Commuter Cruising (unclear on the concept) part 1

Once again this year I had the entire week of Thanksgiving off from work. Kristin wanted to go somewhere on Sonrisa and we had considered Half Moon Bay, Monterey and Petaluma. We had done Petaluma for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, but this year our friends from Santa Rosa weren’t available to join us so we wanted to try something new. The only problem was that Kristin is teaching an evening class at Sacramento State University this fall and would need to be in Sacramento Tuesday evening. We considered heading somewhere and just making sure we would end up somewhere Kristin could rent a car to get to Sacramento.

The weather this week looked a little iffy for a trip down the coast. The last thing I would want is to get stuck in HMB or Monterey and have to either beat the boat back north in bad weather or deal with the logistics of leaving it somewhere and planning the return trip for a better weather window.

It was the Monday before my week off and we had just finished dinner on Sonrisa when we were trying to finalize our plan for next week. Maybe we’d just go to Petaluma again. Kristin’s work day just stuck in the middle of the week made it difficult to commit to anything too ambitious. I was waiting for Kristin to suggest Sausalito as it tend to be the place to go when we can’t figure out anywhere else to go. “We could just go to Sacramento,” I finally offered.

Kristin paused, not sure if I was serious. She had driven the 2-hour commute inland countless times but never considered sailing there. “Could we do that?” she asked, still not sure if I was serious.

“Sure. If we take the river there’s a bunch of bridges to open, but it’s entirely do-able. The Sacramento river is pretty deep all the way to Sacramento,” I offered. I had always imagined that we would sail to Sacramento at some point while we are in the Bay area. I just didn’t imagine it would be late November.

“Ooh! That will be fun,” Kristin perked. “I’ll let my boss know I’ll be sailing to work in Sacramento and invite her and her husband over for a glass of wine!”

“Ok then, Sacramento it is,” I said, reaching behind the settee to rifle through the books to find the delta cruising guides. Pulling out Franko’s California Delta Adventure Guide and reminiscing of hot summer nights and swimming holes. I realized this was going to be an anachonistic trip. “I guess we’re commuter cruising now!”

“Really?”

“Well, usually it’s more about sailing AWAY from work rather than towards it.”