This crane and barge has been just outside the marina exit for a week or so now and I never see it doing any work, so I wonder why it is there.
Once out on the central bay, we headed west on the southwest breeze with waning ebb current assist, and the flags on the end of pier 39 were fluttering in a breeze of 10-12 knots.
The cruise ship tied up on the east side of pier 35 was just backing out as we left port, and was soon steaming westward toward the gate with her passengers on deck in the warm afternoon sunshine.
We sailed out a ways to the west and then tacked into the lee of pier 45, passing this J105 that was dousing sails between pier 39 and pier 45.
As we tacked away to the west again, we spotted a Laser headed our way and guessed that she was probably owned by boat neighbor Chris...
... and sure enough she was and he and a friend were soon passing us to starboard....
... and then tacking to follow us...
.... and eventually shooting past us and heading out into the strong winds and hiked out to balance the dingy... looking good!
The city was enjoying very clear air and brilliant sunshine.
This Hunter sailboat passed in front of us, heading downwind and looking as if something was wrong with her main. Initially, I thought the sail might be torn...
... but closer inspection showed that it was just very poorly reefed or else they were shaking out the reef which would not be a smart move sailing downwind.
After sailing out to the west for a while, we tacked again to sail toward the Fort Mason piers, and then tacked to the west again, eventually spotting this Cal sailboat heading downwind and fairly close to the shore-- closer than I would ever go for fear of being grounded in shallow water.
A short time later, this 29er blasted past us with crew hiked way out over the water on the port side of the boat. She was blasting upwind and looking great!
Closer to shore, this Laser was sailing downwind.
After sailing to the west and passing the two yacht club buildings on shore, we tacked back toward the shore again to watch the windsurfers playing around on the bay, like this one that soon lost control and went...
... SPLAT, falling foward into the water.
Quite a few sailboarders and kiteboarders were playing around on the bay, like this kiteboarder heading toward shore.
A sailboarder approached from our port side and passed closely astern of us, his face locked in grim concentration.
This kiteboarder crossed in front of us and was sending up blasts of spray as he headed toward the shore.
A bit later, we were being attacked by these two kiteboarders....
... the lead one giving us a 'hang ten' sign as he approached on a collision course and then fell off at the last minute to scoot behind us, missing us by a few feet.
The trailing kiteboarder also headed right for us and then veered off and passed closely astern of us. I was happy that they were skillful at maneuvering.
Out by the gate, some 420 dingies, like this one with a STANFORD name on the sail, were heading back downwind. They had a chase boat in case they got into trouble.
We left behind the windsurfers and headed for the gate, sailing out near midspan and enjoying views of the bridge and the headlands as we always do-- never tiring of this beautiful man-made structure and nature's handiwork on the headlands.
We sailed back and forth, off the wind to avoid taking the ocean swells head on, and was tempted to continue on out to Pt. Bonita, but decided not to risk it in case the seas became more nasty further out. But we had left the gate quite a ways behind us and looking beautiful in the late afternoon sunshine with Angel Island framed by the bridge deck, the towers and the surface of the sea.
We came about and headed back inside, eventually encountering this sailboarder that had shot the gate and was sailing across it toward the north tower as he shot past us on our port side.
He eventually gybed and headed back our way, and you can see that he is in the trough of an ocean swell in this photo.
As we headed back inside the bay, we watched as this almost empty freighter out of the south bay cut the corner around the north side of Alcatraz and headed for the gate. This was the only freighter traffic that we saw-- unusual!
We had gybed already and were heading toward home port, now with full canvas flying, on starboard tack beam reach, noticing that some kiteboarders were still playing around closer to the shore.
We eventually spotted this small Ranger sailboat headed our way with poor sail trim, her main flogging in the winds...
... and one of the attractive crew members on the foredeck and grinning at us as we took photos of the boat and crew.
Close to the shore of the city, some dingies were still playing around on the water just outside the marina there.
As we continued on to the east, we eventually spotted this beautiful Knarr race boat headed west and looking good with perfect sail trim!
The city was enjoying brilliant late afternoon sunshine as we sailed between pier 45 and pier 39.
Chris and his friend were still playing around on his Laser.
We soon spotted Tim on CHEWINK heading our way and looking good as she always does! Tim giving us a wave here....
.... and CHEWINK looking superlative as she passed astern of us on the sun-sparkled bay waters.
The charter ketch out of pier 39 marina, PRIVATEER, was heading out for a sunset sail and flying full canvas-- looking good also!
The flags on the end of pier 39 seemed to be fluttering in a breeze of only 5-7 knots as we passed.
We continued sailing down the cityfront, passing the other large cruise ship tied up at pier 27 with the financial district buildings nicely illuminated by the lowering sun.
A small Islander was heading west with full canvas flying as we continued sailing toward the A-B span of the Bay Bridge.
The brilliantly illuminated clock on the Ferry Building tower showed 6:20 pm as we approached the Ferry Building.
The ketch-rigged motorsailer named NIANTIC sailed out of the south bay and passed us to port....
.. her crew in the cockpit seemingly absorbed in looking at something and not keeping a lookout, but perhaps there was someone in the cabin steering the boat and looking for traffic.
Further off in the north, this lovely ketch was heading east.
We had variable winds down the cityfront, but soon passed under the A-B span of the Bay Bridge as she basked in the evening sunshine.
I reefed the jib before coming about and heading back through the A-B span in the light winds, eventually pulling the jib out to full again for more power. I watched as a Coast Guard copter flow around, going back and forth from Yerba Buena Island to the shore of the city and then back again.
We eventually caught up with and passed this Olsen 30 sailboat that was well ahead of us initially and making very slow headway agains the now waxing flood current.
Her crew seemed intently focussed on getting as much speed out of the boat as they could, and sail trim looked basically good, except possibly the jib, which might had been old and tired and so not powering the boat upwind that well in light air.
We soon left her a number of boat lengths behind us as we sailed past pier 39 where the flags were fluttering in a breeze of only about 5 knots.
NIANTIC had been sailing toward the city but then tacked to the west after we passed in front of her. She eventually fell off the wind futher and sailed past the south shore of Alcatraz.
That Islander we passed earlier was now heading back to the east.
We were just ghosting westward against the current in the light breeze as the sun began to reflect off some of the buildings in the city and the city took on sunset color.
Behind us, the almost full moon had now come up over the Bay Bridge and was getting brighter as sundown neared.
The sun eventually dropped behind the hills of the Marin Headlands....
.... leaving behind a colorful sunset sky.
We had hoped for freshening breezes that would enable us to sail to the gate again, but they did not materialize so we came about and joined our old pal ADVENTURE CAT as she headed for home port.
Ahead of us, the moon was brightening further as the sky darkened more after sundown.
Brilliant sunset color eventually developed over the headlands behind us.
That cruise ship tied up at pier 27 eventually backed out and we spotted dozens of camera flashes as we sailed around in front of pier 39 to watch the developing sunset.
We eventually sailed past the marina and toward pier 35, but pulled in the jib in the light breeze east of the marina and also doused the main there. That cruise ship was just ghosting westward as the skies darkened, perhaps to give her passengers views of the sunset and the city lights brightening on shore.
We motored into port after tying up the main and landed okay with the flood current. I felt full of pleasure from spending over 4 hours on the bay, mostly sailing with full canvas and enjoying the fresh, clear air and good breezes, as well as the comeraderie of other sailboats out on the bay!
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