San Francisco Bay #1

Year 5 in San Francisco has many benefits.

A wonder-filled benefit is viewing San Francisco and watching all of the boats on the bay.  

During our many strolls along the edge of the bay, we see all sorts of vessels coming and going--from the very large (container ships, oil tankers, car carriers and naval ships) to the very small (one-person sailboats, kayaks and even paddleboards).  

Every now and then, we see something extraordinary.  During a recent walk on one of the many piers along the bay, we spotted the sailboat pictured below.  

We see many sailboats.  However, the one above caught our attention because of its extremely tall, colored sail and its black hull.  We looked closely and spotted some telltale information on the sail--"Oracle" near the bottom and "USA 76" near the top.  

If you are a fan of competitive sailing, then you might have already guessed that the sailboat above is an America's Cup Class yacht.  The yacht was a challenger for the America's Cup in 2003.  So, it is large, sleek and very fast.  Unfortunately, it was not fast enough.  It did not qualify for the final round of the America's Cup race.  It was defeated by Alinghi, which then defeated New Zealand in the final round to win the America's Cup.

So, what do you do with an America's Cup yacht after the competition ends?  One option is to return the yacht to its home port (in this case San Francisco) and charter the yacht for day sailing on San Francisco Bay.  Check it out.  

(From ACSailingSF.com)

Who knew?