Returning to Sausalito from Rio Vista
I learned a ton and ran aground, and almost crashed my boat!
Update: I’m back at my home dock in Sausalito trying to get everything together for an October 1st departure. I plan to take a month to sail south along the California coast and arrive in San Diego in time for the Baja Ha-Ha. There I will join a fleet of about a hundred boats for the annual rally to Cabo San Lucas that departs November 4th.
Yes, I’ll be leaving America just before the election.
It took me three days to sail back to Sausalito from Rio Vista, in part because I ran aground. I’m still in shock from almost crashing into the rocks just two miles from home. It makes me sick just to think about how close I was to losing everything.
Here’s an overview of the return trip. I plan to write up the details of all the things that happened and the lessons learned in separate posts ... coming soon!
I got the boat all ready. I started with an engine check before leaving because I knew that I might have to motor a lot. I also scrubbed the bottom of my boat and removed some of the seagrass accumulated on the way up. I topped off with fuel and water, pumped out the holding tank, checked the weather, and around 10 AM on Sunday 8/4 I motored out into the Sacramento river.
Tacking down the river worked well, probably due to a favorable current, in about twenty knots of wind under staysail and reefed mainsail. I spent the night in almost the same spot in Honker Bay as I had on the way up, but this time anchoring was straightforward, so I didn’t lose any sleep even when the wind piped up to force 6 (over 25 MPH).
Maybe all those wind generators on the horizon might be a sign of strong winds at night?
Monday was a tough day for me. The current was strong and going against the wind, which can cause seep breaking waves, which started to crash over the bow of my boat.
Suddenly the boat halted and tipped to the side. I’d run aground. That strong current was dur to tons of water heading for the Golden Gate leaving me rather high on mud. Low tied was due soon so I pulled down the sails, threw out the anchor, and waited for the tide to come back in. I’ll leave the details for a future post, but I was able to break free and continue my journey.
Anchoring near Benicia was tricky due to wind against current issues. The boat drifted downwind but stayed pointed downwind instead of pointing towards the anchor. How could I pull the anchor chain tight to set the anchor when the boat wasn’t pointed the right way? Eventually I decided the anchor was set well enough and to just go to bed. With occassional checks that I didn’t drift, the night passed uneventfully with only moderate wind.
Tuesday found me ghosting along the broad San Pablo Bay in very light wind. With six knots of wind I sailed at about three, but when it dropped to four knots and I was only going two I decided to motor. I broke for lunch and just drifted in the peace and tranquility of glassy water on a gorgeous day.
Wind returned and strengthened in the afternoon as I tacked under the Richardson Bridge and started getting excited about returning home. As I approached Angel Island I saw stronger wind coming up Racoon Straight and started tacking into it.
I had too much sail up, so on my second tack the boat got overpowered by the wind as I was headed towards a rocky shore. I’m still shell shocked about how close I was to crashing, but I did a few things right: I eased the sails to depower and slow myself down, and I looked up afterwards and to see where I was — and quickly turned!
I went downwind behind Angel Island, shorted the sails, and then went back to tacking up Racoon Straight headed for home.
Relief poured over me when I saw the calm at my dock, and was able to just pull straight in and tie up. I made it home! I almost lost everything, but didn’t really lose anything. In fact I’ve learned a lot and had amazingly memorable experiences.
