Summertime in the Bay Area has the conditions necessary to create strong, steady, reliable winds.
A crew from OCSC, dressed in their “foulies,” sails close to the Gate as the fog rolls in. Photo by Scott Alumbaugh
By Captain Ray
Published: July, 2009
Almost everywhere in this country, sailors pray for wind. They implore Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds, to be generous. Then they make the best of what they have and they count themselves lucky when it’s blowing 8 to 10 knots. There is an old Gypsy curse that says, “May your wishes come true!” Here on the Bay, when it’s blowing 20 to 25 knots (and sometimes more), I’ve caught myself thinking, “OK, enough with the blessings!”
People new to the Bay (including otherwise experienced sailors) are sometimes taken aback initially. I’ve often told my students, “Sailing is like climbing high mountains or riding large animals. We are dealing with forces that we cannot totally control and the possibility of injury exists. But with good equipment and proper training, we can minimize these risks and maximize our enjoyment.”
I’ve just returned from a day of teaching sailing, and the wind has been blowing hard once more. It has been one of those days—20 to 25 knots all afternoon! There will be a lot more of these days as the summer season rolls along, but today was one of the first this year for me. I’ve been sailing on San Francisco Bay for over 20 years now, but the return of summer conditions always comes as a not-so-gentle reminder of why I sail here.
I’m physically tired and at the same time quite invigorated. The power of the wind is strangely energizing to my soul and, at the same time, draining to my body. My muscles ache a bit and I’ll sleep well tonight, but this vigorous dance with natural forces is refreshing to my spirit. When I’m on the water, the world ashore is a long way off, the phone doesn’t ring, and there are no emails that need a reply.
I’ve come back in off the water covered with a thin layer of salt spray; my glasses dotted with watery spots, face and hands wet. Some lines from a Jimmy Buffet song are going through my head:
“The salt air it ain’t thin
It sticks right to your skin’
Makes you feel fine!”
The rest of me is warm and dry, covered by my “foulies,” an affectionate term for an outer layer of waterproof protective clothing. As I pull off the gear, shake the water off it, and hang it up to dry, I think: “That was FUN!”
Oh, yeah! It’s summer again!
Ray Wichmann, is a US SAILING-certified Ocean Passagemaking Instructor, a US SAILING Instructor Trainer, and a member of US SAILING’s National Faculty. He holds a 100-Ton Master’s License, was a charter skipper in Hawai’i for 15 years, and has sailed on both coasts of the United States, in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Greece. He is presently employed as the Master Instructor at OCSC Sailing in the Berkeley Marina.
