Friday December 30 and Sunday January 1, 2012; 6 1/2 hours, 27.1 NM, average speed 4.1 knots, max speed 6,3 knots; Sausalito to San Francisco to Alameda and back home to Sausalito
On Friday, December 30, 2011, we sailed over from Sausalito to San Francisco to take a berth at South Beach Harbor for two nights. The going was a little iffy at first – every time we started to cross into the Slot, the fog socked us in, we lost wind, and we turned around and sailed back to the relatively clearer visibility of Richardson Bay. Our radar is old and not very easy to figure out how to read – we really haven’t quite got that down yet – and we have no AIS yet. We knew where we were thanks to Navionics, but an outbound cargo ship or tanker could easily have appeared from the east at any minute, even though we hadn’t heard news of any such ship on the radio. Finally, after about the third try, a short window of visibility appeared and we took it,and just in time; as soon as we saw the San Francisco skyline, the bay socked in behind us again.
We arrived early enough at our slip to relax a little before hopping on a series of buses and trolley cars to get ourselves over to Greenwich and Columbus for our favorite meal of steamed mussels, french fries and beer at Le Trappe. San Francisco is so much fun. It is SO nice to be surrounded by diversity – all ages, all nationalities, all languages, especially while riding the bus – so different from our day-to-day lives in Sacramento.
Saturday, New Year’s Eve, started out with breakfast with our friends Chris and Roz at Java House, a local greasy spoon right next to the marina, followed by a little jaunt over to Fisherman’s Wharf so Rick could have his street-vendor clam chowder (which got changed to crab cocktail, but the ambiance really isn’t that good, is it, Rick?) Saturday night we enjoyed the fireworks from a great little rooftop in the inner Mission while attending a very fun party with some very talented, up and coming San Francisco political workers, gay male couples and their friends. Thanks, Brian, for bringing us along! What a treat!
Sunday we left San Francisco and motorsailed over to the Oakland Estuary to scope out our route to the marina where we plan to stay for the big sailing festival being held at Jack London Square in April, and then back to Sausalito for the night, only to have to leave the next day to come home to Lotus again. It is always sad to leave the boat; we never feel like we have been there long enough.