Saturday, October 13, 2007
THURSDAY 11 OCT. 07-- SAILING TO THE GATE-- MOTORING MOST OF THE WAY HOME
Mostly sunny morning skies transitioned to mostly cloudy skies by early afternoon when Michael and John and Jeff joined us for a sailing outing.
Some patches of blue sky were still visible as we left port around 1:30 pm, and winds were in the 10-15 knot range.
We headed out into the central bay and sailed westward, with a waxing ebb current, expecting that the 10-15 knot westerly winds fluttering the pier 39 flags would persist for the afternoon.
A J105 race boat flying her spinnaker was sailing eastward past the south shore of Alcatraz.
A short while later, we saw the charter ketch GLORY DAYS also sailing past the south shore of Alcatraz and heading east.
As we continued westward, a sailboat named BEAR BOAT was crossing the bay and passed astern.
The bay and city were overcast but a large patch of blue sky was visible in the southeast.
A while later, we noticed that the ketch GLORY DAYS had come about and was now following us westward.
Meanwhile, we spotted this large cutter, flying tanbark sails, on the ocean outside the gate.....
...and this Beneteau heading northwest.
A bit later, we noticed that GLORY DAYS had tacked and was heading for the cityfront.
We sailed on our single port tack all the way to a point outside horseshoe cove....
... where we got a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
We tacked and headed across the gate a ways before tacking again and heading out the gate between midspan and the north tower as that tanbark canvassed cutter was heading back toward the bay.
We just ducked out the gate and then came about and headed back inside, eventually spotting these three J105 race boats sailing under spinnaker along the Crissy Field shoreline.
That same Beneteau that we spotted earlier heading northwest, was now crossing the bay toward the cityfront and we could see that she was named OXYGEN.
A lovely large sailboat was sailing parallel to the gate and passed astern.
A short time later, the wind declined to almost nothing and we had to start motoring toward home against the ebb current, hoping the breeze would re-materialize, and eventually spotted a pilot boat doing a pilot change on an inbound freighter.
A Coast Guard patrol boat was shadowing the freighter.
No freshening breeze came up-- not enough to fight the ebb current-- so we had to motor all the way back to home port, enjoying the views of the city under overcast skies.
Behind us, there were some patches of blue sky in the west.
Later in the afternoon, near sundown, the breeze had freshened again but the skies were now mostly cloudy as the next storm system approached.
Heavy rains came overnight and the next day.
Mostly sunny morning skies transitioned to mostly cloudy skies by early afternoon when Michael and John and Jeff joined us for a sailing outing.
Some patches of blue sky were still visible as we left port around 1:30 pm, and winds were in the 10-15 knot range.
We headed out into the central bay and sailed westward, with a waxing ebb current, expecting that the 10-15 knot westerly winds fluttering the pier 39 flags would persist for the afternoon.
A J105 race boat flying her spinnaker was sailing eastward past the south shore of Alcatraz.
A short while later, we saw the charter ketch GLORY DAYS also sailing past the south shore of Alcatraz and heading east.
As we continued westward, a sailboat named BEAR BOAT was crossing the bay and passed astern.
The bay and city were overcast but a large patch of blue sky was visible in the southeast.
A while later, we noticed that the ketch GLORY DAYS had come about and was now following us westward.
Meanwhile, we spotted this large cutter, flying tanbark sails, on the ocean outside the gate.....
...and this Beneteau heading northwest.
A bit later, we noticed that GLORY DAYS had tacked and was heading for the cityfront.
We sailed on our single port tack all the way to a point outside horseshoe cove....
... where we got a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
We tacked and headed across the gate a ways before tacking again and heading out the gate between midspan and the north tower as that tanbark canvassed cutter was heading back toward the bay.
We just ducked out the gate and then came about and headed back inside, eventually spotting these three J105 race boats sailing under spinnaker along the Crissy Field shoreline.
That same Beneteau that we spotted earlier heading northwest, was now crossing the bay toward the cityfront and we could see that she was named OXYGEN.
A lovely large sailboat was sailing parallel to the gate and passed astern.
A short time later, the wind declined to almost nothing and we had to start motoring toward home against the ebb current, hoping the breeze would re-materialize, and eventually spotted a pilot boat doing a pilot change on an inbound freighter.
A Coast Guard patrol boat was shadowing the freighter.
No freshening breeze came up-- not enough to fight the ebb current-- so we had to motor all the way back to home port, enjoying the views of the city under overcast skies.
Behind us, there were some patches of blue sky in the west.
Later in the afternoon, near sundown, the breeze had freshened again but the skies were now mostly cloudy as the next storm system approached.
Heavy rains came overnight and the next day.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 12:41 AM 
