Boat off Marina Bay during a breezy San Francisco day

San Francisco Bay is known for forceful summer afternoon winds. The boat shown in these photos was beating out of Marina Bay, Richardson, California, on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 10, 2011.

The boat was seen from F dock on the west side of Marina Bay, where Carol Anne and I had been visiting our friend Ken on his boat "Second Wind". This was a rough day for Second Wind after attempted repairs to a through-hull valve went awry. The skipper had to make an emergency run later that day to the KKMI shipyard to the west for an emergency haul-out.

Previously, we'd left Tempe, Arizona on Saturday, May 7 after picking up some equipment from our son, Gerald, to take to California for him and driving to Bakersfield via Lancaster and finding a great barbecue place in Lancaster, the "Grill Hut".

On Sunday, May 8, we drove up CA 99 to Alameda Island and checked into the Coral Reef Inn, a 1960s apartment complex converted into a motor inn. We had a suite with a separate bedroom, which would come in handy when Gerald caught a flight in a few days later to join us. A couple of items needed fixing but were not too much of a problem and we were able to run out to Richardson to join skipper Ken for a beer each on his 35-foot S2 sloop, "Second Wind".

Ken had work to do on the boat, which he'd not sailed or spent much time on in many months, so it was thus on Tuesday, May 10 that we volunteered to help him with the recalcitrant through-hull valve that was clogged and preventing the marine head from working properly. My part in the though-hull caper was uncomfortable but simple; I was lying on my back at a strange angle with a hand and arm in the chilly water, keeping a plug secure in the outside opening of the through-hull, which was below water level. Of course, there was the detail of getting the right through hull, but that at least didn't cause too much excitement.