Home	July 4th Benicia Cruise 2015

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

San Francisco Bay at it's summer best wrapped up this year's July 4th cruise to Benicia for a great dinner with Rob & Ruby Blenderman, topped off with Benicia's fireworks. In all we had nine Islanders participating. It was foggy in the mornings with plenty of breeze and temperatures in the low 60's, giving way to blazing sun and 80's in Benicia in the afternoon with winds in the 20 knot range. Even the tide was mostly cooperative, with a nice 2.4 knot flood going up on Friday, and a 3.4 knot ebb blasting us home on Sunday. That, however comes with a steep price as a westerly wind against an ebb current sets up standing waves on San Pablo Bay that can send green water over the bow and bring an Islander to a dead stop if you hit it wrong.

But fun it was, as Freedom won and Vanishing Animal gathered at Emeryville Thursday evening to get a good start Friday morning and enjoyed a quiet dinner together.

Sun broke through the Friday morning fog early, and by the time John & Rick were under way at 0950, there was enough blue above to make a Dutchman's pants. Though they were a little early for the 1100 rendezvous time, the conditions were too perfect and tempting to wait around, so they called Smokey on Evanescence, said "sorry", and hoisted sail. With a good 15 knot westerly flowing through the Gate and the start of a flood, making 8 knots over the bottom was a joy ride toward the San Rafael Bridge.

As often happens, the wind went aft and light as we approached Red Rock and the bridge, so a little engine time got us around Pt. San Pablo and into San Pablo Bay. With wind and current in the same direction, it was a fast and smooth ride to Benicia. Vanishing Animal arrived about 1340 with Freedom Won right behind, and Evanescence a few minutes later, followed by Fantasy. Serenity completed our armada about 1730.

With lots of holiday traffic at the fuel dock, it took almost an hour to get everyone registered and into slips. Rob Blenderman (White Horses) was on hand to take lines and joined us on the dock. The marina was able to get all Islanders at the same dock, which made for easy socializing into the afternoon.

It was closer to 1900 when we all gathered up and walked around to the Benicia Yacht Club for dinner. By then Ruby and her friend Janell had joined us, as did Jay & Jean Lund of Solitude. BYC was buzzing with 14 boats in from Berkeley YC, plus their own members and a party downstairs. That made for slow service, but everyone was friendly and relaxed and enjoyed the view. It was dusk as we filtered back aboard the boats for a good night's sleep.

It blew all night, and was still blowing about 15 knots Saturday morning. Some went out for breakfast, then Nanci, Cheryl, Sandy & Cynthia teamed up to walk the galleries of Benicia. They made a whole day of it, starting off about 1015 and finally getting back to the docks at 1500.

Then it was on to Rob & Ruby's house for their wonderful July 4th dinner. Thanks to Gary & Pat Salvo (Ophira) we had an Uber service from the docks to the house t K and 7th streets, about a mile form the water. New house additions this year included a rooftop lounge area, a sturdy set of stairs to the roof, and fun shell fountain on the front patio. Ruby's ribs and assorted goodies were the star of the dinner, plus lots of goodies brought by the Islander fleet and a host of invited neighbors. Whether it was rooftop viewing in the breeze, or relaxing on the front patio or covered gazebo, it was a fun evening.

Pat ran the shuttle back to the boats so we could enjoy the fireworks from the comfort of our cockpits which conveniently faced directly toward the show. Just a touch of royal blue tinged the sky when the first booms rolled across the water. Sparks flew and showered from the skies, punctuated by booms and crackles for a good 20 minutes as Benicia put on the show. Across the water and to the east, Martinez did their show and we could swivel our necks to see both!

But 2200 saw all off to their bunks. We had talked about an 0800 Sunday morning departure ahead of an 0930 max ebb, but the harbormaster convinced us that it would be better to leave earlier since it was going to be a minus one foot tide, and all the Islanders had been stuck in the mud by mid-tide on Saturday. So 0700 was agreed. It blew all night. Some of us slept fitfully as gusts hummed in the rigging and vibrated halyards into a mast percussion. Total stratus blanketed us as we arose at 0600. Occasional gusts were easy 15 knots across the harbor. Smokey led the way by 0640, Solitude 0645, Vanishing Animal 0653, and Freedom Won right behind. The ebb current was already at 2 knots and even motoring against the wind at 6 knots, we were doing 8 over the bottom. Ahead at the Carquinez Bridge the standing waves were already starting to build and the pounding began. Smokey set a reefed main on and close tacked against the wind, while Rick just powered dead upwind. Up to the bridge, rick caught and passed Smokey, but after the bridge and until passing the ship docks and log jetty they were even. The pictures don't do justice to the spray on Smokey's dodger, or the leap of Vanishing Animal's bow. Many times the boat speed dropped under 1 knot, green water came over the cabintop, and twice cascaded into the cabin and soaked the rug. (As Sandy says, "That's what you get for not having a dodger.") Once past the ship docks, though the wind still held at about 20 and edging along the 12 foot contour, the waves flattened out, and Rick was able to power away from Smokey opening up over a mile lead by Point San Pablo. By then it was easy going, making over 7 knots over the bottom with about a knot of ebb tide and sliding into the Main Bay under the San Rafael bridge. Even bundled up Laurie looks a bit happier with that bridge astern and that water flat.
With nine boats participating, we had a great weekend! Enjoy the pictures.

Here's the list of boats attending:

Pictures by Smokey & Laurie Stover, Cynthia Bronte, Rick & Sandy Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Nest in the main.	Foggy west ...	clearing east.	Ships astern	Full Estuary ...
and outer harbor.	Into Emeryville ...	channel ahead ...	it's a sharp turn ...	looking back to Bay ...
into the harbor.	Cozy below ...	Portabella Ravioli ...	with organic marinara!	Fri morning - Emeryville
Vanishing Animal	Freedom Won	Starting out ...	makiing the turn ...	leaving harbor.
Sunlight on new bridge ...	city too ...	clouds are clearing.	Making good time.	San Pablo Bay ...
Freedom Won	Here comes ...	Big Iron.	A tug too	Carquinez Bridge ...
getting closer.	View from Evanescence	Islanders docked ...	Evanescence	Freedom Won
Vanishing Animal	Fantasy	Serenity arrives	Flags fly.	Social time.
Heading for dinner.	Fleet looks good.	From Benicia YC Mt. Diablo astern	On the deck ...	with Rick.
The Joint Is Jumpin'	2100 hours.	Saturday morning ...	White Horses	New addition of ...
Solitude	Four great women ...	go shopping!	Off to Rob & Ruby's	Ruby art work ...
special greeter ...	living room ...	food service bar ...	The Boss	Rick & Ruby
behind this door ...	is the fridge ...	Eric on guard.	Stairway art work	more stairway art work!
ditto	Guest bedroom	Master bedroom	Double sinks!	Stairway to Heaven ...
follow in line ...	rooftop delight	Ruby reigns ...	fun family ...	pick a car!
Meanwhile, on the patio	John has a friend	Beer cat!	Gene & Cheryl	Rick & John
Sandy too	Great new fountain	Food time ...	ribs are great ...	over here too.
A plate full	Rob is happy.	The End.	Reefed & rugged ...	VA takes a big bounce ...
relaxed at San Rafael

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