It was the day after the Boat Show at Jack London Sq. Mostly everyone had left except for slow ones like ourselves.

TeamZen slowly gathered after lunch to go out on the S.F. Bay for a photo op. We wanted some shots of the Zen 24 out by the Golden Gate Bridge where there are usually some serious winds. There had been a few comments about if the ZenBoat being so light weight could handle the conditions out by Golden Gate bridge call the “slot”. Avg wind there is about 25kts with gust of 30-40 kt’s.

We had a slow start getting out of the Estuary. We were to meet up with our newest sales Assoc Captain Mary. She would using a CAT as a camera boat following us out on the bay.

The five of us slowly made our way, tacking many times on the narrow trip up the Estuary. We all met up while we were almost out into the bay. Once there we motored over to the Bay Bridge then set all sails.

The wind pickup to 20-25 kt’s once we hit the bay proper. We all held on. Sensei only pulled in the roller jib to 100% from 120% and left the main at full. As we were heading into the wind on a close haul, it was a rough ride.

In the Zen philosophy one practices Zen to be the calm in the storms of life, for life is not always smooth sailing. This was that active practice live. The photos in the past showed how easy it is to sail the Zen24 under gentle conditions. The pictures from the Bay show the Zen24 can also remain a centered pleasure craft under challenging conditions. Zen24 is a light weight boat but not light on performance .

Myself and the two ladies rode on the weather side while Sensei and his friend, another Ocean crosser, handled the cockpit. With every tack we on the weather side ducked and held on while we slide to the other side of the cabin top.

Once we almost lost one of the ladies as she could not get a grip during tack. I grabbed her arm in time to stop her from sliding off the cabin into the cold water.

The was plenty of chop as we sailed along but for the most part we stayed dry zipping along the San Francisco water front at about 6 knts.

Finally we got enough shots and turned back for home port.

The ride back was very quick as we headed down wind. I think everyone was ready to ready to call it a day.