\u201cYou may not operate boats under power or sail between sunset and sunrise.\u201d\u00a0 The sentence in the club manual is\u00a0such a simple statement, and yet there is so much confusion over it.<\/p>\n
It’s March 21, 2014, and I just received a call in the office that got me to thinking.\u00a0 The questions asked were \u201cWhat time is sunset tonight?\u201d and \u201cWhat time do I need to leave Pier 39 to get back in time?\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to give a good answer off the top of my head to either question.\u00a0 The answers require a bit of research and planning.\u00a0 An effort that I recommend each captain (yes, that’s you and me when we take a boat out) complete prior to leaving the slip for a day’s sailing.<\/p>\n
According to the Tide Tables (yes, it’s there \u2026 look at the last page) sunset on March 20 was 1922.\u00a0 On March 25, it will be 1926.\u00a0 A bit of simple math in my head tells me that sunset today will be approximately 1923 \u2026 as \u201cobserved from sea level at the Golden Gate Bridge.\u201d\u00a0 That’s a great starting point; however, if you arrive back in Marina Bay at 1923, it will be well past sunset.\u00a0 First, Marina Bay is about 7 miles east of the gate, so the sun goes down earlier.\u00a0 Second, and more important, there are mountains that are well above sea level between Marina Bay and the horizon.\u00a0 Sunset, according to the club rules, is when the sun goes down behind those mountains.\u00a0 Today, it was more like 1910.\u00a0 As far as the time to leave Pier 39, its 8.3 miles from Pier 39 to Marina Bay.\u00a0 At an average speed of 5 knots, that’s 1:40.\u00a0 However, what are the currents doing?\u00a0 With a flood it may take less than that.\u00a0 While ebbing, you can easily add an extra 45 minutes to the trip.\u00a0 Max flood today was 2.8 knots at 1452.\u00a0 By 1600 to 1700, there won’t be much current to help, so 1:40 still seems about right.\u00a0 Leaving at 1700 to 1715 should work.<\/p>\n
What about wind.\u00a0 During normal wind conditions on the bay, you are going to be in the \u201cshadow\u201d of Angel Island for a good portion of the trip.\u00a0 More than once, I have found myself going backwards because I was sailing slower than the current was flowing. \u00a0 Motoring at 5 knots wouldn’t be a problem.\u00a0 Sailing might require extra time.\u00a0 If you average 2 knots speed over ground, 1:40 just became 4:10 minutes, and you needed to be underway before 1500!<\/p>\n
A good skipper takes all of this into consideration and plans accordingly.<\/p>\n
Note from Matt: Consider clean-up time as well. As a general rule, to stow a boat properly it takes about 1 minute per foot of boat per day that you spent on it. When we have one of those rare conversations with members about not cleaning up after themselves properly, it’s quite often because they tried to do it in the dark!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cYou may not operate boats under power or sail between sunset and sunrise.\u201d\u00a0 The sentence in the club manual is\u00a0such a simple statement, and yet there is so much confusion over it. It’s March 21, 2014, and I just received … Continue reading