Monday, March 25, 2013

Agave Azul on San Francisco Bay


Sausalito sunrise

We haven’t posted an update for a while.  We needed to get busy completing boat projects before we head south to join the Baja Ha-Ha in September in San Diego.  As you’ll see in the next few entries, Agave Azul spent a lot of time in boat yards getting cruising and offshore items (arch, solar panels, electronics, antennas, lighting & rigging, dinghy & motor lift) designed & installed and we’re testing everything this spring.  There are a few more items to complete, but we’re taking a short break from boat projects.  It wasn’t all work, however, and I’ll include some photos of the fun activities we were able to enjoy in the Bay Area while getting our boat ready.

Bike Tour — Sausalito is an interesting town and one day I did a tour of the nearby streets and alleys.  Here are a few pics, with thanks to my daughter Carrie for letting me use her bike.

Coffee shops everywhere

We should all decorate our mailboxes

Jody from North Bay Boat Works – no fiberglass repairs done here!

 
One of many very cool old cars I rode by

How’d you like to live on this houseboat?

Sausalito has a Corps of Engineers dock where they bring debris to keep navigation safe on the bay.  This is home for old pilings, docks and derelict boats - a very busy place after a storm.

Corps of Engineer’s dock towing a derelict boat

Visitors  San Francisco Bay gets a lot of interesting visitors.  One day we were sailing past the Corinthian Yacht Club and noticed an unusual sailboat.  It turned out to be L’Hydroptere, a 60’ trimaran that set the sailboat speed world record in 2009 – 51.4 knots, or 59.1 miles per hour.

Corinthian Yacht Club

L’Hydroptere

L’Hydroptere moored at Angel Island

One morning I heard on the radio that the space shuttle Endeavour was doing a flyover of San Francisco Bay on its way to its permanent home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.  For its final flight it flew almost directly overhead of Agave Azul before flying over the Golden Gate bridge.

Endeavour on its final flight

I learned about another famous visitor when I was checking our AIS system.  I saw an AIS icon a couple miles from our slip with a familiar name, Nereida.  Nereida is Jeanne Socrates boat and she is on her third attempt to sail solo non-stop around the world.  She has completed a circumnavigation, but a broken boom rounding Cape Horn and a grounding in Mexico stopped her first two solo non-stop attempts.  

Kathryn offering Jeanne a bottle of wine

On her current trip, she lost her life raft shortly after she left Victoria, B.C.  The rules allowed her to anchor in San Francisco Bay to install a new life raft, but only if she received no physical assistance.  She replaced the life raft and we motored over to wish her well on her way out the gate, but the wind and current didn't cooperate (she can’t use an engine on her solo non-stop sail around the world).  We offered her a nice bottle of wine, but she said she couldn’t accept anything after the start of her trip.  You can follow her travels at http://synereida.livejournal.com.  Fair winds Jeanne!

Nereida



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