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!