Home	Summer Sailstice June 20, 2015

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

It was a typical San Francisco Bay day to celebrate Summer Sailstice! Spotty westerly winds were filliing in by 1100, with 10 -12 knots by Hunters Point and very little south of the Bay Bridge aorund Yerba Buena Isalnd for the rendezvous point for an Islander cruise. A slightly larger number of ships than normal were anchored in the South Bay, and a clean tongue of fog threaded through the Golden Gate and tipped at Berkeley. Here's how it came together as folks celebrated the longest sailing day of the year.

Evanescence
Laurie and I are bringing a couple of friends along to the Summer Sailstice sail around the island and anchoring out in Clipper Cove. The owners of California Airways will be with us. Kieth likes to sail and Suzie likes to anchor and relax.
So our day started at Alameda Marina where Laurie saw two beached sea slugs called 'California Brown Sea Hares'. Of course she jumped the fence and walked thru the mud because they were beached at low tide and it was becoming warm and sunny. She picked up these 12" longs things and back to the water they went and lived to see Summer.

Bella Luna
You will see me applying the last two coats of varnish on all of the woodwork on the deck of Bella Luna.
If I get enough done I may watch it dry at the Clipper Cove, treasure island!
P.S. That is where the sea plane from Seattle transported me into California at six months of age!

Caio,
Bob DaPrato

(Bob sent the final great sun halo picture from another boat that he jumped aboard after varnishing Bella Luna.)

Zingara
You may see us racing depending on course. Have fun!
Jocelyn Swanson

In addition to the above, the BAADS boat Tashi with a crew of five joined the fun in Clipper Cove. Their I-36 Orion was on the hard at KKMI getting some work done. Rick & Sandy Van Mell sailed Vanishing Animal up from Brisbane Marina and joined Evanescence in a sail around Treasure Island before rafting up in Clipper Cove.

In typical SF Bay style, the wind kicked to 20 knots after 1400 and, once Tashi rafted up with Evanescence and Vanishing Animal, the windage was too much for a single anchor and the whole raft started dragging. We separated, with Tashi anchoring by themselves, and Evanescence and Vanishing Animal rafting up farther in with less wind.

Pictures by Smokey and Laurie Stover, Bob DaPrato and Rick Van Mell . Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Laurie rescues ...	sea slugs.	Heading toward ...	San Francisco ...
AT&T Park ...	ships astern ...	slow going against 2 knot current.	Yerba Buena I. ahead ...
There's Evanescence ...	at the lighthouse ...	sailing past it ...	looking great ...
from windward ...	and astern ...	Good Morning Smokey!	New tower ...old light.
Under the Bay Bridge (see the fog?)	At anchor, Clipper Cove	Vanishing Animal approaches ...	alongside ...
Rick waves ...	nice and neat.	Aboard Evanescence ...	Susie relaxes.
Goodies await ...	relish from Laurie.	Tashi (BAADS) arrives ...	alongside ...
crew comes below ...	Nina's happy.	Time to go.	Perfect Summer Sailstice!

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