Peter sailing his home constructed prototype Moth in 1979 (when Moths sailed on the water). Peter was my sailing coach for 15 years! A question came up on the Spinnaker Forum about why the wind always feels less when it’s behind the beam. This is an opportunity for us to dive into the concept of apparent […]
It’s April, and for San Francisco Bay sailors that means one thing: Flame on! Starting about now, our famous winds start up — and keep going. Within a few weeks, we’ll be having our usual small craft advisories on the bay just about every afternoon. If you sail here, it’s something you come to view […]
Light Ship San Francisco thanks to the U.S. National Park Service.https://www.nps.gov/places/000/how-far-out-was-the-lightship.htm Sometimes one finds nuggets of info gold hidden in the dusty fine print of government publications. That’s why I’ll sift through texts like the Local Notice to Mariners that the Coast Guard publishes every week. Occasionally, I discover that some aid to navigation has […]
Consider the fender, that humble tube or globe of lightly inflated vinyl whose noble mission is to prevent dings and scratches to your boat’s hull. At Spinnaker, we mostly use them to separate our boats from the docks, tying them so that they dangle from the lifelines. A stroll along any marina will show boats […]
Transition from Paper to Electronic charts The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which publishes navigational charts for US waters, is making major changes. As announced in 2019, NOAA is phasing out the publication of traditional nautical charts. This process began in 2021, and is expected to be completed by January 2025. Significantly for South Bay […]
It’s often said about sailing in San Francisco Bay, “If you can sail in San Francisco Bay, you can sail anywhere.” Although an exaggeration, our bay is a challenging place to sail not only because of its strong wind and choppy water but also because of the actions of tides and currents. At Redwood City, […]
The Coast Guard places Aids to Navigation in waterways to help keep mariners safe. The marks denote the edges of waterways deep enough to navigate, alert mariners to where channels diverge, and provide reference points in safe water to help the navigator fix his or her position on a chart. The problem is that the […]
So let’s say you’re somewhere out on the bay in an area that might be getting a wee bit shallow. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a depth sounder right now? Well, you know what the kids would say… “There’s an app for that.” In fact, if you have a smart phone or any type […]
Sailors don’t need to be extremely sophisticated for successful bareboat chartering but companies still have concerns. Although with anchoring, one of the greatest concerns is with navigation. Faulty navigation can cause grounding, occasionally bad enough to result in the total loss of the boat. During the last ten years technological advancements have made both anchoring […]
If you have young children in your life that you want to introduce to sailing, a winter charter is a great way to start. During the summer, the sea breeze created by warm air rising in the Central Valley reliably provides for adventurous sailing in the South Bay, especially when the wind opposes the […]