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From: Bob Peterson (no email)
Date: Tue Nov 16 2004 - 14:27:21 EST
Greg,
Yes it happens all the time. Regarding the shotgun-toting Coastie, yes they
are now required to do that. Can you think of a better target for Al Queda
than the Golden Gate Bridge? The California Highway Patrol, National Guard
and Coast Guard can't.
I routinely encounter whales in Spring and Fall offshore of the Golden Gate,
and as you know (due to Humphrey the Whale's exploits inland a few years
back) they often come into the bay for a visit. I've never had one directly
under me for as long as your report, but it's certainly possible. Your
underbody (your boats) might have looked particularly fetching to him/her.
The charts also show a Navy Undersea Operating Area used by submarines,
which has been used for that purpose in previous years. But with the
closure of Mare Island Naval Shipyard, we seldom see them any more.
Bob Peterson
47' Lien Hwa CMY
"Lopaka Nane"
San Francisco
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Pless
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 11:04 AM
To: Trawlers List
Subject: T&T: A Whale of a Tale..
Sunday evening we were heading back from a sunset cruise outside of the
Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco Bay with a full boat of family and
friends. After a spectacular viewing of at least 50 dolphins fishing the
currents rushing out of the Gate, and being closely reviewed by a shotgun
wielding, but pleasant, Coast Guard life boat crew looking for
[terrorists??], we headed for the Northern span of the bridge. We negotiated
the 5 knot ebb with its eddies and roiling 5' + waves, which definitely gets
your attention, and motored into the calmer waters just East of the bridge.
All this time the depth was 175' or better. About 100 yards from the bridge,
all of a sudden my RayMarine depth gauge alarm starts ringing and we are at
24', then 12', then 6'! I rush to throttle back and bring the engines to
neutral just before seeing 4' on the gauge, which happens to be pretty close
to my draft! It hovers there for maybe 5 seconds and then quickly drops off
to 204'.
After checking my charts, there are no underwater explanations for this. My
depth gauge has never demonstrated an anomaly so I trust that it was
correct. Our guess after considering all the possibilities is a whale
feeding on the abundance of life flushing out of the Bay. Either that or an
irresponsible submarine?
I am curious if something like this happened to anyone else out there?
-- Greg Pless 37' ACMY ------- Roe Boat - San Francisco, CA _______________________________________________ http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering To Unsubscribe send email to Include the word Unsubscribe (and nothing else) in the subject or body of the message.
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