Farallon Islands

[Tahoe Jack]

I'm with a limited and experienced crew, checking tides and winds. I have taken my 15' sea kayak out under the north span of the Golden Gate, putting in at Fort Mason, and endured the Potato Patch, and on out to Point Bonita....and fortunately made a round trip right side up. The Potato Patch is at its worst with ebbing tide against strong westerlies...it just pumps like hull....and in a kayak...its head down, power paddle. The good news is that it sometimes is only a few hundred meters...and mostly just under and west of the bridge...worst at the north span I think. Anyhow, should be an adventure...and I'd pick my time and weather carefully. Jack

[tomasrey88]

Sounds like an exciting adventure.... If I were in San Fran, I'd join you and form a flotilla. If you have that many people aboard your boat, then you'd have to have a rotation system so that you'll have a minimum of 1 to 2 persons below deck in the cabin at all times. Too many people topside at the same time will make the little boat top heavy and unstable.

Here's a pic of the island's NATURAL ARCH BRIDGE:
http://www.lumigenic.com/photo/pages/284L27.bio.html

The islands are also full of sea lions and birds. Colorful diving and rough seas with no anchorage sites, too.

Sounds fun!

If you can, reduce the crew size to 4 total people and time the trip to take advantage of the tides. I would also have a full gas tank with enough gas to take you home should the sails and rudders fail. Always have 2 people on deck to keep watch. Trusting the autopilot or the electronics here is asking for trouble. Nothing beats eyeballs scanning the sea.

Have fun!

[Frank C]

Sounds like an exciting adventure.... If I were in San Fran, I'd join you and form a flotilla. If you have that many people aboard your boat, then you'd have to have a rotation system so that you'll have a minimum of 1 to 2 persons below deck in the cabin at all times.

TR ... I nominate You to be the soul acting as cabin ballast!
My MOST UNPLEASANT day EVER, was off the Golden Gate in a 36' salmon sportfishing boat. As we crossed the Potato Patch, we couldn't even see the boat that was 300 yards ahead except for about 12 seconds each minute ... the swell and chop felt like a roller coaster ride.

Of course, that diesel stack, centered about eight feet over the cabin wasn't helping matters. The Pacific breeze stalled around the cabinhouse and wafted exhaust right down into the aft cockpit. What a wonderful day~!

Not sure how you've managed it, but I'm surely NOT gonna be down in the cabin while sailing a Pacific swell ... no way, Jose~! I can't handle more than 30 seconds in my Mac cabin while sailing SF Bay chop, much less the Pacific swell.

Tell you one more thing too ... I want the mainsail UP, even if I'm motoring across that swell. Even the fully reefed mainsail adds stability and damping to the boat's motion. Of course, that also demands full ballast & foils ... but unless there's zero chop across the swell, that would be necessary anyhow. In totally flat calm, one could make a ballast-empty motorized dash for the Islands. Otherwise, I'd want to be motorsailing.

[beene]

Sure am glad I don't have to deal with that kind of sea condition up here.

30-50 kt winds, but no more than 3' of chop at the worst.

[Frank C]

Leon,

I found this great site where you can print a single page showing tides and currents for the whole month:
Tides & Currents (find Golden Gate, set options for Month Calendar, Compact, Printer Friendly)



I wanted to see when might be good timing for a one-day dash, out 'n back.
Tomorrow, Sunday 15-Apr is not ideal for your Island dash. That's because heading out on an Ebb slack means you must return under the bridge right into an Ebb current (4+ kts on the 15th). It's best to head out on a Flood slack, or just as the Ebb begins. This means your afternoon return will be on a Flood tide.

Next Sunday, 22-Apr is pretty good. Flood goes slack at ~5 am, ebb slacks at ~1 pm, means you can sail back under the Gate on a full Flood (~4 pm @ 3 kts). It's not great to come in at full Flood, but the Flood won't go slack until 1938 (about sunset). Anyhow ... next Sunday is a decent choice.

Monday the 23rd shows flood slack at 0612 with ebb slack ~2 pm.

Tuesday the 24th is almost ideal.

• Tuesday's flood slack slips back to 7:30 am ...
  Overnight at Ayala Cove, to head out against subsiding Flood, no winds at 6 am;
  Motor across in 2 to 3 hours, arrive by 9 am, quick Brunch at anchor;
  Afternoon winds should be 12 to 15 kts WNW (stern quarter);
  Set sail before 11 am for the homeward reach, with preventer;
  Motorsail (?) back under the bridge about 5 to 6 hours later ~4 pm;
  Ebb slack is ~3 pm, full Flood tide is 3 kts at 1833;
  You still have time to get home before sunset (5 pm to 8 pm);
  (April is likely the best choice until afternoon winds ease again in mid-September.)

P.S. to Bay Area Sailors: this week, Wed-18 thru Sunday-22 is the Strictly Sail Pacific boatshow
at Jack London Square in Oakland.

[Rolf]

Delvi,
I don't know about the weather up there, but the Catalina channel has looked consistently scary for the last week. !0 foot seas, 30 mph windchop. I've seen it like this for a day or two, but never for pushing on 9 days straight now. If it's like this up there, a trip with relatively unexperienced newbies would be miserable as hull, if not suicidal.
30 miles each way, under sail alone, and back before dark? Impossible unless sailing nonstop and even then I wouldn't call it realistic.

I agree the farallons sound fascinating but please be careful and wait for a weather break.
Rolf

[Frank C]

It was very windy today as I drove to the marina in Alameda. Trucks on the freeway were swerving alarmingly in the wind gusts.

I'm sure Leon couldn't possibly have tried it today. NOAA weather reported Gale warnings outside the Golden Gate. Winds were west to north at 30 kts, gusting 40 kts, waters at 49 degrees, swell at a couple of the buoys was 18 ft every 9 seconds, no less than 14 ft at all the buoys. SF Bar (potato patch) reported wind waves (chop) of 4 to 8 feet ... that was atop the swell of 15 ft. Conditions at the Farallons were gusts to 39 kts and swell at 16 ft / 11 secs.

Besides all of that, Leon's return from the Farallons would have been directly into the teeth of an ebb tide that was pushed up by opposing winds of 30 kts. If you've never seen an Ebb opposed by a stiff breeze, it's other-worldly. We have a deep but narrow channel (1 mile wide?) between Angel Island and Tiburon that's called Raccoon Straits. When the Ebb occurs against afternoon winds, that channel looks absolutely as violent as a washing machine. Standing waves of 3 feet high and a hundred yards to each side, can just sit in front of your bow for 10 minutes. The reason I know it is that the Suzi 60 can be pumping 4000 rpms for everything she has while the boat just barely moves forward on GPS. I've never seen a whirlpool there, but I've heard of them. It's truly like the hydro-violence you've seen on TV in Class V river rapids. I'm sure that an afternoon Ebb through the Golden Gate is at least that bad.

NOAA reported winds today INSIDE the Bay (Treasure Island) were 10 kts, gusts to 22 kts. (abnormally wide range). NOAA also reported conditions along the San Mateo coast (about 20 miles south of the Gate) as "treacherous" for small craft. Forecast for this coming week includes winds at 90 mph across the ridges of the Sierra Nevada range. Next Sunday ... cloudy, possiblity of rain.

All of this coastal violence ... yet conditions at the offshore buoy, 350 miles west of the Golden Gate, were winds 12 kts, swell 9 feet @ 13 secs, water 56 degrees. Very strange weather ... I hope Leon was out selling houses today.

[delevi]

Yes I was Frank. Selling houses that is. I guess that's why I'm typing this message and not MIA.

I'll check my callendar for the dates you mentioned. Agree with all about crew size and ability. Also about picking the right tidal/wind conditions.

[RHC]

can't wait to read about the adventure on your return. will keep on eye on this thread.

[Catigale]

Yeeks San Fran guys...keep those spinnakers bagged

[Frank C]

RELAX team.

This thread was for a half-year ago.

[Catigale]

Doh!!

Darn relativistic time shifts....

[beene]

This thread was for a half-year ago

Yes, but that trip might be 5 days away from "now".

[delevi]

Baring any nasty weather, it's happening! G, make sure you bring that video camera. Pack your foulies too. It might get wet out there. Those Quantums are going be flying. Hope them sharkies won't be biting.... No trapezing out this time If winds are typical, we'll be beating all the way to the isles and riding the spinnaker back. Surf's Up! Maybe we can sell the video to Roger. Still not sure how we’ll be able to show his boat actually doing 17 mph under sail

Leon

[Highlander]

OK Beene's back,

Don't keep us in suspense much longer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John