San Francisco to Coho 9-12-15 (Happy Birthday Captain)

Great way to start a birthday!  Clipper Cove just inside San Francisco Bay.  This was a favorite anchorage of ours when we lived in Alameda.  Dozens of nights spent here on weekends and holidays starting with our GB 42, then our GB 46 and the current WORKNOT.   We got to watch a couple of years of the building of the new eastern span of the Oakland Bay Bridge and strolled around the construction site while hiking Yerba Buena Island.

Single Support Tower under construction January 2012

Main Tower Rising 

The west end of the support cable

More about this amazing construction project at: The New Bay Bridge

We scooted out of Clipper Cove at 7:30 AM after waiting for the tide to rise and allow us to escape.  Ever since the construction of the new bridge started the entrance to Clipper Cove has been silting in and closing off the entrance.  The depth sounder read "0" but we did not touch bottom or at least it was so soft we did not notice.  Weather was supposed to be clear but we had plenty of fog.  

Our morning departure put us at the Golden Gate during a flood tide.  Not ideal but we manged to make about 6 kts in calm, foggy seas and finally turned south at the SF entrance buoy.  By 3 PM fog cleared and seas were about 4' and nicely spaced.  Occasionally larger swells would remind us we were still on the Pacific west coast north of Pt. Conception........

The next morning around 10:30 AM we were south of Morro Bay and the weather suddenly turned warm, dry and the sea smelled like Mexico off shore.  As we approached Pt. Conception we heard a MAYDAY call at 1 PM.  The 40' Caetus was taking on water.  He was south of us about 12 miles and near shore.  Underway but unable to keep up with the incoming water from a fractured sea cock.  The Coast Guard was having some difficulty hearing Caetus so we relayed his position and status.  USCG assets were over an hour away or more.  WORKNOT diverted to intercept the north bound Caetus at our best speed of 9.5 kts.   Doubling our fuel consumption we got close enough to see the sloop on radar only to see another vessel trailing along about 1 mile behind.   After some urging the fishing boat answered the radio calls.  It  was a charter fishing boat who was staying close by but did not want to get involved unless he had too.  Claimed his onboard clients were in a hurry.   Caetus had stopped and made a repair on the leak (he was single handling).  Now able to keep up with the in-flow  the danger of sinking was past.  Soon a USCG helicopter made a low pass and hailed us on the radio.  We explained we were just the relay boat and pointed them in the direction of Caetus.   WORKNOT settled to its normal 8 kt cruise and continued south.  Never a dull moment.  

Anchoring at COHO around 6 PM we had a very restful night before heading to Ventura Yacht Club the next morning.

Pt. Conception Missile Test Facility

 Pt. Conception light house just north of Coho cove