Sailing on San Francisco Bay

We had a very pleasant, albeit short sailing trip today. I had to be back in The City for a birthday party in the evening, so we were only out from about 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Before sailing we stopped at the engine place for replacement screws for the water pump since one fell into the blige and got lost when we replaced the impeller. They happened to be out of the exact correct ones, so we got the screw’s size and fasioned a temporary fix by adding a bunch of washers to one that was longer than we needed. No leaks, worked great.

It was sort of the “usual” short day out of Alameda: motored out the estuary, sailed toward Hunter’s Point, then toward SF, then alongside the Bay Bridge and back toward Alemeda. There was a lot of traffic in all directions; big ships, barges, dredges, etc. On the way back in we passed close to the “Commander’s House” on Yerba Buena Island.

The group today was Linhy, Peggy, Steve and Mark (aka Steve’s Dad). They did most of the driving while I relaxed on the cabin top (and kept an eye out for any oncoming craft, of course). Oh yeah, the Vietnamese sandwiches are always a good choice; today they were extra fresh. Thanks guys!

The winds were mild so we had decent sailing without straining anything too hard or having to reef. It was really warm and sunny on the water; we could see the fog rolling over the pink triangle on Twin Peaks above San Francisco.

The sailing today with Karen, Kathleen and John was great! We left the estuary and sailed around Alcatraz, toward Sausalito and toward the Gate, then down the Cityfront and back.

Awhile back I had re-rigged the second reef line, so today we tested it out by double reefing for our sailing in The Slot. The boat was well balanced, as expected; it was so manageable that it wasn’t until we were tacking near Harding Rock and the jib whipped around furiously, that I got some perspective about how much mainsail area was reduced. My only real complaint is it takes some work to get that reef put in well, so it’s hard to set it up once we are already underway.

I was obviously pleased with the sails and boat behavior, and the camraderie and conversation with this group seemed especially great too.

I think I need a thesaurus so I can come up with better adjectives than “great.”