oceanrowing

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First attempt aborted...

	I am back to land as of Tuesday evening. Tuesday morning at 0400 local time was the slack before the 4.4kt strong tide expected at 0749. I had left from Corinthian Yacht Club Monday evening, and had rowed my boat to under the Golden Gate Bridge. I was tied to a guest dock at the Presidio Yacht Club. At 0400 on Tuesday morning the winds were strong fluttering my flag, and at night onshore winds should have calmed down. There was some other wind pattern in play. I was tempted to call it off and wait, but instead decided to give the tide another hour to strengthen. I could run with the tide and could perhaps get away from the channelling effects of the Golden Gate. NW winds offshore were to help carry me south, then overnight I could make westward progress again. It did not work out that way. I made it past the shoals west of the Golden Gate and could keep a general SW resultant course earlier by keeping a WSW heading. That is the best that the boat would allow, given the wind and wave conditions. As the sun rose higher, the onshore winds rose to about a steady 20kt with occasional gusts. I found myself losing ground straight due east at an average of .8kt despite the rowing. Soon I was back on the shoals south of the shipping channel. At 35ft depth, my bottom anchor did not grab and it was dragging. I was 4nm from land. It was 1600 local time, sunset was another 5.5 hours later, leaving me with sustained winds for at least that long. I could not count on the next ebb tide, a weak one of 1.9kt, as I was now south of the shipping channel. I set out the sea anchor to no significant effect. It was time to call for a tow to safety. At 1600 local time, I called Peter Hogg to see if Corinthian could send a boat down. Judging that would take longer than the time available, we agreed that we should call the Coast Guard. I was towed to safety by a Coast Guard cutter and was tied back in the Presidio Yacht Club across the Coast Guard station by 1800. Two Coast Guard officers came by to review paperwork and check all safety equipment on board. When all was to their satisfaction, one of them said "You are good to go, I hope you have better luck next time!" I told them that I was not taking their help lightly and would be happy to pay for the fuel costs to bring me back to land. "That will not be necessary, your safety is our job," was their response. I am grateful for the professionalism and the dedication of the men and women of the Coast Guard. So now we will rewind back to Corinthian at Tiburon, and start again from there. It is my responsibility as the captain of my boat, and a member of the small ocean rowing community to act responsibly and to remain self reliant. Weather and winds are hard to read accurately, and we will do our best to do so next time.
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