To the Farallons

The Farallons Islands are about
25 nautical miles from the Golden Gate.











Karin and I sailed to the Farallons on Sunday, Sept 2, 2007. We left Emery Cove for the 10 mile trip to the Golden gate as the sun rose, searching for the gibbous moon that had been so prominent at sunrise earlier in the week. The waning fat guy was visible for a while as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. Check between the spreaders, to the lower right.
















The wind direction was a constant 280- 290 degrees
magnetic, and our course of 241 out to the Islands was a close reach.














Wind speed was almost perfect, 15-20 knots.














The new jib is powerful and easy to trim.
Discreet Charm loves to go to weather.
Farallons ho at 10:30!














Karin enjoyed the view of South East Farallon
Island rising above the horizon.














SE Farallon Island resplendent beneath the boom.















The Arch viewed from the north across a sparkling sea.


Shark Attack! One of the high points of the trip was the white shark attack, a huge splash that we first thought was a breaching whale, about 500m ahead of the boat. We found instead the carcass of an elephant seal floating in a blood reddened sea. Thousands of birds wheeled overhead. Departing the dramatic spot without seeing the beast, we had the queasy feeling that it could be lurking just beneath our keel!











"Rollin’ home, rollin’ home, rollin’ home across the foam."
The run back to the Gate was an easy broad reach.
We traded 30 minute bouts at the helm and each of us got a bit of sleep.
The boat nosed into the slip at Emery Cove at 5:30 pm, after an almost 12 hour round trip.