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Gotcha, Green Flash!

By Christine Weaver | August 19, 2019 | To the West |

On August 9, we posted a story about the “Mysterious Green Flash,” and wondered if any readers had managed to capture the elusive flash in a photo. Apparently some of you did!

“A few years ago, in mid-February, I was out with my boy Sierra (our first golden retriever and sailing buddy) for a daysail. It was late afternoon on a cool, crisp day.  We were out near Alcatraz when I noticed that the conditions were ripe for a green flash. I started tacking back and forth so that the sun would be setting right in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. As it hit the horizon, a huge green flash struck and shot up into the sky. I let out a loud yelp. It was my first flash on my boat. What a treat! As luck would have it, someone in Berkeley (about three miles away) happened to have a nice lens on a good camera and caught the flash as I was passing by. I happened to see the photo online. As there were very few boats out on this Monday afternoon, there we were in the photo. Our lucky day indeed!” — Craig Russell, Aquarius, 40-ft Jeanneau, Emeryville, six-time Baja Ha-Ha vet.

Sunset with Golden Gate Bridge and green flash
Aquarius as photographed from Bruce Adornato’s trawler. Craig sent us this one, but, coincidentally, Bruce sent in a file of the same image. “I am having a vague recollection of sharing that picture with the sailboat owner,” writes Bruce. “We were crossing the Bay late on a hot, smoggy October eve. I took it with my old Razor flip phone, so the resolution could be better.”
© 2019 Bruce Adornato
Jane Goldsmith of the Crealock 37 Tropicbird captured this image on the west side of Kauai, Hawaii, several years ago.
© 2019 Jane Goldsmith
Taken off Moonstone Beach, CA. Piedras Blanca’s lighthouse is the sillouette on left side of sun.
© 2019 John Barreiro

Not a green flash, but a green sky at sunset, this image shows the view looking SSE from the harbor in Bellingham, WA.

“Never saw a green tint like that before or since,” writes John Schroeder of the Fraser 42 Hoku Iki. “Taken with my Samsung.”
© 2019 John Schroeder

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