I just met a first-time sailor who purchased his first sailboat, an Island Trader Ketch 41, in Canada.......retiree with a bucket list? He then sailed over 800 miles from Canada to the San Francisco Bay through rough weather and seas without incident over 3 months, sailing in selected weather windows. Then on his final approach to the Emery Cove Marina in the eastern San Francisco Bay in fog without a functioning radar, albeit he had a navigation display with GPS he set a straight line course to the marina from the center of the San Francisco Bay and collided with the un-marked, partially submerged and abandoned Berkeley Pier Berkeley Pier - Wikipedia that extends 2.5 miles from the western edge of Berkeley into San Francisco Bay. Unfortunately the collision resulted in damage to the bow sprit and starboard toe rail, escaping without any structural damage the sailor told me. The sailboat is now for sale. He should be glad he was not sailing to Richmond since it he hit the Richmond Channel jetty (just north of the dotted line) he could have gone aground and possible sunk the boat as what happened to a large ferro cement sailboat did a number of years ago on a July 4th night.
I know to avoid this unsafe obstruction. Pretty sure the pier shows up on GPS (will confirm on my next sail) but I know it shows up clearly on the navigation display radar, even in fog.
I know to avoid this unsafe obstruction. Pretty sure the pier shows up on GPS (will confirm on my next sail) but I know it shows up clearly on the navigation display radar, even in fog.
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