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.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 7:23 PM 
