Visiters from out of town

On Saturday we met with Fran of SV Cape St. James, her daughter Jen, Jen's son Sam, Jen's half sister and Fran's friend Pat at Boudin's Cafe at Fisherman's Wharf. They are in town to race in the Nike Women's Marathon on Sunday. It was great to catch up on Fran's activities in Sitka and their sailing adventures this past summer.

Since Sam is only six months old, we volunteered to sit with him on Sunday while the ladies did their walk/run. Unfortunately it rained as they were crossing the finish line and the wait for a bus back to the race start was 2 hours. It was a long day for them but they were all very proud of their Tiffany necklaces, the prize for finishing. Apparently local firemen dress up in tuxedos and hold silver trays with Tiffany boxes for the finishers. How elegant.

Well done ladies!

Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge

When we were back in Seattle, Suzette and Paul of SV Altair suggested that we walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and check out the views of the bay. This sounded like a great idea and so yesterday we drove to the last exit going north on Hwy 101 before the bridge, parked the car and walked across.

It was a clear day and you could see for miles. The air was warm with a slight breeze. On the east side of the bridge is a wide walkway with alcoves along the side to step out of the pathway to look at the view and take photos.
Last week was Fleet Week in San Francisco, similar to Seafair in Seattle, without the hydroplane races. We watched some of the visiting US Navy ships leaving the bay and going under the bridge. Each had an escort in a rigid inflatable zooming around. There were some policemen on bikes, with GGB on their backs, hanging around where the ships would go underneath. We saw some sailboats going out as well.

The Red & White Fleets are tour boats that take the tourists from Fisherman's Wharf, out and under the bridge. We also saw helicopters going out under the bridge and then coming over the bridge and going back. Many folks rent bikes and ride across the bridge. One bike rental allows you to ride across the bridge, into Sausilito and then take a ferry back to the Wharf. I think some of the folks renting the bikes needed a little more practice ride around pedestrians. I didn't see anyone get run over but there were some near missed and one fellow was trying to ride and shoot video at the same time, a recipe for disaster.

The walk across one way is about 1.7 miles. The bridge website has a virtual tour which includes an elevator ride up the top. I looked but I did not see this being offered. Not sure I would like the height.

We learn many different languages from the tourists. I may not have understood the language but from watching a young teenager on a bike suddenly stop in front his father who started to yell and gesture, I could imagine what was being said.

From the bridge we could see downtown San Francisco, including the Transamerican Pyramid, Alcatraz, Treasure Island, the Oakland Bay Bridge with Emeryville and Berkeley beyond as well as Sausilito. Below we saw sea lions, dolphins, sailboats and even a paddleboarder.

Thank you Paul and Suzette for the suggestion. We had a great time and even got some exercise.

Settling in

We are now back on Windarra and settling in to life in more or less one spot so to speak.

Yesterday we did some exploring. We visited Svensen's Marine Store in Alameda. It is a nice chandlery but we have been spoiled by the facilities in Seattle. We drove around Alameda and then went over to Jack London Square across the way in Oakland. There are some public docks were you can tie up for a few hours and visit the square as well. We hope to do this on Windarra sometime. We had lunch outside at one of the many restaurants and walked around afterwards. Looking back towards Alameda at some of the marinas, we spied SV Kiapa, a catamaran owned by our friends, Pete and Sue. It's a small world. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with them.

We also signed up at a local fitness place so we can get some more exercise besides walking. Grinding winches and manuvering on the boat while under passage helps but when we are tied to the dock we need something more.

Katmandu has been enjoying the sunshine and looks forward to naps in the sunny cockpit. We are enjoying the shorts and t-shirts weather so far. Hopefully it will last for a while.

A list of boat chores has been started. We were pleased that some of the items from our previous list in Australia have been completed but of course there are always more things we would like to do. We have not prioritized the list yet. That will require some negotiation. Of course we don't plan to be workaholics, we have plenty of other things we want to do, including more exploring of the SF bay area.

Well, it is time to go to the gym. I am bracing for the sore body tomorrow morning...

No worries
SV Windarra

Stuff

Some of you remember George Carlin. He used to do a skit about stuff and how we tend to collect stuff and take it with us wherever we go.

We can relate. We have Windarra and our stuff on Windarra which is now in Emeryville, California. Some of our stuff is also with Jesse and Sarah in Portland, Oregon. In Seattle we had two storage units. Our stuff is spread over 3 states!

Originally we had one unit but when my parents moved into assisted living and we sold their house we put some of their things in another storage unit. Over the next few years we paired down their things but some of our things, like winter clothes, boat parts, charts, bicycles, etc found their way into this other storage unit.

On Thursday, Sept. 23, we flew up to Seattle to deal with our two storage units. First we took items to furniture consignment. Next we culled through boxes of boat parts. We sorted items into the following groups: take back to Windarra now, take back to Windarra before leaving the US, take to consignment, take to the dumpster fairy or just to the dumpster. Next we sorted through the remaining boxes. Many items went to Goodwill. We also sorted through the file cabinet and boxes of paperwork and took several bags to be shredded and destroyed.

At the end of nine days we cleared out one storage unit completely and the original unit has a lot more space in it that ever before.

We are now on our way back to Windarra. We still have stuff in three different states but less stuff than we had before.

No worries
SV Windarra

At San Francisco at last

N 37 50.284, W 122 18.742
Emery Cove Marina, Emeryville, CA

Left Wednesday, 9/15 @ 10:00 am, Arrive Thursday, 9/16 @ 11:15 pm
Winds: 0 - 16 knots
Seas: 1-3 foot swell with 1 foot seas
Skies: sunny, clear on Wednesday, foggy on Thursday, clear, foggy, clear today, Friday
Distance: 240 nautical miles
Total distances traveled since leaving Seattle on 6/24: 2374 nautical miles

Wednesday morning we left at 10:00 am after a stop at the fuel dock in Eureka. It was clear with little to no wind. We watched the coast go by. Rounding Cape Mendicino was a non-event the antithesis of what we experienced in 2001. In the evening the stars were out and you could see their reflection in the sea it was so smooth.

Thursday morning the fog set in. Visibility was less than a boat length at times. We watched a tug and barge pass us on radar and AIS within 2 miles and we never saw it or heard it.

In the past we entered San Francisco Bay, at night with some fog. Once in 1999 when we first brought Windarra up from Long Beach and in 2001 when we left to go cruising the first time. We estimated 5 knots an hour for our transit from Eureka to San Francisco and believed we would be in early Friday morning so we could see the bridge. Well, we were going too fast. By 8:30 pm we were already in the middle of the traffic circle for entry to the bay. We certainly were not going to stop and wait for morning. It would not have made any difference, we still did not see the bridge even when we were directly under it since there was so much fog.

When we entered the traffic lane from the north we were about to notify Vessel Traffic Service for San Francisco on VHF channel 14. They already had us on AIS and called us first. They were extremely helpful and courteous. We indicated our planned course for entry and they notified the other vessels in the traffic coverage area. We switched to VHF channel 13 when we entered the traffic circle so we could communicate ship-to-ship with others in the 'traffic pattern'. We talked with the pilot boat, Drake, and the pilot on boat the container ship Maersk Merlion to negotiate our respective transits through the circle. They were north bound, we were east bound and meeting in the middle. Our distances apart were within 1.5 miles but we could not see them other than radar and AIS. It was comforting to know that they were aware of us and did not want to 'run us over'. We finally saw some markers as we headed up the channel to the bridge. We saw the lights marking the pillar of the bridge be we could not see the bridge. AT ALL!
If you look at the screenshot from our charter/plotter with the AIS, we are the red boat on the upper left. The green triangles are the other vessels reporting AIS with the red arrows pointing which direction they are going. The longer the arrow the faster the vessel is going. The green triangle on the lower left is going 20 knots. You can see that our speed is 6.5 knots.

We made out way over to Sausalito and picked a spot and dropped anchor. After an omelet, we went to bed to get some much needed sleep. It was past 11:00 pm and we had been traveling for 37 hours and it was time for a rest.

This morning we got up leisurely and enjoyed our coffee in the cockpit, looking at Sausalito. There was still a lot of fog in the bay and we could not see the bridge, still. After breakfast we weighed anchor and again using radar and AIS and later visuals, crossed the bay to the Emery Cover Marina which will be where we keep Windarra for the next months until we are ready to leave again.

We have enjoyed our summer cruising a lot but we are ready to be in one place for a while. I think Katmandu would agree as well.

No worries,
SV Windarra

Eureka !

N 40 48.431, W 124 10.002
Eureka, CA
Left @ 7:15 am, Arrive @ 6:15 pm
Winds: S, 0 - 10 knots
Seas: 3 foot swell with 1 foot seas
Skies: fog
Distance: 65 miles

We motored all day today in little to no wind. It was foggy the whole way so we had to watch the radar for other craft. To make it more interesting there were a lot of crab/shrimp pot floats we had to watch for and then dodge.

When we arrived, Rich when up to check in. The office was closed but he did see Ponderosa. The last time we saw them was when we were entering Newport and they were just leaving.

If all goes well we will fuel up in the morning and continue south. We would like to get around Cape Mendecino, in the day light. The thought is we will either stop at Bodega Bay or go the whole way to San Francisco.

No worries,
SV Windarra

Is this the Coast Guard?

N 41 44.861, W 124 11.024
Crescent City, CA

Passages are sometimes nerve wracking and also sometimes very boring. You can't always read or do anything else besides checking the surroundings, watching for traffic, monitoring the radar, navigation, VHF channel 16 and trying to stay awake during your watch.

We always monitor VHF channel 16. This is the hailing channel as well as the US Coast Guard channel. Some of the traffic is benign, such as the Coast Guard indicating that bar reports for such-and-such harbor will be reported on channel 22A or Pilots contacting ships to arrange for a pilot to come on board before transit of the bar. Occasionally there are requests for assistance from the Coast Guard. Below is a conversation we heard on our way into Crescent City. It is not word for word but it is pretty close. By the way, the boater has a southern US accent.

First hailing announcement: Is this the Coast Guard?
CG: This is the *garbled* Coast Guard, do you require assistance?
Boater: It won't start, not even a trickle. Just a click.
CG: This is the *garbled* Coast Guard, do you require assistance?
Boater: Yes, it won't start.
CG: What type of vessel is it?
Boater: I'm on a 26 foot Stryker.
CG: Captain, what is the name of your vessel?
Boater: I haven't gotten around to naming it yet.
CG: How many persons on board?
Boater: myself.
CG: Captain, how many persons are on board your boat?
Boater: just myself.
CG: Do you have a lifejacket on?
Boater: yes.
CG: Are you in danger of sinking or is there a fire on board?
Boater: no.
CG: What is your location?
Boater: Near Campbell Rock. I am drifting toward shore.
CG: How far away from shore are you?
Boater: About 300 yards.
CG Captain, do you have an anchor?
Boater: yes.
CG: Can you put out your anchor?
Boater: yes but I will be away from the radio for a bit while I put out the anchor.

pause in conversation

CG: Coast Guard calling vessel requiring assistance near Campbell Rock.
no response
CG: Coast Guard calling vessel requiring assistance near Campbell Rock.
Boater: yes.
CG: Is this the vessel requiring assistance near Campbell Rock?
Boater: yes, I need help.
CG: Could you please switch to channel 22A?
Boater: Do you want me to change to channel 22A?
CG: yes.
Boater: ok.

On 22A:
CG: Coast Guard calling vessel requiring assistance near Campbell Rock.
Boater: This is 22A.
CG: Is this the vessel requiring assistance near Campbell Rock?
Boater: yes, I need help.
CG: We are sending out assistance. It should be there within an hour. Have you put out an anchor?
Boater: yes the anchor is holding.

later on 22A:
CG: Coast Guard calling vessel requiring assistance near Campbell Rock.
Boater: yes.
CG: What are your current weather conditions?
Boater: what?
CG: What are your current weather conditions? Winds, Visibility, Sea State.
Boater: Visibility is great. I can see the Coast Guard cutter in front of me.

We got in before we heard any more conversation. We trust that the boater is okay. At least we were entertained for a while during the 'drama'.

We are still at Crescent City. Our plan is to fuel up tomorrow morning and then leave for Eureka.

No worries,
SV Windarra