Springtime Sightings, Good & Bad

With the coming of spring there’s been a predictable increase in boat use both inside and outside San Francisco Bay. This week we received reports and photos that illustrate both the pleasures and potential hazards of sailing in Northern California waters. 

Sailing instructor Rod Witel and two friends from Club Nautique were daysailing a Colgate 26 last Friday when they spotted two pods of whales "circumnavigating" the Central Bay.

"For three hours we watched from a safe, legal distance as the whales showed off their baleen and treated us to playful displays of slapping the water with their fins and huge flukes," said Witel. Then came the finale of their act: "We were awed when three whales breached in front of Fort Mason within 10 seconds of each other," Rod says. Wow! In all our years sailing the Bay, we can’t recall a marine-mammal sighting as impressive as that. Naturally, all on board regretted that they hadn’t brought better cameras.

On the ‘bummer’ side of the ledger came reports that an Alameda-based Newport 28 named Danya had washed high up the beach near Moss Beach in the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve over the weekend. According to a reader named Timm, who came upon the scene while hiking, the owner was on his first day out, heading for Southern California, when "the wind picked up and an ‘unexpected’ wave tipped him over by the tide pools at Moss Beach. Then he was blown ashore."

Although we haven’t been able to reach the owner directly, this unfortunate incident brings to mind the simple truth that when transiting a stretch of coastline just about anywhere, it’s much safer to stay well offshore than to stay in close following the contours of the shoreline. And by all means check with several weather sources — including NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center — before venturing out the Golden Gate. A few days before these incidents took place, we reported on the sad news that the one-tonner Kentucky Woman had been caught in violent conditions off the San Mateo coast, and her sole crewman had to be rescued by a Coast Guard air crew, leaving his boat adrift.