Second Charter

Last Friday (Jun-6) was my second charter towards my US Sail Bareboat Cruising (BBC) cruising. Although the temp and clear skies were perfect for a sail, the winds were less than desirable... there weren't any! I think we motored 75% of the time, trying to find some wind. This is so unusual for San Francisco in the summer. Normally, one has to reduce sail area due to the strong and gusting winds. Being new to sailing, I have to rely on others for historical information such as this, but it does coincide with what I have been reading lately.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves, passing away the idle time discussing sail trim, visualize specific maneuvers, and planning our next trip. We also practiced our plotting and navigation skills, describing the different markings on our chart and estimating water depths along the way. Our sail plan actually turned out to be a great exercise.

I've been spending quite a bit of time trying to research something I saw that day. We were in The Slot and the tide was flooding (coming in). The mammal appeared to be a dolphin, or perhaps a porpoise. I only got two glimpses of it before it vanished below the surface. It was rather small, maybe 4-6 feet long and it's coloring was very dark, not black but dark brown. There was no distinctive markings that I noticed. It's dorsal fin was triangular and not as far back towards its tail as I've seen in other pictures of dolphins. One final observation, it was alone, no others were seen.

I've got to keep my camera handy!