TUESDAY, 3 MARCH 09 -- SUN, RAIN AND HAIL ON SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Sunday was stormy most of the day, so we stayed in port. On Monday, we had a break from the rain storms, but they were replaced by gale force wind gusts-- 20 knots sustained winds gusting to 40 + knots-- WHEW! we were rocking and rolling in the marina with suddering rigging in the strong gusts so it was not a day to be out on the bay, especially solo. The winds broke off strong tree limbs on mature trees.


Strong rains returned on Moday night and the rain lasted until late morning on Tuesday, when the skies brightened a bit. Winds were strong but the gusts were not gale force like yesterday, so i decided to head out for a sail around 2:30 pm. We motored over to the lee of pier 35 and there pulled up a single reefed main and then let out a hankerchief sized jib before heading down the cityfront toward the bay bridge.



Skies over the city were mostly cloudy, but quite bright and I was hoping that we'd have a few dry hours for our outing.




Initially we were sailing toward the A-B span on a southwesterly wind, but as the wind shifted more into the south, we had to fall off toward the D-E span of the Bay Bridge. Skies over the city continued to be cloudy bright....




... while skies in the west were stormy dark and I hoped the rains were moving with the winds and would stay north of us.




A Coasst Guard fast boat blasted past us to port, probably heading for home port on Yerba Buena.



A short time later, we were blasted by a small squall moving through with some increased winds and a bit of heavy rain, but it only lasted for a few minuutes and then skies cleared and we could even see patches of blue sky as we approached the D-E span of the bridge.




We sailed under the D-E span and then came about and headed back to the west again with skies over the city still mostly cloudy, but bright with patches of blue showing. So I was hoping that that small squall was all we would experience out there.




However, skies over Telegraph Hill darkened as we approached home port and it looked as if we might be in for another brief squall.




But we continued sailing westward, in winds now more gusty, while flags on the end of pier 39 were barely fluttering because of the lee effect of the buildings.


A short time later, we were hit with some quite heavy wind gusts and I didn't want to risk that the gale force gusts were returning, so came about and headed back toward home port. Soon the rain came to accompany the stronger winds of this storm cell, and we sailed to the east side of pier 35 to scout for a lee spot to douse sail. Not much lee was found, so we doused sail just in front of pier 35 and quickly did a sloppy tie up of the main. Now... YIKES-- Mother Nature lashed us with heavy rain and pelted us with small hail stones that turned the decks of ANTICIPATION into a crunchy, slippery mess for a while. We managed to tie on fenders and ready lines safely despite the nasty conditions and then motored into port.