September 24, 2013

If you look up through the fog, ladies and gentlemen, you will see the Golden Gate Bridge.  If you look ahead you will see Alcatraz Island and if you look slightly to your right you will see the America’s Cup start line….Welcome to San Fransisco! 

Our first glimpse of Golden Gate Bridge

Improving weather at the Golden Gate Bridge

That’s about what it was like for us when we arrived into the bay city on Saturday, September 21 just at 12:00 noon.  Our trip log registered 1001 nautical miles as we approached the huge looming orange structure so well known throughout the world.  We motored under the Golden Gate Bridge with torrential rains pounding Falcon VII, rains which broke the all time records for one day’s rain accumulation!  What a way to enter but we made it and then anchored in Aquatic Park, which is a man-made semicircle anchorage right downtown.  Entering and anchoring was made all the more challenging as we had to dodge swimmers at the narrow entrance into Aquatic Park.  Jim and I peered out through the rain looking for swimmers, unsure if we spotted one or if it was a round bouy floating on the surface.  Sure enough it was a swimmer near a mid-channel marker flag joined by two other swimmers.  They didn’t seem to mind if it was pouring either. LOL!

Alcatraz

Aquatic Park with Falcon VII and Avant

We were thrilled to anchor next to Rob and Debra from Avant, who had arrived a couple of days before us.  Since we arrived an hour before the next start of the America’s Cup International Sailing Championship we decided we HAD to watch it from Mason Point Hill Park next to Aquatic Park.  We both rowed our dinghies to shore, secured them to lamp posts running along the front of the maritime museum and hiked up the hill with hundreds of other spectators. The increasing wind blew the dark foreboding clouds away giving us a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the start of the race.  New Zealand was ahead of the US 8 to 3 but the US boat (Oracle) took the race bring the score 8 to 4.  It was exciting to be part of it, as we didn’t expect the America’s Cup to still be on when we arrived. 

Neck and neck racing.

The American boat, Oracle.

The New Zealand boat, Emirates.

After the race we hopped into a cab and heading to the overwhelming Apple store to purchase our first ever Ipad.  That was an experience in itself!!  The store is massive with dozens of associates helping multiple people at once. There are no cash registers or sales counters.  Each associate has an iphone to do sales transactions.  After we adjusted to the feeling of being in a large crowd we were assisted by Shannon who helped us get our new ipad set up.  Wow!  We have finally moved into the new century!  We had Chinese dinner to celebrate the Moon Festival with Rob’s partner, Debra, who immigrated from China 10 years ago.   She is a CGA who finished her master’s at Malaspina College in Nanaimo before moving to Vancouver.  Rob and Debra are a great couple and Rob has been to San Fransisco many times on business and really knew his way around, which we took full advantage of.

We awoke on Sunday to sunshine and warmer weather.  After a stroll around the world famous Fisherman’s Wharf we headed back up the hill to watch two more America’s Cup races before hosting a potluck dinner on Falcon VII for Rob and Debra and Martha and Doug from Thea who arrived earlier in the afternoon.  We headed to bed, agreeing to meet and watch the next two races together on Monday.

We all rowed to shore at noon and climbed the hill again to have a picnic snack lunch before watching some spectacular racing. Oracle, the Cup Defenders, did not give up and were cheered on by the American’s around us to win two more races, bringing the score to New Zealand Emirates to 8 and US Oracle 6.  How exciting for us to be here!!!

The rest of Monday was so much fun!  Rob, our unofficial tour guide, suggested we purchase day tickets for the San Fransisco cable cars.

Turning the cable car around at the end of the line.

These cable cars are the only ones in the entire world!  What a blast it was as the cable car climbed up and up and up over the hills of San Fransisco then down the other side right into the financial and fashion districts. 

Amazing architecture in San Fransisco.

The sidewalks were really wide and crowded by business people finishing up their day, easily distinguished from the hundreds of casual tourists looking up at the amazing skyline around us, dazzling stores like Sacs Fifth Avenue, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, etc .  We walked to the US Mint, a building whose columns are made of sandstone from New Castle Island in Nanaimo.

Old San Fransisco Mint.

We got our exercise in the warm afternoon hiking up and down the hills, through Chinatown, from cable car to cable car and into another huge Apple Store before our stomachs started growling.  Rob, using his iPhone, found a little Italian Restaurant near the cable car line and we were off once more chugging our way up the hills on a cable car with dozens of others looking all around us at the densely populated city.  The Italian restaurant was a real treat. We were greeted at the door and ushered through the cramped restaurant, along a back corridor and up a set of rickety steps to a small mezzanine level where we were seated and warmly greeted.  We ate ‘family style’ sharing five mouth-watering dishes, appetizers and unlimited amounts of fresh Italian bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Eventually we made our way back into the cooling evening and grabbed the next cable car heading back towards the waterfront. I found myself standing on the outside at the front of the cable car with both hands holding tightly to the skinny pole as cars passed us inches away. What a rush!  We ended our evening with a stroll to a bar that invented Irish Coffee, another San Fransisco treat for sure.  As we pulled our dinghies back down the sand we all had smiles on our faces, happy to have spent a spectacular day together.

Tuesday was the day we wanted to watch the America’s Cup from the water, with us all arriving at Thea around 10:00.   Anther single hander, Francis, had arrived the night before. Martha and Doug het met Francis in Drakes Bay and were relieved to see him since he had no engine, carried no radio and didn’t even have radar on his 32’ sailboat.  He was a very nice young man and we were happy to have him along for the day.  Being a week day there were far fewer boats and yachts anchored out to watch the race.  In fact we were so early we were the first boat to anchor.  We all contributed food towards lunch and enjoyed a bit of this and that while the winds continued to increase into the low 20’s.   The two races were spectacular!  Oracle easily took the first race, making it New Zealand 8 and US 7.  Then the kiwi’s got a great start in the race and it looked like they were going to win and take the championship until the 3rd mark when Oracle took off like a race horse and outdistanced them hugely to take yet another race, tying everything up at 8 wins a piece.  What an exciting time it was, only to be outdone when we motored back into the windy anchorage, only to find out that Avant had dragged anchor!  Jim, Rob and our young friend Francis jumped into Francis’ sailing dinghy and dashed to Avant, which was bumping into a large metal bouy tied to an historical tall ship tied to a long pier.  Doug, Martha, Debra and I anchored Thea while watching the three guys re-anchor Avant successfully.  Thankfully, Avant had very little damage from banging against the metal bouy.  By this time the winds were gusting to over 25 knots in the anchorage so we all said our good byes and headed to our respective boats for a boisterous evening at anchor.  Tomorrow we’ll watch the ninth and final race of the America’s cup from the finish line perspective.  We can hardly wait!

Wednesday we walked to Pier 39 to catch the final America's Cup race.  The American boat, Oracle, won the race much to Jim's pleasure and the dismay of some of the rest of us.  This was an international sporting event at an incredible level and it was a once in a lifetime experience to be there.  We went to the after-race celebration and awards ceremony and it was a really emotional time for many of the people there.

Now we are sitting in a café in Haight Ashbury, the centre of the 1969 free love culture.  There are still a lot of interesting and trippy people here.  Tomorrow we'll sail across the bay to Sausalito and see what new adventures await.