Wednesday, November 29, 2006
TUESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2006-- FINE DAY FOR A 2 BRIDGE KISS
A partly cloudy afternoon with a great breeze and moderate currents on the bay-- a recipe for a delightful afternoon of sailing.
We headed out about 1pm and the winds were in the 10-15 knot range, so we put up full main outside the marina....
...then headed out into the bay on port tack, came about onto starboard tack, pulled out the jib to full, and did wing and wing down the cityfront, noticing that REVERIE was back at pier 35 again.
Beautiful cloud patterns filled the skies over Telegraph Hill.
We eventually gybed the jib and headed for the A-B span of the Bay Bridge on starboard tack broad reach, making good headway in good winds with some flood assist, and noticiing a jib only sailboat heading north.
The Bay Bridge was gleaming in the afternoon sunshine as we approached the A-B span.
The view of the financial district from the other side of the bridge was spectacular!
We reefed the jib and headed back to the north, enjoying the view of Telegraph Hill in sunshine this time.
That same jib-only sailboat was beating to the west and we were slowly gaining on her. She eventually turned around and headed back home.
Another sailboat passed to port heading down the cityfront.
We sailed out into the central bay, then tacked toward pier 39 and pulled the jib out to full since the breeze had softened to a level perfect for full canvas. That tack took us past pier 35, where we tacked to the north again, sailed out a ways and then tacked to sail past the end of pier 35.
The flags on the end of the pier were fluttering nicely in the 10 knot breeze from the west as we fought the flood current.
The city was enjoying brilliant slanted sunshine as we passed the end of the west marina seawall.
Ahead of us was a p39 neighbor boat named CATBIRD that we had earlier watched come out and raise sails.
We were gradually catching up to CATBIRD, and after we both tacked to the northwest and then back to the southwest again, we easily passed her, though she was looking good flying full canvas.
Soon CATBIRD was falling farther and farther behind.
As we passed the St. Francis Yacht Club on shore, the city was still gleaming in the late afternoon sunshine.
Ahead of us a sailboat was returning from shooting the gate.
We were sailing straight for the gate on close reach starboard tack, when the wind suddenly started shifting around, forcing us to begin beating toward the gate, including a tack that took us inside Blackaller Buoy and giving us this view of our spectacular bridge.
It took us several more tacks before we were finally able to shoot the gate just inside the south tower of the bridge, and then we turned around and headed back inside, enjoying this view of the Golden Gate Bridge nearing sundown.
We sailed northward to position ourselves to see the sundown, and enjoyed views of the city wearing sundown color....
the north tower reflecting the setting sun....
....and Alcatraz wearing sundown color as well.
he sun was going down toward a thick cloud bank on the horizon...
...and soon started to disappear into it.
Finally, the sun was in hiding and illuminating the tops of the clouds...
...with a marmalade sky above.
A partly cloudy afternoon with a great breeze and moderate currents on the bay-- a recipe for a delightful afternoon of sailing.
We headed out about 1pm and the winds were in the 10-15 knot range, so we put up full main outside the marina....
...then headed out into the bay on port tack, came about onto starboard tack, pulled out the jib to full, and did wing and wing down the cityfront, noticing that REVERIE was back at pier 35 again.
Beautiful cloud patterns filled the skies over Telegraph Hill.
We eventually gybed the jib and headed for the A-B span of the Bay Bridge on starboard tack broad reach, making good headway in good winds with some flood assist, and noticiing a jib only sailboat heading north.
The Bay Bridge was gleaming in the afternoon sunshine as we approached the A-B span.
The view of the financial district from the other side of the bridge was spectacular!
We reefed the jib and headed back to the north, enjoying the view of Telegraph Hill in sunshine this time.
That same jib-only sailboat was beating to the west and we were slowly gaining on her. She eventually turned around and headed back home.
Another sailboat passed to port heading down the cityfront.
We sailed out into the central bay, then tacked toward pier 39 and pulled the jib out to full since the breeze had softened to a level perfect for full canvas. That tack took us past pier 35, where we tacked to the north again, sailed out a ways and then tacked to sail past the end of pier 35.
The flags on the end of the pier were fluttering nicely in the 10 knot breeze from the west as we fought the flood current.
The city was enjoying brilliant slanted sunshine as we passed the end of the west marina seawall.
Ahead of us was a p39 neighbor boat named CATBIRD that we had earlier watched come out and raise sails.
We were gradually catching up to CATBIRD, and after we both tacked to the northwest and then back to the southwest again, we easily passed her, though she was looking good flying full canvas.
Soon CATBIRD was falling farther and farther behind.
As we passed the St. Francis Yacht Club on shore, the city was still gleaming in the late afternoon sunshine.
Ahead of us a sailboat was returning from shooting the gate.
We were sailing straight for the gate on close reach starboard tack, when the wind suddenly started shifting around, forcing us to begin beating toward the gate, including a tack that took us inside Blackaller Buoy and giving us this view of our spectacular bridge.
It took us several more tacks before we were finally able to shoot the gate just inside the south tower of the bridge, and then we turned around and headed back inside, enjoying this view of the Golden Gate Bridge nearing sundown.
We sailed northward to position ourselves to see the sundown, and enjoyed views of the city wearing sundown color....
the north tower reflecting the setting sun....
....and Alcatraz wearing sundown color as well.
he sun was going down toward a thick cloud bank on the horizon...
...and soon started to disappear into it.
Finally, the sun was in hiding and illuminating the tops of the clouds...
...with a marmalade sky above.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 2:42 PM 
