Half moon bay

Finally, made it out of the bay and into the Pacific! As soon as we got under the golden gate bridge we were greeted with dolphins.

Ali finally got to sail under and out of the Golden Gate bridge.

Once around mile rock we had a nice beam reach until a few miles from Halfmoon bay when the wind died. Ali and the kids went home today, so I'm back to singlehanding again. The guy at the pump said it's ok to stay tied up to the fuel dock for the nite.

I'll head for Santa Cruz tomorrow. Hopefully I get some sun for this next leg.  Enough of the lousy weather, its meant to be summer!

Weatherfaxes thro the SSB are coming in strong and clear now I'm in the ocean.

South Beach harbor

Finally the weather is looking up, we should be good for sailing out the gate tomorrow. We sailed across the bay and tied up at Southbeach harbor. Ali will catch the train up to the city tonite and meet me and the girls for a meal out in the city. Hopefully the weather holds. Im tempted to stay at SouthBeach another few days as Paul McCartney is playing at the ball park next to the marina. All the tickets are sold out long ago, but we can anchor in McCovey cove and hear the concert pretty well. Its the same cove the kayakers go to pick up the baseballs that are hit out of the park.

Tiburon & Sausalito

We left Angel Island this morning for Sams Anchor Cafe at Tiburon. There is a coffee shop here we like that has great eclairs. The weather is very overcast and windy (from the wrong direction) partially caused by 2 hurricanes of the Mexican coast. We need these to pass so we can get back to the regular NW winds and sun for our passage to Halfmoon bay. The unusual weather is forecast to end this week, but every day it seems to slip.

Its great to be out port hopping again. Everyone is interested in what we are up to and were we are headed.

There is free wireless internet at Sams so I'm using that to get software loaded on the laptop. We will probably head over to Sausalito tonite and either anchor out in Richardsons bay or tie up at our favorite alongside at Schoonmaker marina.

Sausalito is a main hub for sailors passing thro San Francisco on the tradewind route south, Plenty of marine supplies, restaurants and a low key funky atmosphere make this a cool stop.

We hit our usual Pizza place in Sausalito for dinner and headed back in the dinghy for a very quiet night.

First nite at Angel Island

We cast off at 9am this morning. Got a great send off from my neighbors at the marina. My daughters Sophie and Lisa are going to spend the first few days with me and then Ali will join me to sail under the Golden Gate and down to Halfmoon Bay. We are tied up to the moorings at Angel Island for tonite.
The new jib sail is working great and allows me to sail much higher into the wind. It's also reefs really well which was handy as it was blowing 30knots across the slot this afternoon.
All the new boat systems are working well.

Final cleanup

Ali came down to the boat today to help me be brutal about tidying up and removing unnecessary junk. She is infinitely superior in packing/sorting/organizing than me and we managed to remove about a cubic yard of stuff that I didn't really need. I actually have room for some clothes and food now!

The A/C system worked out great as it was hot today. I'm so glad I took the time to install it now.

The all important "Gumby" survival suit. You don't even need a boat with this!