Memorial Day Weekend: part III, the return

This is the route I went from Martienz to San Rafael. The GPS says it is about 25 miles.

The x's are, the start, the stuck, the end. That shadow in the middle is me taking this pix. San Francisco is at the lower left at the inlet across from Oakland lower middle

So Monday morning at the Marina is great, a bit chilly but very nice in the sun. I found the v-berth on S/V zen is not that comfortable. The Ariel, Kuan Yin was more comfortable for sleeping in the V-berth.

So I take a morning stroll around the marina, take some pictures. I find there is another I29 there. So now with mine there are three. Two are residents. The Marina is pretty active, once the lil breakfast/lunch place opens. I opt not to go there to eat and instead go to the market get some items and have breakfast on s/v zen.

The tide this morning is -1.5 so , I am going no where soon as it is only 9:00 am now. I can see the mud flats clearly marking the channel.

I hangout and read until 11:30. Then as on signal many folks start to come alive and get ready to head out. It is a great day to be out. The wind has picked up, the sun is shining. I get ready to shove off and head over to the fuel dock. I'm wondering how much gas I used running for 4 hrs yesterday. WoW! big surprise, less than 2.5 gal or the whole trip NICE!

So I fire up turn around and head out into the channel. I'm feeling more confident now, so I give her a little bit more power, yet stay in my lane. Ofcourse there are some Powerboater coming in, and they are speeding like the have a bus to catch. Yup, thats right, BIG wakes. good grief they are rude!

So I'm out of the channel now and raise the sails, there is a good wind and I head off on a broad reach. For the most part the wind holds, I make good time and have a smooth sail. Back across the frontier, the winds almost dies, so I coast for a while. Then out of the blue it picks up and at one point I am doing 10 knots, sweet!, always at the end of the trip, although I did get up to 8 once whilst in the "zone"

So I did a perfect dock and I am back home. That middle cleat I installed really is helpful for docking. I saw some guy, at the marina coming in after me. Really struggle getting docked. He could have really used a middle cleat, he was fighting the current to hold one end while the other drifted out. Finally someone one on that side of the docks helped him.

I check my travel time and I'm shocked, it took almost 5 hours under sail, just a little more than it took me to get there not including the grounding.

It was a good adventure. Met some nice folks, learned some stuff, had a nice adventure, returned safe, doesn't get any better than that. I feel at one with the Universe.