tank. We were on the road, so to speak, about noon. Maybe a little
earlier. Motored out of the channel with Chamisa right behind us.
The plan was to raise the sails and get a few pictures of each other
and then exchange them. There was almost no wind but we raised the
main and jib anyway and Keith clicked away while Kay drove the boat.
Then it was our turn. Keith had a few problems raising the main.
Seems something, maybe in the in-boom furler, was hanging up.
Eventually he got the main most of the way up and then unfurled the
jib and we commenced snapping photos. Once we were both satisfied
that we'd gotten some good ones, we furled our jib (no wind) and began
motorsailing towards San Francisco. They also furled their jib and
headed towards Oakland.
About a half hour or so later, the wind started to pick up a teeny
bit. We figured, what the heck, we might as well give it a try.
Unfurled the jib and fell off to a close reach (is that the right term
for the wind coming in at about 45 degrees off the bow? I don't think
we were close-hauled but then, what do I know?). Anyway, with the
paltry little breeze coming in at 45 degrees off our bow, we were
making about 3.5 knots over ground. Not too bad. Shut down the
engine and the silence was palpable.
We continued on a port tack for a half hour or so and then came
about. This had us headed back towards South San Francisco. Awhile
later, we came about again and now we were headed sort of towards
Alameda. We were making forward progress but not much. Finally the
wind dropped to about zero and we decided to furl the jib and fire up
the Westerbeke again. The other factor that helped us decide was the
dredger pushing the barge full of dredging material. he was headed
north and, if we'd been sailing, our next tack would take us right
across his path. With almost no wind. No thanks.
Once the engine was running again we started motating towards the Bay
Bridge at a respectable 7 knots. The nearer we got to the bridge, the
rougher the water got. After we passed under the bridge it started
getting really rough. At this point we weren't really interested in a
challenging sail so we struck the main and headed for the back side of
Angel Island. As we passed Alcatraz it was getting even rougher. We
took some very respectable water over the bow a couple of times. I
was hoping that Angel Island would provide some protection. As we
came around Quarry Point, both the wind and the seas calmed down. We
saw two boats anchored in what we thought at first was Quarry Beach
Anchorage. At first we decided to go to the mooring balls at Ayala
Cove figuring that we'd have better protection. But then we decided
that we liked the idea of saving money and, since we have the big
fancy Rocna anchor and all that chain, why not anchor?
We pulled a u-turn and started motoring in to position. We each had
our two way headphones on and Lulu was at the helm while I was
stationed on the foredeck. As soon as we liked where we were, we put
the engine in neutral and started lowering the anchor. Except, the
chain had gotten all tangled up after our many crazy rocking and
rolling hours spent off the coast. By the time the anchor was biting
in, we were way too close to the only other boat in the anchorage. So
we picked it up and repositioned. This time we were successful and by
4:30 we were lying semi-peacefully in 30' of water with a mud/clay
bottom.
Turns out that we're actually at East Garrison Beach Anchorage.
Doesn't have the view of The City that Quarry Beach has but it's a lot
more protected from the wind and waves we're experiencing right now.
Raised the solar panels and hunkered in. Lulu wasn't feeling great so
she had chicken noodle soup for dinner. She fixed me some Bean with
Bacon soup and a big salami and cheese sandwich. Now we're just
vegetating and watching the shore to make sure we're not dragging.
I'm pretty sure we're not.
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