Home	Fleet Week SF 10/11-13/24

The peak of the annual excitement for Fleet Week on San Francisco Bay is the Blue Angels' demonstration at the end of the Friday, Saturday and Sunday air shows. The fun typically begins at 1230 with various demonstrations of aircraft and often simulated rescue missions as well before the Blue Angels arrive at approximately 1500. The thunder of 6 Blue Angel F-18 Super Hornets flying information is riveting and breath-taking.

SF Bay, however, is also known for its FOG. Though not as predominante in October as it is in Fogust, fog does happen in October and then the Blue Angels show is modified by the conditions as follows:
High Show: the ceiling has to be 8,000 feet or higher, and the visibility has to be at least three nautical miles. Under those conditions, the Blue Angels are able to perform their iconic rolls, loops, passes, and diamond formations.
Low Show: Overcast conditions would require a cloud ceiling of at least 4,500 feet for the Blue Angels to execute a low show, including pilots performing some maneuvers but none of the rolling.
Flat Show:If the ceiling dropped to 1,000 feet, viewers would see a flat show.
No Show:The Blue Angels said ahead of the weekend that they would not fly if clouds were lower than 1,000 feet.
Here is a link to the Blue Angels maneuvers manual which describes in detail the area required for a show and each of the maneuvers that go into the three types of shows.

Viewed aboard Wind Catcher by Dan Throop
Our own Dan Throop got an excellent view of the Friday, October 11th flight and shared these pics.

Flying in the rigging ...	Here they come ...	There they go!	Fly By	Old and new
Sultana watches.

Viewed aboard Vanishing Animal by Rick Van Mell on Saturday, October 12th
The NOAA weather forecast specifically said the weather would impact the air show, but as Rick and crew Ariana and John departed Brisbane Marina at 1315 it was all sunshine and not a cloud overhead. Still nice passing Hunters Point, but to the northwest the fog bank could be seen just behind Sutro Tower on the west side of San Francicso. By the time we passed the aircraft carrier docked just south of the Bay Bridge, there were clouds above, and looking north, a cloud draped across the top of Angel Island's 781' high summit.

By the time we reached the eastern end of the restricted "box" near BLossom Rock buoy at 1445, there were batches of blue here and there and a fantastic swoop of fog stretching from just west of the Golden Gate Bridge over to Sausalito. It was relatively clear from the City Front across to Angel Island and clear from the Golden Gate bridge all the way to the Berkeley Hills, though there was fog above them.

As we were coming north, we could see that some of the air show was in progress, probably including the F35B demo, and then the Randy Howell/Cory Lovel dual show. Then it was the United 777 fly-by and the Blue Angels support transport C-130 "Fat Albert", the opening act of the Blue Angels set. We waited. Then 1 Blue Angel pierced the fog from the north and crossed head-on over Crissy Field - the center point of the crowd. It climbed and banked left over the city, continued east just south of the Bay Bridge, and for maybe 10 minutes roared north and south along the shore between Alameda at the south end to Richmond at the north end. Lots of sound as we watched the tiny dot go back and forth, about 3.5 miles to the east of us. And then it was quiet. Rick heard a call on channel 16, "I heard the Blue Angels were cancelled, can you confirm?" There was never a clear answer, but within minutes, the various police, sherrif and Coast Guard boats were roaring away from their stations. We rolled in their wakes as they took up protective positions around the aircraft carrier, and Canadian frigate along the waterfront.

We were disappointed not to see the Blue Angels squadron and their storied acrobatics. But, all afternoon we were treated to amazing squadrons of pelicans flying in their own formations. Just like the planes, some were pairs, but the truly fantastic ones were from 30 to 50 strong.

By 1535 we were heading south under the Bay Bridge, into sunshine and blue skies. A gentle 10 knot westerly prompted us to roll out the jib which added half a knot to our 7 knot engine speed. We arrived back in our slip in Brisbane Marina at 1701, just as our GPS had predicted. Time to break out veg and dip, cheese and crackers, strawberries and whipped cream, and beverages to wash them all down. It was a beautiful day.

Brisbane Marina ...	Vanishing Animal ...	looking forward ...	ready to go.	Patriots Jet Team ...
heading north.	Resting pelicans	Roll-on Roll-off transport ...	and another.	Ariana and John ...
and Rick.	Approaching ...	San Francisco ...	aircraft carrier ...	now abeam.
Angel Island cloud.	1st Squadron (Pelican) ...	banks hard left ...	over Bay Bridge.	This is why it's ...
called the Ferry Building.	Canadian & US Frigates and maybe F35B	making a turn.	Stealthy!	Canadian Frigate
Howell/Lovel ...	making smoke ...	at Golden Gate.	Another frigate hides.	Coast Guard cutter.
United 777 ...	coming around ...	last pass.	Count the people ...	on board ...
life jackets???	Pelican squadron announces ...	Fat Albert with 31 pelicans!	50 strong over Alcatraz!	Fat Albert Golden Gate
Bay Bridge ...	and City Front.	Siling spectator ...	with a crowd.	Low and high formations!
Fat Albert overhead.	1 Blue Angel ( + 1 Pelican escort)	Blue Angel heads for Berkeley	Fantastic fog ...	on Angel Island ...
then sun.	Happy Campers ...	watch mad exodous (note formation astern)	perfect flying!	Carrier to stbd sir ...
Aye Aye Captain ...	sank same. :-)	Back in sunshine ...	sailing home ...	us too ...
picture perfect.	Happy Hour ...	fading sun, and ...	Squadron fly-by farewell.