Today was the day I sailed out the Golden Gate and entered upon a new adventure. As I passed under the majestic Golden Gate Bridge the Pacific Ocean was spread before me. Looking out over that vast expanse I could not help but wonder what sailing adventures the future would hold for Astraea and me.
Heading for the Gate, The Golden Gate
I learned as a plebe (freshman) at the US Naval Academy that time and tide wait for no man. The Tide and Current tables showed that the max ebb at the Golden Gate would be at 06:19 with a current of 4.8 knots. At 5:30am, just before sunrise, I started Astraea’s new engine and in the quiet of the early morning just before sunrise we backed out of our slip in Emeryville for the last time. Finally, we were on our way.
As we exited the channel from the marina into the Bay the wind, as expected, was coming straight in through the Golden Gate. I am not enough of a sailing purist to endlessly tack back and forth into this wind, and if I did I would soon be fighting a flood current, so I raised the main and mizzen, left the jib furled, and motor sailed across San Francisco Bay. In the quiet of an overcast early morning the San Francisco Bay was deserted except for one container ship, a tug, and Astraea and me. We sailed alongside Alcatraz Island, adjusted course, and headed for the Golden Gate. Although we were fighting about 15 knots of wind directly on our bow the strong ebb tide carried us along and with the engine at a moderate RPM we went flying out the gate at 8.5 knots. Astern of us “The City” itself was covered in low clouds, the weather gloomy, but fortunately no morning fog. It was cold, and I was glad to be wearing my heavy foulies, standard garb for San Francisco for most of the year.
Yes, the weather was gloomy and overcast, but I didn’t care. I was sailing out the Gate, alone, on board my beautiful sailboat. The moment had finally arrived. I know my boat, and I have spent a good part of my life at sea, however this was the first time I had headed out onto the Ocean alone. I found myself almost overcome with emotion and tears flowed down my face as I felt the freedom and sheer joy and exhilearation of heading out to sea, alone aboard Astraea. This was the moment I had dreamed about for years, had daydreamed of in the windowless confines of my office. The moment was here.
I had the autopilot and Monitor wind vane connected and tested. I had rigged my jack lines and was wearing my PFD and safety harness. Also, it was just a short hop down the coast to Half Moon Bay.
The morning wind faded to nothing about half way to Half Moon Bay, so with all canvas up we motor sailed slowly, at about 4 knots, down the coast. I had to keep reminding myself that “this is not a race” and that the voyage was what was important, not just the destination. This is part of my mental shift from the fast paced professional life that I had lived for the past 37 years both in the Navy and the corporate world. It was time to SLOW DOWN and enjoy living. This is something that is not yet coming easily to me. I have to work on it.
Astraea anchored in the outer harbor at Half Moon Bay at about 1:30pm. Another first for me was anchoring solo. It turned out to be rather easy, although it did require several fast trips from the bow to the helm. I was careful not to feel too cocky in this accomplishment, however, as it was a very large and empty anchorage and very little wind or current. Actually, as far as anchoring goes, it was about as easy as it gets.
In testing out my new Furuno GPS (Global Positioning system) and radar systems as I sailed down the coast the GPS was working perfectly, but the radar was totally out of whack. I had never really used the new radar, as we had done very little sailing other than day sails since it had been installed by Svendsens Boat Works. Now that I was testing it out, however, the radar returns of the coast were nothing like I was seeing. Having spent 14 years at sea on US Navy ships, I know well how to read a radar screen and this screen was making no sense. After anchoring I made a call to Furuno and with the assistance of a friendly and competent tech rep we discovered that the technicians at Svendsens who had installed the system had left the radar in “demo” mode and what I was seeing was not the coast of California where I was sailing, but a demo radar presentation of Tokyo Harbor. A few quick adjustments and the radar was now showing Half Moon Bay and not Tokyo.
Half Moon Bay, like San Francisco, was cold, damp and overcast. The evening was spent inside the boat having a nice dinner and starting to make plans for the trip down the coast to San Diego.
Tomorrow will be another first as I have to take Astraea to the fuel dock and dock her – solo. 
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