Luff and puff and wing it past Alcatraz

Tuesday

I didn’t hear any wind last night – just rain. I was so sure it wasn’t blowing this morning that I took my time about getting out of my bunk. When I did finally poke my head out of the hatch, there was wind. Not a lot, probably 10 knots or so. Drat! I wasted some good sailing weather. It was gray and overcast with rain showers forcast.

I ate a hurried breakfast, put away the few things I had gotten out since yesterday’s sail and by 9:30 I was on my way. The wind was coming from the south-east, directly from Alcatraz. The good news was that it was a nice steady breeze. In short order, I had main, jib and mizzen up. I was close hauled - sailing as close to straight upwind as I could – about 45 degrees off the wind. The log (speedometer) was showing 4.5 knots, making me a happy sailor.

That all lasted for about 45 minutes. That was long enough to make several long tacks and get about mid-way across the bay toward San Francisco and a little closer to Alcatraz. Then, gradually, the wind fell off and before long, I was drifting. The sails were flapping like grandma’s laundry line as the boat rolled in the swell and the occasional wake of the many ferries that run between The City and Marin County.

But, curiously enough, I was drifting slowly toward Alcatraz. After a while, I was getting close enough that I was starting to think I might have to use the engine to keep from getting pushed onto the rocks of Alcatraz. But fate was kind and a breeze sprang up – this time from the north. That let me sail on a nice comfortable close reach – the wind was coming from a direction forward of the middle of the boat but not far enough forward to be close hauled.

The wind held long enough for me to make it the rest of the way to Alcatraz! As I passed the island, my course changed enough to be running wing and wing for most of the length of the island. Unfortunately, because I was expecting rain, I didn’t have the camera on deck. The boat requires that I pay close attention to steering when running wing and wing so I couldn’t duck below and grab it.

I rounded Alcatraz and started down the other side of the island. The wind had shifted a bit more to the north-west – blowing directly from Sausalito. In short order, I was close hauled again to make it back to Sausalito. Why is it that the wind so often blows from the place I am trying to get to? Ah, for those wonderful days of sailing downwind in warm water and warm air!

The wind picked up briefly to the point that I was starting to think about shortening sail – changing my sail arrangement so I had less sail up. The easiest thing to do is to roll up the jib. It is wrapped around the forestay like a big rollup window shade.  I tried that and found it wasn’t all that easy. By the time I figured out what I needed to do, the wind had dropped off to the point that I didn’t need it.

Now an urgent situation arose – a call of nature. What to do? The boat won’t steer itself reliably long enough for me to run below and use the head (toilet).  What I ended up doing was heaving to. No – it has nothing to do with being seasick. It is done by tacking the boat but not letting the jib come across the boat to the other side. Now the main and mizzen sails are trying to drive the boat forward but the jib is acting like a big brake. I turned the steering wheel in the direction to make the boat try to tack again and locked it in place. Now the boat was barely moving and was lying pretty much broadside to the wind and moving at about ½ knot. That’s a nice stable situation that gave me enough time to run below, dig through all my layers of foul weather gear and do what needed doing.

One might ask how a single person can take a boat on a long trip if it is this hard to get a couple of minutes just to go to the bathroom. The answer is that there is a device similar to an autopilot known as a wind vane. It is a clever arrangement of a vane to sense wind direction and mechanical linkages that end up steering the boat. I had a device like this when I sailed from San Diego to Honolulu. I steered the boat for about half an hour out of the 23 day trip. The wind vane did the rest leaving me free to tend the sails, navigate, cook, read and sleep.

Having taken care of business, I got the boat headed toward Sausalito again. The wind had shifted enough to the west that it looked like I could make it back to Sausalito in one tack. Then it died. I waited for about 10 minutes hoping it would start up again. It didn’t and I was drifting toward the Marin County shore. I cranked up the diesel and motored the rest of the way back – about 30 minutes under power.

I pulled back into my slip almost exactly five hours after I left. A good day’s sail.

And I finally made it to Alcatraz!

Curious about the title of today's blog? When the wind alternately blows (puffs) and drops off (leaving the boat flopping around with no wind - luffing) sailors describe the conditions as luff and puff. I was wing and wing (see yesterday's blog) going past Alcatraz. And there you have it.