Sometimes, sailing is such a simple pleasure. It all just comes together: great weather, great wind, great people and a great boat. Recently, I had one of those days.
By Captian Ray
Published: November, 2011
Sometimes, sailing is such a simple pleasure. It all just comes together: great weather, great wind, great people and a great boat. Recently, I had one of those days.
We started our sail at 1 p.m. from the Berkeley Marina. The weather was perfect. Air temperature was about 68 degrees. It was completely clear, except for a few high cumulus clouds, and there was absolutely no fog to obscure the great views of San Francisco, Mount Tamalpais and all three bridges.
The wind was from the west-southwest, blowing straight in the Gate. It had been light all morning, but was building slowly. As we cleared the breakwater and sheeted in the sails for a close-hauled course on port tack, it was blowing a moderate breeze, about 15 knots. As the day went on, the wind continued to strengthen until it peaked at about 25 knots. That was enough to heel the boat just beyond its best sailing angle, so partly through the afternoon we reefed the main. We may have lost a little speed by doing that, but we had plenty, so what did it matter?
The boat we were sailing was a J/105. The J is the initial of the man who founded the company, Rod Johnstone. The 105 refers to the length of the boat: 10.5 meters or about 34 feet. Since the J/24 (24 feet)—his very popular, very first design in 1974—all J Boats have been performance oriented. The J/105 is certainly no exception. In automotive terms, we were sailing a Porsche, not a minivan!
My charter guests had sailed before. As young teenagers, they had sailed small dinghies, perhaps 10 or 12 years ago. After settling the boat down, I asked, "Does anyone want to take the wheel?" Shy smiles crept across both of their faces, so I slid over to one side and motioned for one of them to take my place behind the wheel. In less than a minute, he had the feel of the boat, and we were sailing in the groove, a sailor’s term implying that everything is working perfectly. For the next hour, all I did was take an occasional look behind the jib for any traffic. We just enjoyed the sail, with almost no talking until we were about to enter the wind shadow of Angel Island. I suggested that we bear away and head toward Red Rock so that we wouldn’t be completely becalmed. Within a few minutes, we were just where I wanted to be. As we looked south-west through Raccoon Strait, the Golden Gate Bridge was now visible. Framed by Angel Island on the left and the Marin headlands on the right, it’s one of my favorite views of the bridge.
We then tacked and headed south toward Treasure Island so my guests could see the under-construction eastern span of the Bay Bridge. As the boat turned to sail across the wind and we eased the sails out, we could feel the acceleration. We held a steady 7.5 to 8 knots all the way across the slot, with spray flying as we punched into the waves. After that, it was a short sail back to Berkeley and the end to a great sail.
Good weather, good wind, good folks, good boat. . . Sometimes it is just that simple!
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.
