Three Bridges in One Day

Seven of us set out from different parts of the south bay, peninsula, and the city and converged on Sausalito for another sailing adventure. This crew was different in that only half of the "6-pack" was there... Sandi, Norbert, and I. Joining us was Curt, his wife Mihaela, Emily (who I met last year when we were both unemployed and sailing on weekdays and then took the spinnaker handling class together), and Una, one of my clients. This was Una's first time sailing. She doesn't know how to swim and is fearful of the water. I give her a lot of credit for getting out there and trying it.... and she loved it!

We chartered a brand new Hanse 35 with all the bells and whistles. She had a regular flaking main with lazy jacks and even had a self-tacking jib... a first for most of us. At first, we thought it was weird and didn't like that it screamed across the foredeck on a traveler-like track on its own. But after a while, we were really liking the fact that we didn't have to move it from side to side and retrim every time we tacked. If it was trimmed right before the tack, it was trimmed right after the tack. Pretty nice!

The day was cool, crisp, and sunny wherever there was no fog (which was about half of the bay). We had no particular plans when we started out with 12-15 kt winds and a strong flood. Norbert wanted to go under the Golden Gate Bridge, and Curt, Mihaela, and Una had never done that, so off we went. I gave Una my camera and crowned her boat photographer for the day.

It was a long beat directly into the wind and against the current to get there, but we eventually did. Since the wind and current were heading in the same direction, there were no waves to speak of, so it was a fairly smooth ride. As we've done in the past, we all screamed together under the bridge and then stopped when Norbert lowered his arm and quickly listened for the echo. It was faint, but we heard it.

Once we were outside the gate, it was really nice... no waves, no crazy eddies driving us in circles. So we went out a bit further before heading back. It probably would have been a nice day to sail up the coast, except for the fog and the ebb that would be flowing when we came back.

We sailed by the St. Francis Yacht Club, where six boats were getting ready for the start of the Pac Cup. This was the last division starting the race—the largest and fastest boats. (By the way, Ron Brown is about half way to Hawaii now in just four days!)

Next, we decided to head down under the Bay Bridge (and did the echo thing again, of course) to check out the Giants-Brewers game at AT&T Park. The wind picked up a bit, and Emily got us moving close to 10 kts on the downwind run. For those who had never seen the park from the water and full of people, it was quite a thrill!

After that, we headed back up under the bridge, through the slot, and behind Angel Island. As we crossed the slot, several of us talked about reefing. Curt (now at the helm) kept saying we didn't need to because we're almost to Angel, where we expected the wind to die down in the lee of the island. When we had about 22 kts and were still 15-20 minutes from the island, I decided we'd reef. It was actually quite easy, since all of the lines were rigged back to the cockpit. Still, Sandi went up to the mast to guide the process. It was the safe thing to do.

When we got behind the island, it didn't totally block the wind, like it usually does, but it did subside a good deal. So we shook out the reef and debated where to go next. It was still early, and since the wind had picked up so much during the afternoon, we decided to head up to the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge, where there's often not enough wind to sail. Of course, we did the echo thing again and made it a three-bridge day.

The reach up to the bridge was pleasant... probably 15-18 kts directly from the west, as it was all day. A mile or so north of the bridge, we saw the East Brother Lighthouse B&B, a lighthouse on a rock off Point Richmond that was turned into a B&B.

After that, we decided to head back to Sausalito, since it could take a couple of hours to get there. We headed out through Raccoon Strait, into Richardson Bay, and back to the marina. It was another wonderful day on the water on a really lovely boat.

After buttoning up the boat, Emily headed home and the rest of us headed over to our favorite Sausalito restaurant, The Spinnaker, for another great meal seated right by the window before heading home. Nothing like eating right by the water after a full day on the water!

Check out my Picasa web album for more pictures by Una. Thanks very much for so many great pictures, Una, and for taking a chance with us. I'm glad you enjoyed the ride so much!