The other Eagle

When I read that Orange Coast College is selling the Alaska Eagle, their instructional big boat, which has a long, rich, and much heralded history, I was initially a bit confused.

I thought they meant another Eagle, a really big boat, with its own much-heralded history as an instructional vessel.

Oh, well, they are both beautiful sailboats, and here's to sailing academies of all flavors!

Meanwhile, closer to home, a train arrived the other day.

A train full of boats.

The America’s Cup Express, a train stretching 1.5 miles long, rolled into San Francisco. The 121 railroad cars are carrying the material required to move the America’s Cup World Series and the teams into the host city of the Cup ahead of racing in August and October.

The cargo includes the race boats – the powerful AC45 wing-sailed catamarans that have been thrilling crowds and challenging the best sailors in the world as the Series has moved around the world over the past year. Now, the racing is coming to San Francisco for the first time.

Some photos of the train, and old unused Pier 80, are here, here, and here.

Soon those boats will be in the water of the bay!