Sailing in the Bay

It was a gorgeous Saturday morning– sunny and seventies– and it was perfect for sitting in a boat in the middle of the Bay.  The irony was, the air was so nice, warm. and calm that there was zero no wind for sailing. Undeterred, we slowly motored along from San Francisco’s Pier 40 toward Angel Island.

The three pirates: Arvind, Jon, and our captain HD.

As we quickly learned, it’s very easy to underestimate distances over water. What looked like a five minute stretch took us about three hours by boat, while a blimp circled around the bay overhead, as if taunting us with its speedy air travel capabilities.

Right off the bat, we saw a cluster of seagulls fighting a sea lion for fish. Later, we saw a dolphin frolicking about.

Passing under the Bay Bridge, and our boat docked at Angel Island. We did make it there by motor after several hours, and after a brief lunch break on the island, we had to circle back around before we would be sucked out to sea by the currents.

Passing by Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge

The ferry building on our return journey. We got plenty of wind on our way back in, but it was counterbalanced by the going against the tide.

The water looked unreal, like it was made of metals instead of water.

We passed the city right as the sun was going down

And finally, back at the pier.

I will never look at the Bay in the same way again, and I mean that in the best possible way. Spending a day on the water has transformed it from just some blank interstitial space between the land into infinite little sailboat route possibilities in my mind. I can see why people like sailing so much. I would definitely go again!

Technical note: All of the images above were shot on Mistubishi Super MX 200 film (a random cheap film I picked up) and processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab. I quite like the turquoise of the water on this film.