Fourth Charter

This past Tuesday (8/05) was a weird day to be on San Francisco Bay. Winds were SW between 10 - 20 kn with afternoon gusts expected up to 35 kn. To be on the safe side we headed to the NE of Angel Island where the winds are typically quieter. Today however, the best description of the winds would be "sans wind!" We set our sails to heave-to (in case winds picked up) and ate our lunch. It was so quiet and peaceful. After an hour or so we motored back towards the City until we found winds coming down "the Slot." It was *quite* breezy :-)

We noticed lots of seabirds - sorry, I do not know the name of them - presumably Mommies and their chicks. The picture to the right shows a pair.
The birds were always in pairs and in constant communication with each other unless Mommy was underwater fishing.
The Mommy bird has a loud and deep squawk while the chick has a soft peep call. I don't remember seeing these chicks on my previous sailings so maybe they are "fresh off the nest."

As you can see in the photographs it was quite a hazy day on the Bay. Below is a picture of the bay. Our famous inversion layer can be seen hovering directly above the city of San Francisco. There was a brilliant rainbow in the herringboned-shaped cloud which is barely detectable about 1/3 down in the center of the picture. Without a polarizing lens on the camera the colors are awash. For the picture, we are facing South; San Francisco is on the right, Oakland is on the left (East), with Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge in the center of the photograph.


Well, until next time...

Happy Sails!

First Night Sail

What an interesting experience!

Last night (Saturday, Aug 2nd), we set sail from OSCS to learn about the challenges when sailing at night, including identifying ships by their running lights, understanding ship traffic control language, and plotting a course around buoys and channel markers. Perhaps we'd even get to see a falling star or two.

I have been on the water at night at other times, the most recent during a cruise on a humongous cruise ship in the Mediterranean where a storm caught up to us with waves slapping against the dinning room windows. It was very unnerving to say the least! Last night was no such experience. Instead, the wind and waves cooperated in a lively but spirited way. Easterly winds from 18-21 kn with 2 ft -3 ft waves. Our average speed was about 6 kn and a top speed of 8 kn downwind.

The intriguing thing for me was the way the night and surrounding lights played with the mind's perception of time and space. In the darkness our 4-hour journey seemed to have been only an hour or so. Perhaps this was due to the new experience as I became absorbed by the moment and forgot about time. My perception of space was also distorted, surprising so. Brightly lit objects many miles away seemed to be very close while dimly lit objects seem very far away. One channel buoy looked to be quite a ways away until we sailed past it and we were all shocked at how big it's metal skeleton appeared. I have sailed past that buoy many times during the day and I remember it only as being much smaller. I now have a better appreciation of the skills required to sail at night and also understand why night-time collisions can occur even to experienced captains.

The one disappointing aspect of our night sail (besides it being too short and the light pollution that limited star gazing) was the lack of ship traffic on the Bay. I had hope to gain much more experience in identifying ships simply by their running lights. There were a few ships (tug boats, dinner yachts, and ferries), but not enough for a meaningful long-term lesson. I guess I'll just have to schedule a few more nighttime sailings.

Now if we can only get the city of San Francisco to turn off all its lights for a few hours :-)