Beautiful day out on the Bay today, sailing on the historic scow schooner Alma. Alma means ’soul,’ in Spanish, but actually the 1891 vessel was named after a young lady related to the person who built her at Hunter’s Point, San Francisco. I’d taken the historic Milan streetcar from Church Street all the way down Market, winding around the Embarcadero to the terminus, there hopping out to duck and weave through the throngs of visitors and dodgy characters ambling along Rueff’s Tourist Center at the Wharf. Following the scent of sourdough, I joined the queue for a baguette and strong cup of coffee en route to the pier. When reaching Alma, greeting the other crew members and gripping the lines to haul the sheets up for the sail, it’s a wonderful feeling of freedom – we’d peel away over the bay waters, leaving the dense grid of the city behind. Alma is the last scow on the Bay, although before the bridges were built there were hundreds of them transporting everything, from eggs to hay, sundries to coal… even returning the egg shells to Petaluma for chicken feed, as the calcium makes for strong shells! Our route was chosen with the day’s currents and wind in mind, and we looped out toward the gate and cut through Raccoon Strait between Angel Island and the Tiburon Peninsula. En route to the isle of Alameda, we kept a sharp lookout for big irons and other ships coming out of the Oakland estuary. Sailing in through the narrow entrance with the container ships and cranes towering above us, we proceeded into sight of the yacht club and readied to dock. I took this moment to call my friend FB on the celly, so he could start out on his trip to collect me for a day over at his place. FB is a great friend indeed - he’d be whipping up a superb meal of course; then we’d spend a few hours rocking out in the studio. Finally – a bit of the red wine and a movie, until it was time to break out the inflatable mattress so I could turn in. In the morn I’d get a ride back down to the club to meet Alma, for a return to SF in a vintage Bay-area style.
