San Francisco Here I Come!

I guess it's not surprising that all the photos I seem to have of San Francisco are of sailboats on the Bay, and I have lots of them. I spent years sailing and also as a photojournalist in the field of sailboat racing, in this fine city.

Tomorrow morning early I head south. Tomorrow night, I will attend a 65th birthday party for a man I worked for way back around 1970. We've managed to remain friends through all my travels, although we rarely meet in person. This is worth a trip!

I already had planned a trip to Napa in the middle of next week, so in reality I only upped my plans by a few days. I am so grateful to my dear friends in Napa for offering me the use of their studio apartment in San Francisco for my visit -- I could never have afforded to go otherwise.

This is Sandpiper, a wonderful aluminum boat designed by her owner, Jim DeWitt. Sadly, she was burned in a senseless arson attack on Jim's houseboat/studio sometime after her 1971 TransPac race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, where she was the smallest boat entered. She finished, too! That was quite a party -- but a story for another day. I'll also be visiting Jim, enroute to Napa, at his studio in Point Richmond. The photo below was taken when I lived in Point Richmond in the early 1970's.

Sunsets from our home in Point Richmond were generally spectacular. For this one, I drove down the street where the view was unobstructed and snapped what may be my all-time favorite photo of all the ones I've taken. This, believe it or not, is the Standard Oil Long Wharf, which never looked so good. In the distance is Marin County.

I have lots and lots of photos of the Napa Valley, but they are slides and only a few of them are scanned and on my computer, so this is a fall shot -- but one of my favorites. I lived here for 7 glorious years from 1979 to 1986, when living here was fun and not outrageously expensive. Now, I can only visit and again, am grateful to my dear friends whose guest I will be for a few days.

I'll return home on the 9th. In the meantime, assuming I can cadge a wireless signal in San Francisco, I'll be updating here daily with photos and tales of my 4 wonderful days on the ground in San Francisco. It's been about 25 years since that has happened, and I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing the city I love most in the world once more.

Stay tuned -- even if it all happens after I return.