Any suggestions on approaching Berkeley marina with a 26M? What are the best tide, current, and wind conditions to approach?
I plan on visiting Berkeley marina with my 26M in mid May and have heard it has quite a reputation for being difficult to approach.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Berkeley Marina
Make sure you leave with all sails down and engine running and locked. It can be tricky as I found out once. Also full ballast. When you exit there is a T at the end. I turned left with my sails up and forgot to fill the ballast. I caught a strong gust of wind. I thought we were going over or hit the rocks. Quick reaction on my part keep from doing either. Sure put the crew in a good mood at the start. Good luck. Good thing is
San Francisco bay is a gas to sail. Lots of places to go. Sausalito is a good place to spend the night. Just be careful leaving Berkley going out there are a lot of pileons to the left. Be to go under the Golden Gate Bridge. Have fun.
San Francisco bay is a gas to sail. Lots of places to go. Sausalito is a good place to spend the night. Just be careful leaving Berkley going out there are a lot of pileons to the left. Be to go under the Golden Gate Bridge. Have fun.
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Frank C
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I defer to those who sail this area more often than I do (maybe 4-5 times a year) but the GG Bridge is not a place to go until you know the area well.
There was a cool sequence of shots of someone destroying a 21 foot Cat (IIRC) under the South pier last year.
I got into mild (professional) disagreement with my last skipper at Berkeley - his practice was to return to marina with all sails up, under motor. Rationale was if motor conked out, you could still sail. The marina is way too narrow to effectively sail, imho, and I think the more seamanlike approach would be to haul everything in, motor, and throw an anchor out in the event of motor failure.
We were blown all over the marina (although the skipper was an expert helmsman and did not lose control at all, to his credit.) - I do not think it would have been fun under sail in tight quarters.
There are some pretty funky steel boats in that Marina too, btw....
There was a cool sequence of shots of someone destroying a 21 foot Cat (IIRC) under the South pier last year.
I got into mild (professional) disagreement with my last skipper at Berkeley - his practice was to return to marina with all sails up, under motor. Rationale was if motor conked out, you could still sail. The marina is way too narrow to effectively sail, imho, and I think the more seamanlike approach would be to haul everything in, motor, and throw an anchor out in the event of motor failure.
We were blown all over the marina (although the skipper was an expert helmsman and did not lose control at all, to his credit.) - I do not think it would have been fun under sail in tight quarters.
There are some pretty funky steel boats in that Marina too, btw....