Good Mooring for Columbia 22 in San Francisco Bay

[mountforever]

Hey there- I'm going to be taking over my friends Columbia 22 while he goes overseas. I odn't have a lot of money so I was going to try and make a mooring in Richardson Bay. Any suggestions on mooring there (off sausalito) or how to make a good cheap mooring that will hold? Types of anchorages, how to connect to a buoy optimized for Richardson....any help would be appreciated.

[sailingdog]

There's no such thing as a cheap mooring that will hold. Also, you probably need to get a permit or other permission to place your own mooring.

[BayviewBob]

Don't know about the mooring, but do be sure to join the Columbia 22 users group -- It's free and there's plenty of good advice there!

Columbia22Sailboats : Columbia 22 Sailboats

[dgr]

GOB had an article about moorings being made with several semi-truck brake drums.

Aren't most of those boats anchored? For a Columbia 22, I would imagine an anchor sized for a 40+ foot boat might work.

Or you could just take the trailer it ought to be on, throw it in the water and use it as a mooring

[mountforever]

i would bet they are half and half. i was thinking of going with a 3 danforth anchor set up. or possibly one helix i install myself and one mushroom for good measure (piece of mind while i sleep across the bay). Do you know what the situation is up there right now? are people just throwing anchor down with their boats or has the harbor master started enforcing again?

[meuritt]

check out
Richardson's Bay Regional Agency

as you can see from looking over the site, there are layers of bureaucrats looking to annoy, those guys anchored out there now are grandfathered in, but I would be surprised if there was any leeway given to someone just showing up.

Looking over the site I discovered RB is a no discharge zone, not even electra-san. But bucket and chuck-it is alive and well. i am a kayaker too, don't ask how I know

San Rafael Creek offers some cheap berths, but is a long way from main bay sailing

[sailingdog]

If by bucket and chuck it, you mean that people are crapping into a bucket and then dumping the bucket overboard, the bucket is considered a marine head by the law and doing so is ILLEGAL and can result in nasty fines and jail time.

Originally Posted by meuritt

check out
Richardson's Bay Regional Agency

as you can see from looking over the site, there are layers of bureaucrats looking to annoy, those guys anchored out there now are grandfathered in, but I would be surprised if there was any leeway given to someone just showing up.

Looking over the site I discovered RB is a no discharge zone, not even electra-san. But bucket and chuck-it is alive and well. i am a kayaker too, don't ask how I know

San Rafael Creek offers some cheap berths, but is a long way from main bay sailing

[mountforever]

you think they know the difference between the live aboards and newcomers out in RB? I've read over the RBRA website and it doesn't say anything about mooring a boat out there. I guess I'm looking for someone who has actually done it to tell me how they did it or have they gotten any resistance. I mean there must be over 500 boats out there year round.

[Vitesse473]

Being a long time SF Bay Sailor, I'd caution against just throwing out an anchor or two. We have very very strong ebbs and floods, which can be as high as 4kts. Couple that with regularly strong winds coming over the Marin Headlands and you could find yourself searching for the boat in the Pacific Ocean.

RB authority is also a pain. I doubt they'll allow you to chuck a big block into the Bay. You should write into Latitude38 magazine. You'll likely get a great reply from them.

You should consider taking the boat up the Delta and leaving it up there. It's very inexpensive and there are a thousand great places you can leave the boat. Would be a great summer condo, and would only be about an hour drive or less. Just bring lots of bug spray and beer.

[Fstbttms]

How 'bout if you can't afford a proper mooring or berth, you don't take over the boat? People have died in Richardson Bay chasing down other people's adrift boats that were improperly moored in storm conditions there.