Fine Day For Sailing

Looking for a silver lining to the dark cloud of the pandemic, human quarantine has been great for the marine life- I’ve never seen so many seals, sea lions and porpoises in San Francisco Bay before! I thought I’d share this video with you, taken at the dock yesterday. I hope this message finds you healthy, both mentally and physically, and brightens up your weekend a bit!

Memorial Day weekend usually marks the beginning of a very busy few months but this year will be different. We are still sheltering in place (day 70?) but to those of us that live a Gypsy life in a moveable home sheltering can mean any place the anchor drops, so my kids and I have been hopping around different anchorages in San Francisco Bay trying to stay away from people and catch our own dinners. You can get a glimpse of life at anchor during quarantine by following along on Instagram or Facebook @finedayforsailing

Looking forward to getting out on the water this summer? At some point soon I will be open for taking small groups of passengers out sailing, with precautions like sanitizer and face coverings, with no food or drinks served aboard (but you may bring them yourself). The rates will be lower ($100/hour) and the times will be shorter (2-3 hours) to allow for thorough cleanings between groups and swapping out life jackets, etc. We aren’t allowed to do that just yet but I imagine it will be soon and oh how wonderful to get people outside and on the water when that time comes!

Through the generosity of many clients and friends buying gift cards we were able to gift 12 Pandemic Heroes a much-needed sail on the bay to say thank you for their hard work on the frontlines during this time. If you have someone in mind who could really use this mental health break, get in touch. The buy one, gift one deal will be available until we are allowed to reopen.

Last but not least, if you are bored at home and want to try out a virtual experience, I will be going live this weekend with “Sea Stories at Anchor on San Francisco Bay” through Airbnb Experiences. If you don’t see a date and time that works feel free to request one- this is a whole new world of zoom we’re living in and I’m trying to be creative with it till we can back to sailing in person! Click on this link to book it:

Virtual online experience with Captain Heather

As we close in on the earliest sunset of 2019 and the end of a full and exciting year I am wishing everyone a very happy solstice and a very happy new year! If you’re looking for a last minute gift but don’t want to just buy more “stuff” consider the gift of a sailing experience. We have lovely gift cards available that don’t add clutter to life but rather add something difficult to find in today’s busy world- lasting memories of a relaxing time together enjoying the beauty of nature!

After a journey of just over 5000 nautical miles and six months away, we sailed under the Golden Gate on Friday and will be chartering again starting tomorrow! We have lots of new sea stories to tell and ideas try this season for enhancing your sailing experiences so be sure to book a sailing trip soon! Looking for an extended sailing vacation or overnight adventure sailing package? We have options for those as well, from Alaska to Mexico!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you are all celebrating with friends and family and a good meal, thinking of all the things to be thankful for, as we are. For us the sailing season went very well this year and it seems that the worst of the forest fires in northern California are finally over with the arrival of the first rain. Our thoughts are with those who are still dealing with the fires, and will be for sometime to come.

When the end of the sailing season came in San Francisco this year we decided to do something different for the winter. We are taking the kids out of school and heading south to Mexico! We’re not sure how long we will be gone or how far will sail, but the goal is to give the kids a totally different kind of education than what they’ve had so far, learning from the world around them first hand and experiencing new cultures.

We will be setting up our voyage tracker soon and will let you know how to check and see where exactly we are in the world. If you find that you are nearby and you’d like to come out for sail, please still get in touch, as we would be very happy to host you! Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a charter on the San Francisco Bay, check out a good friend of ours in Sausalito sailingmemo.com. Just say hello from Captain Heather!

As we travel we will be posting videos and YouTube anywhere that we can fine fast Wi-Fi To upload them. First two episodes just went up, so if you’re sitting around oh turkey and with nothing to do, please check out our YouTube channel finedayforsailing and give us a like… while I’m still learning to edit and it’s taken a little while to get the hang of filming while sailing, we’re having fun making these videos. It’s very exciting for us to be sharing our voyage with YOU! Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a comment so we can stay in touch!

Some photos of departure day and catching our first meal from the Pacific…