Bay Day

Last weekend, on just about the prettiest day of the year, when the air was warm and the winds were light, My Beloved was invited for a day of sailing on a nifty little boat called Elska, one of his birthday treats from his younger daughter and her main squeeze who owns the boat.

My Beloved grew up in a family of sailors. His parents met while crewing on a friend's boat and all three of their children were introduced to sailing at a very early age. In his teens, My Beloved with his Dad and brother sailed competitively and were very successful. His brother is a passionate sailor still and his sister and her husband have been mainstays of the sailing program in their town. Only MB wasn't bitten by the bug, but he does enjoy the occasional day out on the water with the wind in his hair and the sun on his shoulders.

I got to tag along, my first sail on the bay in the thirteen years I have lived here. I have crossed the bay on ferries and even enjoyed it from the deck of the USS Potomac, but this was my first trip on a sailboat.

Katie packed a lovely lunch of salami and cornichon sandwiches on buttered baguettes and blanched green beans with olive oil and lemon zest, as well as cheese and nibbles of olives, cherry tomatoes and Persian cucumber spears. Well supplied, we put-putted down the Oakland estuary past Jack London Square and enormous cranes loading and unloading giant freighters, and out into the bay.

The captain killed the engine, raised the sails and away we went, wafted on gentle breezes. When asked where in the bay he'd like to go, My Beloved chose to inspect the progress on the new Bay bridge being built with huge cost and long delays to replace twenty years later the rickety section that fell down in the Loma Prieta earthquake. We sailed under the new span, awed by the size of the engineering feat that it represents and thrilled by the sweep of the part already completed. Eventually, it will look like this. They seem poised to begin the suspension part of the span.

We sailed on around Treasure Island, enjoying music floating out over the water from a concert being held on the island. Rounding the north end of the island, we spotted porpoises and seals in the water and enjoyed watching pelicans and terns plunging headfirst into the water to catch fish for lunch. The wind through the Golden Gate picked up and we heeled over, wetting the rail and relishing the increased speed. We sailed back under the bridge on the west side, marveling again at the sheer size of these links to San Francisco.

On the way back, the wind died completely and we bobbed on a glassy bay where just a short distance away we could see the water dancing with wind-whipped waves. I think we experienced just about every kind and direction of wind that day.

Thanks to our Captain and his lovely Elska for a day on the water, and to Katie for a delicious lunch. We will remember with pleasure our bay day.