Our Drake's Bay Adventure
10-04-03 to 10-05-03

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We sailed out of Sausalito early Saturday morning aboard The Royaliste. We sailed 25 miles north along the coastline to Drake's Bay. Drake's Bay is so named because it is believed to be the spot where Francis Drake and his crew stopped to do the careening (bottom cleaning, scraping tarring etc) of their ships. The trip up took us about 4 hours. We went as most vessels do for safety on the open ocean, a combination of sails and motor power. We anchored out in Drake's Bay Saturday night, as part of a Master Mariner's gathering of wooden ships and there are few modern intrusions there- just a dozen or so classic wooden ships of varying types. In the morning, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, secured the ship for the trip home and when we went to fire up her engines for the trip home.... we discovered that the starter hand gone out!! Welcome to 1755. Here we are, 25 miles from home and about to do something that has probably not been done in about the last 100 years- sail a square rigger through this difficult stretch of open completely under full sail without the aid of any motor assistance.

This isn't an easy sail. There are crossing currents going in all directions. There was little wind and what there was came in brief gusts. So there was little sailing we could do by the wind and we had to ride the currents. A daunting task with no motor to say the least. Add to that equation that the captain is sailing with a very green crew. So all took a deep breath and headed out for open sea. Just getting out of Drakes Bay seemed to take ages. It was sheltered from the wind, so we had to drift the currents... and not let them pull us in to the treacherous rocks on the northern opening! Once out of the mouth of the bay, we had to head out to sea a ways so that we would be able to clear the rocky points at Bolinas Bay and Point Diablo that were coming up ahead. We had little gusts of wind, but nothing much. Our top'sl (square upper sail at the top of the mast) was invaluable in catching those little gusts of wind, high up off the water. Many times we were battling some incredible currents. They would push and pull the ship from every which way, constantly changing force and direction. It was a constant balancing act to keep going in the right direction, read the sea ahead of us, get the sails working to our best advantage and keep us pointed towards home… then the fog caught us. I went below to make sandwiches and came up to see that we were no longer in sight of land, but encircled in fog. When that happens, you lose your sense of direction. North looks like south looks like east looks like west. It is just a big circle of fog all around you and your ship. We used the compass and the GPS (we did have that modern advantage) to locate our position on the nautical charts. That job fell to me, but fortunately my drafting background and some archaeological mapping experience came in handy and I located our position along the coastline with a couple of minutes of familiarizing myself with the map and the GPS. We also radioed the other ships in the vicinity and advised them of our rather precarious situation.

We slowly worked our way towards the Golden Gate, several times fighting incredible currents working against us. After one time where the ship was so far over on her side that the muzzles of the cannons were only a few inches from the water. We had no idea what we would face coming back in the Golden Gate. We hoped to arrive in time to catch a flood tide, but we couldn’t control the timing. The Gate is tough. Lots of quickly changing currents, a treacherous rocky point aptly named “Point Diablo” which translates to “Devil’s Point”, where the current draws the ship right into it. Just as we were getting ready to come in under the gate… a great big barge was coming the opposite way. So we had to out-guess his moves, avoid point Diablo, not hit the concrete and iron bridge support, battle the currents all at once as we came in under the Golden Gate!! It was touch and go a few times with some pretty tense moments. But we made it through and to the bay to our great relief! Once in the bay, we knew we’d done something that had not been done in probably a hundred years or so. Made the trip in a square-rigged ship under full sail. …and with such a green crew, maybe never. It was quite a day. Friends in a small boat met us, and helped us ease the Royaliste into her slip. We’re all pretty worn out, but it was one heck of a weekend!

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