Smoky Waters

Reader Dana Dupar sent us a few images from last weekend, as smoke from what has now become the 88,000-acre County Fire crept into the Bay, casting a bizarre, ghostly light. As of yesterday, nearly 3,500 firefighters were battling the "ferocious inferno burning in Yolo and Napa counties [which] was nearly three times the size of San Francisco," according to www.sfgate.com.

Sunday, July 1, was a crazy wind day on the Bay, but any day on the Bay is a good day. With the nuking winds, fog and smoke, the sky was an eerie sight. The picture of USA 76 is not photoshopped or done with special effects. It was taken with my iPhone, but looks like the old-time sepia filter was used.

One of our goals for the day was to move the RIB from the bow davits to stern davits, so after some sailing along the Cityfront, we went looking for an anchorage protected from the breeze. No matter where we went, the wind was blustering. On the east side of Angel Island, where the ‘lunch spot’ usually is, the wind was still there, albeit tamer than the Slot. There was a trimaran we hadn’t seen on the Bay before, so I took a picture, which captured the contrast of the white/gray fog against the smoky background. An eerie day indeed.

We did find enough shelter on the east side of Belvedere to transfer the RIB, then sailed into 40-knot winds in Hurricane Gulch. What a ride that was, with a double-reefed main and a bit of jib.

If you have pictures of smoke on the water from this year’s exceptionally early fire season, please send them here.