Rose, me, Mike, Rachel and Brittney headed up the coast for the weekend to Drakes bay which is nestled in just inside Pt. Reyes, about 30 miles north of San Francisco.
The day started out a bit wet – the forecast was for showers, and it was right. We had rain for the first few hours as we sailed north up the coast in a light westerly breeze. Mike and Rachel had been having it large the night before so were fast asleep below, keeping nice and warm and dry.
Soon the sky started to lighten in the west, and within minutes we were in the sun. Point Reyes was on the horizon. The wind picked up and veered north, so we ended up tacking up to the bay as the sun started to set.
We had 3 attempts to get the anchor to hold, eventually getting it to stick as dusk fell. Food and drinks and games took us all the way to late evening – everyone pretty tired and all asleep by 11. The wind picked up further overnight, gusting over 30 knots. Up in the forward cabin it felt like we were still at sea – but the anchor held and we woke to calmer conditions and warm sunshine for Rachel’s birthday.
After breakfast we rustled the kayaks off the deck and took turns heading to shore to check out the (very noisy) elephant seals. These things are huge. A few harbour seals (like we have down in Sausalito) were their usual inquisitive selves, following the paddlers almost all the way back out to the boat. I’m pleased by how the kayaks handle the chop – we got a bit wet without spray decks, but that’s easy to sort.
By 1130 we were “back on the road”. A fresh NW wind from almost dead astern meant we had to put a few gybes in as we headed back down the coast. We tried wing-on-wing for a while but it was a little too rolly without polling out the jib to be comfortable.
By the time we got down to the SF bay, the swell had picked up considerable. 9-14 feet the forecast said, and it was definitely on the large side of that. Large and rolling though so not dangerous. As we rounded the SW corner of Four Fathom bank, we were surfing at 12 knots down some of the larger waves. Closer in to the bridge in the shipping channel things mellowed out a bit.
As usual, we lost the wind when the sun went down and motored back to the slip in Sausalito. Mission accomplished!
Road and Ocean 