Safe in San Francisco Bay

Sunday, September 4
A day of motoring after the excitement of Gale Alley brought us toward shore through the foggy night over the coastal canyons north of Pt Reyes. I missed the incredible stars of the past few nights. We had light shows with phosphorescent pools shimmering alongside the boat, not kicked up by our passage through the water, but just glowing on their own, with occasional bright trails of the fish swimming through. The fog began at this point and continued, though not too dense, as we approached land, with daylight and a huge number of happy drifting fishboats.

It was fun to sail by places we've hiked at Pt Reyes and the Marin Headlands and watch the surf smashing up against the cliffs at Pt Bonita though the sea was calm. As the bottom of the GG Bridge structure came into view, we prepared libations for our passage into the Bay, brought out the Cane Garden Rum we'd purchased from the distiller on Tortuga last May, and drank to our safe arrival. (Just a couple of fingers...)

We snuggled up to the dock at St Francis and got ready for the luxury of their showers and dining room. Along the dock we met the nice folks from Iridium, a Victoria couple, who had been through the same weather as us and found it scary. We also read up on the Mayday call we'd heard two days earlier. A Tacoma boat, Gypsy Soul, with a broken hatch had made the call. The owner and his girlfriend were helicoptered off by the Coast Guard 120 miles off Cape Mendocino in 15 foot seas and 30 knots at the time of rescue, according to the news.

St Francis is preparing for the Big Boat races to start next Thursday. The 52 footers have their own Protectors hanging around with two 250 horse motors. Wow. We saw some buoy rounding practice from shore that looked great. Later walked past the Golden Gate YC of Larry Ellison fame to the very end of the breakwater where a fascinating park assembled from graveyard pieces and pipes creates sitting spaces with wave generated diapason like moans. Those were soon matched by our audible responses to the fantastic gustables at St Francis's Clippership dining room. No collar required on Sunday, family night. The hungry crew rose to the challenge of the wide-open buffet, salads, meats, made-to-order pasta, and desserts galore. Ahhhh!