THURSDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 09 -- SAIL TO BAY BRIDGE AND BACK IN LATE AFTERNOON

Thursday started out sunny and clear with a light southeasterly breeze, but skies started to cloud up and the breeze evaporated by mid-morning. Finally, a nice moderate westerly wind blew up in the midafternoon, so we headed out around 4 pm, raising full main just outside the marina exit and then heading out into the central bay. With a waxing ebb current flowing, I decided it was too risky to hear for the gate, so headed northeast toward Treasure Island and pulled out the jib to full.



The city was cloudly bright at this time, but completely overcast.




In the southwest, some thick, dark clouds were scudding over the city.




In the west, the thick low clouds were gathering. After sailing northeast on broad reach port tack for a while, we did a chicken-gybe and headed southeast toward the Bay Bridge, now sailing against the waxing ebb current.




Clouds began to thicken over the city's financial district.




From time to time, the sun would peak through the thick clouds.




This is ferry time on the bay, and this ferry was heading north, but probably heading for either Larkspur or Tiburon.




Off to starboard, this Coast Guard patrol boat was steaming along the cityfront.





Another ferry passed us to port and this one was probably heading for Larkspur Landing.




A container ship was steaming out of the Port of Oakland and heading for the D-E span of the Bay Bridge.




That same CG patrol boat was now heading back in the opposite direction. I wondered if they were doing a sightseeing cruise for some VIPs. People were standing on the aft deck and this is not something we usually see when these boats pass us.




That freighter passed well off our port side and we could now see that she was very lightly loaded on deck with a lot of bottom showing from midship forward.





I had scanned around the bay and not spotted any sailboats out, but then spotted this one sailing parallel to the Bay Bridge.




We spotted a helicopter that was just hovering over the city near the Bay Bridge, but then she flew northward before turning toward us and flying almost directly overhead.




The Vallejo ferry steamed past us to starboard, heading for the Ferry Building.




The Ferry Building is busy this time of day with commute ferries going to and fro at quitting time.





It was 4:50 pm now as shown on the Ferry Building clock tower.




That sailboat south of the Bay Bridge had tacked and was now sailing northward along the shore of Yerba Buena Island.




Dark clouds were thickening over the city and Telegraph Hill.





The Sausalito ferry steamed past us to starboard.





As we approached the Beta tower of the Bay Bridge, I noticed that the buoy that marks the tower to show up on radar is offset now and no longer lined up with the base of the tower.




That buoy was leaning with the ebb current as we entered an area of lighter wind and were now just ghosting toward the bridge.




We finally sailed through the A-B span and took a glance at our favorite lighthouse on Yerba Buena Island.





The Oakland-Alameda ferry steamed toward the Ferry Building behind us.




The city was dark as we viewed it in frame of the Bay Bridge.





We headed up for a while toward the shore of the city, leaving behind us the Bay Bridge under gray skies.




We eventually tacked and headed back north, now making faster headwas over the bottom by sailing with the ebb current and the sun was peeking through the clouds a bit at times.





I spotted a fully-loaded inbound container ship steaming toward us, and kept an eye on it as we were sailing across the sea lane that leads to the Bay Bridge D-E span.




She was heading straight for us at one point, but was still a half mile away so we were well clear of her path.





As we continued north, this nice red-hulled ketch passed to port, motoring toward the Bay Bridge.




Clouds were thickening in the west as we sailed northward and we had no expectation of seeing any of the sundown or any sunset color, but sometimes we are surprised so we got into position just in case.




In the darkening afternoon, this ferry was probably headed for Sausalito.





North of Alcatraz the skies were brightening for a while, but there was no chance of seeing the setting sun.




We eventually came about and headed back toward home port where clouds were thickening over the city.




City lights were starting to come on as we sailed toward home.




A pink sunset color surprisingly developed in the west for a while....





... but faded quite quickly.




As is usual for weekday evenings, many lights were glreaming in the financial district office towers.




Skies gradually darkened and the city lights brightened.




We sailed into the lee of pier 35, furled the jib and then doused the main after heading into the wind. We motored around pier 35 and headed into port under dark skies with Coit Tower brightly illuminated and lights on shore bright.


It was great to be out for a sail in some decent winds in between storms. We are happy to be having a sequence of storms moving through the area and helping to combat our drought conditions.