SAILING ON S.F. BAY

THURSDAY, 18 OCT. 07-- SUNNY WITH MILD WINDS FOR AFTERNOON OUTING

Michael joined us about 1 pm for an afternoon sail, but we waited a while for the wind to freshen a bit more and headed out about 2 pm.





As we headed out into the central bay, we began to spot sailboat company out there on the bay, like this sailboat way in the west and sailing east downwind.















The acow schooner of the Maritime Museum, the ALMA, was also way west of us and sailing northward.













We were sailing westward, toward Alcatraz, and then tacked away from a tugboat wake toward the end of pier 39 where the flags were fluttering softly in a breeze of 5-7 knots.













Meanwhile, the ALMA had come about and was headed back toward the cityfront along the shore of Alcatraz.














This beautiful sailboat was heading east and passed to starboard, looking good.















The ALMA was carrying quite a few passengers as she headed back toward the cityfront.....














........ and soon was being passed by this small sailboat that we later encountered closeup and saw her name was PADAHOON.













A short time later, we spotted our old pal ADVENTURE CAT heading for home port.















We eventually tacked back toward the cityfront and then spotted the ALMA heading northward again, and passing us to port.













The city was enjoying mildly hazy mid-afternoon sunshine as we sailed toward Aquatic Park.













We eventually spotted a boat over by the cityfront-- i thought initially that it was a multihull, but it turned out to be an ORACLE raceboat.














A schooner that we had earlier spotted way north of Alcatraz was now headed across the bay toward us.




















That ORACLE raceboat had tacked onto starboard tack to sail along the Aquatic Park pier.













That beautiful schooner was passing astern of us at this point and looking great!















A bit later, we spotted a second ORACLE race boat that was now catching up with the lead boat. It's such a treat to watch these racing sleds tacking upwind and looking great!!!!!













Each of the ORACLE boats had only two crew members aboard.















The lagging boat was now passing the lead boat....













.....but soon they were virtually neck and neck as they approached the entrance of the San Francisco marina.













That beautiful schooner was also heading for the same marina entrance.















A short time later, PAHAHOON passed us heading northwest across the bay and looking good.














A bit later, we spotted this nice sailboat, flying full canvas, heading across the bay adn looking great!











The winds were soft and seemed like they could soften further, so we came about and headed back toward home port, enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine.