Solo Sailing to Drakes Bay and Farallon Islands

In this episode, I solo sail out of the San Francisco Bay to Drakes Bay, explore Point Reyes and then the next day set sail for the Farallone Islands. It was the longest solo trip I have done. I saw dozens of whales, hundreds of seals and even a deer. After motoring up along the Marin coastline I anchor 200 yards from Moli, the boat that had just completed the Figure 8 Voyage. The next day I pull up the anchor and in thick fog I point the bow to the Farallone Island to the southeast.

[@wil3]

the islands look wild, great video!

[@SamuelLanghorn]

what time of year did you sail?
it's definitely not summer 🙂

[@vancemiller5115]

Thanks for the vids. We're signed up for sailing classes but have almost a month to wait. I was really wondering about anchorages and weekend trips out the Golden Gate, both of which you addressed. Do you have a recommended source for more info on such topics?

[@saltyposse6456]

Hi Vance. Congrats about getting into sailing. It's super fun. Here is a good Bay cruising guide - www.amazon.com/Cruising-Guide-San-Francisco-Bay/dp/1937196445/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_NX7BRA1EiwA2dpg0lJkM-JBLpsEX6QpgRkXzJ_hO-X43yBhB6zrih47LIY8EFvjoiZNVRoCFd4QAvD_BwE&hvadid=384232514074&hvdev=c&hvlocint=9032076&hvlocphy=9047391&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=4809595476312719485&hvtargid=kwd-820246590860&hydadcr=7440_9611236&keywords=san+francisco+bay+cruising+guide&qid=1601618463&sr=8-2&tag=googhydr-20

[@yangyang3175]

how strong was the wind when u were in Drake's bay? I went there and the wind was 20-20knots and my anchor did not hold....

[@evioney]

Hey, this is a journey I want to make in my sailboat. I'm also in Emeryville marina. How do you figure out if it will be calm enough? What is your strategy for the tides? Is there any safety equipment you consider essential for a trip like this? Radar? My boat is 30'.

[@saltyposse6456]

Hi Evan. I'm glad to hear you are planning a similar trip. I use Windy.com to see how the wind and the waves will be. Typically the more wind the larger the waves, although that is not always the case. Windy.com has a nice wave feature which tells you the swell and the wind wave direction, size and period. For tides you'll only need to worry about the golden gate. I try to leave the golden gate under slack or weak ebb. Coming back, I was hoping to avoid the max ebb which really slowed me down. Other boats went north and then through the Bonita channel instead of through the main shipping channel which really saved them some time. If you can plan it so that you can make it back through the gate in a flood tide, that would save you a lot of time. When you get to Drakes Bay it would be good to anchor out pretty deep because there is a lot of sea weed and the closer in you get the higher the chance of it getting sucked into the engine cooling system. For equipment, I didn't have radar. I used AIS and GPS instead. Radar would be nice, but AIS tells you where all the larger boats are and GPS lets you know where the land is. You'll miss some of the smaller sailboats and fishing boats, since they may not have transmitters. I did have a radar deflector. Radar deflectors and AIS are both pretty cheap. Also, it would be good to have a dinghy with a motor. It gets windy in Drake's Bay in the evening and I would worry that I wouldn't be able to paddle against the wind it get back to the boat. It'll be a fun trip. Good luck!

[@joejoemcgee]

Still at Emery Cove? I'm B36.

[@RobertPeniston]

Loose the music