We completed our first major offshore passage on Surface Interval! Woo hoo! Phew! After not seeing land for about 5 days, arriving in the San Francisco Bay was elating. We covered 760 nautical miles in 5 days and 9 hours from the dock in Ucluelet, B.C., Canada to dropping anchor near Sausalito, California. We motored more than we wanted to (which I suppose every sailor says every time they turn on the engine), but it was important to maintain our speed to avoid the upcoming rough weather around the northern California capes (40+ knot winds, 10-12+ foot waves). We used 56 gallons of diesel, and all the free wind we could find. We had a handful of excitement – like the autopilot shutting off randomly a few times, the topping lift coming loose and flapping around, and one of our preventer lines nearly breaking in two due to chafe. These were all manageable issues, especially since one of us was on watch in the cockpit the entire time so we could quickly address whatever came up. We alternated watches every 4 hours overnight, and every 2-3 hours during the day.
We also got to enjoy the magic of the ocean. We were approximately 75 miles offshore for most of our journey. This decision was made with the help of professional weather routers we hired to help us. That far offshore we saw very little boat traffic – meaning maybe one boat per day, if that. We also saw LOTS of wildlife. We had a few days where it seemed like almost every hour there were dolphins visiting us, passing by, swimming right along and under the boat. We saw whales on multiple occasions, breaching, spouts, tails slaps. Every night there was bioluminescence in the wake of the boat that was mesmerizing. And we even saw a mola mola flapping away at the surface as we passed by!!!
I’ll never forget the arrival into the Bay. We could see the California coast in the distance for most of the day. In the final few hours, we were welcomed to California by a larger concentration of whales than we had seen on our entire journey. As we approached the Golden Gate Strait, we could see the thick fog ahead. It was expected. Suddenly, the fog in front of us lifted completely and we were treated to a full view of the Golden Gate Bridge, surrounding cliffs, and the city beyond. I don’t have sufficient vocabulary to describe all of the emotions on seeing that glorious bridge in the bright sunshine after days at sea. Joy, excitement, relief, and a true sense of accomplishment were among them.
We stayed about a week in the Bay area – first on anchor near Sausalito, then at a marina in Richmond. We saw friends and explored the Bay Area. We walked around Berkeley for a day and enjoyed some excellent food there. In Richmond we biked on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge for great views of the city and bay, visited breweries, saw the Red Oak Victory Ship, and went to the Rosie the Riveter National Park Museum. In San Francisco we visited Alcatraz, stopped by the Ghirardelli shop for giant ice cream sundaes, walked the Golden Gate Bridge, explored multiple neighborhoods on foot, strolled through the Golden Gate Park, and looked down the tight winding Lombardi Street. We treated ourselves to Chinese food and multiple burritos throughout the week. We had been missing those cuisines while in Canada. We also used just about every kind of transport available in the city from the historic cable cars, historic street cars, city buses, and city ferries, to taking one ride in a self-driving car! All in all, an amazing journey to a fantastic city.
Steve insisted that we only use sails until we started drifting to shore. Yes, they are sailboats, but they have an engine!! Lovely photos. And all your stops in sf are right on. The food…the water, the architecture, but not the hills! C u! I will see the folks next week.
Love the posts. What an amazing adventure. Thank you for the photos and the video and of course the wonderful narrative! May you be safe and your adventures continue. Much love to both of you. Being a water woman I just love seeing the ocean and the creatures amongst you two and your sailboat. How completely wonderful and what a gift to yourselves and to all of us tagging along via your posts.
Who says retirement is boring? So impressed by the distance you covered in just 5 days. Glad you had nice weather waiting for you in San Francisco.
This is amazing! I’m so happy for you! Thanks for sharing your journey – and the dolphins! 🙂
Thrilling to hear about this leg in your adventure, Kris!!! 😀 All the moments with the wildlife! I can only imagine. Literally 😂. I bought an Oru foldable kayak and have been enjoying riding on lake Washington and the sound immensely! Hoping to spend as much of the rest of my life on water as possible. Thank you for sharing your adventures with us! 🙏
It is wonderful to see the boat out and about and in SF again. She was made for big blue. Great job on your first longer passage! Looking forward to hearing about your future adventures. Wishing you fair winds and following seas.
Mola mola—had to look that up!! Amazing! They’re much larger than Michigan sunfish!😎
The rain cloud reminded me of my Navy days. We’d often head for the rain to get a freshwater cleaning in the middle of the Pacific.
Thanks for the photos and excellent story. Love ya, Dad
Congratulations on your double-handed 5-day passage, you salty dogs. I’m reliving the dream with you. great blog details and photos. Keep up your good work.
Eulalie
Wow, what great pic and how fun to explore San Fran! So where to next? Stay safe and let me know when you need me to come and deck hand for you! : )
Enjoying your sea travel descriptions and and SF photos so much!!! It also reminded me of my parents’ voyage to United States on a U.S. Navy ship as “displaced persons” after WWII in 1951 – not a luxury trip on this ship! They were in the Atlantic Ocean for 2-1/2 weeks to sail from Hamburg, Germany to New York in September when the waters start to stormy and rough …. Men and women were separated on different levels and everyone throwing up all the time. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was the same as you guys seeing the Golden Gate Bridge!! So relieved, so thankful and so happy to be alive but they were so ready to get off that ship and touch land with their feet!!! It was their first boat trip ever. They became U.S. citizens 5 yrs later in 1955. I’m very thankful you guys have so much more experience and better navigation equipment!!
Congrats on the journey! I’m catching up on all of it. Dave and I were in San Francisco just after you were! We enjoyed our time there but we weren’t brave enough to try the self-driving cars.
I am loving reading these missives!