bay into the ocean and then, if we timed it right, have it help us back into the bay on the way back in. The wind was light again and the ocean bumpy so we sort of sloshed our way north to the Crystal Pier past a Lightning race under way. I wouldn't trade the Montgomery, but I had to admit those boats were pretty cool racing around. We sloshed our way back to the entrance to the bay just as a bunch of the Lightnings were headed in too. The Lightnings zipped on by but we slowly reeled in some 28 foot boat until we turned to a reach at the end of the channel into the bay. We sailed up into Sail Bay and, since this was now a weekend day, was very busy with sailboats of many types and paddle boards. It was sort of fun to pass by all the different boats and peoples and skill levels. We toured San Juan Cove and Santa Barbara cove and then it was time to head back to the ramp and start our trip home. We had a great time sailing in the San Diego area and enjoyed the urban salt water sailing experience. The winds were mostly light, but the weather was always pleasant. We didn't fit in our one or two nights on the boat like we had planned, but then there is always next time. David Grah Montomery 15 Bishop California