By Jackie Flaten
Ahh, what a beautiful day for a sail on the shimmery San Francisco Bay, courtesy of our favorite liqueur-infused artisan ice cream and sorbet creator, Silver Moon Desserts. This past Sunday, Aug. 22, Silver Moon’s CEO Sheri Tate chartered The Bay Lady, the largest U.S. Coast Guard-certified schooner in Northern California, to host a party of SMD fans, associates and well-wishers.
We met under a perfectly cloudless azure sky at Rendezvous Charters, where the kindly Captain Steve and his crew welcomed us aboard, listed the maritime rules and then proceeded to guide our ship across (mostly) smooth waters.
Heading out from Pier 40 we passed under the Bay Bridge, sailed past Alcatraz Island and almost to Angel Island, the whole time enjoying gorgeous panoramic views of San Francisco’s skyline, the Golden Gate, and the East Bay hills.
We could also see, from a distance, the $300 million Russian Mega Yacht that recently floated to California and is owned by super-rich Russian guy 38-year-old Andrey Melnichenko (energy, fertilizer and banking concerns).
Anchored in Sausalito’s waters, Motor Yacht A looked spectacularly giant even from afar – it has a funny platypus-like front end and has been described as looking like a “submarine on steroids.”
The SMD party tossed around some ideas for getting the gazillionaire Mr. Melnichenko’s attention. A wet-suited Sheri Tate swimming up to the ship bearing a lovely pint of Pomegranate Martini, or perhaps a vigorous lobbing of said pint toward the leviathon? Alas, we never did have the opportunity to share Silver Moon treats with, nor offer an exclusive investment opportunity to the extravagant Muscovite yachtsman.
Youngest passenger, eight-year-old owlet MJ, was invited to helm The Bay Lady for awhile. She was, of course, thrilled, and under Captain Steve’s expert guidance even brought the sailboard “about” (I understand that term to mean “turn around”) and back to Pier 40. What a fantastic way to spend a sunny San Francisco afternoon! -jdf
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