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.
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