On the way over, while walking past Aquatic Park, I spotted this group of wetsuit-clad people running into the water, swimming out for less than half a minute...
... and then swimming back to shore and scrambling out onto the beach again. Couldn't figure out why they were staying in the water such a short time, but perhaps they were newbies and just getting accustomed to the water temperature and conditions there.
While waiting for the ocean race to start, I watched as this surfboard paddler rowed himself past,heading west. As you can see, there is little or no ruffling of the water by a a breeze.
The boats in the race were just ghosting around behind the start line waiting for the start sequence to begin.. A couple of TP52s were in the first starting group. One of then the Cal Maritime boat and the other was named FLASH.
As you can see from this photo, there were race boats of quite a variety of sizes perticipating in the race. I took 80 some photos of the starting boats and you can see them all on my photo album website at
http://cbergstedt.myphotoalbum.com/
With a light northeasterly breeze blowing, the race starts were downwind starts and the boats were heading for the starting line with spinnakers deployed, but FLASH here has a problem with a serious twist in their kite.
Sorcery, the largest boat in the fleet, was using a large genoa instead of a kite.
Here, Rhum Boogie, the boat my friend Olivier races on, is heading for the start line in the second group of boats with her spinnaker up and trimmed.
When this group of boats were headed for the start line of the race, they were all so close together that I heard lots of shouting back and forth among the competing crews.
It was quite a sight to see these race boats headed for the gate with colorful spinnakers flying. Usually, race boats are returning from the gate with spinnakers flying. A downwind start with spinnakers is quite a different sight.
Boat neighbor, Stan, on Zsa Zsa, a 1D35, was in the last group of boats to start. He is sailing shorthanded with just himself and another crewmember and is using a kite with a dousing sock. Most of the other boat, even some quite a bit smaller, had at least 4 or 5 crewmembers.
After all the race boats had left the start line, this group of outrigger canoes came shooting past us.
A short time later, I rendezvoused with my daughter and we parked at Crissy Field and hiked to the Warming Hut just inside the gate and sat under a tree and shared some baguette and fromage blanc. I also had a delicious double capacinno.
Later that afternoon, I headed out of port around 4:30 pm to sail over to where the ocean racers would finish the race in front of the Golden Gate YC. I raised full main and put out a small jib before heading out into the central bay.
As we began beating our way westward, this nice J boat passed to port, sailing downwind toward the Bay Bridge.
Out in the west, a finger of fog was beginning to invade the bay and I feared that this might make it difficult to impossible to see the race boats finishing the race if the fog ended up filling the entire bay.
Off to port, this lovely Folkboat was blasting toward shore, heavily heeled-over and taking spray. She passed astern of us....
... and eventually tacked back toward the west again with her three crewmembers trying to balance the boat as much as possible.
The flags on the end of pier 39 were fluttering in a breeze of about 10-knots.
The city was enjoying the late afternoon sunshine as we continued beating westward along the cityfront.
Futher out on the bay, this Huner sailboat was heading west along the shore of Alcatraz-- the island also enjoying bright sunshine at this time.
A bit later, that same folkboat was headed our way again as she was also beating upwind....
.... and her crewmembers were intesely focussed as they blasted toward us. [No, we were not about to collide as we had plenty of room to cross well in front of her.]
Later, they had again tacked and were sailing westward between us and the shore of Alcatraz.
Now I spotted the first of the fleet of ocean racers ocming out of the fog bank and heading for the finish line.
Meanwhile, that Folkboat had tacked back toward the city and once again passed astern of us before tacking out to the west again.
One of the early finishers of the ocean race was the Cal Maritime boat, here heading for home port with spinnaker flying.
Some kiteboarders were playing around on the bay between us and the gate.
Delicate Balance had also finished the ocean race and was heading home somewhere in the north bay.
We were close to the finish line when this race boat came out of the fog toward us.
She doused her kite after crossing the finish line and it appeared that she was the maxi Sorcery, here heading toward the San Francisco marina.
Alcatraz was now mostly hidden from view by the finger of fog invading the bay.
Here comes another race boat, finishing the race and sailing close to the shore as she approaches the finish line.
At one point, this large motoryacht steamed toward the San Francisco marina.
This race boat has finished the race and is heading for home port.
I was surprised to see a former boat neighbor, Temptation, a Catalina, motoring out of port and setting sail and then heading toward the fog bank.
th the crew working on stowing the sails.
Soon we were at the finish line and began just sailing back and forth near the finish line to watch the boats finish the race. Here a couple of boats have come out of the fog and are approaching the finish line.
A short time later, this maxi power yacht came motoring past us. She is well over 100 feet long. She steamed past us and then changed course and headed out into the fog bank, blowing her fog horn as required.
Here, WISKED and DECEPTION have passed the finish line. DECEPTION has already doused her spinnaker and WICKED is in the process.
Some sailboarders were also playing around near the finish line of the race, like this one here.
I wouldn't spot any of the race boats until they were just beginning to come out of the fog bank, looking ghostly and gray like this one here.
As the boat came closer, the color of the hull and spinnaker began to be discernible.
For a time, the sun was partially shining on the water near the finish line, creating some interesting luminosity effects on the boats and the water surface. Here a sailboarder is trying to raise the sail and get under way again as two of the race boats approach the finish line.
This sailboarder was down in the water and seemed to be having trouble figuring out how to get up on his board and get going again. I asked if he was okay as we sailed past and he said he was.
SUMMER MOON was looking good as she crossed the finish line.
Here is another race boat looking ghostly in the fog with spinnaker color and design barely discernable....
... but soon she is in clear air and her colors are clearly visible.
A kiteboarder was down near the shore and someone must have notified the Coast Guard became this motor life boat came steaming over to take a look and see if help was needed.
Here Rhum Boogie, the boat Olivier was on, is finishing the race with main and jib flying.
A bit later, ADVENTURE CAT 2 was heading toward home port after a visit to the gate in the fog.
Hans was at the her helm, as usual, skillfully maneuvering this large catamaran, and having all the control lines right near the helm, where a large motorized winch enables him to raise the sails right from the cockpit.
Boat neighbor Zsa Zsa approached the finish line near the back of the fleet as one would have expected and she was sailing main only as she crossed the line...
...with Stan and his crewmate in the cockpit.
I stayed around the finish line to watch a couple of other boats finish, but it was getting late then, so we headed for home port, pulling out the jib for more power. City light were coming on as we sailed past Aquatic Park.
This small freighter came out of the fog bank and headed for the Port of Oakland, still blasting her fog horn even though no longer in the fog bank.
The fog had retreated a bit and Alcatraz was now entirely visible.
City lights were brightening as we sailed between pier 45 and pier 39.
Pier 39 flags were still fluttering in a breeze of 8-10 knots as we sailed past.
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse sails and then motored around the pier and into the marina, landing fine in the now lightly ebbing current.
Nice photos, Charlie!
ReplyDeleteMay we use the Rhum Boogie photo in the Pacific Cup Race Guide?
Email me at Entries@pacificcup.org
Thanks! Michael