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Ayala Cove Cruise-Out
You might have noticed the June cruise out was listed as TBD. Let’s do Ayala Cove the weekend of June 16th.
This cruise out will be informal and won’t have a sign up sheet. Just let me know if you’re interested and I’ll include you in the planning communication. Grunion will likely head up on Thursday June 15 and make it a long weekend.
This weekend we have three Club boats heading to Angel Island! Ayala Cove at Angel Island is one of my favorite locations for a weekend on the water. And, It’s not too late to join us, as reservations are not required (or even taken) for the mooring field – first come, first served. You can decide to bring your boat and join us at the spur of the moment. Blacktopers can ferry over for the day too!
For those going, here are a few tips to make your mooring experience better:
- Very important: The mooring balls do not lift. To moor your boat without help, you will need a special mooring hook (on Grunion we use the Hook & Moor, there’s also the Happy Hooker, The Mooring Hook and Easy Hooker to name a few)
- Each of these tools have plus and minuses. We’ve personally had awful experience with the Happy Hooker and mostly good experience with the Hook & Moor, but it’s expensive
- You can moor without a tool but it requires a bit more skill and longer mooring lines and comes with some risk – and you can always put a dinghy in the water
- Try to plan your arrival for slack, high slack is best
- It’s best to have two (2) long mooring lines. On Grunion we have two 100 foot lines. In a pinch, tying two lines together works, but the knot area adds unnecessary resistance to flowing through the mooring loop – it can get stuck (assume it will get stuck)
- The center of the mooring field has the shallowest water, while deeper water can be found around the edge of the mooring field. While it may seem odd the mooring balls close to shore are deeper, the current rips through the cove around the edges, making the balls closest to shore often the deepest.
- Avoid crossing the mooring field at low tide – there can be 4’ or less of water. It really is best to arrive on a high tide at slack, particularly if it is your first time
Shannon (email me at s.amerman@me.com)
In August of 1775, Lt. Juan Manuel de Ayala, a Spanish Naval officer, sailed the ship the San Carlos into San Francisco Bay and anchored into what is now know as Ayala Cove. The first Europeans to sail into the San Francisco Bay, Ayala and his crew spent forty days making a chart of the area. Following a practice then common among Catholic explorers naming sites for the religious feast days nearest to the time of discovery, Father Vicente, the chaplain of the San Carlos, christened the little island Isla de Los Angeles.
In 1954 a number of citizen’s groups managed to persuade the California State Park Commission to obtain 36.82 acres surrounding Hospital Cove for a State Park. The federal government had already declared the island surplus property, and in 1958 even more acreage was acquired by the State. In December 1963, the entire island was turned over to the State. On September 6th, 1969 Hospital Cove was renamed “Ayala Cove” in honor of the Spanish lieutenant who charted it.
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