WHETHER THE WEATHER...

This little fellow greeted me with a smile at breakfast
...then I ate him! 

July 1, 2016  Weather the weather will ever let us leave the San Fransisco area. That's the question!

The last fives weeks of cruising in the waters of San Fransisco provided us with a variety of weather, that’s for sure! We were in perfect sailing conditions, temperatures in the mid 80’s when visiting the cities of Sacramento and Stockton.

Anchored in a narrow channel near Pittsburg in the river delta.
 People were swimming and water skiing into the early evening
when it cooled down a bit.

You never know who you'll meet on the river.

These pelicans were perched on barely visible pilings, trying
to get out of the thermal winds that the windsurfers loved so much. 

After three weeks of 80 - 90 F temps in the Sacramento River Delta we headed back to the cooler temperatures of San Fransisco to see some of the city sights.

We had a fast trip down to the mouth of the Sacramento River motoring at 8.5 knots with the current until we exited the quiet of the Delta only to be slammed by both wind and waves while heading back towards Angel Island and the more open San Fransisco Bay.

We went from trying to cool down to trying to stay warm and dry. Waves crashed over the bow and salt spray shot up and over the starboard deck continuously.  When we passed by Alcatraz Island, it was blowing over 34 knots!  We thought it was a bit excessive but clearly the locals didn’t. It was a traffic jam out there!  Dozens of sailors were out for the day, clothed in foul weather gear, boats heeling over with reefed mains and head sails.

We moored right in downtown San Fran at Pier 39.  Their rate was only $60 US a night instead of $96 US a night expected at the municipal marina a mile away.  That should have been our first clue!  Paying less is not always better.  It turns out that Pier 39 is also the loading and unloading area for numerous passenger ferries, catamaran cruises and large harbour tour boats that operate from 9:00 a.m. til 10:00 p.m. daily.

That's Falcon's red Canadian flag to the right of the big passenger ferry
at Pier 39's docks.  Notice the empty slips.  Seems no one wanted
to stay at these docks unless they had to.

San Fransisco's skyline above the marina and warehouse district.

The wakes caused by their arrival and departure were extreme, coupled with an even nastier current. Poor Falcon lurched from side to side and fought her tethering lines every time one of the huge passenger vessels went by. Our fenders and mooring lines took the most abuse of anywhere to date, including our stormy five summer months in La Cruz, Mexico two years ago!

The entrance to Pier 39's windy marina. Late afternoon winds hit 30 knots
 off of Alcatraz and Angel Islands.  Locals sailors didn't seem to mind, though.

We left Falcon tied up the best we could and ventured to shore and meandered around the famous San Fransisco waterfront all afternoon.  Since school was out, families were plentiful; the harbour promenade was congested with thousands of visitors, talented musicians and entertaining buskers. Ice cream stores, bike and segue rentals, tee shirt shops, etc. were plentiful.

A small look at the huge Pier 39.

Buskers and musicians performed next to this 2 story merry-go-round.

Pier 39, originally a huge waterfront warehouse, now houses various seafood restaurants, souvenir shops, tattoo artist studios, jewelers, bars and candy stores.  We dodged pedestrian traffic and strolled west along the waterfront past Aquatic Park and the Maritime Museum where we anchored in 2013 on our way south. We checked out the famous Ghirardelli’s Chocolates store and soda shop, shaking our heads at the prices people paid for small bags of assorted chocolate squares, chocolate floats and gooey desserts.  Towards evening we returned to bouncing Falcon for the evening, waiting patiently for the last ferry to make its run.

Driving down famous Lombard Street, one of America's crookedest streets.

A few lazy sea lions lounged on the right hand dock, set aside just for them.
Visitors flocked to an observation deck overlooking this part of the Pier 39
marina just to get a glimpse of them. Monterey's docks had way more!

For us, the next day trumped anything else San Fransisco had to offer. Jim’s written a separate blog posting about our visit to the Presidio district, sight of San Fransisco’s origins.  I encourage you to read it for a completely different perspective. 

The Spiral art installation in the Presidio forest.

View of Alcatraz and the Palace of Fine Arts.

Jim reflecting, overlooking the National Cemetery.
Full story written about in his separate blot posting.

Wild flowers sprung up near the woods of the Presidio.

Hard to believe this was so close to the city.  We wondered how
many locals walked the trails and enjoyed the beauty of the Presidio.

This gives you some perspective of the Spiral's height.

Spiral, created out of trees that had to be removed for
replanting since the originals were too close together.

We didn't expect a forest so close to the City.
These planted eucalyptus and Monterey pine acted as a well
placed wind block and created the feel of a much bigger forest.

As we walked away from the Presidio parade grounds, a kind woman saw us checking Google Maps and approached to help.  She suggested we stroll through a nearby campus on route to the Lincoln district.  We thanked her and quickly found a paved path that wound around two story educational buildings, lush lawns, colourful flowerbeds and flowering trees. It was quiet, serine and a perfect transition back to being in the big city.

Since conditions outside the Golden Gate Bridge were still unmanageable, we happily took another five hour motoring trip back into the river Delta where we once again enjoyed a gentle downwind sail on the Sacramento River til Pittsburg where we moored to finish waterproofing our canvas at their covered dock.  It wasn’t all work, though.  We enjoyed the monthly outdoor jazz, local art show and wine tasting show held on the promenade lawn next to the marina before wandering into town for a tasty meal at Lumpy’s 50’s diner.

Here's a look a the weather we were facing and the reason we were staying in the Delta.   The pink represents the highest winds.  Plain blue represents no wind (no blue there!).  So you can see what we were faced with.  Though the image didn't produce very well, the top wind speeds expected near Eureka were 48 knots!

A short three days later we reluctantly exited the Delta only to be slammed by big seas and adverse current again, cutting our speed down to 3 knots, instead of 7.2 knots with no current.  We fought our way back to the only possible anchorage at Angel Island.  The brisk winds buffeted us about while we struggled to anchor in what little shelter the island afforded. That evening we readied Falcon to leave San Fransisco Bay since we had a short weather window and felt we had to take it.  Bye Bye San Fransisco…hello open coastline.

Rail tracks disappeared into the sunset at an
old historic pier in San Fransisco.

Good bye, San Fransisco.  Thanks for some great memories!

Until next time….

Jim and Tricia Bowen
S/V Falcon VII
email: tandjbowen13@gmail.com.