Saturday, January 13, 2007
THURSDAY 11 JAN 07-- NICE OUTING TO GGB AND LOVELY SUNDOWN
Another sunny but chilly afternoon in SF. Bea, a boat neighbor, joined us at 2 pm for a sailing outing and we headed out with full canvas into the central bay where we encountered a breeze of only a couple of knots. We managed to make a small amount of progress to the west-- about half way to the end of pier 39 and then the flood current began to push us eastward.
For the next half hour, we were mostly just drifting with the current, ending up a little bit east of pier 35, and this pocket cruiser motorsailed past, heading west.
Eventually, after much pleasing with Mother Nature, a light westerly breeze began to blow and we were able to sail out a ways from shore and then tack to the southweast and sail to the end of pier 39 where the flags were now fluttering in a breeze of a few knots.
We tacked away from the end of the pier and sailed out toward Alcatraz, with the city behind us enjoying the mid-afternoon sunshine....
....as was Alcatraz as we approached from the southeast.
With a freshening, but somewhat inconsistent breeze, we began beating toward the gate, and almost caught up with this small sailboat that had left a marina way to the west of us and sailing toward Sausalito, but was now sailing eastward.
There were two wind systems on the bay-- one from the southwest in the south half of the central bay and one from the west in the north half of the bay, so it took us quite a few tacks to sail out the gate against the flood current betwen the south tower and midspan.
As usual, the GGB looked spectacular and vividly orange in the late winter sunshine,
and the light and shadow displays on the headlands were beautiful as well.
We just sailed out a short distance and then came about and headed back inside, sailing to the northeast and enjoying views of the city in the late sunshine.
We sailed past Harding Rock toward Angel Island and then came about and headed for home port to watch the sundown through the gate.
The sun gradually dropped behind a thick cloud blanket on the horizon...
.....the last sun rays illuminating the tops of the clouds.
Soon all we could see were the brilliantly lit cloud tops.
City lights were brightening as we sailed past the weather side of Alcatraz and then fell off the wind more toward home port.
Eventually, we pulled in the jib so we could sail dead downwind toward the marina, and it was dusk as we approached the marina and the p39 flags were fluttering against the dusky sky.
We doused the main sail after sailing past the marina and enjoyed the view of the marina and pier 39 buildings in silhouette against the dusk sky as we motored toward the marina entrance.
We were grateful to Mother Nature for good afternoon winds and a very pleasurable sailing outing, and after tying up and putting ANTICIPATION to bed for the night, we went below to enjoy some wine and cheese and crackers to top off our internal 'pleasure chest.'
Another sunny but chilly afternoon in SF. Bea, a boat neighbor, joined us at 2 pm for a sailing outing and we headed out with full canvas into the central bay where we encountered a breeze of only a couple of knots. We managed to make a small amount of progress to the west-- about half way to the end of pier 39 and then the flood current began to push us eastward.
For the next half hour, we were mostly just drifting with the current, ending up a little bit east of pier 35, and this pocket cruiser motorsailed past, heading west.
Eventually, after much pleasing with Mother Nature, a light westerly breeze began to blow and we were able to sail out a ways from shore and then tack to the southweast and sail to the end of pier 39 where the flags were now fluttering in a breeze of a few knots.
We tacked away from the end of the pier and sailed out toward Alcatraz, with the city behind us enjoying the mid-afternoon sunshine....
....as was Alcatraz as we approached from the southeast.
With a freshening, but somewhat inconsistent breeze, we began beating toward the gate, and almost caught up with this small sailboat that had left a marina way to the west of us and sailing toward Sausalito, but was now sailing eastward.
There were two wind systems on the bay-- one from the southwest in the south half of the central bay and one from the west in the north half of the bay, so it took us quite a few tacks to sail out the gate against the flood current betwen the south tower and midspan.
As usual, the GGB looked spectacular and vividly orange in the late winter sunshine,
and the light and shadow displays on the headlands were beautiful as well.
We just sailed out a short distance and then came about and headed back inside, sailing to the northeast and enjoying views of the city in the late sunshine.
We sailed past Harding Rock toward Angel Island and then came about and headed for home port to watch the sundown through the gate.
The sun gradually dropped behind a thick cloud blanket on the horizon...
.....the last sun rays illuminating the tops of the clouds.
Soon all we could see were the brilliantly lit cloud tops.
City lights were brightening as we sailed past the weather side of Alcatraz and then fell off the wind more toward home port.
Eventually, we pulled in the jib so we could sail dead downwind toward the marina, and it was dusk as we approached the marina and the p39 flags were fluttering against the dusky sky.
We doused the main sail after sailing past the marina and enjoyed the view of the marina and pier 39 buildings in silhouette against the dusk sky as we motored toward the marina entrance.
We were grateful to Mother Nature for good afternoon winds and a very pleasurable sailing outing, and after tying up and putting ANTICIPATION to bed for the night, we went below to enjoy some wine and cheese and crackers to top off our internal 'pleasure chest.'
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 1:58 PM 
