TUESDAY, 1 JULY 08 -- BLUSTERY SAIL TO SAUSALITO, THE GATE AND BACK.

Tuesday brought us midmorning sunshine and strong winds that started early with air that was clear but a bit more hazy than the day before. We left port about 3 pm with howling winds, raised single reef main and put out small jib before heading out into the central bay.

TUESDAY, 1 JULY 08 -- BLUSTERY SAIL TO SAUSALITO, THE GATE AND BACK.


The flags on the end of pier 39 were pegged out in the breeze of at least 20 knots as we headed out on the WSW breeze for a while and then tacked back into the ølee of pier 45 and finally tacked away to the west again.

The wind intensified to about 25 knots and, with ebb current flowing, big and sharp wind waves had built up on Alcatra Shoal, so we had to fall off the wind a bit to avoid banging too much on the waves, but the wind waves beat against the hull of ANTICIPATION and sent blasts of spray and spray and spray over the bow-- the bigger blasts reached the cockpit and soaked us a bit a couple of times. Needless to say, we were in survival mode a bit and there was no chance for any photography.




After blasting past Harding Rock, winds and waves eased up a bit and we were able to get out the camera to shoot a couple of sailboats sailing down the shore of Angel Island, like this one.




This Hunter was heading east, sailing off the wind with quite a bit of canvas flying.




This nice Catalina was heading down the shore of Belvedere, sailing with full canvas and looking good.




We approached the shore of Sausalito -- enjoying the sunshine and lighter winds-- then contemplated whether we would head back home or head for the gate, decided to reef the jib down to a postage stamp size and start beating toward the gate.




This small Islander was heading south, paralleling us for a while, but gradually falling further behind.




We were mostly ghosting down the shore of the headlands toward the GGB which stood proud over the gate as always!




We eventually started to encounter some sharp swells propagating in through the gate and had to fall off to avoid banging and finally sailed into the Horseshoe Cove, enjoying the views of the goldening hills of the Marin Headlands. above Fort Baker.




Fort Baker was enjoying the brilliant late afternoon sunshine and looking tranquil as were the winds in Horseshoe Cove compared to the blasting winds through the gate




We tacked out of Horseshoe Cove into the teeth of the swells and the wind, sailing a bit off the wind and the movement of the swells, crossing the gate until we were far enough to tack out the gate, then sailing out between midspan and the north tower.




We enjoyed as always the dramatic views of the cliffs of the headlands just outside the gate.




We just ducked out the gate and then came about and headed back inside, soon making some rendezvous with windsurfers, like this kitesurfer blasting across the bay in the strong winds.




This sailboarder passed close to us...




.. as did this one charging toward the beach at Crissy Field.




This kiter also passed rather close to us-- some of them wear helmets and some don't.




These boarders seemed threatening to run us down....




....especially this intense one... but veered off to pass astern.




This kiter was also blasting toward us in the strong winds.




We see this boarder out there frequently in his batman costume.





We soon left behind the windsurfers and continued charging home in the strong winds, even with dramatically reduced sail, enjoying the views of the city in the brilliant late afternoon sunshine and surfing from time to time on the windwaves, especially passing over Alcatraz Shoal.




Flags on the end of pier 39 were still pegged out in the strong breeze.




A flock of pelicans flew past and I love this shot of one of our beautiful pelicans flying low over the water--- a photo that seems to have a three dimensional feel due to the lighting.

The cruise ship was still tied up at pier 35, though she was preparing to depart, so we sailed into the area between the west side of pier35 and the marina seawall to douse sails and prepare for landing. Current was now flooding-- the most difficult conditions for landing-- and we managed to play it just right for the landing. The outing was an enjoyable mixture of different conditions-- much different from the day before -- it's almost always different out there from day to day!