Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Thurs-- 28 DEC. 2006-- light winds after huge windstorm
We hadn't been out sailing since Tuesday the 19th and we were drastically suffering from sailing withdrawal. Tuesday, a new sailing mate, Cara came down from Santa Rosa to go out with us, but there was only a light breeze less than an hour in the morning so we were not able to do much sailing. That Tues. night, I came down with a quite drastic intestinal problem that had me in bed for most of Wednesday and Thursday while in Alameda. I was feeling well enough on Friday to return to the city, but took life easy for a couple more days, and there was no real sailing wind to do any sailing anyway.
I spent Christmas day, Monday the 25th, in Alameda with friends, and came back to the city on Tuesday, hoping to get in some sailing, but then it was raining and storms were predicted. That night the wind started howling out of the north with sustained winds of 30-40 knots and gusts to 50 knots or more so we were drastically rocking and rolling in the marina. These howling winds lasted all the day on Wednesday-- softening briefly in the early afternoon-- but then building in intensity again in the mid-afternoon, and lasting until early afternoon on Thursday. I was hoping ot be able to take some visitors from Canada out on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, but the winds were way too strong to take ANTICIPATION out of the marina.
The winds finally started to soften in the mid-afternoon, so we headed out for a sailing fix with full canvas, since the winds had softened drastically as you can see that the flags are barely fluttering.
This sailboat was motorsailing west.
Fortunately a light westerly blew up and we were able to sail past pier 39 where the flags were fluttering moderately.
The city was enjoying late afternoon sunshine, though much of her was in shadow already.
Alcatraz was wearing sunset color as we approached.
The sun went down behind the Presidio hills...
....leaving behind a marmalade sky.
In the north, looking toward Tiburon and Angel Island, the clouds took on some nice pink sunset color.
The breeze softened to almost nothing for a while as the city lights began to brighten.
Then a southwesterly breeze asserted for a while and we were able to sail toward the gate on a close reach port tack as the marmalade sunset deepened behind the gate.
This breeze only lasted a short while and as it softened, we headed for home port, assisted by some flood current, and the city lights brightened in the darkening skies.
It was great to be out there again, even if the winds weren't strong enough to cover much ground.
We hadn't been out sailing since Tuesday the 19th and we were drastically suffering from sailing withdrawal. Tuesday, a new sailing mate, Cara came down from Santa Rosa to go out with us, but there was only a light breeze less than an hour in the morning so we were not able to do much sailing. That Tues. night, I came down with a quite drastic intestinal problem that had me in bed for most of Wednesday and Thursday while in Alameda. I was feeling well enough on Friday to return to the city, but took life easy for a couple more days, and there was no real sailing wind to do any sailing anyway.
I spent Christmas day, Monday the 25th, in Alameda with friends, and came back to the city on Tuesday, hoping to get in some sailing, but then it was raining and storms were predicted. That night the wind started howling out of the north with sustained winds of 30-40 knots and gusts to 50 knots or more so we were drastically rocking and rolling in the marina. These howling winds lasted all the day on Wednesday-- softening briefly in the early afternoon-- but then building in intensity again in the mid-afternoon, and lasting until early afternoon on Thursday. I was hoping ot be able to take some visitors from Canada out on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, but the winds were way too strong to take ANTICIPATION out of the marina.
The winds finally started to soften in the mid-afternoon, so we headed out for a sailing fix with full canvas, since the winds had softened drastically as you can see that the flags are barely fluttering.
This sailboat was motorsailing west.
Fortunately a light westerly blew up and we were able to sail past pier 39 where the flags were fluttering moderately.
The city was enjoying late afternoon sunshine, though much of her was in shadow already.
Alcatraz was wearing sunset color as we approached.
The sun went down behind the Presidio hills...
....leaving behind a marmalade sky.
In the north, looking toward Tiburon and Angel Island, the clouds took on some nice pink sunset color.
The breeze softened to almost nothing for a while as the city lights began to brighten.
Then a southwesterly breeze asserted for a while and we were able to sail toward the gate on a close reach port tack as the marmalade sunset deepened behind the gate.
This breeze only lasted a short while and as it softened, we headed for home port, assisted by some flood current, and the city lights brightened in the darkening skies.
It was great to be out there again, even if the winds weren't strong enough to cover much ground.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 2:05 AM 
