Tuesday, January 30, 2007
SUNDAY-- 28 JAN 07-- NICE SUNSET SAIL TO GGB AND BACK
With a negative tide in the mid-afternoon, we couldn't leave our slip until after 4 pm to avoid dragging the keel in the mud.
As we left port, a nice northerly was blowing, and we raised full main as we motored to the north outside the marina.
We sailed out into the central bay and then fell off to port and pulled out the jib as we noticed a couple of sailboats heading our way along the cityfront with beautiful cloud patterns behind.
First to pass us to port was KLAPPER, a beautiful Santa Cruz 52 that we have seen out on the bay several times before-- and she was certainly LOOKING GOOD!
ENDEAVOR passed next and was also looking good.
With a nice breeze from the north as shown by the fluttering flags on the end of pier 39, we were making good headway against the waxing flood current which was still not very strong.
Behind us a sailboat was heading northeast on port tack.
The city was a little hazy in the late sunshine, but looking good.
A small sailboat was passing the south shore of Alcatraz which was wearing sunset colors.
As we passed the pier at Aquatic Park, an Ericson 32 passed to port, looking good against the background of the city near sunset.
We passed a rower who was probably heading back to one of the rowing clubs in Aquatic Park.
The sun was beginning to go down into a cloud bank over the Presidio Hills,and it seemed for a while like the cloud bank might obscure the sundown and preclude a nice sunset.
But soon the setting sun was visible again and creating some sunset color in the overhead cloud patterns as we headed out toward the center of the bay to have a shot at watching the sundown through the gate.
The breeze softened and we were now just ghosting along in light air as this trimaran returning from the ocean motorsailed past the setting sun.....
...and passed to port.
As we sailed away from the shore, we watched the progression of the sundown-- here the sun hanging just over the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Overhead clouds began to take on more sunset pinks and purples as we sailed along.
The sun was over Fort Point, just inside the gate, and now we figured that we had a good shot at seeing the sundown.
It began to drop into a thick cloud bank on the horizon as we arrived at a point where we could see it clearly....
Overhead clouds took on more sunset color as we continued to ghost along....
...and the sun continued to disappear into the cloud bank.....
...until she was nearly gone....
...leaving us with some brilliant near and far sunset color on the clouds.
The breeze now freshened again out of the northwest and soon we were were again making great headway toward the gate as the sunset persisted above the cloud bank on the horizon.
As we approached the gate, the sunset gave way to dusk with some pastel shades of color outside the gate.
We just ducked out the gate and then came about and headed back inside with a good breeze and strong flood current giving us fantastic speed over the bottom, as the dusk gave way to twilight and the GGB receded with a lovely twilight sky overhead
and a bit of dusky marmalade sunset sky behind.
Very quickly we were passing Aquatic Park as complete darkness fell and city lights were bright on shore.
After passing the marina, we fell off toward the marina entrance to pull in the jib and then came into the wind to douse the main. As we motored into port, we felt our usual sense of deep gratification and pleasure from spending a few wonderful hours on our beautiful bay.
With a negative tide in the mid-afternoon, we couldn't leave our slip until after 4 pm to avoid dragging the keel in the mud.
As we left port, a nice northerly was blowing, and we raised full main as we motored to the north outside the marina.
We sailed out into the central bay and then fell off to port and pulled out the jib as we noticed a couple of sailboats heading our way along the cityfront with beautiful cloud patterns behind.
First to pass us to port was KLAPPER, a beautiful Santa Cruz 52 that we have seen out on the bay several times before-- and she was certainly LOOKING GOOD!
ENDEAVOR passed next and was also looking good.
With a nice breeze from the north as shown by the fluttering flags on the end of pier 39, we were making good headway against the waxing flood current which was still not very strong.
Behind us a sailboat was heading northeast on port tack.
The city was a little hazy in the late sunshine, but looking good.
A small sailboat was passing the south shore of Alcatraz which was wearing sunset colors.
As we passed the pier at Aquatic Park, an Ericson 32 passed to port, looking good against the background of the city near sunset.
We passed a rower who was probably heading back to one of the rowing clubs in Aquatic Park.
The sun was beginning to go down into a cloud bank over the Presidio Hills,and it seemed for a while like the cloud bank might obscure the sundown and preclude a nice sunset.
But soon the setting sun was visible again and creating some sunset color in the overhead cloud patterns as we headed out toward the center of the bay to have a shot at watching the sundown through the gate.
The breeze softened and we were now just ghosting along in light air as this trimaran returning from the ocean motorsailed past the setting sun.....
...and passed to port.
As we sailed away from the shore, we watched the progression of the sundown-- here the sun hanging just over the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Overhead clouds began to take on more sunset pinks and purples as we sailed along.
The sun was over Fort Point, just inside the gate, and now we figured that we had a good shot at seeing the sundown.
It began to drop into a thick cloud bank on the horizon as we arrived at a point where we could see it clearly....
Overhead clouds took on more sunset color as we continued to ghost along....
...and the sun continued to disappear into the cloud bank.....
...until she was nearly gone....
...leaving us with some brilliant near and far sunset color on the clouds.
The breeze now freshened again out of the northwest and soon we were were again making great headway toward the gate as the sunset persisted above the cloud bank on the horizon.
As we approached the gate, the sunset gave way to dusk with some pastel shades of color outside the gate.
We just ducked out the gate and then came about and headed back inside with a good breeze and strong flood current giving us fantastic speed over the bottom, as the dusk gave way to twilight and the GGB receded with a lovely twilight sky overhead
and a bit of dusky marmalade sunset sky behind.
Very quickly we were passing Aquatic Park as complete darkness fell and city lights were bright on shore.
After passing the marina, we fell off toward the marina entrance to pull in the jib and then came into the wind to douse the main. As we motored into port, we felt our usual sense of deep gratification and pleasure from spending a few wonderful hours on our beautiful bay.
Monday, January 29, 2007
SATURDAY 27 JANUARY 07-- 3 BRIDGE FIASCO-- TO THE GGB AND BACK
Friday and yesterday morning we finally had some rain showers. We watched the racers in the 3 bridge fiasco from the end of pier 39. They were just ghosting past the pier due to the almost non-existent breeze-- just a few puffs now and then. Most of the boats were using their spinnakers as large genoas. There must have been several hundred boats in the regatta. We didn't see the first fleets off the start line go past. Some of the boats-- the impatient ones-- were already giving up and motorsailing back toward home port.
We waited until about 4 pm to head out, after a nice westerly breeze came up. We put up full canvas just outside the marina and headed out into the central bay with the quite strong flood current pushing us eastward. We sailed out to the north a bit and then tacked toward the gate and began crawling along the cityfront.
Behind us one of the race boats in the fiasco was heading for the finish line, having elected to go counter-clockwise around the course.
With her large genoa giving her much more power than our high clew 100 percenter, she soon passed us to port.
We ghosted past the end of pier 39 where the flags were fluttering moderately in the westerly breeze.
The eastern part of the city was overcast and a few drops of rain motivated us to put on our foulie coat to go with the bottoms and boots that we had donned already before starting out.
Alcatraz was enjoying some hazy sunshine that still illuminated some parts of the bay as the overcast moved northward.
The wind freshened as soon we were making great headway toward the gate on close reach starboard tack, watching some of the race boats tha thad finished the race head toward home port, like SMOKIN was here, passing Aquatic Park.
And this smaller boat as well.
The sun was now hidden behind some clouds in the southwest.
As we passed the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the J-Boat BREEZE passed to port, looking good.
As we approached the gate, we watched this race boat heading for the finish line under spinnaker.
The sun was creating some interesting light and shadow displays on the clouds behind the gate.
The GGB was dark and hazy as we approached.
We just ducked out the gate and then headed back inside to watch some of the race boats heading for the finish line under spinnaker, like this one...
....and this one....
....and these...
.. and this one as sundown neared.
We tacked back and forth to watch the boats coming south under spinnaker, including a small flotilla of trimarans, like this one....
... and this one..
..and this one.
This small race boat was crossing the gate as the sun was about to disappear.
These two boats were crossing the gate at sunset.
Some brilliant sunset color hung on the clouds over the gate as these two race boats crossed the bay....
...and persisted for a while as we headed for home port.
As we passed Aquatic Park, this small race boat was heading for the finish line at dusk.
inish line in the growing darkness as we sailed between pier 45 and pier 39, like this one that passed at twilight.
We had to keep a close eye out for other race boats in the growing darkness as we sailed past pier 39 and then fell off toward the marina entrance to pull in the jib, and then came into the wind to douse the main. A very pleasant outing.
Friday and yesterday morning we finally had some rain showers. We watched the racers in the 3 bridge fiasco from the end of pier 39. They were just ghosting past the pier due to the almost non-existent breeze-- just a few puffs now and then. Most of the boats were using their spinnakers as large genoas. There must have been several hundred boats in the regatta. We didn't see the first fleets off the start line go past. Some of the boats-- the impatient ones-- were already giving up and motorsailing back toward home port.
We waited until about 4 pm to head out, after a nice westerly breeze came up. We put up full canvas just outside the marina and headed out into the central bay with the quite strong flood current pushing us eastward. We sailed out to the north a bit and then tacked toward the gate and began crawling along the cityfront.
Behind us one of the race boats in the fiasco was heading for the finish line, having elected to go counter-clockwise around the course.
With her large genoa giving her much more power than our high clew 100 percenter, she soon passed us to port.
We ghosted past the end of pier 39 where the flags were fluttering moderately in the westerly breeze.
The eastern part of the city was overcast and a few drops of rain motivated us to put on our foulie coat to go with the bottoms and boots that we had donned already before starting out.
Alcatraz was enjoying some hazy sunshine that still illuminated some parts of the bay as the overcast moved northward.
The wind freshened as soon we were making great headway toward the gate on close reach starboard tack, watching some of the race boats tha thad finished the race head toward home port, like SMOKIN was here, passing Aquatic Park.
And this smaller boat as well.
The sun was now hidden behind some clouds in the southwest.
As we passed the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the J-Boat BREEZE passed to port, looking good.
As we approached the gate, we watched this race boat heading for the finish line under spinnaker.
The sun was creating some interesting light and shadow displays on the clouds behind the gate.
The GGB was dark and hazy as we approached.
We just ducked out the gate and then headed back inside to watch some of the race boats heading for the finish line under spinnaker, like this one...
....and this one....
....and these...
.. and this one as sundown neared.
We tacked back and forth to watch the boats coming south under spinnaker, including a small flotilla of trimarans, like this one....
... and this one..
..and this one.
This small race boat was crossing the gate as the sun was about to disappear.
These two boats were crossing the gate at sunset.
Some brilliant sunset color hung on the clouds over the gate as these two race boats crossed the bay....
...and persisted for a while as we headed for home port.
As we passed Aquatic Park, this small race boat was heading for the finish line at dusk.
inish line in the growing darkness as we sailed between pier 45 and pier 39, like this one that passed at twilight.
We had to keep a close eye out for other race boats in the growing darkness as we sailed past pier 39 and then fell off toward the marina entrance to pull in the jib, and then came into the wind to douse the main. A very pleasant outing.
