Ha! A simple trip to West Marine…
Yesterday we decided to sail over to Sausalito to pick up a couple things from West Marine.
It is only about six miles by boat, so much closer than trying to go by land.
The forecast was for 5-10kts which was true until we rounded Rincon Point and got out into “the slot” that comes in from the Golden Gate.
https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=7DzXAL
We soon had double reefs in both the main and genoa in 20-25kts close-hauled. (Not a great point of sail for Silver Wings with all the extra windage of the dinghy on deck). So we got thoroughly soaked in shorts and fouly jackets. I had wanted to furl the genoa and try the staysail but discovered that we had a halyard wrap on the furler.
So after tying up at the guest dock of the closest marina to West Marine, we had ‘our daily walk’. Only 40 minute there and back.
As we left Sausalito, we raised the main and full genny in 2-3 kts as we motored back out into the Bay.
Call me a slow learner? Rookie? The wind went from ‘light’ to 25kts in a period of about 5 minutes. The ‘Slot’ again. We double reefed both sails again and had a great beam reach across the Bay dodging container ships and ferries.
We are finding the Bay to be a great laboratory!