Tuesday, the winds were much more moderate. When we left port around 1:15 pm, they were blowing around 10 knots and we headed for the A-B span of the Bay Bridge with full canvas. Winds in the lee of the city were even lighter: 3-6 knots or so.\
As we sailed southeast against the ebb current, this lovely sailboat was sailing along the shore of Yerba Buena, going fast with the current and looking good.
I was quite surprised to see that the Hawaiian Chieftain is still here on the bay. She was sailing toward Oakland south of the Bay Bridge, probably with lunching passengers aboard.
A sailboat was tied up at the new pier 1.5 so it's good to see that the pier is getting some usage.
As we continued on toward the A-B span, this Pilot boat blasted past to port, probably heading for her home pier.
A cat boat was heading south ahead of us and was now south of the Bay Bridge.
We were mostly ghosting along in light winds and fighting a significant ebb current of a couple of knots. So it was already 1:50 pm after we passed the Ferry Building.
The Bay Bridge was gleaming in the early afternoon sunshine as we approached the A-B span.
The bow and arrow sculpture was brilliantly illuminated by the mid-day sunshine.
We just ducked under the A-B span and then headed up toward the shore of the city before tacking to head north, then watched as this nice sailboat sailed under the Bay Bridge.
Now were were sailing with the current and making much swifter headway, so it was only a bit after 2 pm when we again approached the Ferry Building.
As we headed north, sailing a bit off the wind, this catamaran was heading for the D-E span of the Bay Bridge, doing wing and wing.
Winds in the south half of the central bay were now in the range of 12-15 knots so we were blasting northward as this catboat blasted southward toward the Bay Bridge.
Wow! there was actually a wind slot on the central bay,and it was south of Alcatraz. When we arrived north of Alcatraz, the wind declined to less than 5 knots and we were then just ghosting northward against the current. The Immigration Buildings on Angel Island were basking in sunshine and lawns were green from the recent rains.
This nice sailboat named MERCURY was way ahead of us as we entered the lee of Angel Island, but was sailing closer to the island in less wind and heavier current....
... so we were soon passing her.
Way in the distance, San Quentin prison was basking in brilliant sunshine and green hills were in the background.
We were happy to be making some headway northward and hoping to at least be able to reach Raccoon Straits when the wind died away and suddenly we were going backwards and this Beneteau ahead of us had given up and was dousing sail.
I kept hoping the breeze would soon freshen again and it did-- freshening out of the northwest so we could sail toward the Richmond Bridge on close reach port tack while this lovely traditional ketch passed us to starboard....
....her solo skipper looking very relaxed in the cockpit, but I wondered if he could keep a decent watch as low as he was sitting.
Soon we were making good headway to the north, passing the platform at Southhampton Shoal.
Behind us, this sailboat was sailing a bit more off the wind than we were.
A four engine jetliner flew directly overhead shooting out contrails behind her that actually merged into two broader contrails and I wonder why that was so???/
We had to do a bit of beating upwind to line up with the east span of the Richmond Bridge and on one of out starboard tacks this lovely cutter passed us, heading for Richmond presumably.
Later, as we were blasting northward in winds that had freshened to about 10 knots-- perfect for full canvas sailing, but on the edge of being overpowering-- a tractor tugboat was steaming up behind us, but altered course toward Richmond after passing one of the red sea lane buoys. I was happy not ot have to deal with her large wake.
A bit later, I spotted a tanker heading our way out of the port of Richmond with a tug escort, not the same tug.
We sailed past -- and close to -- a red sea lane buoy and noted that a sea creature was sunning on the buoy. The creature seemed too large to be a harbor seal, so perhaps was a female saa lion. You can see that the current moving past the buoy was quite strong, probably a couple of knots of ebb that we were fighting as we sailed northward.
We soon were approaching Red Rock.
That TOKYO MARINE tanker out of the poft of Richmond was now hugging the Richmond Long Wharf and I wondered if she was planning to head north under the east span of the Richmond Bridge, so I called CG traffic on channel 14 and was advised that she would be turning around and heading south and using the deep water traffic lane to head out to sea.
I wondered how much further north she would steam, but soon saw her starting to turn to head south and was relieved that we would not have to worry about giving her good clearance.
As we approached the Richmond Bridge, I spotted a barge tied up adjacent to one of the bridge supports and spotted some workers on the bridge support and on the barge itself. I wondered what their mission was since the earthquake retrofit work seemed to have been completed many months ago.
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We sailed under the east span of the bridge and then came about and headed back toward Raccoon Straits, now sailing with the current and making really fast headway in the good winds.
In about 20 minutes we were at the mouth of Raccoon Straits where this lovely Catalina was heading out of the straits.
Winds in the straits were much lighter.. a lee shore effect I guess... and so we made slower progress throught the straits, passing well to the north of Ayala Cove which looked as beautiful as always, but deserted except for a single small ketch tied up at the docks.
The Tiburon Headlands have greened up and looked beautiful as well.
This lovely sailboat with reefed main was also heading out of the east mouth of the straits.
Expecting strong winds in the central bay, I decided to take advantage of the light wind in the straits and put a reef in the main. Later, in the lee of Belvedere, I reefed the jib also down to a double reef size before heading for the gate. This lovely yawl, flying jib and mizzen sails was heading for the west mouth of the straits as we sailed directly toward the gate on close reach starboard tack.
Our iconic bridge was standing her stately watch over the gate as we sailed toward her, hoping to reach her on a single starboard tack .. which would me that we would have sailed all the way from the Richmond Bridge to the GGB on a single starboard tack, except for a time when we were hove-to while reefing the main in Raccoon Straits.
This sailboat with jib only passed in front of us. She was the windward boat and so owed us right of way, but seemed oblivious so I luffed up a bit to let her pass.
Further out on the bay, another lovely ketch was heading northeast with only jib and mizzen sails out.
As we approached the gate, this Coast Guard patrol boat steamed past us to port.
I was so happy to have reefed as the wind and seas at the gate were really strong and rough and we would have been overpowered had we any more canvas out than we did. We just ducked out the gate between midspan and the south tower and then fell off to head back inside, watching as this kiteboarder also was heading back into the bay after playing around on the ocean.
Soon there were two kiteboarders heading in between the south tower and Fort Point.
This one was playing around under the GGB.
This one passed us, heading for the beach at Crissy Field.
We did a chicken gybe and sailed to the northeast for a while on port tack broad reach. Our old pal, ADVENTURE CAT passed well to the north of us, heading for the gate on her sunset sail with a few passengers on the foredeck.
The breeze softened down to well under 10 knots as we sailed toward home port and we eventually gybed and headed for home port on starboard tack broad reach as the wind shifted more into the southwest. In the distance, I spotted PRIVATEER heading out for her sunset sail.
The breeze freshened after we sailed past Aquatic Park and we were making faster headway as we sailed between pier 45 and pier 39, enjoying views of the city in the evening sunshine.
Pier 39 flags were fluttering in a breeze of 8-10 knots as we sailed past.
As we sailed toward the lee of pier 35, Tim on Chewink passed us to port, heading west against the flood current and fortunate to have some good breeze to fight the flood current. I assume Tim soon headed into port, sailing in without an engine.
As we entered the lee of pier 35, this sailboat passed, also heading west against the now waxing flood current.
I doused sail in the lee of pier 35 and then motored around the pier and into the marina, surprised to see a tug and barge tied up near the marina entrance. I'd like to think that they will be doing some dredging in our marina, but I won't hold my breath.
After landing fine by playing the flood current properly, and tying up, I went out to the end of the pier to see the sunset. The pier 39 flags were still fluttering nicely and a marmalade sunset stretched across the western sky. It had taken us about 5.5 hours to complete the three bridge kiss-- about 22 nautical miles by line of sight, which was quite good elapsed time, considering the substantial amount of time that we were just ghoting along at a few knots over the bottom. With the beating and gybing that we did, we probably actually covered about 25 nm and so averaged close to 5 knots
With the right planning for an earthquake retrofit, you'll be prepared for this natural disaster.
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