SUNDAY, 24 AUGUST 08 -- SUNNY AFTERNOON TO WATCH RACING AND SHOOT THE GATE AGAINST WIND AND FLOOD CURRENT

Greg joined us for our afternoon sail for the second time, but without Jillian who is vacationing in Maine, and Shelli also joined us for the first time [another sfsailing.com contact]. We headed out about 1:15pm, raised single reefed main and put out small jib before heading out into the central bay. We hoped to see some of the final day of the J105 North American Championship racing. If you want to see more photos of the J105 racing than I have included in my blogs, go to my photo album at
http://cbergstedt.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php?



A few boats were out there, like this small one heading east under full canvas and looking good.




This nice sailboat was behind us and headed west on same course as ours.




It took a while before we spotted the J105 fleet and the leeward marks which were just south of Alcatraz for this race, and we were still quite a ways away as the fleet was approaching and rounding the mark to head back upwind.




Here ROCK & ROLL is just dousing the kite as other boats in the fleet are already around the mark and charging upwind.




The wind was more moderate than the day before, so the J105s were able to head upwind without luffing up the main sail so these three were looking great as they charged upwind on starboard tack...




... as were these four boats.




We fell off the wind a bit to head northwest away from the finish line for a while, after sailing past the committee boat and asking if this was the last race ['yes' they shouted] and then tacked to head southeast to be positioned south of the fleet as they headed for the finish line, like the two lead boats here sailing pretty much side by side, but way ahead of the other boats.




The two leaders were followed by a large group of the fleet blasting downwind with colorful kites flying off the bowsprit!




The two leaders passed us and then we took some video clips of the other boats in the fleet passing us. Here they are all stiched together-- sorry for the jumpiness.






Our old pal, ADVENTURE CAT 2 passed to starboard, and after the race boats had all finished the race we headed for the cityfront, eventually tacking to the west to stay our of the way of the fleet heading back to the yacht club for the award ceremony.





As we headed for Yellow Bluff, we spotted this nice sailboat flying a colorful kite as they returned from outside the gate.




This nice Catalina passed us, doing wing and wing direct downwind.













After approaching the shore of Yellow Bluff, we tacked and began doing short tacks to beat our way out the gate against wind and flood current, Greg at the helm as we sailed here on port tack.




It took us quite a few short, quick tacks to shoot the gate, probably about a dozen, but we finally made it out the gate just inside the north tower-- the first time for Greg to sail out the gate.




We just ducked out a short ways and then came about and headed back inside, pulling out the jib to full for more downwind power, and making great headway with flood current assist and good winds, we were soon approaching home port and enjoying views of the city basking in brilliant sunshine.




Pier 39 flags were fluttering in a breeze of 10-15 knots as we sailed past.



We sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse sails and prepare for landing, then motored around the pier and into the marina, landing just fine as we almost always do.


It was a warm, sunny late afternoon in the lee of the pier, so we sat in the cockpit and had some wine that Shelli brought along with some cookies and cherries that Greg brought. Another day in the good life on San Francisco Bay.