My friend David and I have been talking about sailing together for over a year, so as soon as Helga and I bought Green Rosetta, David started planning the visit. David and his wife Anna Marie live in Alberta, Canada, so it's not just a hop, skip, and a jump. In September, they flew into San Francisco, did a little sightseeing, and joined us that afternoon.
We got an early start Saturday morning. We sailed out into San Francisco bay, and since it was a few hours until we were going to switch from an ebb to a flood tide we decided to head down Raccoon Strait and go out under the Golden Gate Bridge first. San Pablo Bay is a nice relaxing sail, but it takes about three hours to sail the length of it with the tide; adding an hour or more for going against the tide takes the trip from "relaxing" to "boring".
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| Great picture of the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge |
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| It turns out we had lots of company that day. Judging by the spinnakers, there was some racing. |
As always, when you get close to the Golden Gate Bridge, cue the whales. For the couple hours we were near the bridge we had about 100 whale sightings. It was probably the same five or ten whales over and over again. We sailed under the bridge and continued sailing out, upwind, for about an hour, in a choppy, confused sea state, with lots of company, then headed back in. On the way back, we had a humpback whale swim on the surface for a while about 75 feet away from us with eyes above the waterline. It was really cool and also kind of spooky to know the whale was looking us over. I wonder what the whale was thinking? Whale appearances are always brief, you never know when and from what direction there will be a sighting. Unless the video camera is running the whole time, getting shots of them is almost impossible. So, no whale pictures, sorry.
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| Headed back in to San Francisco Bay. David and Helga hamming it up. You can tell we are off the wind; they aren't hanging on to anything. |
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| David at the helm. I could tell he was just itching to drive the boat. He races regularly, but not on a boat quite this big. |
We had a great sail back in under the bridge, back up Raccoon Strait, under the I-580 bridge, across San Pablo Bay, and up the Napa River to the Vallejo Yacht Club. We were all really tired and ordered pizza for delivery.
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| Going under the I-580 bridge. The chart says the bridge is 50 feet higher than the top of my mast, but it always freaks me out. |
The next day we had an uneventful trip back to Richmond. Helga and I had to leave Sunday, David and Anna Marie stayed on another day waiting for their flight back home. A great trip, and even better to share it with great friends.
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| When you get to the East Brother Island lighthouse, you know you are almost back in San Francisco Bay. For those interested, it is also a very small bed and breakfast. http://www.ebls.org/ |
Yes the Canadians invaded the Green Rosetta- and why not? when you have such awesome hosts like Helga and Jim!! Look out its only the beginning. It did on take long to have a beer in hand, sit back and relax on the Green Rosetta. The Green Rosetta is a floating 5 star hospitality vessel. Its an awesome boat and we are very happy for Jim and Helga. Its a great way to enjoy San Francisco Bay in the company of old friends. In addition to what Jim noted, we had some fun testing the limits of the boat- actual more like testing our sailing skills and our limitations. To say the least Jim and I received a couple of lectures from Helga- " LEVEL THE BOAT" as we sailing the bay. But what the heck putting the rail on the water was fun even though the ladies on the boat thought we were kind of crazy- yes they had a couple of choice words for Jim and I. We enjoyed the bay, the marine animals, the scenery, the company and especially the rum. What a great way to experience San Francisco Bay!! Writing this made me think back of the many conversations Jim and I had about sailing together and seeing the world. I look forward to the adventures, the memories and adventures to come. My regret this morning is not being able to join Jim and Helga for a New Years eve cruise especially when its -33 degrees outside- why would we not invade the Green-Rosetta Anna and I cannot express enough the fun we had with Helga and Jim and appreciated the opportunity to sail Green-Rosetta. We had a great time sailing and more importantly spent some quality time with awesome friends. Happy New Year and spending time together in 2018!! To good health and windy days- cheers David & Anna Marie
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