Amazing Day Sail

My college swimming buddy and best friend Dave and his wife joined me for a sail on Sunday. We had a cold front moving thru and the winds were forcast 20-25 with gusts to 30. We headed out and in the channel ran into my old boat Addiction heading into the bay. We gave them a shout and Theo recognized me and our boat. We put out a full genoa and took off towards the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind picked up near the city front and we needed to duck behind some piers to take in some sail. We headed towards our lunch spot at Angel Island. We made it in and set the anchor with 75' of chain just off Quarry Beach at Angel. Lunch and great convo about some of the best music and albums of the last 50 years. I looked across the bay and it seemed it was raining in the east bay. Soon there was a bit of a rainbow confirming my suspicion. As we looked further we could see it streaching across the sky. We hardly ever see rainbows on the bay! After lunch, we picked up the anchor with our trusty windlass and took off with a small jib rolled out. As we came out of the lee of the island the tempest hit! Winds in the 30's and it was raining hard. If I steered towards our harbor there was too much wind and the boat was broaching. I steered more downwind and towards the the west side of Yerba Buena. After hitting a high of 37 knots, the wind started to die off. We had been hit by an amazingly powerful squall! The boat did fine and I was lucky I only put out a small bit of the jib. We made back under motor as the wind was soon under 10. What a day! The wind and rainbow, as well as the crew, made the day unforgettable. Cowabunga my friend!

Check out those white caps!