The Golden Gate tests our Meddle

We were pleasantly surprised at the time we made getting to the gate and attempted to head under her about 3:15 when an ebb was flowing and we could get a little push out the gate.  We came around the point and hit a wall of 30 knot winds funneling through the gate and wave/chop pounding the boat hard.  Within 5 minutes our jib was flapping, the hard dinghy had jumped out of its holder and Keith and I were getting pummeled by sheets of water.  Keith and I looked at each other and decided quickly to bail on this attempt.  We managed a tack and tucked back towards Sausalito to batten down the hatches and wait for the tide to settle a bit more (max slack was at 4pm).

In the calm behind the hills we tied down the jib, double reefed the main, re-tied down the dinghy with even more line and pulled on our full foulies and as much warm clothes for Loren as we could muster and decided to try again.  Second time around was still pretty rough and Steadfast was taking a pounding so we decided to give it a little more time to get closer to that slack time.  We tucked in again behind the hills and with just the main up turned off the engine to sit it out for a little bit longer.

After 15 or 20 minutes we decided to give it one final shot or go to plan B which was to stay overnight at Sausalito.  Keith asked me to go below and start the engine....I turned the key and .... nut'n.  No engine. So Keith heads below to take a gander while I stayed out of trouble and kept us going in circles that didn't come near land or other boats.  After a bit of tinkering Keith gets the engine going and we get underway.  Out of curiosity I ask what the problem was and he says something about water coming in and shorting out the ground on the starter, water from a faulty thru hull that he plugged and ducked tape.

Wait.

Back up.

"Did you just say we have a hole in the boat?!?" This was me to Keith as we are starting towards the gate.  Keith assured me it was above the water line and not a concern and since he would never, ever put us in danger I figure we are good and continue our try number three at the gate.

Amazing what a little time can do - while the wind was still cranking through the slot the water had flattened out tremendously and we pushed under the gate.  After which Loren jumped up and down and celebrated our passage underneath.  We passed a couple tankers and turned left towards Half Moon Bay where our adventure continued...