We’ve made it to San Francisco!

(written September 28th, 2021)

Wow. 

Yesterday we sailed through the fog, on a broad reach, under the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco Bay. I hadn’t thought of the city as much of a “check point”, but the feeling of sailing under that bridge and to see the city in the distance, to feel the warmer weather and reminisce on my last time in the area ( during the 2015 America’s Cup ), all struck a deep chord with me. We’ve been running. We’ve been sailing non-stop. We’ve sailed from Hawaii to the isolated Aleutain Islands. We’ve sailed through many glacial waters from Kodiak to Glacier Bay,  down through South East Alaska, Canada and into Port Townsend, Washington. We’ve seen and quickly passed by sights that many, including myself, dream of seeing perhaps “one day” in our lives. When we’ve stopped, provisioned, showered, fixed what needed fixing and then before we could take a breath, we were off again. It’s been thrilling! It’s been tough. We’ve been cold, wet, exposed. We’ve been moving!

Today when I woke, the fog had risen and clear skies took it’s place. For the first time this summer, I felt warm and dry. I swear J. Henry looks differently in this San Franciscan weather! She was out of place, no doubt, for the last few months; among the steel and aluminum fishing vessels, J. Henry stood out. Even among the North Western sailing vessels, she stood out. Her large, open cockpit has looked cold, wet and useless. Today, she looked clean, elegant and at ease. I gave her a bath. I cleaned up below. I took time to myself aboard. I really do feel like crossing under that bridge was an accomplishment. The end of a wild and wonderful chapter. I feel good. We feel good. What a ride!

It’s September but this is the most summer we’ve felt all summer long. While here we have more meetings and connections to make than I can list out. All exciting. We’ll squeeze every drop out of the next week and then we must leave again to continue South. The next bit will be different, no doubt. It’s the next chapter; a race down North and Central America to the Panama Canal. We must keep a watchful eye out for hurricanes. I’ve got to get reacquainted with checking in and out of different countries every week if not twice a week. I’ve got to bush up on my Spanish. We have to schedule meetings with folks along the way but our schedule makes it quite the challenge! We’ll do what we can, sail when we can and soon enough I’ll be writing about sailing into Charleston Harbor. I can hardly describe how I feel about that day…. 

As always, I want to share more. There will be many more stories to share long after J. Henry returns to her home port. 

Thank you for following! 

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