You'll probably hear from several veterans of SF Bay sailing, one of which I personally am not; but one thing you might do is to start reading the sailing publication Latitude 38 which originates from the Bay Area. See at link below.
You'd kick yourself if you sold your boat and then moved and was boatless in SF. Either keep the boat, or sell it and buy another one. Of course, only you know how much sailing is in your blood, but if it is, then you will NEED (not want, NEED) a boat in SF.
).
Is it the god of rain you are talking about? The area is certainly beautiful, but I just couldn't take the constant drizzle and rain, testified to by your pic..
.. It pretty much rains all the time. It is what keeps the population down...
It rains every friggin day in the PNW. You need three pair of long underwear and two suits of foulies resident on the boat/person. You need to learn navigation by radar/plotter/AIS..You need a minimum of 4 cans of reserve air for your air horn and you ned to be known by Seattle Traffic VTS. Very stressful place to sail...Spread the word!
Don't forget the wind. Gale force warning in effect till tomorrow evening.
Where else have you sailed where a 65' schooner, under full sail in 25 knots of wind, can be spun around 180 degrees so that every sail is back winded, by the currents under the GG bridge? Where else have you sailed daily where you must know every mark by it's sound, because when the fog rolls in, if you don't, you are lost? Where else have you sailed where you can experience less than 6 knots of winds to over 30 on the same day by only changing where you are in your sailing area, not because the weather has changed in the slightest? Where else can you sail into a tidal bore in the fog and never know it until your boat goes 'over the falls"? Where else have you sailed where many these extreme conditions can come on the same day and are pretty commonplace, rather than occasional to rare?
I think what they mean is that if you can sail most of a day in strong, usually cold winds; sail frequently in fogging conditions as well, then you're getting the kind of sailing experience that will serve you well generally. I would go along with that; it's not nonsense. However, SF Bay is not the open sea even if it might feel that way at times. The thing that best prepares one for sailing in the open sea is actually doing so. To that end, in my opinion, one is better served sailing in the Santa Barbara Channel of southern California; namely, among the northern California Channel Islands. People here also claim that if you can cruise or sail the northern islands you're prepared to cruise or sail anywhere in the world. But then, one might make the same claim about sailing in the Tasman Sea off southeastern Australia and Tasmania; or off the coast of New Zealand near Wellington, etc. I sailed for many years in Tampa Bay, another large east coast estuary, as well as in Sarasota Bay, Pine Island Sound, the nearshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico off SW Florida, and in the ICW to the extent one can actually sail in there. When we moved to Southern California we brought our boat and have since traded up for a larger one. Don't leave your boat behind unless you intend to get one out here; and soon!!! You can do it; just ease yourself into it.