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Spring Break on SF bay - itineray ideas?

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tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/20/2005 : 02:46:39

It was suggested to me that I take a week off work when my wife the teacher and the kids are off this spring so we can cruise the bay.

Our goal is to hit a new port each night and do some fun stuff for the kids during the day.

Angel Island is on the list with a day hike, overnight on a mooring.
Kids might light the maritime museum but where do we dock?
The bay model in Saulsalito - would the kids like it?
Could we get a slip at Gas House cove and walk to the Palace of Fine Arts/Exploratorium? Other thoughts on Bay destinations? My grandmother lives in Napa - thought about making a trip up the river but am a little intimidated by the Susuin Bay and the length of the river trip. Best place to leave the truck and trailer for the week? Alameda?

I know some of you guys sail the bay all the time. What are your favorites? The kids are 9 and 7.

Also it would be fun to meet some of you. I was fun to meet Ed Montegue this past summer.

Todd Hansen
Fiorghra'
San Luis Obispo, CA

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 01/20/2005 : 08:23:12

I don't know if Gas House Cove has guest slips, but the new marina at South Beach Harbor does. To visit the Maritime Museum from there, take the Muni bus that runs along the Embarcadero, it used to be the #38 when I lived there. One of my favorite places to visit in The City is the museum complex in Golden Gate Park (DeYoung art museum and California Academy of Sciences). I don't remember which bus line(s) run to that area of GG Park, but you can check on Muni's web site www.sfmuni.org. Other nice destinations around the Bay: Petaluma, San Leandro (nice marina , friendly staff), Richmond Marina Bay, Jack London Square in the Oakland estuary, Vallejo in the North Bay.

Edited by - on

PZell
Admiral

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USA
548 Posts

Response Posted - 01/20/2005 : 15:12:35

If Napa is too intimidating, you might try going up the Petaluma River. Nice trip and some
shops etc. downtown petaluma. Stay at the Marina is handy, also a hotel right there if you
want to get off the boat; trying to get all the way down town is iffy because of the RR bridge and request for opening. In SF take the kids to the Exploritorium, they are just the right age. My mugs in the maritime museum upstairs. Lunch on the estuary at a couple of places is cool. Keep us posted, will try to tag along at some point.

Edited by - on

tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2005 : 00:33:53

Trip will be the last week of March. I will look into South Beach Harbor. It is probably warmer than Gas House. I think the De Young is closed for renovations right now.

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MattL
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2005 : 01:04:31

I've been to South Beach Harbor a couple or three times, it was great every time. West Marine is a block away too, as well as great places to eat. We usually put in at Alameda, the grant street ramp works at any tide. Will talk to the wife and check my schedule, we are also teachers. Sounds like a great place to meet up.

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tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 01/25/2005 : 03:36:31

The itenerary is starting to shape up.

Fri Mar 25: Arrive Grand Ave ramp, set up and go sailing on the bay, under the bay bridge and over the bart tube by request of kids. Spend night in South Beach Marina.

Sat. Mar 26: Exploratorium in morning followed by afternoon sail, berth in South Beach again.

Sun Mar 27: Take Caltrain to Palo Alto for Easter with cousins.

Monday Mar 28: Sail over to Angel Island and grab a mooring. Inflate dingy and go explore the island on foot or rent bikes. Enjoy a quiet eveing in Ayala cove.

Tues Mar 29: Leave early and make the voyage to Napa to see great grand mother, travel past the Mare Island Shipyard. Spend night in Marina or on the hook?

Wed Mar 30: Spend day with great grandmother. Get back down river on the tide and spend the night in Vallejo.

Thursday: Get back to the main bay before the winds in Suisun kick up.

Now what? Back to Angel Island. Maybe stay in Napa longer- take a dingy ride to downtown for an explore. Salsalito?

I still have to check the chart distances and tides and currents to see what our travel times would be.

Edited by - on

jwilliams
Captain

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USA
357 Posts

Response Posted - 01/25/2005 : 10:47:17

Todd,

Sausalito is good at Schoonmachers, just get an inside guest slip and avoid the wakes.

If you stay anywhere else you may have to contend with the 5am fisherman stampede going aboard the charters.

Nice places to eat there, 10 min walk to town, even a movie house.

Jim Williams
Hey Jude C25fk 2958
SF Bay

PS: Paul's mugg is in the Maritime Museum upstairs. He is prettier now.

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 01/25/2005 : 12:14:23

Jack London Square is nice.http://www.jacklondonsquare.com/Public berths are available at Jack London Square. Call the Harbor Master for more information at 510-834-4591.
I also love Saulsilito, I used to eat at the Chart House there and in Boston. The one in Saulsilito is gone now.
It would be cool to get a picture of Cliff House from the water.
Don't forget Haight Ashbury! American History 101.

Edited by - on

Stu Jackson C34
Admiral

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844 Posts

Response Posted - 01/25/2005 : 13:12:01

If you haven't already, read "Sailing the Bay" by Kimball Livingston. Don't sweat the trip back down San Pablo Bay. Throw a reef in the main. If you have a large (over 110) jib, consider borrowing a smaller jib for that part of the trip. Your itinerary sounds very doable. The Napa Valley Marina is outside downtown Napa by quite a bit. There may be some newer marinas closer to town, and I believe there is a sailing club just south of the bridge into town with townhouses. If grandma has a car, she could pick you up at the marina. Anchoring out on the Napa River is very nice, too.

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 01/26/2005 : 09:13:09

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by fhopper@mac.com
 
Don't forget Haight Ashbury! American History 101.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I lived at #1134 Haight Street in 1967-68, the years I was in 6th/7th grade. Our house was near the corner of Haight and Baker, about 4 blocks east of Ashbury. At the time, in my pre-teen mind, it seemed like just another neighborhood; hard to belive how I was living in the middle of history in the making and didn't even notice it. There was a live music venue, a former movie theater I guess, on Haight a couple blocks west of Ashbury, and I remember seeing names of now-historic bands on the marquee when they played there: Country Joe and the Fish, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and the Greatful Dead to name a few.
Could that have been 37 years ago?!? Doesn't seem possible. Where has all that time gone?

Edited by - on

PZell
Admiral

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USA
548 Posts

Response Posted - 01/26/2005 : 10:19:11

Yeah, I was going to SF State then. The rallies, riots, strikes, Hiyakawa, the whole nine yards. And watching the guy next to me in class blow his mind with
LSD. I must say the sights were good tho. First the mini skirts and then the
letting it all hang out. Fortunately (or unfortunately however you view it) I
was a serious student. A vet intent on getting an education. I don't feel forty years older.

Edited by - on

tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 01/28/2005 : 01:15:37

I have the chart for SF bay taped to the kitchen wall. The kids are having a lot of fun tracing our itinerary and looking at the features of the chart. They are calling for a circumnavigation of Yerba Buena and Treasure Island.

Someone at work today was telling me about a place between Saulsalito and the gate with historical exhibits about Chinese shrimping in the bay. Anyone know anymore about this?

Edited by - on

Stu Jackson C34
Admiral

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844 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2005 : 15:48:20

Todd

That'd be China Camp, nowhere near Sausalito or the Gate, but up north of the Richmond San Rafael Bridge on the west side of the southern end of San Pablo Bay, just north of McNear's Beach. There's an anchorage there, and a museum and lunch shack as part of China Camp State Park. Great place to hang on the hook, need a dinghy to get ashore.

A circumnavigation of YB/TI is fun, even better is to go around Angel Island and Alcatraz - the views are better. If you'll be in and out of the estuary, you can do a cn of YB/TI by going out one side and coming back the other.

BTW, the better route for Bay day sailing is counterclockwise around the bay, as the winds build in the afternoon. All covered in the book I recommended.

Also, going to Napa you will NEED to run the currents or else you'll never get there. Or back.

Edited by - Stu Jackson C34 on 01/29/2005 15:50:55

tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 01/30/2005 : 01:39:37

Stu, thanks for the information, sounds like it might fit into our plans perfectly. I know I will need to carefully plan to account for currents. One of these days I will tell the story of my introduction to the effects SF Bay's currents can have on even fast boats like a Hobie cat. I never did get all the green bouy paint off the bow of the Hobie before I sold it. The can at the south east tip of Angel Island will always be remembered by me ( and my brother in law who briefly occupied it)

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Stu Jackson C34
Admiral

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844 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2005 : 14:43:20

Todd

Just for kicks, the real name of that buoy is Pt. Blunt!!! :)

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tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2005 : 15:49:58

Checked out the web site for China Camp. Looks perfect for my fourth grader - California history - should tie in with the emigration station on Angel Island well. When I mentioned China Camp to the kids they were very excited to visit it as Heul Houser featured it on his PBS show California's Gold, one of their favorites.

I will try to track down Kimball's book. If we were to cn Treasure Island would you go counter clockwise of clockwise? The Hobie race we used to do went around clockwise and I remember a reach on the edge of control in front of the island once we got past the bay bridge until we turned at the north end of the island. Then is was a flat water reach on the back side until the wind was blocked by the island.

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Stu Jackson C34
Admiral

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844 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2005 : 16:40:28

Depends on what time of the day you go. If it's early, head from South Beach Harbor either between the A & B spans or the D & E spans of the bridge, the eastern suspension span, but stay a bit to the west side. When the wind picks up, you'll get a nice close reach to the NW end of TI. Then a run around the north side of the island, jibe and back down the east side with flat water. That's on a building wind. If it looks nice, it doesn't matter which way you go. The advantage of going up the east side first CCW is that you're sailing and getting accustomed to things before you hit the Slot.

Either way, you get downwind and broad reaches in during the day, as well as bashing your brains out for a period of time.

Welcome to the Bay. Hope you find the book, it's really worth it.

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