Day 6: Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge

After sailing 667nm over 5 days, the winds finished the spluttering they had begun the night before and died on the morning of the 6th day.

Rather than bobbing around in the shipping lanes hoping any longer, we fired up the Volvo and began motoring toward San Francisco. Bittersweet - we had wished for a rip-roaring sail all of the way to the Golden Gate Bridge but we were excited to be making landfall safely and in good time. Our reward for motoring was plenty of electricity to run the radar full-time the sixth night rather than in timed sweeps. Visibility wasn't great and there were tankers everywhere. Plus, more hot water for showers.

But wait! The wind picked up again after most of a day of motoring and we sailed the last 9 hours into San Francisco. Slowly, very slowly at first, and then briskly under the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito where we took a mooring buoy at the yacht club. The white sail on the right side of this picture is us (THANK YOU RYAN!).

Did I mention in the SUN? We've been in Sausalito a few nights now and we've had glorious sun and blue skies every day. We wake to sun and clear skies here but can see the fog over San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge every morning but so far it has burned off even in SF by the afternoon.

NUTS & BOLTS
Route: Headed for the Northern approach to SF at approximately 120 degrees magnetic.
Sail plans: Motor and then full main and genoa. Under the bridge with full main only to keep the speed comfortable in case of gusts.
Mileage: 124.1 nm motored and sailed in 32 hours with an average speed of 3.9 knots.

6 comments:

  1. Holy crap, I'm jealous of you guys! What a great feeling to sail under the GG bridge. I was so excited when we did it. We really loved hanging out in the SF Bay on our boat. Especially Aquatic Park, what a cool spot to anchor and experience SF.

    Have a great time!

    Jason
    s/v hello world

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  2. Congrats, everything sounds great, you two must be very happy with your great achievements. Is there anything more dramatic than the GG. Won't be able to read all your post, but this is the best news.

    Good on ya.

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  3. Congrats! We can't wait to follow in your wake! Cheers

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  4. What's the pirate term for "Land HO"?

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  5. Congratulations! What an accomplishment! We look forward to doing the same trip in two yrs time.

    Enjoy & thank you for maintaining your blog to share with others. It is greatly appreciated!

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  6. It must have been really grand to sail under one of the most marvelous bridges of our time. And hey, "sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge" is just as marvelous as it can be. It's more than just an elegantly-constructed bridge. It's a towering image of the city. So what's the next bridge you're gonna sail under?

    ReplyDelete

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