Saturday, June 16, 2007
THURSDAY, 14 JUNE 07-- SAILING TO ANGEL ISLAND FOR LUNCH AND HIKE
Michael joined us at 11am to head over to Angel Island. The winds were moderate as we left port so we put up full canvas and headed out to the north to sail to the lee side of Angel Island.
Behind us the city was enjoying brilliant warm sunshine with temperatures in the 80s.
A beautiful J-boat passed in front of us, heading west with full canvas looking good and well heeled-over since the winds had now kicked up to 15-20 knots, leaving us blasting across the bay on beam reach and still on the verge of being overpowered.
This Pacific Seacraft 32 also passed us, looking good.
The dredging ship heading for Alcatraz shoal also passed to starboard.
We soon arrived in the lee of Angel Island and sailed past the immigration station on the east side of the island.
The breeze died out in the lee of the island and there wasn't enough flood current to carry us northward, so we had to turn on the engine and motor the rest of the way to near Raccoon Straits where we doused the sails and then motored over to Ayala Cove and into the small marina where, after docking, we noticed a harbor seal was sunning on one of the empty docks.
It was hot and almost breezeless in Ayala Cove, so we retreated to the salon of ANTICIPATION to eat our lunch, before heading out for our hike to the top of Mt. Livermore in the almost 90 degree heat, and soon we were enjoying views of Ayala Cove from the trail above.
From this higher vantage point, you can see the entire buoy field and most of the marina, and that's ANTICIPATION just this side of the large motor yacht on the right side of the docks.
Higher up the trail, one gets a great view of the cove, and Raccoon Straits with Sausalito, Belvedere and Tiburon.
Sometime later, we are higher than the highest point of the Tiburon hills with a view of Richardson Bay and Mt. Tam behind.
Eventually the trail winds around to the east side of the island and, at some point, the city of San Francisco comes into view.
A short time later, the Golden Gate Bridge comes into view.
Arriving at the top, you now have a 360 degree view of the Bay Area, and here's a view of Alcatraz and the city and the south bay hills behind the city.
Here's a video clip in which we pan around the entire 360 degree view-- sorry for the glitch when I almost tripped.
After enjoying the view for a while, we headed back down the trail, the temperature dropping as we near the bottom of the trail, and the wind picking up.
We soon head of the marina and this time raise a double-reefed main and put out a small jib and head westward toward Belvedere in good winds, with another Ericson sailboat ahead of us.
We couldn't see a wind hole ahead, but arrived in one as we approached Belvedere, and decided to turn on the engine to motor out of it, taking only a few minutes to motor into the wind, and soon arriving in very strong winds out of the south, leaving us sailing close-hauled toward Alcatraz, with very little ebb current to drag us westward, thus forcing us to tack to the west to clear the buoy on the weather side of the island.
Southeast of Alcatraz the wind softened dramatically instead of intensifying as we anticipated, so we had lots of time to enjoy the view of the city in the late afternoon sunshine as we sailed toward home port.
The flags on the end of pier 39 were fluttering in a breeze now blowing less than 10 knots.
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse the sails and ready ANTICIPATION for landing, before motoring back into the marina.
Michael joined us at 11am to head over to Angel Island. The winds were moderate as we left port so we put up full canvas and headed out to the north to sail to the lee side of Angel Island.
Behind us the city was enjoying brilliant warm sunshine with temperatures in the 80s.
A beautiful J-boat passed in front of us, heading west with full canvas looking good and well heeled-over since the winds had now kicked up to 15-20 knots, leaving us blasting across the bay on beam reach and still on the verge of being overpowered.
This Pacific Seacraft 32 also passed us, looking good.
The dredging ship heading for Alcatraz shoal also passed to starboard.
We soon arrived in the lee of Angel Island and sailed past the immigration station on the east side of the island.
The breeze died out in the lee of the island and there wasn't enough flood current to carry us northward, so we had to turn on the engine and motor the rest of the way to near Raccoon Straits where we doused the sails and then motored over to Ayala Cove and into the small marina where, after docking, we noticed a harbor seal was sunning on one of the empty docks.
It was hot and almost breezeless in Ayala Cove, so we retreated to the salon of ANTICIPATION to eat our lunch, before heading out for our hike to the top of Mt. Livermore in the almost 90 degree heat, and soon we were enjoying views of Ayala Cove from the trail above.
From this higher vantage point, you can see the entire buoy field and most of the marina, and that's ANTICIPATION just this side of the large motor yacht on the right side of the docks.
Higher up the trail, one gets a great view of the cove, and Raccoon Straits with Sausalito, Belvedere and Tiburon.
Sometime later, we are higher than the highest point of the Tiburon hills with a view of Richardson Bay and Mt. Tam behind.
Eventually the trail winds around to the east side of the island and, at some point, the city of San Francisco comes into view.
A short time later, the Golden Gate Bridge comes into view.
Arriving at the top, you now have a 360 degree view of the Bay Area, and here's a view of Alcatraz and the city and the south bay hills behind the city.
Here's a video clip in which we pan around the entire 360 degree view-- sorry for the glitch when I almost tripped.
After enjoying the view for a while, we headed back down the trail, the temperature dropping as we near the bottom of the trail, and the wind picking up.
We soon head of the marina and this time raise a double-reefed main and put out a small jib and head westward toward Belvedere in good winds, with another Ericson sailboat ahead of us.
We couldn't see a wind hole ahead, but arrived in one as we approached Belvedere, and decided to turn on the engine to motor out of it, taking only a few minutes to motor into the wind, and soon arriving in very strong winds out of the south, leaving us sailing close-hauled toward Alcatraz, with very little ebb current to drag us westward, thus forcing us to tack to the west to clear the buoy on the weather side of the island.
Southeast of Alcatraz the wind softened dramatically instead of intensifying as we anticipated, so we had lots of time to enjoy the view of the city in the late afternoon sunshine as we sailed toward home port.
The flags on the end of pier 39 were fluttering in a breeze now blowing less than 10 knots.
We sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse the sails and ready ANTICIPATION for landing, before motoring back into the marina.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 1:14 PM 
