I was glad the other evening to attend one of Kame Richards’ famous talks about tides in the Bay at the Bay Model in Sausalito. It was a real eye-opener for a novice racing sailor. While I’d been to the model once or twice before, Kame showed how the currents in the Bay work from a sailor’s perspective. He should know — he is the proprietor of Pineapple Sails in Alameda and a long-time racer of and Express 37. The talk was illustrated by analysis of a number of areal photos, and then we went out to the model to see the water in action.
Important points
Currents rule, and they are cruel.
Sea state. Even if you can’t make out a current line, look for areas of transition from white caps to no white caps. Water flowing to windward will be smoother.
Counter currents. Nearly every point generates one. Look for it. Learn to snuggle up to the city front, especially when heading W. in a flood.
On Westerly days, the wind fans out so as to appear to be coming from Pt. Blunt no matter where one is along the E. shore of the Bay.
Alcatraz 1. The wake of Alcatraz has a huge opening angle, and extends for miles. Look for it! The tide line to the south runs from Alcatraz straight toward the isthmus of TI-Yerba Buena.
Alcatraz 2. The dirty air behind Alacatraz covers a much small angle than the current wake.
TI. The dirty air behind TI extends out pretty far. We got burned by this in this year’s 3BF, among other things.
Wind vs. current. The domant wind direction in the central bay is along a line from the South Tower to Alcatraz. The dominant current direction in the middle of the Gate is WSW. These don’t line up. Need to think about what that means.
Keep an eye on commercial fishermen. They will often take the most efficient routes.
Angel Island. The dead zone is big, big, big. But you knew that. Respect the hole!
The ebb will start along the shore before the flood in the center is stopped.
The same applies outside the Gate. No matter what the tidal state, you can find a counter-area if you need one.
Slack water isn’t slack. It just means that the net flow out the Gate is zero. It is really still flowing out in some areas, in in some others.
In wet winters, the momentum of the surface fresh water from the rivers can carry water well down into the South Bay, well past the time when the ebb ’should’ have stopped.
Styrofoam disks suspended from poles on thread indicate current flow. Here, the counter-current to the main ebb tide just outside the Gate is easy to see.
Thirty-two years after the race was created, the 17th edition of The Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6,50 will leave on Sunday the 13th of September 2009 to Salvador de Bahia (Brazil). Previously known as Mini-Transat, this now legendary event brings together every two years, skippers of all backgrounds, (small ones, large ones and future large ones) in a spirit made of solidarity, and mutual respect with all nationalities represented! The Charente Maritime / Bahia Transat 6.50 race is the most international solo race with no less than 12 nationalities represented.
Never Sea Land officially supports Americans Jesse Naimark-Rowse (in the Protos) and Craig Horsfield (Serie) in this edition of the Mini Transat!
For reasons that now escape me, I did not attend last spring’s 2009 St. Marten Heineken Regatta. This year too much fun will be had March 4 – 7, so mark your calendars!
Better late than never, here is my report on our first completed race ever in Temerity, RYC’s Big Daddy pursuit race which was held back on March 15. Crew for the day was David, guest sailor/blogger Edward (who has his own very nice report up), Annika, Char, and Michael.
The route. After some shilly-shallying, we chose CCW, or did it choose us? Pretty painful with the #2 up in light air, getting rolled over and over, but we were glad of it on the reach down to Alcatraz (curiously not on the map). Char was responsible for the upwind work in Raccoon Straight.
Speed as recorded on the GPS. The three legs of the race are pretty distinct. Pretty exciting there in the end, kissing 9kts with the 0.6 oz blue kite up. Pretty exciting getting the kite down on the wrong side, too, and entertaining the rest of the fleet in the ensuing shrimp-fest.
Crew enjoys hot chocolate race-day morning.
The next Sam Davies (?), spokesmodel for Gill junior foulies.
Char driving.
Char rocks!
At the end, we were DFL – 1, which is an improvement over DNF. Next year we will beat 10 boats, the year after that? We will see!
Some scenes from last year’s Great Vallejo Race. We’ll be there this year, enjoying the racing, the multiple bars, and Johnny Nitro and the Doorslammers.
The race starts near the Berkeley Circle on Saturday morning, rounds a single weather mark near Alcatraz, and then heads to Vallejo, usually under spinnaker for the remainder of the race. The challenge is to maintain speed through the shadow of Angel Island, find the best combination of wind and current past the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and East Brother Light Station and then avoid the mud shoals on the east side of San Pablo Bay. Depending on the day, the passage through San Pablo Bay can be a breeze (intentional pun), or a miserable drifter, complicated always by the currents, no matter its direction.
PZZ530-112230-
SAN FRANCISCO SAN PABLO SUISUN BAY AND THE WEST DELTA-
843 AM PDT WED MAR 11 2009
.TODAY…W WINDS 5 KT…BECOMING NW IN THE AFTERNOON.
.TONIGHT…W WINDS 10 KT.
.THU…SW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT.
.THU NIGHT…SW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT.
.FRI…SW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT.
.SAT…SW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT…BECOMING W.
.SUN…NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT.
$$
Now we just need to get Michael trained up to do bow Saturday morning. I’m letting Edward call tactics on this one, hoping he’ll have better luck than I did in 3BF.
Crossing the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne at 12h 43 19s GMT Rich Wilson completed the 24,840 mile Vendée Globe solo non stop round the world race in ninth place, completing a highly creditable result which is testament to his excellent seamanship skills, deep determination, careful planning and prudent execution, staying the distance to finish this incredible edition of the race which has claimed the highest attrition rate yet. Wilson finished 121 days 00 hours, 41 minutes and 19 seconds after leaving Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday November 9th. Wilson averaged 9.84 knots on the water covering 28,590 miles. He sailed the 24,840 theoretical miles at an average speed of 8.55 knots.
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