Thursday, November 08, 2007
THURSDAY, 8 NOV. 07-- GHOSTING TO THE BAY BRIDGE AND BACK
Michael joined us around 2:30 pm for our afternoon outing, having recently returned from more than a week of sailing and racing at the Pro-Am Regatta held at the Bitter End Yacht Club in the sunny and warm climate of the British Virgin Islands. The cold and foggy climate of the bay was, for him, an unwelcome change.
After motoring out into the central bay, we headed northeast on a port tack broad reach, and slipped past the stern of the large cruise ship tied up on the east side of pier 35, being refueled by a fuel barge.
We sailed to the northeast for a while and then gybed to the south, watching this Coast Guard patrol boat steaming to the west.
The financial district buildings were all grayed out under the overcast skies...
...as were the residences on Telegraph HIll.
Way over by Yerba Buena Island, a small sailboat was heading north, sailing with the current while we were bucking it.
This boat that looked like a herring boat, steamed rapidly southeastward along the cityfront.
We gybed back and forth to the south and east, eventually managing to reach a position opposite the Ferry Building as skies began to darken and lights began to show up in the downtown highrise office buildings.
At dusk, the lights on the Bay Bridge came on and stood out against the gray skies behind-- here we are looking at the A-B span of the bridge.
Bridge lights brightened as the skies darkened-- here we see them on the D-E span of the bridge.
City lights brightened at twilight as we continued gybing back and forth toward the A-B span.
As it grew darker, the bridge lights began to reflect in the dark waters of the bay, and we watched as this outbound freighter approached the D-E span of the bridge.
Minutes continued to slip by and, as the ebb current waned, the puffs of breeze that we found propelled us closer to the A-B span, opposite to the Hills Bros Coffee building where we used to be able to smell coffee roasing, but sadly no more.
We sailed under the A-B span and then came about and headed back toward home port, the Bay Bridge gradually slipping further behind us.
We ghosted toward home port in a light breeze with some residual ebb current assist, enjoying the magic of the city lights on shore....
...and the nicely illuminated Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.
Approaching pier 27, we turned on the engine, doused sail and began motoring toward home as it was now late enough for the marina to have filled in enough to avoid dragging the keel in the mud at low tide, and soon approached again the now-well-lit cruise ship still tied up at pier 35.
As we slipped past her stern, we noticed that the mammoth double decker dining room in her stern was full of passengers having their evening meal.
We motored into the marina and eventually landed in our slip, nailing the landing in the waxing flood current by going in just high enough and letting the flood push us down a bit. We were out there for a rather chillly, but still enjoyable, four hours on the bay.
Michael joined us around 2:30 pm for our afternoon outing, having recently returned from more than a week of sailing and racing at the Pro-Am Regatta held at the Bitter End Yacht Club in the sunny and warm climate of the British Virgin Islands. The cold and foggy climate of the bay was, for him, an unwelcome change.
After motoring out into the central bay, we headed northeast on a port tack broad reach, and slipped past the stern of the large cruise ship tied up on the east side of pier 35, being refueled by a fuel barge.
We sailed to the northeast for a while and then gybed to the south, watching this Coast Guard patrol boat steaming to the west.
The financial district buildings were all grayed out under the overcast skies...
...as were the residences on Telegraph HIll.
Way over by Yerba Buena Island, a small sailboat was heading north, sailing with the current while we were bucking it.
This boat that looked like a herring boat, steamed rapidly southeastward along the cityfront.
We gybed back and forth to the south and east, eventually managing to reach a position opposite the Ferry Building as skies began to darken and lights began to show up in the downtown highrise office buildings.
At dusk, the lights on the Bay Bridge came on and stood out against the gray skies behind-- here we are looking at the A-B span of the bridge.
Bridge lights brightened as the skies darkened-- here we see them on the D-E span of the bridge.
City lights brightened at twilight as we continued gybing back and forth toward the A-B span.
As it grew darker, the bridge lights began to reflect in the dark waters of the bay, and we watched as this outbound freighter approached the D-E span of the bridge.
Minutes continued to slip by and, as the ebb current waned, the puffs of breeze that we found propelled us closer to the A-B span, opposite to the Hills Bros Coffee building where we used to be able to smell coffee roasing, but sadly no more.
We sailed under the A-B span and then came about and headed back toward home port, the Bay Bridge gradually slipping further behind us.
We ghosted toward home port in a light breeze with some residual ebb current assist, enjoying the magic of the city lights on shore....
...and the nicely illuminated Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.
Approaching pier 27, we turned on the engine, doused sail and began motoring toward home as it was now late enough for the marina to have filled in enough to avoid dragging the keel in the mud at low tide, and soon approached again the now-well-lit cruise ship still tied up at pier 35.
As we slipped past her stern, we noticed that the mammoth double decker dining room in her stern was full of passengers having their evening meal.
We motored into the marina and eventually landed in our slip, nailing the landing in the waxing flood current by going in just high enough and letting the flood push us down a bit. We were out there for a rather chillly, but still enjoyable, four hours on the bay.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 10:52 PM 
