STRONG winds in the teens to thirty knots, BUT coming directly from our destination. The fully reefed (two reefs) main did get some workout and helped us on the last parts of the trip.

After a nice couple of days relaxing and socializing at the Point San Pablo Yacht Club we sailed to China Camp where we plan to sit at anchor for three days. Anchored in six feet of water the first time. Hoping the anchor holds (think it will). Anchor held but the boat ahead of us had apparently put out 140' of line in six feet of water. Ugh. When the current direction changed they were ten feet away. We yelled back and forth and I suggested VHF. They told me their radio wasn't working for transmitting. Sometimes the best solution is to just MOVE. We did and re-anchored. Beautiful sunset.

I tracked our sail on SeaPeople, and then lost the track! My fault. Just realized that I drew the track showing here in REVERSE. I'll leave it as I might make a mistake and lose the post. :) Started about noon from Pier 39 marina with one reef in the main and mostly out genoa. Winds were in the mid-teens from the west so it was a great sail. We took the main down just outside the main Richmond channel entrance, but sailed under a fully unfurled genoa up the Santa Fe channel until reaching the PSPYC. Greeted by friends who caught our lines and then chilled the rest of the day that included a tour of the great YC workshop. I sell woodworking tools, and was really impressed by the shop at this volunteer club. I slept amazingly well and soundly. Breakfast was at the YC and prepared by one of their members. Thansk to them for this.

Checking out a different type of boating. Model yacht club Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco, from the dock of the Bay, with the nearly full moon and the City skyline. #pier39marina

Spending the day on the boat (always good). Had planned some varnish work, but the wind is keeping me inside. 22 knot winds when I arrived and now 26 knots.

Last weekend, while we were moored, we enjoyed seeing this crew practicing over and over again to grab a mooring under sail. I WAS IMPRESSED. In addition to this photo I also took a video of one complete, and successful, attempt. They were very successful repeatedly. Was able to send the photos to them.

These guys can be fun, noisy, and really awful to boats. Much prefer it when they stay on the tourist side of the marina and far far away from Wanderlust.

I'll cleanup tomorrow and deflate the dinghy.

Got one mooring and decided to inflate the dinghy to get the second (required) mooring. By the time the dinghy was in the water we ALMOST had drifted to the second mooring. Short, but the dinghy was needed.

Great day sail on the Bay. Had lunch before untying the lines and set 📐 immediately. One reef in main and mostly unfurled genoa. We were almost through Raccoon Straits after a number of tacks in good winds, but then just a couple knots and going nowhere. Motored for maybe twenty minutes and from nothing to close to twenty knots. Typical SF weather. Finished the day with some single malt Scotch in the slip. Great crew, thanks guys.

The morning had been filled with significant rocking and rolling while on the mooring at Angel Island. We slipped the lines and headed west out of Racoon Straits. Not long after we turned south for the City front. Genoa out completely but no mainsail. The wind was in the mid to upper twenties from behind us much of the way home so we looked for a wind shadow behind Alcatraz to help rolling in the genoa. We got some relief and did a great job (thanks first mate Cappy) for a great job slacking the jib sheets as I rolled up the roller furling. When we have the main out I had downwind so the main shadows the genoa. There was a lot of boat movement coutesy of water conditions created by the strong north wind. Eleven days on the water with docking, anchoring, and mooring. Looking forward to another trip soon. We were glad that a hot dog stand was five minutes walk from our slip. Had lunch and packing up to head home.

Spending a couple nights on a mooring at Angel Island on San Francisco Bay. A gem of the Bay waters.

We were planning our departure from Petalma to Angel Island and were concerned about tides. We decided to depart Petaluma at 6:30am on a falling tide. We had concerns about grounding, but forgot that we would also be getting speed from the current flowing out the river. The bridge opened for us at 6:30am and we nearly flew down the river. The Raymarine Axiom with Navionics charts did a great job advising me when to accept a change in course. What we thought would be a four hour trip to the open water was more like two hours. Then, in open water and genoa out full we hit 9 kts SOG. The moorings at Angel Island are fairly silted and we arrived at low (minus) tide. We sided up to the furthest mooring from land and were stuck in mud. That made it easy to attch the first of two mooring lines. We sat there aground and I inflated the dinghy and rowed to attached the second line. All is good now for a couple of days. Old friends (non-boaters) asked us if we wanted to join them at "Sams" in Tiburon which is only across the channel from where we are moored. Will be a perfect way to end the first sailing vacation of 2025. The celebratory is my birthday breakfast from yesterday morning. First/best mate is great at making simple meals special meals.

We weren't sure yesterday what we would do today ... stay at anchor or head to another destination. We decided to raise the anchor and head to Petaluma. Raising anchor went well, and we again enjoyed the washdown pump I installed a few years ago. SF Bay is all mud that seems to be attracted to the anchor and chain like a magnet to steel. The winds were light on the way to the Petaluma River channel, so that was motoring again. The river was also motoring as we snaked along the river and carefully kept to the deeper middle. We started the day just after low tide with plans to ride the flood to our destination. That went well, although just a couple feet off center on the entrance to the river we went aground for thirty seconds. Always happy that a previous owner repowered the boat with a 50 hp Yanmar. When we got close to the turning basin we came to a train bridge that I've never seen closed, BUT it was closed. We radioed the bridge tender and were told that a commuter train (relatively new line) would be through in five minutes after which the bridge would open for us. The bridge opened and we proceeded to the next bridge at 3pm for the 5pm schedule we had made. The city was very nice about changing that to the earlier time ... the flood tide had really carried us along nicely. We did a perfect docking, but of course no one was watching us. :) Probably here for a few days ... tomorrow is our 54th wedding anniversary and the day after is my 76th birthday. I love the month of May in case you didn't catch that.

Berkeley YC to China Camp Anchorage. Anchor set in 6' of water (the first time ... knocking on wood). Probably spend two nights before heading off to ??? we don't know. A bit of circling to avoid the oil tanker heading to Richmond. The day was just so nice that we skipped the main as how much time this sail took didn't matter.

I know which ship I'd rather be on!

Just a few hours in light winds to practice with the asym aboard "Wave Organ".

Day sail with terrific crew. Great at the helm and helped do a good clean afterwards.

In preparation for a longer trip next weekend we came to Wanderlust and filled the fresh water tank, checked engine fluids, verified that the bilge high water alarm switch, bilge switch, automatic pump, and hand pump all worked as required. Once that was done we motored to the fuel dock for 20 gallons of fuel (FYI $6/gallon). Couldn't resist setting the Genoa in the gentle winds for a little down time from the engine noise. All set for next weekend. PS - some cold beers and boat talk afterwards.

Passage down memory lane ... been awhile since I had checked out a sextant given to me by a friend ... it had belonged to her father. I did a small amount of Internet research on restoring old maritime instruments and have ordered a copy of "The Sextant Handbook". Won't do anything until I know how to do it right. Any advice? Considered creating a SeaPeople group for antique but usable boat equipment. Are others interested?

Light winds but we had a nice sail under the Golden Gate and back to Pier 39.

Nice day sail on SF Bay. First time sailing for my new crew. He loved it.

Last time I was on Wanderlust I had to leave when we got a tsunami evacuation notification (quickly rescinded). Then a cold disabled me for a couple weeks. When I went to check on her this morning the tide was HIGH.

Lost a fender recently and the replacement needed a cover.

Last couple weeks has been vanishing, moving the boat to a temporary slip because of marina pile driving, and the heavy lifting of replacing the house battery bank. I did succumb to the local doughnut holes.