San Francisco Bay Trip

[BobW]

San Francisco Bay Trip

2007 marks the third year Jim, my brother-in-law, has flown out from Michigan to accompany me on a trip down the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers to San Francisco Bay to take part in the Three Bridge Fiasco.  Preparations for this trip go on all year as we research the tides and currents to plan the timing for the journey down the rivers, as well as strategy for the race on Saturday.

Jim arrived in town late last Tuesday evening.  Wednesday, we bought groceries and other last minute supplies and loaded Prelude for an early departure on Thursday.

Thursday, January 25

Thursday morning was clear (at least in town), cold (low 30s), and calm as we left for the marina at 0600.  We arrived at the boat at 0715 and stowed our gear, the coolers, and generally made ready to depart.  All of this took a bit longer than I expected it to, so our 0800 departure slipped to 0830.  This later departure was okay as we faced the tail end of the flood current.  Although the calm conditions meant we'd be motoring, we set the mainsail and got underway.  It was hazy in the Delta as we slipped out of Owl Harbor.



30 minutes into the trip we drove into a fog bank that knocked visibility down to a quarter-mile.  We stayed alert for any river traffic, but we were all alone on the river.  An hour later we motored out of the fog into hazy sunshine, and decided it was time for some coffee.  We set up the stove on the starboard settee, lit the burner, and set the coffee on to brew.  3 minutes later there was a whoosh, and flames sprang from the valve at the propane bottle!  Jim threw a towel on the flames as I scooped up a bucket of water.  The fire doused – with nary a mark on the settee – we determined the propane bottle had not been screwed into the valve properly, propane had leaked enough to gather on the settee, and then ignited from the open flame of the burner.  Well, that little episode woke us up better than any triple-strength percolator coffee could ever do!  We cleaned up the mess, moved the stove to the cockpit seat, rethreaded the propane bottle into the valve, and finished brewing the coffee. We didn't cook inside the rest of the trip.

The winds remained calm, so we continued motoring down the river.  By the time we passed the Antioch Bridge the haze had cleared and we enjoyed a few hours of bright blue skies.



Our original ETA at Martinez, based on the ebb current and my optimism, was 1330.  However, slightly more flood current at the outset of the trip than I anticipated, and our late departure, put us into the Martinez Marina at 1530.  This still seems early in the day, and while there are other marinas close by (Benicia, Glen Cove, and Vallejo), I wanted to see the Martinez Marina – this was my first visit there – as well as meet a new acquaintance from the SailFar site.  Zen met us at our slip as we were sitting down to dinner (Cioppino – a fish stew - and white wine).

That's Jim on the left and me sitting at the new knockdown table I built for Prelude.  It turns out we were berthed on the next dock over from Zen's Islander 29.

  After a great visit with a new friend and a tour of his boat, we called it a night and turned in.

Friday, January 26

We brewed coffee (no fires this time!) and prepared oatmeal, juice, and sweet rolls for breakfast.  After cleaning up the breakfast dishes we left the Martinez Marina at 0900 for the short motor across to Benicia to top off our fuel supply.  We left Owl Harbor with 15 gallons of fuel, and based on our experience two years ago (we ran out of fuel twice – because we didn't have enough capacity) we topped off the tank and filled the 2-gallon can.  We used 3.4 gallons during the 7.5 hours of motoring on Thursday.  Leaving Benicia at 1000, under hazy sunny skies, we headed to the Carquinez Strait and San Pablo Bay.



Some of the strongest currents on the Sacramento River occur at the Carquinez Strait, and it is wise to plan to use favorable currents when passing through the Strait.

As we began the long, and pretty much boring – passage of San Pablo Bay the skies began to cloud over.  As we rounded Point San Pablo and got our first glimpse of the Brothers (small islands off the point) and the Richmond Bridge beyond, a cold rain began falling.


Jim and I took turns at the helm so neither of us were out in the rain for very long at a stretch.  While I do have a good water repellent jacket, I do not have proper rain gear.  Rain gear is now at the top of the wish list as I was chilled to the bone from getting rained on.

We arrived at Brickyard Cove Marina in Richmond at 1430, cold and wet and in need of a warm shower.  However, before we got situated, I ran us aground!  We approached a long side-tie dock we had used in previous year.  The dock runs parallel to the rip-rap edge of the marina, and the waterway goes shallow at low tide.  Since we had ridden the ebb current down to the Bay, I knew we were near low tide – and I knew we were in shallow water – but that didn't prevent me from running aground.  Fortunately we were at very slow speed and a few bursts of reverse got us off the bottom.  We checked in, got our slip, took a nap, had a shower, and prepared dinner (leftover cioppino!).  The rain stopped but the forecast called for a chance of light showers throughout the evening.  It rained off and on all night, but the sound of raindrops on the deck over our heads was more comforting than annoying.  We slept well.

Saturday January 27

Race Day!  We were up at 0600 for another breakfast of coffee, oatmeal, juice and sweet rolls.  After breakfast we bent on the jib, and got underway for the 7-mile trip across the Bay to the start line off the Golden Gate Yacht Club in the Marina District of San Francisco.  Motoring across the Bay (still not enough wind to sail across) we watched other sailboats slip out of the mist, pass us, and then disappear back into the mist.


We arrived at the starting area, listened for a break in the radio traffic so we could check in with the race committee and reviewed again our strategy.  The Three Bridge Fiasco uses the Golden Gate (Blackhaller Buoy), Bay (Treasure Island), and Richmond (Red Rock) Bridges as the race marks.  The race can be started in either direction and the marks rounded in any order – it is up to each skipper to decide his/her strategy.  The recommended strategy was to head to Treasure Island first by sailing east up the City Front as close to shore as possible to minimize the effects of the strong ebb current.  The wind and ebb current we observed at the starting area convinced us to head west to Blackhaller first as we did not believe we could make progress against the ebb.  We started on time and headed to the first mark behind a Cal 20 which had started 1 and ½ minutes ahead of us.  We trailed the Cal 20 by 40 seconds at the mark and, we followed him as he headed across the the Bay to go up Racoon Strait.  We were making good progress, and closing on the Cal when the wind eased a bit and we got into the tide rips near the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge.  It became apparent we would not make it through and the task became getting out of the rips before being swept through the Gate.  We were able to make it back to Blackhaller and up the shoreline back to the starting area.  The Cal stayed out in the main channel and lost ground to us before the wind dropped again and the Cal withdrew from the race.  Just as we were off the race deck of the Golden Gate Yacht club we lost our wind, and drifted with the ebb just a few yards off the shore.  Without any foreseeable prospects of wind, and with the very real rocks along the shore, we fired up the motor and retired from the race.  Despite our mistakes this was our best showing as we made one mark!  Had we not tried the impossible, we may have made it to Treasure Island, and quite possibly on to Red Rock, but we won't know for sure.  Our race was effectively over when we headed north from Blackhaller Buoy.  Here's some of the action around Blackhaller as we went past the second time.



As we motored back across the Bay toward Brickyard Cove, and cleared Angel Island, the winds picked up.  After a bit we shut down the motor and enjoyed a fun afternoon sailing on San Francisco Bay!


It was cold, but the sailing was a lot of fun and we got to see much of the racing fleet heading toward Red Rock.

Back at Brickyard Cove, we enjoyed a couple of cold beers and heated our dinner of ham hocks and beans.  We cleaned up the dishes, took showers, and prepared Prelude for an o'dark-thirty departure.

Sunday, January 28

The flood current began at about 0230, and we wanted to use it to our advantage.  We were up at 0215 and underway by 0250.  We had more rain in the pre-dawn hours, and what little wind there was, was right on the nose.  We passed through the Carquinez Straits at 0730, and kept on going past Benicia and Martinez.  We had to keep a sharp lookout for river traffic as we saw 5 or 6 freighters pass us by during Sunday's trip back up the river.  In fact, just east of the Antioch Bridge we watched two freighters pass each other, one inbound and one outbound.  Interestingly enough the wakes of 40-something foot clorox-bottle boats caused us more concern than did the wake of any ocean freighter we encountered.  We arrived back at Owl Harbor at 1630, some 13 and ½ hours after leaving Brickyard Cove.

It was a successful trip.  Some new gear worked beautifully.  Some old gear worked better than I had a right to expect.  We met a new friend.  And we've already begun plans for next year's trek!



_{S/v Faith: edit to adjust pictures slightly to prevent having to scroll to read text.}

[Frank]

great story/pics...grog for Bob

[Godot]

I second Frank.  Great story.

[AdriftAtSea]

BobW-

Nice writeup and photos...

[s/v Faith]

More Grog for Bob (& Jim),

  Thank you for taking to time to write that up.  I really appreciate the pictures, and really look forward to seeign you future adventures (in my old stomping grounds).   ;D

  The rule aboard my boat is that any race where no one is injured, and the boat does not sink is a good race.  A great race satisfies those conditions and we have fun.   ;D  Glad you had a great race, and glad to know 'Team Sailfar' was out there.  ;)

Thanks Bob,

[Captain Smollett]

Very cool, Bob. Thanks for posting.  MORE GROG, Good Sir!!