Jul 07 2007
July 4, 2007.
We’ve been working like dogs on our little boat, frantically trying to get her in good enough shape to move aboard. Jason and Marc have been pulling insane hours doing boat foo while I pull insane hours trying to make the money to bankroll boat foo. Stress levels are pretty high, but there’s a lot of satisfaction going around too, as we figure out the mysteries and set things right.
For the holiday, Jason’s folks, Terri and Allen, had come down from Oregon to visit. Allen is a professional diesel mechanic, and Terri hates the water. Good thing she had grandbabies and Kaia to distract her. It was awesome of her, though, to face it down, because it allowed me to actually sail, instead of let everyone around me do all the work while I ride herd on boyos, which is what has happened every time we’ve gone out before (in Puerto Rico…. we haven’t been out here, yet…)
It had occurred to us that maybe 4th of July on San Francisco Bay might not have been the smartest time for us to head out on our maiden voyage. But hey, what’s life without a little adventure, right? Since I came down to the boat after everyone else, I got to fight the good fight for parking in the Emeryville Marina Parking Lot. There was one member of Emeryville’s Finest per lot, writing tickets faster than I’ve ever seen in my life. They were cruising the lot and shaking people down, making them move on instead of waiting for spots to open up. Cop headed over to me, saw my parking permit, gave me a big smile and a wave, and said “go ahead, you live here.” It was cool. So once we got settled in and got everything stowed, we cast off from the dock and headed over to the fuel dock before they closed.
Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but keep in mind, we’ve never maneuvered this beast in close marina quarters before, we’ve never fueled her ourselves before, and both the fuel gauges are nonfunctional (port reads empty, starboard reads full, no matter what). Oh, and the fuel dock is the single busiest area of the marina, since it’s right adjacent to the party/fishing boat docks. So in front of a huge audience of drunken fisher folk, we managed a picture-perfect docking. I was so proud. We actually looked like we knew what we were doing.
Right after we arrived, the fuel dock closed for the night, so we stayed tied up there, in order to get our mainsail put up. It had been out at the loft for a few weeks, while the inestimable but wholly overworked Rui tried to get it, our large jib, and our staysail repaired (you know, the repairs on the mainsail that were supposedly done in Panama, but in fact weren’t? SIGH). Jason had picked it up just before closing the day before, so the stitching was practically still warm. Yay Rui! Thanks!
In a supreme coincidence of coolness, one of the party boats had some drummers aboard, who started up just as Jason got going with the mainsail. Wheeee! Drumming, dancing, and sail wrangling. Who could ask for more?
Well, Rowan could, that’s who. Since his birthday is coming up, Allen and Terri had brought his birthday presents down, so we chose this sunny and drum-filled moment to open birthday presents. A new sweatshirt, a new windbreaker, and a totally cool RC speedboat, so Rowan has something neat to do while we’re at dock. Hurrah! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
The main went up with a minimum of difficulty, yet still, somehow, took every man on the boat to accomplish. Allen was great about getting Rowan involved in the process, so he felt like he’d done it. When all was said and done, our sail was up, and whole, and hole-less, and even thought it’s old and baggy, just knowing we were up and running again made me incredibly happy. So with installation and inspection over, we decided to head out into the fray… I mean, the Bay…
It was gorgeous out there. We saw quite a few of our friends from the Marina, and of course, everyone was smiling, waving, and excited about the evening. The wind had picked up significantly, so there was actual sailing to be done. We were a little worried, at first, that we’d be stuck motoring, but the good old Bay wind machine kicked in beautifully. By the time we hit the center of the Bay, we were making an easy 10 knots on sail power alone. WHOOT! More and more boats showed up as sunset fell, and the Coast Guard started broadcasting the firework schedules, to keep us out from under them. Sausalito was first, at 9PM, followed by San Francisco at 9:30, and all the other shows sometime after that.
Sausalito was nice, but we were a little ways off, and it was a smaller show. The San Francisco show was hands-down incredible. Obviously, we didn’t take any pictures of our own, but this one, taken by a reporter on Avila Point, shows where we were. If you look at the water dead-center between the two fireworks, that was us. Best possible viewing location, and we shared it with probably 30 other boats. Having been out on the water during Fleet Week, I was expecting more crowded conditions and more boater craziness, but actually, everyone was really friendly, really polite, and we never even felt crowded. Fantastic.
This is a better shot of the fireworks themselves. The whole show seemed to go on forever, and we saw stuff we’d never seen before, including 3-D boxes, smiley faces, and some tracer stuff that was just breathtaking.
By this point, Kestrel was asleep, Rowan and Terri were freezing, and everyone else was pretty tired. So we began the long slow motor back to the Marina. Did I mention that this was our maiden voyage? We’ve never been back into the Marina in daylight, let alone at night! Jason did a great job (even though the GPS destroys night vision), and I did most of the light-spotting. Once we got past the Berkeley Pier, everyone breathed a little easier, and we were able to just follow the other boats back in through the slot. And despite fatigue and a slight crosswind, we managed another picture-perfect docking.
It really doesn’t get any better than this. Our boat was comfortable and fast at the same time, the Bay was gorgeous, the other sailors were friendly and safe, and the kids and the dog all acted like they’d been doing this their whole lives. If this is just the beginning, I can’t wait to see what happens next…
Wahoo!
Oh man, that’s just so cool. Best of luck on your Adventure! Love your writing style too - picturesque!!