Sailing At It's Best

Click the top pic for a bigger view. Here is the Addiction flying her colors during a race to Vallejo a few years back.

Hope you enjoying reading about my sailing adventures on the San Francisco Bay...cuz I luv writing about them! Went out on Sunday with one of my boat partners, Tall Paul, and his buddies, Mario and Pierre. We headed out with thoughts of flying the spinnaker on the way home. As we rounded the last channel maker of Emeryville, the wind was up with a very northerly component to it. This allowed us to hit the cut in the Berkeley Pier under sail. We continued on a nice easy reach towards Richmond. The sun was out, the wind was about 12 knots, and we were hitting 6 on the speedo. After a few tacks we were out near Belvedere and on our way to the Gate. The wind was up towards 18 as we made it under the Golden Gate Bridge. I had checked the tides earlier (always check the tides before you go near the bridge, the best situation is a slack tide, going into an flood) and knew it was going to be an ebb, but only about 2 knots. We can do 6-7 in a good wind so we should be fine. One spring, we had this same situation, however, we had a huge rain right before we took off. There was so much water coming from the mountains, the ebb had been predicted at 2 but the volume of water running to the ocean took it to 6 knots. On that day, the wind died and our motor could not push us forward. We finally made to the north side of the channel and hugged the coast where the effects of the tide are minimized. We are learning more great stuff through our mistakes! Anywho, we flew under the bridge and into the mile long strait that leads to the Pacific Ocean. It's a memorable sight and an impressive one as well as you have big, rolling hills of Marin and chiseled rock formations all around. And then there is the Golden Gate Bridge. What a cool icon of Northern California. We continue on and the ocean swell is picking up and in the 4'-6' range. The "Addiction" is loving it and so is the crew. We make it out to Pt. Bonita and decide its time to head home. We sailed back against the millions of gallons of water sliding across our hull without much problem. Once we were back under the bridge, we made preparations to hoist the chute for the ride home. Paul has been a partner now for 5 years and we have never raised the chute with him. So here's our first go with him. We are set to hoist our beautiful rainbow spinnaker and the command is given, "Hoist away". She is a gorgeous sight to behold and she opens without a hitch. After a few minor adjustments we are flying along at 7-7.5 knots and the envy of the bay! At this point, there are maybe 10 boats in our vicinity. All going in other directions and currently we have a clean shot for port. Mario is at the wheel and doing a fine job of balancing speed, direction and the position of the boat and spinnaker. It's not that easy to do but he is making it look so. In no time, we are back near the pier and looking for our channel makers after a perfect run across the bay. One of the best things you can do when lowering the spinnaker is to position the main so it is blocking the spinnaker from the wind, this lessens the pressure on the chute and make it easier to lower. I failed to mention that to Mario and we got a bit of a wrap on the spinnaker as it came down but got it down shortly there after using the above technique. Back in the bag and in the slip shortly after 6pm. After cleaning up, Pierre gets a bug in his pants about going out for the sunset. We all agree and head out once more for a blazing red, brilliant sunset. All our navigation lights are on and we are under motor. Our trusty diesel is still pushing in the right direction after almost 30 years of service! After the sun has gone down, we head back once more and put her to bed and head home for the night. Another unforgettable day on my favorite bay!!