San Francisco Fleet Week 2018

I'm packing up my provisions for the upcoming Fleet Week air show on the SF Bay with the Blue Angels. Giggitoni and I are heading to Sausalito to stage for the festivities and I'm also joined by my bride and her brother/my BIL and 14yo nephew from Maryland.

I'm planning to fish the mornings and watch the airshow Fri-Sun afternoons. If it goes according to plan, I'll be front row near airshow center.

Is anyone else planning to attend the show this year?

It’s always a great show. Watch out for knuckleheads on the bay.

Al, my daughter lives in SF and said the Blue Angels were buzzing her apartment yesterday. Look forward to seeing some pics from your trip.

Little worried about the weather at this point. So while I'll be on the boat Sunday, not sure I'll leave my slip...we'll see.

Right now, https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/Forecasts/FZUS56.KMTR.html is showing wind gusts up to 30 knots.

If it is that bad out there, and that crowded, I don't want any part of it. I plan on playing it by ear.

I know Al uses WeatherPro, which is showing slightly better conditions.

Mike

Had a great time out there Thurs-Mon. Arrived in the Bay on Thursday as the Blue Angels were starting their arrival/practice demo so I watched for a short while until the low hanging clouds interrupted their show so I headed to Treasure Island Marina to stage for the night. Got a call that night from Delta Swizzler when he saw I was at Treasure Island. A friend of their's from New Zealand was anchored in the cove, panning their entry into the California Delta for a month or so. He had given them my name and number for delta info so I launched the dink and visited their N46 with a delta map. Had a nice hour or so visit while sharing with them local knowledge and my favorite anchorages.

Friday morning I moved the boat to Scott's Seafood in Jack London Square/Oakland where my BIL and nephew arrived via taxi from their flight into town. After lunch enroute to a short (fruitless) fishing stop, we moved to Alcatraz for wind protection and the Blue Angels practice session. After the show, we continued to Sausalito for a 3-day stay. We operated out of the Schoonmaker Point Marina for the next couple days of airshow, fishing and Angel Island excursions. The high winds that were forecast for Sunday persuaded us to make the Saturday airshow a priority. The high winds never materialized in the bay and on Sunday we were able to enjoy the Angel Island Tram ride and local sights.

We arrived early enough on Saturday to get the prime front row seat opposite the grand stands which placed us at show center. At my fist anchoring, the USCG told me I was RIGHT on the line and needed to move 100 yds north. All boats south of us, between us and the restricted box, had to motor by...no anchoring. We even managed to put the kid onto two bat rays while waiting for the airshow to start. He was worn out before landing the first fish!

All in all, a great weekend of boats, airplanes and fishing. Giggitoni and I cruised together both ways with no mechanical issues and even had time on the way home for a drone video on San Pablo Bay. (Future post?)

Life is good!

Photos:
1-3 Blue Angels
4 Cute Mini Tug
5. N46 Venture Forth
6. TowBoatUS Capt Phil
7. Angel Island
8. Trip Log - ~83NM in 11.8 hrs

two more from Giggitoni...

Nice shots Al. One day I'm going to make it down there to watch that air show. We get a mini air show when the unlimited hydroplanes run here, but it's nothing like what the Blue Angels put on for a show.


Thanks for the photos, my friend!

Thanks. I've been anxiously awaiting the photos and your report.

I was there for the air show on Saturday, anchored in a little cove between the Aquatic Park and Fort Mason around noon. It was a great vantage point, but unfortunately got a little crowded as time went on. There was a bit of a fiasco when two other boats got their anchors tangled in my rode (right as the Blue Angels were starting their part of the show). As the others pulled up their anchors, mine came up as well, and we all started drifting toward the breakwater. I was frantically trying to keep station to avoid the breakwater and the other boats while waiting for them to get untangled. A passing policeman on a jetski was able to help one boat get untangled, the other ended up cutting their nylon rode. As I was getting my own anchor sorted out, I found the cut anchor line tied tightly to my anchor. I was barely able to hoist the other anchor hand over hand and get it on board. By this time, the other boats were long gone, and I was unable to figure out where they went. With time constraints of my own, I headed for home port in Redwood City.
I now have a surplus anchor, and would like to get it back to its owner, if I could find them. I tried a Craigslist lost and found ad, but had no responses.

I was there on Sunday. Got quite choppy around 3pm, but seemed to settle down after the Blue Angels finished up. Turned out to be a fantastic day overall. And although I had a few "just what do you think you're doing" moments, most boaters seemed to recognize the fact that they needed to pay as much or more attention to what was happening around them than above them.

Braver folks than I anchored near Angel. I couldn't imagine being a sitting duck like that as boats weaved around me.

PJ, it seems like you got the short end of that stick! Glad you were able to avoid damage. Consider the new anchor as a reward for the calamity. What size/brand of anchor was it?

I was anchored near Alcatraz and it can be a bit worrisome with some boaters motoring soooooo close as to be uncomfortable. Fortunately this year, we were well spaced from other anchored boats and had no more issues with boats parking on our bow pulpit.