Friday, March 16, 2007
TUESDAY 13 MARCH 07-- 2 BRIDGE KISS- ALMOST SUMMER-WEIGHT WINDS
Tuesday brought another in many consequitive days of warm sunshine to SF, with no wind in the morning, but a nice breeze starting up in the early afternoon.
We headed out in the early afternoon with a nice 8-10 knot breeze blowing, so we put up full main and headed out into the central bay, planning to head down the cityfront toward the Bay Bridge in the hope of completing a 2 bridge kiss in the space of a few hours.
After sailing out into the central bay, we could see that a finger of fog was stretched out over the gate and obscuring the tops of the GGB towers.
We came about and headed down east past pier 35, pulling the jib out to full for downwind power, and as we sailed along this Coast Guard fast boat blasted past to starboard. [We regularly see these boats blasting around the bay, and outside onto the ocean, and once in a while escorting an inbound freighter or tanker, but what the other aspects of their mission are is a mystery.
Far ahead of us, we could see a sailboat heading for the A-B spand of the Bay Bridge and we were gradually closing the gap between us.
Eventually they doused their sails and began motoring toward home port.
After passing the Ferry Building, the financial district buildings were illuminated by sunshine and looking radiant in the early afternoon.
After having good winds for 2/3 of the trip to the A-B span, we ended up ghosting the final distance, enjoying views of the Bay Bridge gleaming in the sunshine.
After passing under the A-B span, we headed up toward the city and then tacked to the north to sail back up the cityfront, enjoying a closer view of the Ferry Building as we approached, and eventually pulling into the wind to reef the jib in anticipation of stronger winds in the central bay.
A bit later, this Ericson 27 passed to port, heading southeast along the cityfront and looking good.
A bit later, we saw a larger sailboat, probably a sailing school boat, changing course from south east to west, so we could see that they were flying a single-reefed main and a full 110 percent jib.
We were hoping we might be able to catch them, but they were just as fast as we,
and as we tacked toward pier 39, we could see that that flags were now fluttering in a breeze of about 15 knots.
As we tacked away from pier 39, the city was basking in teh strong afternoon sunshine.
With the strong wind, we were sailing about 10 degrees off the wind to avoid being overpowered with full main, and so sailing westward on a southwest breeze, and safely passing in front of a large inbound container ship.
Off to starboard, a couple of other sailboats were sailing eastward past the south shore of Alcatraz.
After passing Alcatraz and making good headway to the west, we saw this dingy under spinnaker heading northeast, blasting downwind-- probably a 29er or a 470 or 505 class dingy.
Wind velocity seemed to continue to increase into the region of 18-20 knots and so we continued sailing a bit off the wind with sails eased out to avoid rail-in-the-water sailing, making a couple of tacks to finally be heading out the gte on port tack, and watching a lone windsurfer blast toward us...
... and passing astern.
We just ducked out the gate and then came about and headed back inside on borach reach starboard tack. The wind had shifted more westerly, so we did a chicken gybe and sailed to the north for a while, passing Horseshoe Cove with the beautiful rolling Marin Headlands as a backdrop.
Behind us the GGB was receding into the background-- and as you may have noticed, the earlier present finger of fog had dissipated.
After sailing about a half mile inside the gate to the north, we arrived in a small patch of light air and quickly gybed -- a regular gybe-- and headed east toward home port, almost immediately being hit with much stronger winds that would have forced us into a chicken-gybe had we not found the light air spot. But we were off the wind, so we pulled out the jib to full for max downwind power.
The city was still gleaming in afternoon sunshine as we blasted homeward.
Off to port, another sailboat was sailing westward this time past the south shore of Alcatraz, as we sailed to the east.
An inbound freighter was blasting eastward from the gate, and initially we hoped it was going low enough that we could safely cross in front of her, but eventually saw that she wsa going too fast-- probably double our speed-- so we had to fall off and let her pass to starboard before we headed up again to head for our home port.
As we passed pier 39, the flags were still blowing in a breeze of at least 15 knots.
This J105 race boat on port tack was heading right toward us on port tack, full canvas flying, and instead of insisting on our right of way, we fell off a bit to let them pass to starboard.....
....rail almost in the water and looking GREAT! As you can see, they were luffing up the jib from time to time, but still it was EXCITING SAILING!
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 and pulled in the jib and then doused the main and tied her up. After motoring around the end of pier 35, we put on fenders while coasting toward the marina entrance and motored in, filled once more with the sensual pleasure and fullfillment of several hours of great sailing and the achievement of a 2 bridge kiss in a few hours on the bay.
Tuesday brought another in many consequitive days of warm sunshine to SF, with no wind in the morning, but a nice breeze starting up in the early afternoon.
We headed out in the early afternoon with a nice 8-10 knot breeze blowing, so we put up full main and headed out into the central bay, planning to head down the cityfront toward the Bay Bridge in the hope of completing a 2 bridge kiss in the space of a few hours.
After sailing out into the central bay, we could see that a finger of fog was stretched out over the gate and obscuring the tops of the GGB towers.
We came about and headed down east past pier 35, pulling the jib out to full for downwind power, and as we sailed along this Coast Guard fast boat blasted past to starboard. [We regularly see these boats blasting around the bay, and outside onto the ocean, and once in a while escorting an inbound freighter or tanker, but what the other aspects of their mission are is a mystery.
Far ahead of us, we could see a sailboat heading for the A-B spand of the Bay Bridge and we were gradually closing the gap between us.
Eventually they doused their sails and began motoring toward home port.
After passing the Ferry Building, the financial district buildings were illuminated by sunshine and looking radiant in the early afternoon.
After having good winds for 2/3 of the trip to the A-B span, we ended up ghosting the final distance, enjoying views of the Bay Bridge gleaming in the sunshine.
After passing under the A-B span, we headed up toward the city and then tacked to the north to sail back up the cityfront, enjoying a closer view of the Ferry Building as we approached, and eventually pulling into the wind to reef the jib in anticipation of stronger winds in the central bay.
A bit later, this Ericson 27 passed to port, heading southeast along the cityfront and looking good.
A bit later, we saw a larger sailboat, probably a sailing school boat, changing course from south east to west, so we could see that they were flying a single-reefed main and a full 110 percent jib.
We were hoping we might be able to catch them, but they were just as fast as we,
and as we tacked toward pier 39, we could see that that flags were now fluttering in a breeze of about 15 knots.
As we tacked away from pier 39, the city was basking in teh strong afternoon sunshine.
With the strong wind, we were sailing about 10 degrees off the wind to avoid being overpowered with full main, and so sailing westward on a southwest breeze, and safely passing in front of a large inbound container ship.
Off to starboard, a couple of other sailboats were sailing eastward past the south shore of Alcatraz.
After passing Alcatraz and making good headway to the west, we saw this dingy under spinnaker heading northeast, blasting downwind-- probably a 29er or a 470 or 505 class dingy.
Wind velocity seemed to continue to increase into the region of 18-20 knots and so we continued sailing a bit off the wind with sails eased out to avoid rail-in-the-water sailing, making a couple of tacks to finally be heading out the gte on port tack, and watching a lone windsurfer blast toward us...
... and passing astern.
We just ducked out the gate and then came about and headed back inside on borach reach starboard tack. The wind had shifted more westerly, so we did a chicken gybe and sailed to the north for a while, passing Horseshoe Cove with the beautiful rolling Marin Headlands as a backdrop.
Behind us the GGB was receding into the background-- and as you may have noticed, the earlier present finger of fog had dissipated.
After sailing about a half mile inside the gate to the north, we arrived in a small patch of light air and quickly gybed -- a regular gybe-- and headed east toward home port, almost immediately being hit with much stronger winds that would have forced us into a chicken-gybe had we not found the light air spot. But we were off the wind, so we pulled out the jib to full for max downwind power.
The city was still gleaming in afternoon sunshine as we blasted homeward.
Off to port, another sailboat was sailing westward this time past the south shore of Alcatraz, as we sailed to the east.
An inbound freighter was blasting eastward from the gate, and initially we hoped it was going low enough that we could safely cross in front of her, but eventually saw that she wsa going too fast-- probably double our speed-- so we had to fall off and let her pass to starboard before we headed up again to head for our home port.
As we passed pier 39, the flags were still blowing in a breeze of at least 15 knots.
This J105 race boat on port tack was heading right toward us on port tack, full canvas flying, and instead of insisting on our right of way, we fell off a bit to let them pass to starboard.....
....rail almost in the water and looking GREAT! As you can see, they were luffing up the jib from time to time, but still it was EXCITING SAILING!
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 and pulled in the jib and then doused the main and tied her up. After motoring around the end of pier 35, we put on fenders while coasting toward the marina entrance and motored in, filled once more with the sensual pleasure and fullfillment of several hours of great sailing and the achievement of a 2 bridge kiss in a few hours on the bay.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 4:27 PM 
