| San Francisco Bay Conditions | | | | behind Angel Island and Tiburon. The wind in |
| The sailing conditions on San Francisco vary by | | | | onearea can be 30 to 35 knots while a few |
| time of year,time of day and even by exact | | | | hundred yard away itmight be only 10 knots. |
| location. The windy seasonbegins by mid spring | | | | Knowing what lies ahead, smartsailors will find the |
| and lasts until September. In the fallthe sailing gets | | | | easiest places to hoist sails or reef. |
| mellower and mellower until, by winter-time,there | | | | There's more commercial traffic in The North Bay |
| are many days when there's hardly enough wind | | | | includingtug boats, ferries and ships. All of them |
| tomake sailing worthwhile. But there are a few | | | | are a lot faster thansmall sailboats. It can take as |
| good days inwinter, usually after storms have | | | | long for a small boat to crossa shipping channel as |
| passed through the area. | | | | it takes a large ship to travel up totwo miles. |
| The spring and summer is the windy when we | | | | Keep a constant look out for all commercial |
| get smallcraft advisories almost every afternoon. | | | | trafficand especially the ships which can not |
| The wind peaks midto late afternoon and locally | | | | deviate from theirchannels. You need to start |
| tends to be a little stronger atthe San Mateo | | | | moving out of their path wellbefore they become |
| Bridge. The normal direction is from thenorthwest | | | | close to you. Get a chart briefing fromany of the |
| but it tends to blow a little more from the west | | | | various members of the Spinnaker staff who |
| asit gets stronger in the afternoon. | | | | arefamiliar with North Bay commercial traffic |
| There are some spots that routinely get stronger | | | | patterns beforeheading there for the first time. |
| wind. Rightthrough the Golden Gate towards | | | | Fog can be an additional factor in the North Bay. |
| Berkeley, it's called the | | | | Sometimesthe bottom of the fog layer is far |
| "slot" because so much wind is forced through the | | | | enough above the water thatyou can see traffic |
| areabetween San Francisco and Marin County. | | | | on the bay but sometimes it comes rightdown to |
| There are otherareas known for strong wind. The | | | | the deck. When this happens, |
| San Bruno Gap blowsthrough the area near | | | | extraordinarymeasures must be taken to |
| Oyster Point Marina and The Crystal | | | | avoidcolliding with other vessels or obstacles. The |
| Springs Gap focuses wind from about Coyote | | | | fog tends tolimit itself to the area from the |
| Point to the | | | | Golden Gate to the Berkeleyside of The Bay |
| San Mateo Bridge. It's important to note that | | | | between Richmond and Emeryville. It alsotends to |
| where there isstrong wind blowing over a greater | | | | be heavier in the west. Transiting this area |
| distance of water, therewill be larger waves. This | | | | whenthe fog is on the deck is extremely |
| is called "fetch". For a given windstrength, the | | | | dangerous and shouldbe avoided if at all possible. |
| longer the fetch, the larger the waves. | | | | If you're stuck in the fog have tomove, try to |
| Boats usually don't have to travel far in San | | | | stay completely out of shipping lanes or if you |
| Francisco Bay tofind shelter from the wind and | | | | dohave to cross one, do so at right angles and |
| the waves. On the south sideof the "slot" there's | | | | with extremecaution. If you have VHF radio, you |
| some shelter behind Treasure Islandand directly | | | | can listen to channel 14to learn what the |
| behind The City. On the north side there'sshelter | | | | commercial shipping traffic is doing. |