After several years in which the Petaluma river was too silted up to allow sailing yachts, again it was our pleasure to make the biannual SBYC cruise to Petaluma on the Memorial Day weekend.
This year's doings were organized by Dan Sullivan, of both BAADS and SBYC fame, and he did a fabulous job of providing information to the 10 to 15 boats that went.
Apparently for the first time in SBYC history, there were thorough piloting instructions, and much information about Petaluma and its facilities.
We went, with our tons of gear, to SBYC on Friday evening as we needed to be off the dock at 09:00 Saturday to take advantage of a 3.6 knot flood tide to help us up the river. With our 2 hour minimum commute we'd have had to rise well before the crack of dawn to arrive in time. Good old overworked Dan had already filled ET's water and fuel tanks and made all ready. We had merely to streel our stuff about the cabin, get ice, find the stove fuel and a few other minor tasks, including a quick trip to West Marine for a replacement horn and a butane stove lighter.
After a Chinese dinner, we settled in and went over the next day's plans again, hopefully tying up any loose ends. Sue decided to start with her foulies on, tops and bottoms, since she would be unwilling to go below while under way to change. Leaving me at the helm, even with the audible compass, wouldn't be much of a plan in a very busy bay, and her tendency to become ill when going below under way would make for a bad start to the trip.
We actually got some pretty good sleep Friday night, but were awake rather earlier than we needed to be for a shower in the Pier 40 facilities and a quick light breakfast. BAADS fellow skipper John Greener and his wife Karen arrived promptly at 08:30, just as we were returning to the boat, and we got all aboard and briefed John and Karen on the plans for the day as well as going over the several pages of our chart book with them.
According to Dan's information, the Petaluma river portion was 12 nautical miles. Sue roughly measured the distances from the South Beach to the San Rafael Bridge and from the bridge to the river as 12 nm each. Estimating ET's speed at 5 knots and dividing 36 nm by 5 knots, she came up with an approximate trip time of 7 hours.
John and Karen reported leaving blue skies in San Rafael, but we left in cloudy somewhat chilly weather, very much looking forward to some warmth later on. The weather forecast was for the clouds and fog to linger much of the day and for winds to 25 knots with possible gusts to 30. We had decided this was just acceptable but if wind forecasts rose above 30 we would reconsider. There were strong wind gusts in the harbor Friday night and early Saturday, making us wonder if the conditions overall for the trip were a little too marginal, but the winds lessened somewhat about the time we left.
The course to Petaluma can be broken into approximate thirds, the first from South Beach to about Red Rock just before the San Rafael bridge is familiar to most of us and was managed with fair winds under a reefed main and full working jib. We weren't sure John, with his racing tendencies, approved of our decision about the reef, but once we were out on the bay the gusts proved our point that we were doing just as much speed reefed as we would have with the main all the way up, and the boat was much more comfortable and easier to handle that way. The wind diminished enough that we unreefed near Angel Island.
From Red Rock, we made for the Brothers islands and enjoyed seeing the wind swing round to a broad reach and the temperature begin to rise. We wondered if an expensive overnight at the Brothers bed and breakfast would be worth the cost, but as it appears there is little room on the islands that isn't taken up with buildings we thought we might get rapidly bored.
From the Brothers we began following the piloting instructions by steering 346 degrees magnetic heading for channel marker 2 opposite the so-called "Pump house", a platform/marker. This led into the beginnings of the Petaluma channel, continuing the pleasant downwind sail on the 346 degree heading to marker 6 where we began a series of left turns as the channel approached the shore. Karen kept track of the marker numbers.
We had started the engine near the start of the markers, but kept sailing with the engine in neutral until we were between markers 18 and 20. As ET's Autohelm Tridata instrument had failed and was not yet back from repair, we were unable to get a depth reading. This caused us to be even more conservative than we would otherwise have been, very much not wishing to get stuck again as we had on our previous trip in 1994 (see We Were Well Grounded In The Basics).
The markers turned us gradually into the wind, but we were still reaching when we were ready to drop the sail. We did not want to risk repeatedly changing tack in the narrow channel and river without a depth meter. We reefed for better control in dropping sail, and Tom had it down by marker 20. Steering 310 from marker 6 to 14, then turning left again several times at numbers 16 and 18, we finally entered the actual river mouth about marker 20. Looking behind, we saw we were the leader in a line of about 4 sail boats.
Sue noted some markers coming from the left, joining the channel we were in, around marker 20. The markers all ended, but were followed quickly by the first of two railroad "Swing" bridges which are listed as usually open. The instructions say if they close for a train, one can expect a 30 minute delay and we didn't look forward to trying to hold our position in a narrow channel while waiting so we were glad to find the railroads elsewhere that weekend.
After marker 20 and the railroad bridge, there were no further markers until we'd passed Hog island and approached Cloudy Bend. Here nun buoys 2 and 4 appeared on the right, signaling the need to steer left of the channel to avoid silting around green buoy 5. Beyond this, the river continues through a series of bends which merely require one to stay mid channel, and we did so assiduously.
Cloudy Bend showed up after 3:00 and we went through the rest of the trip under the highway 101 bridge and looked out for the second railroad swing just before the Petaluma D Street draw bridge.
Dan S. had previously talked to the bridge tender who had said he expected to be around most of Saturday and to give a call on VHF channel 9 as we approached and he'd open for us.
After passing the highway 101 bridge, Tom called the D Street tender on channel 9 and he said he'd open for us if we called when the bridge was in sight. As we came up to the bridge we had several boats behind us and one in front. This particular boat, which shall remain nameless here, had passed us a couple of times on the trip then dropped back again, but now they were waiting at the bridge when we got there apparently unable to communicate with the tender. We hollered at them that the bridge would open when the current crop of boats was ready, and just about that time we heard the bells that signal the approaching raising of the span.
We motored through and up to the turning basin, which was much smaller than Sue remembered, hoping there would be room for us to tie alongside the floats normally intended for stern ties so that John Greener would not have to try to drag himself by arm power out over the stern pulpit.
We had also lost track of Dan Sullivan's Acqua di Vita and had been unable to hear or raise him by VHF radio all the way up. We were therefore rather surprised to find him just behind us as we surveyed the crowded harbor filled with stern tied boats and wondering what to do with ourselves. Finally several of us came alongside docks across the way from the intended floats. The entire Petaluma Yacht Club float system was full including some boats tied alongside instead of stern-to as was required.
Our first tie-up was fine for disembarking John and his chair, but we were told we'd be hard aground there at low tide so Dan S. called the bridge tender again as they are in charge of the actual city marinas. The tender assured us that he would come down and straighten out the improperly docked boats to give us room. We soon had ET and Acqua di Vita snugged up at the innermost end of these floats, although we were glad to note that even Dan didn't try backing directly down onto the stern ties. We both came alongside as one might do at a long wharf and then warped the boats round with lines into their final stern-on positions. The bows of all the boats in this line were tied together and our port bow, being the end of the string, was provided with a long spring line out to the dock.
With ET's flat, vertical stern, it was easy to position fenders and to hold onto the backstay to climb on and off (we removed the horseshoe life preserver).
A rough estimate of total trip distance on the chart made it about 36 nautical miles and we had calculated that we'd probably take about 7 hours at ET's presumed 5 knots an hour. We were off the docks at South Beach on the dot of 9:00 A.M. and were all secured at Petaluma by 4:15, pretty good for a rough estimate.
We spent the rest of Saturday settling in, having a bit of lunch, trying to get electricity from the docks without success and so on. We checked in with very welcoming folks at the Petaluma Yacht Club and were easily granted privileges simply by mentioning SBYC and BAADS. A very friendly club board member named Jim said he'd sleep at the club all night and open up at 8:00 Sunday morning with continental breakfast for early risers.
The club has a ramp up to its patio area and looks relatively accessible. Although the bathrooms themselves are roomy and have grab bars, some aspects including the shower stalls would present some difficulties to a wheel chair user and probably don't actually meet ADA specs. The docks are modern, wide and stable, but of course the ramps can get quite steep due to Petaluma's 9 foot tidal swing.
Saturday evening saw us engulfing a very good "New York style" pizza and wandering around the closer areas of the town a bit before settling in to comfortable old ET for a tired night's intermittent sleep. Various noises including an obnoxious waterfront bar disturbed portions of the night but overall we slept well with very little boat movement noticeable.
Rising fairly early Sunday morning to make the expected rush for the yacht club showers, Sue commented on a great deal of apparent brown sludge in the water ahead of the boat. She was shocked when she realized she was seeing the sandy bottom of the river exposed: it was very shallow there, ahead and to the left. Two men passing by said they were holding their breath, expecting us to run aground there as we tried to dock. Without our depth meter, we could not be certain, but we are pretty sure ET's keel was in the sand, changing the way she gently rocked back and forth. We could easily see why you only leave that harbor on a high tide.
Sunday morning we enjoyed showers then coffee and doughnuts courtesy of the Yacht club, then met the bridge tender, Dennis, who came by the docks to collect the overnight fees. We found him a most engaging person. He said he'd be around the bridge Sunday afternoon and there would be no problem getting a look at the operational end of the old timer. He also said he'd open for all of us who wanted to leave on the Monday high tide at 6:00 a.m.
After lunch Sunday we walked over to see the bridge close up. There are 2 arms for each direction: a long one to stop traffic (like a railroad crossing arm), and a short one to stop pedestrians. We managed to catch Dennis as he was about to open the bridge for a commercial vessel. We were right there in his control office while he flipped the switches and turned the big iron knobs that operated the electricals for the bridge.
The bridge was originally built in 1894 somewhere in Washington and was moved to Petaluma in 1931. Can you imagine a drawbridge being moved on a barge?
The rest of Sunday consisted of some shopping in town and just hanging around, life gets rough sometimes! We decided on Dempsey's restaurant right on the waterfront for dinner. This was partially due to their advertised "Home Made Root Beer" and hand cut fries. We were not disappointed, it was one of those meals that reminds you just how good a great cheese burger, fries and REAL home made root beer can be [comment in 2001: we've enjoyed these hamburgers again during return trips from Arcata]. It actually tasted like it was made from something that wasn't chemical factory waste. And then there were the delicate delicious bread and butter pickles!
Then it was back to ET to begin packing junk into some kind of order for the trip home Monday. We slept fairly well again, Sunday night wasn't as noisy as Saturday had been, but were again up rather earlier than we needed to be worrying about getting out of the harbor on an ebb tide that was already half way out.
Tom's perspective:
Before 6:00 A.M. just as it was getting light, all those couple dozen engines started up. It reminded me of the Indy 500 which had been run Sunday, "Gentlemen, (and ladies) start your engines."Sue's perspective:As I brought our bow lines in from the dock and Acqua di Vita, all of a sudden a new friend was volunteering to cast us off, and Dan Sullivan was saying why didn't we go since we were ready, and wow we were untied and moving out into the harbor, trying to turn right quickly enough to miss that sand bar and not so quickly as to mark up Acqua di Vita. And of course we stuck in the sand. We felt it soon, not a bang or a thud, just an inability to move at all. Reverse didn't do anything, so we dragged out a long line and threw it to a friendly sailor who easily pulled us off the sand.
Then we were really in the middle of it. There were big aggressive powerboats pushing their way ahead of us trying to get out. They were willing to shave it closer than we liked so we had to hold position, "Forward, reverse, forward, reverse" till someone more polite let us move into the packed stream of boats.
Just as we were really beginning to wonder how tightly we could pack boats above the bridge, good old Dennis did his bit and opened the bridge. It was a very slow crawl for a while as boats got moving and got some space between. Powerboats took every chance to pass, but we tried not to give them too much help as we didn't want to get the keel in the sand yet again.
Shere (sp?) from a neighboring sailboat cast us off just before 6 am, and we did go aground (didn't want to clip boats as we started out. ) After throwing bow line to another boater who helped pull us free (didn't take much), we moved ahead very slowly, trying to keep as much distance as possible . A power yacht pulled out in front of us and I had to put ET in reverse and try to hold against forward momentum and current. Shere later called to us as they passed us much farther down river that the power boat had cut us off and I did a good job (in avoiding a collision). I probably should have waited, but I appreciated the casting off help, and did not want to delay their departure. The other sailboats docked near us were bigger, so it was a good warning to them that it was very shallow there. It's also possible we would have been grounded at the dock if we had waited for the others to clear first.Tom again:
Tom came back to the cockpit after securing docklines and handled the engine for me. It felt like a delicate balancing act, trying to hold back against the current (reverse), maintain what maneuvering room I could behind the boat in front of me (neutral), and still maintain steering capability (forward). I was not at all amused to have at least 2 boats leave the dock and pull out in front of me, so that I had to work even more delicately to hold our boat back. One of the boats that cut in was a small sail boat which eventually motored down the river even more slowly than I would have liked to. It was a distinct relief to hear the bridge-raising bell and to follow the boats ahead of us past the bridge. We called a thank you to Dennis, the bridge tender, and he wished us a good trip.
We stayed behind the small sail boat, and so did everyone else in line behind us for a considerable distance, until the power boat behind us passed, then 2 other power boats. Finally, when a sail boat or 2 passed as well, we throttled up and passed, then maintained a good speed for the engine. A few others passed us, some at places where I was especially concerned about staying in the center, but most stayed in line after that. Looking back, I could see 2 others close behind us, and 3 much farther back.
Finally we settled down to navigating the turns and buoys of the river in reverse. We had calculated the reverse bearings beforehand and were glad of it. Luckily we both remembered what things looked like but kept the chart handy for quick looks anyhow. We actually passed one very slow sail boat, deciding that even if his boat was named Cutty Sark, he wasn't clipping along even by our standards.Sue again:
We saw a sail boat grounded, heeled over at a considerable angle, an inflatable dinghy tied to it, but no one outside on the boat. I'm guessing it had run aground the day before. Farther on, I saw a sail boat motionless in the middle of the river. A sail boat ahead of us passed it on the starboard side. I thought it strange that a boat would be grounded mid river, and decided to follow the lead of the boat ahead, as it had successfully gotten by. As we got closer, I saw that the apparently grounded boat was actually anchored on both sides, fore and aft (4 anchors?!). I guess it's legal, but it seems really inconsiderate to be absolutely in the center of a narrow river and force everyone to squeak past.Tom:
Good thing we saw the other marked channel joining ours on the way in, as it was very confusing to find our markers on the way back. We did not raise sail 'til after the markers. We listened to Vessel Traffic, as we were in the shipping channel. It makes a much more relaxed sail to know where the ships are, and where they intend to go.
Couldn't point close enough to sail past the Brothers. Tried beating, but made only a little forward progress, and could only rely on memories of previous trips to Benicia to avoid shallow parts of San Pablo Bay to the east. Motored into bucketloads of cold wet spray and choppy white-capped waves. Sailed from just before San Rafael Bridge, reefed main, full jib.
We didn't bother with sails till we were out in the bay channel and almost directly into the wind, then we put up the reefed main to see how we did. As we reached the end of the marked channel, things began to get bumpy, and we tried tacking into the San Pablo Bay wind and chop. Without a depth meter, we were unwilling to chance the longest possible tacks for fear of the rapidly rising bottom, so we found progress tacking into the slop very difficult and finally motored from before the Brothers to near the San Rafael bridge. After that it turned into a pretty normal sail home in 15 to 25 knot plus winds and fairly smooth water.
Although Sue is not fond of rising early, we were glad to get started with a long day ahead, bringing us back to SBYC at just a little after 1:00 P.M. leaving plenty of time for a sandwich, and to clean up ET and put her all away with no hurry.
It was a real pleasure, tired as we surely were, to do that all the right way, even to filling gas and water tanks and leaving the head properly pumped. If you take the time to do that all well it leaves you feeling like you've properly wound up another great trip and given dear ET her proper treatment. Besides you'll be friends with the next user.
With a few hairy moments, like getting out of the Petaluma harbor in shallow water and a positive zoo of aggressive boats, and a minor wetting while motoring down San Pablo Bay, it was a grand trip. There was lots to learn and re-learn, and a new level of confidence in handling channel navigation, something not enough of us have done. Boy were we glad of Dan Sullivan's piloting instructions: without a depth meter, doing that without knowing where to turn would have been enough to turn us gray(er) in an afternoon.
As we always do, Sue and I stopped several times just to say "Look where we are and what we're doing, WOW! is that really us?" Yes it is, and all because of BAADS and our beloved ET along with all her fan club.
We particularly enjoyed having John Greener and Karen with us on the way up. They had never been north of Angel Island and John said he wouldn't have tried it by himself but now feels he could skipper that way some time. We had always wanted to get to know John and Karen better and are delighted we did. Next time they will probably feel like bringing their kids.
Most grateful thanks to ET, Dan Sullivan, SBYC, the Petaluma Yacht Club, and the Petaluma harbor and the city and its people.
Next time you'll join us, won't you?
Written 1999, edited for web 2001.
Updated 9-2-2001 and 6-20-2005