I was hoping to go out on Monday to make up for missing some outings last week, but the winds were howling in the 25-35+ range, so I stayed in port because it would be no fun out there in such conditions. Today, the winds were strong but not quite as strong. Arik and Alex joined us for the first time around 12:30 pm [thanks to sfsailing.com] and we headed out of port, raised single-reefed main just outside the marina and pulled out a double reefed jib before heading out into the central bay to sail westward on the southwest breeze.
The flags on the end of pier 39 were fluttering strongly in the early afternoon breeze as we sailed westward, being resisted by the waxing flood current that tended to push us northward.
A small J20 race boat was blasting downwind behind her kite.
Eventually, we spotted our old pal, ADVENTURE CAT, heading out on one of her afternoon sails and about to disappear behind Alcatraz.
We had to tack several times to beat our way past the rocks on the southwest side of the island, partly due to the wind shifting more westward as we approached the buoy guarding the rocks.
Arik was at the helm as we beat westward
With two different wind systems again, one southwest and the other westerly, along with the flood current, we didn't make very speedly progress toward the gate, and at one point, barely managed to sail past the buoy at Harding Rock as the flood tried to push us into it. We then sailed to the northwest for quite a while before tacking toward the gate again with Alex at the helm and the boat well-heeled, rail in the water in one of the stronger gusts. We sailed to within about a half mile of the gate and then fell off the wind to head for home port.
The schooner Seaward was also out on the bay, but we didn't see many other boats out there.
The city was enjoying hazy sunshine as we approached home port.
The flags on the end of pier 39 were pegged out in the strong breeze.
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse sail and after flaking and tying up the main, we headed around the pier toward the entrance of the marina as Privateer was dousing her sail-- rolling in the jib-- in the lee of pier 35.
We motored into port and landed fine in the moderate flood current then flowing through the marina. It was a blustery afternoon, but we had the right amount of canvas so had good fun out there.
Nancy [another sfsailing.com contact] joined us for the first time at 3 pm and we headed out shortly after, raising single-reefed main before heading out into the central bay. We sailed north for a while then came about and headed for the Bay Bridge, pulling the jib out to full for downwind power.
We had highly variable winds as we sailed down the cityfront and it was 4:45 pm as we approached the Ferry Building.
Riptide, a Catalina 42, passed to port, heading north along with another sailboat further to the east, while in the background another sailboat was heading for the Bay Bridge.
Way in the east, closer to Yerba Buena Island, another Catalina was also heading north.
The nuisance boat blasted under the Bay Bridge and slalomed past us to port, detracting from the serenity of the bay.
This smal sailboat approached us from the northeast and then followed us toward the A-B span of the Bay Bridge.
The Bay Bridge was gleaming in the mid-afternoon sun as we sailed under the A-B span.
A small Cal sailboat named OKO was off port as we continued southward.
I reefed the jib eventually and we gybed and headed for the south side of Yerba Buena Island, eventually heading up to give right of way to ENDEAVOUR, a Hans Christain with tanbark sails.
She is offered for sale and has all the equipment needed for blue water cruising, including radar and a life raft canister forward of the dodger. Perhaps she was out for a demonstration sail to some potential customers.
As we approached the south shore of Yerba Buena, we spotted the colony of harbor seals sunning on the beach there.
The lovely lighthouse on Yerba Buena was enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
As we sailed parallel to the east span of the Bay Bridge, we could see the progress that has been made on the suspension span construction in the last month by comparing the two photos above. The roadway has been extended further to the east, and the two temporary support towers have been completed.
Comparing the above two photos from about a month apart, the support tower where the suspension span will marry with the already constructed roadway has changed dramatically. The platforms and the stairway scaffold are gone and some cables are laid over the semi-circular guides at the top. I wonder if these cables will be part of the suspendion span cable structure. We'll continue to watch this construction about once a month to follow and report the progress of this suspension span construction.
We sailed under the old and new span to the east of the construction zone and headed north, passing this smal sailboat heading for the bridge. In the background you can see one of the prefabricated roadway support structures that are being used to construct the roadway on the temporary support towers.
We sailed past the north end of Treasure Isand and started across the cental bay toward the lee side of Angel Island, watching as KNOTS crossed in front of us, flying downwind behind her colorful kite toward the Berkeley Marina.
This Hunter sailboat passed to port, flying full jib and a small main pulled out of the mast's furling rig.
Soon we spotted this lovely sailboat headed our way with full canvas flying and sailing toward the lee side of Treasure Island.
She was looking good and the skipper waved at us as she passed us.
This small Cal sailboat also passed to starboard as we sailed up the lee side of Angel Island.
We headed up after sailing to a point opposite Raccoon Straits and sailed to a point north of the north end of the straits, tacked toward Angel Island and then tacked to sail through the straits, now with full jib in the lighter winds. Ayala Cove was almost deserted as we sailed past with just a few boats still there.
We sailed toward Belevedere and then tacked to the south and sailed out of the straits with some ebb current assist and with Nancy at the helm.
We had light winds all the way up the west shore of Angel Island, and we watched as this cutter rigged sailboat headed for Raccoon Straits.
We had moderate winds all the way across the north half of the central bay, and our pal ADVENTURE CAT 2 passed us on her sunset sail.
A bit later, this sailboat motorsailed past us, headed toward Sausalito.
Later, PRIVATEER, the charter ketch out of pier 39 crossed in front of us on her sunset sail....
...with just a couple of passengers aboard with Eric, the skipper.
The city was enjoying hazy sunshine as we approached in much stronger winds south of Alcatraz-- probably 15-20 knots or more.
We sailed toward the lee side of pier 35 to douse sail and watched as neighbor boat MACONDO headed for the same spot to douse her sails. She has just returned to the marina after many months in the boat yard being repaired. She reached the lee spot ahead of us but took longer to douse sail and flake and tie up the main, so she was following us as we heading into port.
We landed fine in mostly slack current after about 4 hours of pleasant sailing in a wide variety of conditions in various microclimes of the bay.
Tuesday there was insufficient wind to go sailing. Thursday, I was getting ready to head out in strong winds when I noticed that the hinge pin attaching the boom to the mast had worked its way out somehow so the boom was no longer hinged but just resting on the bracket. The cotter pin holding the pin in place had sheared off and I can't figure out where the forces came from to do that. I worked on trying to reassenble the hinge properly, but wasn't able to get the parts to line up properly without help. Friday, the winds were too strong for sailing so I didn't work on the boom problem. On Saturday, I was walking out toward the end of the pier and was surprised to meet up with Grant, a young man who has sailed with me a couple of times and his friend, Alex. I enlisted their help in positioning the boom and soon got the hinge boom properly attached to the hinge and we were all set to go out sailing.
Grant and Alex joined me at 1:30 pm and we headed out a short time later, putting up reefed main and pulling out small jib and initially heading west on the southwest breeze, but soon falling off toward the lee of Alcatraz to avoid blasting through very large wind waves stirred up by the 20-25 knot winds along the cityfront despite the flood current that had persisted for several hours.
We sailed northward past the lee side of Alcatraz and watched as this C&C sailboat blasted westward with full canvas flying. Must be a heavy displacement vessel since she was handling the strong winds with full canvas quite nicely, and looking good!
Ahead of us, TILLIGO was also blasting westward with full main and reefed jib and also handling the winds quite well.
This small blue-hulled sailboat blasted past us heading toward the Bay Bridge and looing good!
Quite a ways ahead of us, a strange looking sailboat was motoring northward.
Winds were lighter north of Alcatraz, so we headed up and began beating westward, finding some windholes along the way, but this lovely boat had plenty of wind as she passed astern of us.
This dark-hulled sailboat was enjoying the lighter wind conditions as she sailed northward toward Pt. Blount.
Two wind systems were blowing on the bay, one westerly and the other southwesterly. We were sailing to the northwest on the westerly when this small sailboat passed us in moderate winds with the two person crew enjoying the sunshine.
We pulled the jib out to full for more power in the lighter winds and soon spotted a fleet of race boats headed for a leeward mark just west of Alcatraz, and here one of the racers is approaching the leeward mark.
Some of the racers were flying spinnakers and some not. Here TIBURON is flying her kite as she blasts downwind.
On the other hand, Ariadne was racing with main and jib only.
Here a couple of racers were flying their symmetrical kites
Here two racers were flying kites, but one was a symmetrical and the other asymmetrical, while another racer was using main and jib only.
One of the racers went shrimping with her kite as she approached the leeward mark-- not what the owner wants to have happen, for sure.
This Cal race boat was looking good with her patriotic kite flying.
The crew of this Cal 40 looked very focused as she blasted upwind toward the windward mark.
Closer to the shore of the headlands, part of the racing fleet was beating toward the windward mark as we beat toward the gate.
A catamaran crossed in front of us, sailing southward across the bay on the sparkling bay waters.
We arrived in stronger breezes as the afternoon wore on, so we fell off to DDW and reefed the jib again so we would avoid being overpowered as we approached the gate. After we again resumed beating toward the gate, this lovely race boat passed to port, gybing back and forth downwind, probably practicing their racing skills.
This boat, passing astern of us, seemed to have a husband and wife crew with the wife at the helm.
As we sailed toward Horseshoe Cove, our old pal, ADVENTURE CAT 2 crossed in front of us, heading for the gate.
Alex was at the helm as we approached the gate near midspan of the bridge in building ocean swells and stronger southwesterly winds...
.. and he was smiling as we sailed out the gate, but soon encountered radically and rapidly building seas that forced me to grab the helm quickly and come abour to head back inside on port tack broad reach. The swells outside the south tower of the GGB were 8+ feet high and sharp with wind waves on top-- not to be messed with on a close reach course even in a boat of our size.
As we headed back inside, we enjoyed watching windsurfers playing around near and outside the gate, like this sailboarder here.
This one went down....
.... but soon got underway again, looking good.
\ As we sailed northward, this lovely traditional wooden yacht passed to starboard, heaindg for the gate and bouncing through the ocean swells inside the gate as we had done earlier.
Here is a video clip of her sailing past and looking good!
We arrived in some lighter beeze near the mouth of Horseshoe Cove, so gybed and headed for home port, pulling the jib out to full for more downwind power. As we sailed eastward, this sailboarder was struggling to get up after falling...
.... and fell again.
Here, twin sailboard rigs wee heading for the shore on starboard tack-- the sails seemed to be quite large for the rather blustery conditions.
The winds strengthened as we passed Fort Mason and Aquatic Park and a couple of Folkboats like this one were beating upwind in the strong breezes, but lookign good as they did so.
A Coast Guard fast boat came blasting past with her lights flashing, usually signalling that she is on an emergency call so perhaps there was a boat or a windsurfer in trouble somewhere west of us.
The city was enjoying slightly hazy sunshine as we approached home port, having pulled in the jib so we could sail direct downwind and avoid gybing back and forth to get home.
Flags on the end of pier 39 were pegged out as we sailed past so the breeze was at least 20 knots, perhaps more.
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse the main and then motored around the pier to the west side where the GLOBAL SENTINAL is tied up.
She is an undersea cable laying ship and has put down thousands of miles of fiber optic cables all over the oceans of the earth and part of her cable laying equipment is mounted on her aft deck.
Buoys of different sizes are carred on her foredeck.
We motored past that ship and into the marina and landed fine in the moderate ebb current flowing through the marina. It was a fun outing and I was happy to have some crew with me instead of being out there solo as I had anticipated earlier in the day. Being out there with enthusiastic sailors adds to my own enjoyment.
