Sailing in San Francisco

Weekend sailing in San Francisco is always a fun and relaxing time, this past weekend was no different. With nice clear days and warm temperatures, moderate evenings and lots of good food and drink, couldn’t ask for more. Flew into Oakland Friday afternoon and within an hour was at the boat loading provisions.

The original plan was to sail around but the wind was strong and we wanted to get a good spot to tie up for the night, so we headed to Angel Island and did the mooring dance. I say dance because it takes some skill to do the navigating and positioning to grab the mooring. We had a nice tool to set the line on the mooring and on the second pass got it. The first pass was a little off and we had to circle around but the second pass got it. Now for the back mooring, we reversed to the mooring but the wind was blowing us sideways so we tied the line. This meant someone would have to go over and help redo the mooring line. We had a dingy so I climbed in and worked my way to the mooring, tied a second line and untied and set the main line. Then I followed the line back up to the boat, but we had to pull the boat close to the mooring so we could tie off. It was a little harder than planned but all went smoothly and it was just a little more effort.

On the hook

Morning at Angel Island

Once the boat was secure, we took the dingy to the island a wondered around a bit, since it was Friday late afternoon most people were gone. The rangers and a few campers were the only ones there. The island has a number of trams and since on one was around we climbed on and took some funny pictures of us pretending to drive around. Was more childish than anything but what else can you do, just have fun. After a bit we went back to the boat and settled in for some drinks and dinner.