Monday, November 15, 2010

Kokomo On San Francisco Bay

Kokomo's first trip to San Francisco Bay started in the Berkeley Marina, a 4-hour trip from our home in Paradise. I chose the Berkeley Marina (from the dozens of options on the Bay) because it was (1) close to us, (2) had a launch ramp, and (3) charged only .50 a foot for overnight moorage (with electricity and water), but the marina has so much more to offer. It is central to most everything on the Bay, has wonderful running/walking/bicycling trails, has a Hana Japan restaurant on site, and features good parking at the ramp for my (very long) rig. We spent four excellent and peaceful nights here, and will make it our home whenever we visit San Francisco Bay in the future.

We had excellent weather all four days of our trip, which enabled us to see more than we'd originally planned. We visited Sausalito, Tiburon (Sam's Anchor Cafe for lunch!), Brickyard Cove Marina in Richmond (site of our previous sailing experience on Starr and Gary Piner's Swan sailboat and where I met a new friend, Gary, on this trip), the San Francisco waterfront, Oakland estuary (cruised the entire estuary to San Leandro Bay) and Alameda (Ballena Bay Marina, site of two previous yacht trials, when we were looking for a trawler in 40'-60' range). In between were many hours of scenic cruising on one of America's most beautiful waterways. There wasn't a moment that something interesting wasn't happening on the Bay.

On Saturday, our daughter and her family came to cruise with us. Ryan and Kirsten, and our three awesome grandchildren had fun on Kokomo as we circumnavigated Angel Island, saw a large Coast Guard cutter and prepared yummy hot dogs on the grill. It was a grand day for Grandpa and Grammy as we got to have two of our favorite things together ... time with the kids and grandkids and time on the boat (if our son, Derik, could have been there, it would have been perfect!).

At one point in the weekend, Lee Ann and I took a trip under the Golden Gate bridge and out several miles to the light house at Point Bonita. We experienced the 'biggest' water Kokomo had found there, with 8-10' swells at about 15 second intervals. The boat did very well in these waters (no big deal), and Lee Ann (who'd worried about whether she'd feel OK in big water) did too. I was grateful for both of these facts and again impressed with the Rosborough's seakindliness.

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San Quentin Prison

San Quentin Prison
One of the more 'captivating' sites along the Corte Madera channel . Rowers from Corte Madera are practicing in the foreground.