A weblog for San Francisco Bay sailors

Great article about the health of our beloved Bay. Some really good news but also a reminder that we all need to keep our efforts up to save the Bay.

By Paul Rogers
progers@mercurynews.com
Posted: 09/19/2011 12:04:39 AM PDT in Mercury News

Like a patient out of intensive care yet still suffering aches, pains and the need for a lot of rehabilitation, San Francisco Bay is on the mend but far from enjoying a clean bill of health
That’s the conclusion of a new report released Monday by a team of scientists studying Northern California’s signature natural feature and a broad range of its issues — from wetlands to wildlife, toxic pollution to trail access.

“The bay’s health is definitely getting better. We’re making progress,” said Andrew Gunther, an environmental scientist and chief author of the “The State of San Francisco Bay 2011.” “But we still have a way to go. Starting with the Gold Rush, we had a century of degrading the bay. And we’ve only been restoring it since the early 1970s.”

The report comes out every two years in advance of the biennial State of the Estuary Conference, a scientific and public policy meeting that starts Tuesday at the downtown Oakland Marriott.

Among its key findings this year: The bay is far less polluted now than in the 1950s and 1960s. After Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, billions of dollars were spent, and continue to be spent, upgrading the sewage treatment plants that filter the wastewater of 7 million Bay Area residents and release it into the bay. Modern technology removes up to 99 percent of the pollutants in that wastewater. Meanwhile, toxic substances like DDT and PCBs have been banned, no significant filling of the bay has happened in decades, and in the past two years state regulators have imposed strict new rules requiring Bay Area cities to dramatically reduce the amount of trash that flows down storm drains and creeks into bay waters.

Wetland restoration also is a major bright spot. In the past decade, roughly 10,000 acres of wetlands have been restored, much of it at the former Cargill salt ponds in the South Bay. The bay has roughly 50,000 acres of tidal marsh, up from about 40,000 in 1999, and researchers are working toward a long-term goal of 100,000 acres. Most encouraging, biologists already are seeing increases in birds, and a wide variety of fish, from anchovies to leopard sharks, are turning up in the newly restored wetlands.

But there are still major problems.

Among the top problems, according to the report, is the continued diversion of fresh water that would have naturally flowed into the bay. Large dams and pumps that move billions of gallons of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farms and cities have cut freshwater flows into the bay by 50 percent. That has allowed salty water from the ocean to push farther eastward under the Golden Gate, in significant concentrations up as far as Contra Costa County.

That change, which accelerated in the past decade, has been linked to crashing fish populations, said biologist Christina Swanson, one of the report’s authors. “For the past several decades, the bay has been in a state of chronic drought,” Swanson said. “Protecting the bay’s ecosystem and recovering its fisheries will require changes in water management in the bay’s tributary rivers and the Delta to increase freshwater flows, particularly during the spring.”

Compared to the 1980s, the abundance of pelagic, or open water, fishes in the past five years was 88 percent lower in Suisun Bay, 68 percent lower in San Pablo Bay, and 55 percent lower in South Bay, the report noted. That information comes from monthly fish surveys done in 35 locations around the bay by state Fish and Game biologists who have used nets to catch and measure fish regularly since 1980.

Other challenges include invasive species, like the overbite clam, which crowd out native species. Tougher regulations requiring ships to empty their ballast water outside the Golden Gate have made a difference, but the bay still has more than 200 nonnative species that in many cases have pushed out or diminished natives.

And there are legacy pollutants left over from the Gold Rush like mercury, which still washes down from closed mines in Santa Clara County and the Sierra Nevada. The bay is slowly flushing more mercury out to the ocean than is put in, but it will take generations before all fish in the bay are safe to eat, particularly for women of childbearing age.
The report, which will be posted at www.sfestuary.org, was prepared by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, a program of the Association of Bay Area Governments that is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California.

One major challenge, as state and federal agencies move ahead with restoring 15,100 acres of former Cargill salt ponds, is funding. With budgets tight, future progress may be slow going on that work, and on efforts to expand the Bay Trail, 310 miles of which is completed toward a 500-mile goal. “San Francisco Bay is at the hub of our economy and our quality of life,” said Gunther. “How are we going to keep improving the bay? To get the benefits, we are going to have to make investments.”

Originally published by Greg Oats
August 26, 2011

San Francisco Bay will be home to the finals of the 2013 America’s Cup sailboat race, arguably the most prestigious, expensive and chic sporting event on the planet.

The high-paid sailors, wealthy sponsors and glittery entourages populating the upper echelon of the sport only impress Anthony Sandberg so much. Founder of OCSC Sailing School, he’s been taking corporate groups sailing around this bay for 32 years. He started with one boat, one client and an office consisting of a few waterfront benches adjacent to Berkeley’s city salvage yard.

Today, the salvage yard is gone. His 6-acre sailing compound is a nautical nexus of world class sailboats, professional and hobbyist sailors, and a community center welcoming everyone with shared values for the sea and the community itself.

Sandberg and his team of 45 professional skippers specialize in corporate teambuilding that combines collaboration, communication and having a blast while ripping through the sea on a broad reach at 14 knots. You’ll also be able to call yourself a sailor after it’s all said and done. Relatively speaking.

We talked with Sandberg about how he helps groups come together on the water, as well as his personal odyssey to make a lasting, positive impact for so many people and the planet. His marina is stocked with 4-person J24s and 6-person J105s, used by similar racing schools from Hong Kong to the Galapagos. Each team is paired with a professional skipper, and depending on the client’s need, professional communication facilitators can hop onboard to analyse, synthesize and shake up group dynamics. [Read more →]

Click here for reservations, and enter discount code “sailorAudience” for $25 off the regular ticket price!!

In a unique partnership with San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and San Francisco Maritime National Park Association, We Players is adapting Homer’s epic poem for presentation aboard Alma, a 1891 flat-bottomed scow schooner and National Historic Landmark.  Enjoy sailing on the gorgeous San Francisco Bay while WE weave together this archetypical tale of travel, exploration, and home-coming with the Park’s interpretive themes, and Alma’s own layered local history.  At the conclusion of the sail, all passengers are requested to continue the adventure and join the performers and crew for feedback, storytelling and a simple reception aboard historic ferryboat Eureka.

This limited engagement event, marks the first time that We Players is charging a ticket price, as we need to ensure cost recovery for our park partners and ourselves. We are actively preparing a full-scale, by-donation, traveling, choose-your-own-adventure version of The Odyssey for Angel Island in Spring 2012. We Players thanks you in advance for coming aboard and filling our sails at the beginning of this adventure!

If the $160 ticket price is too steep a price for your budget, consider volunteering!  You’ll sail with WE for dress rehearsal on Thursday or Friday, 9/15-16, and then help out on Hyde St. Pier during one or more performances of your choice.

With gratitude and excitement,
Lauren and Ava

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT FOR THE ODYSSEY ON ALMA. And don’t forget to enter the discount code “sailorAudience” to get $25 off the regular price!

Day Trip to the Farallon Islands with OCSC and the Call of the Sea:
A TapIn Bay Area video feature — produced by Jennifer Fey

Please visit TapIn Bay Area and download the iPad app for the full story, photos from OCSC’s day sail to the Farallons, and other adventures across the region.

In 3 minutes you’ll get all the info a Bay Sailor might want. Weather, Tides, News…. Check out www.mojosail.com. And if you listen to the August 6 Podcast you’ll hear OCSC mentioned in connection with the Dragon Boat Paddle & Picnic event! Have fun…

Originally published on Scuttlebutt.

A new weekly video magazine program ‘America’s Cup Uncovered’ is designed to connect viewers with the people, places and stories that are the backbone of the America’s Cup.

Featuring behind-the-scenes sneak-peeks, athlete profiles and up-close action on and off the water, ‘America’s Cup Uncovered’ will take an in-depth look at the 34th edition over the next two years, offering an exclusive window into one of the most prestigious events in sport.

With more than 90 weekly programs planned, the first episode will feature a variety of segments that will set the stage for future ‘America’s Cup Uncovered’ episodes:

• The show begins with a focus on the complete reinvention of the America’s Cup, as the sport drives towards the future.
• Viewers will be introduced to the new home of the America’s Cup – San Francisco – and how the natural amphitheater of the San Francisco Bay is setting the stage for the Cup’s transformation.
• Up close and personal with James Spithill (Australia) of ORACLE Racing, the youngest skipper to ever win the Cup, and what a typical “day at the office” entails, with eyes always set on defending his team’s win.
• A preview of Cascais, the site of the inaugural America’s Cup World Series, which is the new professional circuit bringing the America’s Cup experience to port cities around the globe.
• And finally, a visit to the past, with a visit to Auckland, New Zealand, where locals recall their Cup experience and how the oldest trophy in international sport helped rebuild and modernize their city’s waterfront.

Each episode is 30-minutes in duration, and available from 08:00 PDT / 11:00 EDT / 15:00 GMT on Saturdays, each week. Each episode is available online for seven days, until the next episode is aired each Saturday, and from select international broadcasters, including… read on here

This Seminar has been cancelled! Please call 510.843.4200 for more information.
August 20, 2011 10 AM-12 PM with special guest Mark Strobin
FREE for Members, $15 for Non-Members
Call 800.223.2984 to RSVP!

Get this on your calendar! Mark Strobin, Marine Forecaster for the National Weather Service Monterey will be giving a talk on the different resources available for effective marine forecasting. Mark will give a guided tour of the entire NWS Monterey website and teach sailors how best to use those resources in the Bay and on the Coast.  Buoy Reports, graphical forecasts, Eastern Pacific Satellite Image, radar, etc.  Lots of time for questions on how best to use the website as a resource to prepare oneself for Bay and Coastal sailing.

Its dramatic coastline of sharp ravines and plunging, cave-ridden cliffs contrasted with the many picturesque anchorages, turquoise seas and vibrant oasis towns set against the towering Taurus Mountains hold endless appeal. Not only an idyllic cruising region that now boasts many yachting facilities, it is also an inspiring cultural center with an absorbing past and plethora of Roman, Greek, and Lycian ruins right by the boat to be climbed and explored. The marvelous markets and bazaars overflow with intriguing Eastern goods as well as abundant produce from the fertile valleys. Here religious practices are relaxed and the prices are affordable, and best of all is the wonderful welcome of its hard-working, fun-loving, extroverted people. “Hos gedilniz: Welcome, what can we do for you?”

Story and Photos by Bill Kinney and Monica Alicia Bland

The excitement of sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge brings out the kid in every sailor. Bill patiently explains what he learned from a ten-year-old: There is an elephant in the trees on Pt. Diablo! “See that patch of trees to the right? That’s the head. That dead white tree is the tusk.” Yep, I can see that. He, in turn, humors my firm decision that the bright green algae on the hill is really scales left by the twin dragons, “Tooh” and “Fruhm,” as they drag themselves into their caves. “Oh, dragons. That explains the fog.”

Not that there is any need to create imaginary creatures. We are surrounded by intriguing animals. Our most constant companions are pelicans, gulls, cormorants, and common murres. We cause a frantic bird conversation when we almost sail between what I assume is a mother murre and her chick. Bill snaps a shot of the chattering pair, and tells me that it is usually the murre male who takes the chick out to sea when it is half-grown.

For many glorious minutes we sail on a beam reach to Pt. Reyes! The sun encourages us to de-layer down to our OCSC t-shirts. We sigh and enjoy it while it lasts. Then out of the clear, we sail into the fog. A flock of pelicans transforms from floating dorkiness to breathtaking gracefulness in flight, skimming the glassy surface in front of the bow. I snap a picture and giggle at what the weather announcer calls “gusts to four.” We motorsail through the glass. When wind is light, it is time to tend to the tedious tidying. We roll up the sail-ties tightly, so they will curl out like streamers when it is time to hang them over the boom and under the sail. We reach into the project box and fix an emergency horn with a ziplock bag. We make a boat wish list (cockpit camera holders, a winch handle pocket for the mast, new sailcovers…), a cruising wish list (Hawaii, Mexico, the BVI…), and ginger green tea. We make conversation and comfortable silences until we arrive at Drake’s Bay.

The truth: Drakes’s Bay is mostly pretty nothingness framed with fog. We have traveled all the way up the coast to get to nowhere and we are fine with that. There is one other boat in the anchorage–a sailboat flying the Canadian flag and all fitted out for family cruising. We can occasionally hear the children being children. The Coast Guard bellies up to their mooring ball for a while, does some Very Official Stuff, then leaves. We row the dinghy out to fish, but mostly catch glimpses– of starfish clinging to each other on the rocks, of a comb jelly just under the surface, of the fog rolling across the top of the hills. There are a couple of bites–the dinghy spins around during an epic high-stakes battle between man and Fish! We eat lamb for dinner.

In the morning, the anchor comes up cleaner than it was when we put it down and we resist the temptation to “just keep going” since “some of us have to go to work tomorrow.” Instead of sailing a straight course for San Francisco, we decide to stop by the Farallone Islands on the way back. I cradle the camera for hours, straining to see a whale and the precise minute I step below to make lunch, a whale breaches. Luckily, it isn’t alone. There are so many spouts on the way to the Farallones, we lose count. Southeast Farallon Island is teeming with birds and a few lounging sea lions trying to out-shout each other while we are hove-to.

Then it really is time to sail home since we don’t want to fight the ebb tide as we go back through the gate. At Pt. Diablo, we wave toward the caves of “Tooh” and “Fruhm.” They do not wave back. From a certain angle, the Golden Gate looks like a harp floating above us in the fog and below us—it is almost too much—there are harbor porpoises playing in the water. The weather is gorgeous and the playground is full. There are sailboats and ferries and kite surfers and sailboarders and wind enough for a few “woo-hoos” on a fast downwind run toward home.

If you are just about due for your own big sailing adventure (so you can escape most people and run smack into yourself), OCSC offers several options to get you out there gathering memories safely and confidently:

• Turkey Flotilla with Anthony Sandberg
• Coastal Passagemaking Course
• Farallones Adventure on the schooner Seaward
• Drake’s Bay Adventure on the schooner Seaward

Give us a call at the club for more info and to sign-up for your next adventure! 510.843.4200

See you on the water soon!

We recently got this great feature in International Lifestyle Magazine. You can click the images below to read it but we recommend checking out their website. It looks beautiful there and they also embed video.

Just click here and we’ll direct you to the right spot.

Have fun!