As we sailed northward, the strong flood current was pushing us eastward, and here you can see the flood current rushing past the Blossom Rock buoy and tilting it in the direction of the current. The city behind was enjoying the late morning sunshine.
Off in the west, a massive cloud or marine layer was piled up over the gate and the headlands.
A huge container ship was using the deep water channel north of Alcatraz to come inbound to the Port of Oakland and she passed us to starboard about 50 yards away. Fortunately, she was moving quite slowly so she didn't 'wake' us too badly
A huge container ship was using the deep water channel north of Alcatraz to come inbound to the Port of Oakland and she passed us to starboard about 50 yards away. Fortunately, she was moving quite slowly so she didn't 'wake' us too badly
This small catamaran out of the south bay passed aft of us, heading west.
The BOATPIX copter flew overhead and I assumed they had already taken aerial shots of the race boats doing the Delta Ditch Run.
As we continued northward, past the lee side of Angel Island, this Melges race boat passed to port, heading southward.
A smaller sailboat named Mystical also passed to port, heaidng south....
....her two person crew enjoying the morning sunshine.
Way ahead of us, the Delta Ditch Run boats were already starting their race northward.
This smaller sailboat passed to starboard with full canvas flying and looking good.
Another smaller sailboat, named Lorien, an Islander with a B designation that I can't recall seeing before, passed to port. She was full of electronics gear.
With good winds blowing, we were soon blasting our way in stronger winds with flood current assist toward the Richmond San Rafael bridge on close reach port tack, soon approaching Red Rock while heading for the west span of the bridge.
We sailed through the west span and then fell off to DDW to reef the jib before coming about and heading back southward, now resisted by the flood current but helped by the strong winds.
As we headed south, this Catalina named Flight Risk was heading northward with full canvas flying and looking good.....
.... her crew enjoying the noontime sunshine.
As we continued southward, in the distance I spotted several colorful spinnakers heading north and eventually could see that three catamarans were heading in the direction that the Delta Ditch race boats were heading.
A bit later, all three were lined up to the northeast of us with their kites overlapping and looking very colorful.
Skies in the west are full of beautiful cloud patterns.
Through Raccoon Straits, I could see that the Golden Gate Bridge was partially hidden by some blobs of fog.
We headed toward the lee side of Treasure Island, and along the shore of Angel Island, a lovely ketch was heading toward Raccoon Straits while a large sailboat was heading south flying main only.
Off to starboard, a large Catalina passed us, heading toward the straits. Her name was Adventure.
A catamaran ferry blasted past us to port, presumably heading toward the Ferry Building, but suddenly turning around and heading back the way she came. Never saw this strange behavior before. Perhaps it was a training run for a new skipper.
As we approached the lee side of Treasure Island, we encountered some fishing vessels, like SUPERFISH here.
A lovely smaller Beneteau passed to starboard...
...while this lovey large cutter passed to port, both looking good!
As we sailed up the lee shore of Treasure Island, the Coast Guard copter flew past at a low altitude.
Another small Islander with the B designation passed to starboard and making good headway in the less than lee winds on the lee shore of the island.
The huge crane that we saw coming into San Francisco Bay a month or more ago, is now located in position to work on building the new suspension span tower. I suspected this was the mission of large crane, but this is the first week that it has been located here. Perhaps it wasn't needed until now.
Here is the freighter bringing in the crane back in March.
The suspension span roadway support has lengthened substantially since we last passed this way a couple of weeks ago. Here is how it looks as of last Saturday....
... and here is how it looked a couple of weekes ago.
As we began making our way around Yerba Buena Island, I spotted this sailboat raising her main sail in the lee of the island.
Ahead of us, the Coast Guard fastboat was blasting westward after exiting the estuary.
Behind us, a sailboat was heading northward along the docks of the Port of Oakland where huge cranes that look like mechanical prehistoric monsters load and unload containers to and from docked freighters.
This large sailboat was heading east, but came about and headed back west again.
That sailboat raising her main managed to get ahead of us, since I had reduced canvas in the lee of the island....
.. but we were soon catching up with her and almost passed her and her crew of well-foulied people.
The lovely lighthouse on the southern point of YBI and the nice house up the hill were drenched in the early afternoon sunshine as we sailed past.
We sailed parallel to the Bay Bridge on close reach starboard tack, enjoying views of the city beyound the bridge and the dramatic cloud layers overlying the city.
This lovely J24 sailboat passed us, looking good and heading east.
As we approached the A-B span of the bridge, this C&C sailboat was sailing under that span, heading north.
We eventually tacked and headed north also, eventually passing this smaller Catalina ....
... named Eleni, as her crew watched us take her picture.
This sailboat named Chance had motored out of the south bay and was now raising her main sail in the lee of the city...
... eventually passing us to port since she was flying more canvas than we.
We tacked into the lee of pier 35 to tighten the luff of the main which tends to loosen up as the damn halyard stretches when the sail loads up due to strong winds, and then we tacked back into the bay and sailed past pier 39 where the flags were fluttering in a breeze of 10-15 knots.
Adventure Cat 2 was raising her main sail in preparation for a cruise to the gate and back as we tacked toward the lee of pier 45.
A group of kayakers was paddling eastward along the breakwater of the west marina.
As we tacked away fron the lee of pier 45, the city behind us was basking in the afternoon sunshine.
Soon we were passed sailboats heading in the opposite direction, like this large one here, named BLUZZZ.
PRIVATEER was heading back toward her home port at pier 39....
...with a large load of passengers aboard.
Way out in the west, I could see a fleet of small race boats sailing downwind with kites flying toward the leeward mark or finish line, and later could see that this was the Melges fleet completing their last race of the day, with one of the boats here heading back to the marina. The Melges raceboat that we saw earlier was probably headed for this regatta.
Way out in the west, several sailboats were returning from outside the gate, one of them flying a large cruising spinnaker.
Several sailboarders were playing around on the sparkling bay waters, and some small race boats were sailing downwind behind their kites.
Some lasers also seemed to be racing around together along the cityfront, but I didn't spot any race commitee or marks that they were actually usiing so perhaps it was an informal contest.
Here one of the J22s was finishing a race, heading toward the finish line with one crewmember steering, one trimming the kite and one on the foredeck to shift the spinnaker pole during the gybes.
Here three of the Lasers were racing upwind side by side.
A flock of beautiful pelicans flew overhead.
As we approached the starting line of the race course, we could see that this regatta was continuing and so I decided to hang around and take some photos before completing our 3 bridge kiss by sailing out the gate. I soon discovered that the regatta was a match race format, and here is one of the J22s named CHESEBURGER beginning to beat westward toward the windward mark after the start of a race. She is on port tack here....
... and her competitor is on starboard tack. [You can see many more photos of these races on my photo album website at
http://cbergstedt.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php
The next two match race boats start their race and both are on port tack heading west at the start.
Sometime later, we saw the first two boats heading back toward the leeward mark behind their kites....
...one of the boats seeming to be a couple of boatlenths ahead of the other...
..and indeed she was as they passed us.
Soon the other two match race boats were headed our way and seemed to be sailing neck and neck, so to speak.
7 seemed to be slightly ahead of 4 as they approached us....
... but 4 was actually ahead as they passed us, with the other two boats now heading upwind and quite close together now.
... but 4 was actually ahead as they passed us, with the other two boats now heading upwind and quite close together now.
Both boats gybed and headed for the leeward mark.
A bit later, the first two match race boat were again passing us on their way to the leeward mark, this time with a much smaller lead for 1 over 8.
We gradually beat toward the windward mark, and here spotted the second pair of competitors heading upwind toward that mark.
I watched them round the windward mark with the boat 4, black kite, still having a small lead.
They continued to duel each other, gybing back and forth toward the leeward mark.
We could then see a committee boat go up to the windward mark and start to remove it, so we knew the racing was over and we headed for the gate to complete our 3 bridge kiss, watching as a large sailboat flying a huge symmetrical spinnaker headed our way.
ADVENTURE CAT 2 passed us, heading home.
The boat flying that huge spinnaker was that large, light-yellow-hulled, center-cockpit Swan that we have seen on the bay from time to time, and she was looking good as she passed us, with a quite relaxed loooking crew. This is the first time that I can recall seeing her flying a kite.
As we headed for the gate, this young sailboarder blasted past us....
... as did this kiteboarder...
... and this one, looking very relaxed with one hand on his controls.
We sailed into Horseshoe Cove just inside the GGB, and then tacked to sail out the gate....
bouncing through some sharp wind waves and taking back onto port tack to sail out between midspan and the north tower, enjoying views of the bridge and the headlands.
We sailed out a ways, watching some kiteboarders like this one playing around outside the gate....
... and this tanker steaming inside the bay under the bridge, before coming about and heading back inside, pulling the jib out to full for downwind power.
As we sailed toward home port, now inside the bay again, this lovely sailboat crossed in front of us, then fell off to head downwind....
... but then came about and headed back west again, passing us to starboard.
Some time later, this lovely traditional ketch passed to starboard also heading west.
The city was now basking in late afternoon or early evening sunshine as we sailed between pier 45 and pier 39.
Flags on the end of pier 39 were still fluttering in a breeze of about 10+ knots.
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 as usual to douse sail and ready for landing, then motored into port, landing fine in the light ebb, happy to have spent some 7+ hours on the bay in magnificent sailing weather.
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