Friday, December 15, 2006
THURSDAY 14 DEC. 06-- LATE AFTERNOON ALMOST TO GGB AND BACK
Tuesday it rained all afternoon and we didnt feel like going out in it, so stayed in port.
Today, after a burrito lunch with my daughter in the Mission, followed by a shopping trip to West Marine and REI, I arrived back at the marina about 3:45, put the purchases away quickly and headed out for a late afternoon sailing outing.
The flags on Telegraph Hill and just outside the marina indicated a light to moderate breeze, so we pulled up a full main and put out a full jib ....
...and headed out into the central bay where we could just barely see a portion of the GGB in the fog.
A waxing flood current threatened to impeded our progress westward and after a couple of tacks we were still just barely past the end of pier 38 where the flags were fluttering moderately.
In the west, Mt. Tam was ghostly above the fog bank at the sea surface.
The light colored fog bank served as a backdrop for Alcatraz.
Eventually the breeze freshened a bit and we were then making moderate headway to the west on a southwest breeze against the current, and very much enjoying watching the city lights brighten on shore-- like Ghiradelli Square and Russian Hill above it....
... and Telegraph Hill and the Financial District behind us.
We had seen first a Coast Guard motor life boat head out at high speed toward the gate with emergency light flashing wildly. A bit later a Coast Guard fast boat blasted westward with flashing lights also. So we figured some sort of serious incident had occurred or was in progress, and we turned on the handheld VHF to check if there would be any announcements by the Coast Guard. Sure enough, a short time later came a voice on Channel 16: "PON PON; PON PON: HELLO ALL STATIONS. COAST GUARD STATION GOLDEN GATE HAS RECEIVED A REPORT OF A PERSON IN THE WATER MIDSPAN OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. [TRANSLATION-- SOMEONE JUMPED FROM THE BRIDGE TO COMMIT SUICIDE.] ALL VESSELS IN THE VICINITY ARE REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT AND REPORT ANY SIGHTINGS TO THE COAST GUARD. MARINERS ARE REQUEST TO ASSIST IF POSIBLE."
We tacked toward Fort Mason and caught this lovely view of Ghiradelli, Russian Hill and the financial district buildings peeking over the east slope of Russian Hill from just west of the pier at Aquatic Park.
Then we tacked to the west and sailed toward the gate in the moderate breeze making slow headway against the flood current.
Soon we could see the two Coast Guard vessels running a search pattern back and forth inside the gate, since the flood current would carry any body eastward from the gate. The CG fast boat discontinued its search effort and headed back east, but the CG motor life boat continued the search for a while more. As we sailed toward the gate in the growing darkness, we experienced mixed emotions of enjoying the full canvas sailing in moderate winds together with some apprehension that we might actually see a body floating in the bay somewhere around our boat.
We did keep an eye on the water ahead and on both sides from time to time, but were happy that we didnt spot anything. Happily the fog lifted as we sailed to the west and the GGB, Sausalito, etc. were now clearly visible. We sailed to within a quarter mile or so of the GGB and the breeze was softening, so we came about and headed for home port, continuing to look around for a floating body, but also enjoying the city lights. With the flood current assist and a steady but light breeze, we made good headway toward home port until we passed pier 45 and then the breeze died, so we pulled in the jib and rode the ebb past pier 39, then turned on the engine and motored toward the marina entrance, dropped the main and tied her up while approaching pier 35, then motored into the marina.
As we headed in, we enjoyed this view of Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower, and the pleasant sensation of having spent a couple of delightful hours on our fabulous bay-- only slightly spoiled by the thoughts of another suicide jumper off our favorite bridge.
Tuesday it rained all afternoon and we didnt feel like going out in it, so stayed in port.
Today, after a burrito lunch with my daughter in the Mission, followed by a shopping trip to West Marine and REI, I arrived back at the marina about 3:45, put the purchases away quickly and headed out for a late afternoon sailing outing.
The flags on Telegraph Hill and just outside the marina indicated a light to moderate breeze, so we pulled up a full main and put out a full jib ....
...and headed out into the central bay where we could just barely see a portion of the GGB in the fog.
A waxing flood current threatened to impeded our progress westward and after a couple of tacks we were still just barely past the end of pier 38 where the flags were fluttering moderately.
In the west, Mt. Tam was ghostly above the fog bank at the sea surface.
The light colored fog bank served as a backdrop for Alcatraz.
Eventually the breeze freshened a bit and we were then making moderate headway to the west on a southwest breeze against the current, and very much enjoying watching the city lights brighten on shore-- like Ghiradelli Square and Russian Hill above it....
... and Telegraph Hill and the Financial District behind us.
We had seen first a Coast Guard motor life boat head out at high speed toward the gate with emergency light flashing wildly. A bit later a Coast Guard fast boat blasted westward with flashing lights also. So we figured some sort of serious incident had occurred or was in progress, and we turned on the handheld VHF to check if there would be any announcements by the Coast Guard. Sure enough, a short time later came a voice on Channel 16: "PON PON; PON PON: HELLO ALL STATIONS. COAST GUARD STATION GOLDEN GATE HAS RECEIVED A REPORT OF A PERSON IN THE WATER MIDSPAN OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. [TRANSLATION-- SOMEONE JUMPED FROM THE BRIDGE TO COMMIT SUICIDE.] ALL VESSELS IN THE VICINITY ARE REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT AND REPORT ANY SIGHTINGS TO THE COAST GUARD. MARINERS ARE REQUEST TO ASSIST IF POSIBLE."
We tacked toward Fort Mason and caught this lovely view of Ghiradelli, Russian Hill and the financial district buildings peeking over the east slope of Russian Hill from just west of the pier at Aquatic Park.
Then we tacked to the west and sailed toward the gate in the moderate breeze making slow headway against the flood current.
Soon we could see the two Coast Guard vessels running a search pattern back and forth inside the gate, since the flood current would carry any body eastward from the gate. The CG fast boat discontinued its search effort and headed back east, but the CG motor life boat continued the search for a while more. As we sailed toward the gate in the growing darkness, we experienced mixed emotions of enjoying the full canvas sailing in moderate winds together with some apprehension that we might actually see a body floating in the bay somewhere around our boat.
We did keep an eye on the water ahead and on both sides from time to time, but were happy that we didnt spot anything. Happily the fog lifted as we sailed to the west and the GGB, Sausalito, etc. were now clearly visible. We sailed to within a quarter mile or so of the GGB and the breeze was softening, so we came about and headed for home port, continuing to look around for a floating body, but also enjoying the city lights. With the flood current assist and a steady but light breeze, we made good headway toward home port until we passed pier 45 and then the breeze died, so we pulled in the jib and rode the ebb past pier 39, then turned on the engine and motored toward the marina entrance, dropped the main and tied her up while approaching pier 35, then motored into the marina.
As we headed in, we enjoyed this view of Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower, and the pleasant sensation of having spent a couple of delightful hours on our fabulous bay-- only slightly spoiled by the thoughts of another suicide jumper off our favorite bridge.
Labels: coast guard search, sailboats, sailing, san francisco bay, suicide jumper
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 8:57 AM 
