Elise Cruise Day III - Back to the Bay

On the third day, we rose again and ascended into the Bay. My digital camera may be waterproof but it's not an expert at taking night shots...Artistic proof posted above. And no, this is not the effect of alcohol.

Elise was definitely ready to go for another ocean leg.
Nathan so not much.
Still we decided to leave and return to the Bay or head out to the Farallones, it would depend on how long things would take. We weren't looking forward to gibing back and forth from the Farallones without a masthead fly though, so we were tempted to get back to a place where we could replace the critical item.
What started as a nice downwind got quickly converted into a typical HMB-SF wet upwind...We noticed a couple of holes on the spinnaker so I went below and applied some sail tape to it...It was so bumpy though, that the only stable place I could find was sitting on the floorboard. I tried to find a nice flat surface to put the spinnaker on and the nav table, or counter near the sink seemed to be the only option. Despite my best efforts at keeping everything nice and tight, there's a little fold beneath one of my bandages...Yikes!

I was trying to imagine heating up water for a cup of coffee...worse, pouring hot coffee into a mug without serving the bilge at the same time...This is going to be hard, we definitely need leecloths...

Little frog was pretty happy on the way back - on our nice little cruising cushion. This cushion will prove very useful I am sure on the way to Hawaii, as two weeks on fiber glass will probably turn out butts into hard steel...

Flying colors...
Getting ready for another cold and windy night. There was no swell and the seas were not choppy. Getting closer to the gate, we had a mirror-looking water AND wind, enough for us to sail, it was quite a rare combination.
The wind died right at the gate so we had to start the engine 15 min away from the Saint Francis YC. We were planning on going much further but given the (late) time, the fact that we were a little cold and the availability of a sauna and hot shower at the club, we gave in and gave ourselves a luxury pre-night, even if going back to the home port before the end of the cruise sounds a little weird...

We parked Elise right next to some huge floating RVs getting ready for the lighted boat parade and playing Christmas songs, so we even got entertainment for the night! - and that shower must have been one of the best one I have ever had!