Winter on San Francisco Bay belongs to the powerboats. The sailors have all spring, summer and early fall, but we get the winter. The water is flat calm and glassy, at least when the storm window is closed and it's not blowing a hurricane from the south. Motoring is as smooth as it gets all year long.
The tides are the major factor we have to contend with during the winter months. If it seems like the tides are more extreme in the winter, you are correct. When the sun, earth and moon are all in line and when the moon is full, or new, the gravitational pull on the tide is stronger. The solstice has an effect as well; the sun is lower in the sky while the moon is directly above. The earth will be at its closest to the sun on January 3, so expect a whopping great tidal range. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't get a wet winter storm blowing through at that time. The combination of run-off water and extreme tidal range causes rivers to back up and overflow their banks.
One of the great things about winter on the Bay is the arrival of the winter birds. Grebes, scoters, scaups, buffleheads and loons arrive to feed on sardines and bait fish that are abundant in the winter. The sardine fishing fleet arrives in the Bay around the first week in December, usually just behind the winter birds.
Rumor has it that transient sardine fishermen have a terrible reputation as thieves. Savvy boaters keep their anchors stowed and dinghies locked up when the sardine fleet is in town. They access marinas at night by water and help themselves to everything that is not nailed down. You can see them at night and in the early morning hours working the shallows near Sausalito and in South Bay.
One winter, my friend Ceil was house sitting at one of the beautiful homes that overlook Raccoon Straight in Tiburon. Ceil is a comely wench who keeps her body trim with strenuous and frequent exercise. She bends and stretches and bounces and jumps about to lively music. One night, after the sun went down, Ceil was exercising, a-la-natural, at the house in Tiburon. She had the music turned up loud and was enjoying the "˜burn.' The room lights were on so Ceil had no idea that she had an audience until the song came to an end. She was just about to change the music when she heard horns and bells and whistles coming from the water side of the house. The entire sardine fleet was floating just outside the window, giving her the rousing applause she deserved!
