The following was written for the Hans Christian Owners Association newsletter by Linda V. Hill in March, 1998.

John and I had an opportunity to go out to the Farallon Islands on February 28, and actually land on this normally off-limits nature preserve. We went as crew for one of the Farallon Patrol boats - the volunteer skippers who take supplies and ferry people to and from the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO) research station on the main island. John was recently accepted into the Patrol, so this was a good chance for us to see how things are done before we make the run on Nakia.

We met Rick Boyce and his ten year old son, Andrew, at Brisbane Marina Friday night to take his boat (Paloma, a Hans Christian 43) over to Horseshoe Cove. Presidio Yacht Club and marina are located here, just inside the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. We woke before 0700 Saturday in order to get the V-berth cleared out before a PRBO volunteer from Bolinas arrived with the supplies. This trip was a light one, mostly to carry fuel, and consisted of four 20 lb. bottles of propane, a few gas cans, two water sample boxes, two big sacks of flour, a cardboard box of mail and a couple of other boxes. We managed to load the fuel into the pushpit and cockpit, and stowed the rest below. We weren't taking anyone out to the island with us, but there would be someone coming off the island on the return trip.

I was very nervous about going offshore after all the storms we'd been having, but it couldn't have been a more perfect day. I'd taken Dramamine beginning Friday night, just in case, but I might have been able to go without it. We motored out to the island since we got a late start (0930), but the swells were only about eight feet and nicely spread out, so it was a comfortable ride.

There were some clouds in the sky but the sun warmed us most of the way, and we managed to snag only one crab trap buoy. We were keeping a good lookout as we threaded our way through this minefield, but somehow one of them managed to thud its way under the hull. Since we hadn't seen it, we weren't even sure what it was until the boat began to lose speed and we decided to kill the engine. Then up popped the buoy and its smaller companion, seemingly attached to some portion of the stern of the boat. Rick was ready to don his wet suit, while John was urging at least an attempt with the boathook, when suddenly the buoys floated away on their own.

Breathing a sigh of relief at our good fortune, we arrived at the North landing area at 1430. Normally we would use the South landing, but the crane there was out of commission as it is undergoing routine maintenance. At the South landing there is a mooring ball to tie up to. A Boston whaler is launched via the crane to meet the Patrol boat and unload supplies/people. Everything has to land on the island via the crane. This is usually a more protected landing but it has no direct access to shore.

At the North landing Jerry, a paid PRBO elephant seal researcher, met us in an inflatable to transport everything to a slippery, rocky "landing." This is not a very protected part of the island and there was enough swell running through it to make it a little tricky, but not bad. Rick held Paloma on station under power since this is no place to anchor a boat. After unloading all the gear and Andrew and me on the island, Paloma went around the corner to tie up to the mooring ball and then Jerry brought John and Rick back to the North landing so that we could all make a short visit to the elephant seal area.

Most of the time the island looks like a barren dried up rock, but at this time of year it is green and very beautiful. Seagulls were everywhere, guarding their 1-2 foot square patch of nesting territory from other gull pairs. As the volunteer researchers walked us along the trail to the elephant seal area, they explained that the breeding season was nearing its end and that there are fewer seals remaining on shore every day. The pups are mostly weaned and are so fat that they can hardly move. Meanwhile the bull seals have been fasting in order to defend their territory/harems, and will soon be leaving the island to feed again.

Because of this inactivity we were allowed to walk among the seals for a close-up view. As we were walking along the trail chatting to the volunteer researchers, I wasn't paying attention to where we were going and looked up to see a large seal about six feet away from me! It didn't look very concerned, but I was sure startled and backed away quickly! The volunteers assured me that the seals were too fat and slow to do anything but groan at us as we passed literally within a foot of their tails - even so, I made sure to avoid coming that close to their heads! This was an unbelievable experience, and is more than enough reward for making the long trip out to the island.

Our cargo for the return trip was a set of dinghy floor boards (the wrong size) and Mike, a volunteer researcher who had been on the island for a couple of months. Mike was going home to pack up his belongings for the drive to San Diego where he was about to begin a new position on San Clemente Island. The volunteers on the Farallon Islands earn only room and board, plus experience. This time Mike would also be earning a salary.

We returned under sail to the San Francisco Bay, and after dropping off our passenger, made our way back to Brisbane Marina. John and I didn't arrive home until 0200, but we are eager to sign up for our own trip and look forward to taking Nakia out to the Farallon Islands.

Linda wrote this next one as a quick recap of the weekend for her sister, so it is rough:

June 19, 1998

We had an uneventful trip out to the Farallons last weekend. Departed R.C. at 4pm and made it to Horseshoe Cove under the Golden Gate Bridge by 8:30pm (record time). Got our cargo (4 people plus Rick Boyce, over a dozen food boxes, camera and personal gear) loaded and departed at 7:30am. Basically we had our entire quarter berth filled with food boxes, two food boxes under the table, and our entire main berth was filled with a CBS videographer's camera gear and everyone else's personal gear. We motored out on a big ebb so everyone was pretty quiet until we were past the main shipping channel. The young intern going back out to the island after her two week break immediately asked me where she could lie down when she came aboard, and didn't move until we were tied up to the CG buoy. Unfortunately she came topside too soon, and threw up over the side before the Boston whaler had a chance to offload her.

It took until 1:50pm to offload all the cargo including John and Rick. I elected to stay with the boat. John came back with bird droppings all over his shirt. Said there were bird nests everywhere and you had to watch your step to miss crushing eggs or chicks (Western gulls mostly). Adults were agressive, flying around your head and/or screeching if you moved. Everyone came back and we were out of there by 3pm. Took back two of the people who went out for the day plus another intern coming off the island for his two week break. Skies had cleared by then, very little wind at first, but we finally ended up with the spinnaker up for the last part of the trip. Got back to Horseshoe at 8:30pm and we were ready for bed soon after everyone left! Was a much better trip coming home. Saw lots of bird activity on the water, sea lions, dolphins and Mola Molas (Sunfish).

Wind was so light the next day after sailing through the slot, that we had to motor all the way home from the Bay Bridge. But it was nice and hot and lived up to the South Bay's warm weather reputation.

The videographer was from Billings, MT. Sounded like he free lances mostly, but I didn't get to talk to him much. His footage on the island is for a 2-4 minute end piece for "Sunday Morning" (CBS) sometime in July. He's supposed to let us know when it will air. Nothing of the boat, just the birds on the island.

October 24, 1998

We made a Patrol run out to the Farallon Islands. We took Friday (which was a perfectly fine day) off from work to get the boat ready and load the supplies that came over from a Fremont wildlife refuge office. Got under way by 3:00PM to head for Horseshoe Cove which is right inside the north tower of the Golden Gate bridge. We had a favorable tide so we were there by 7:00PM.

Saturday morning we were up at 5:30 to wait for a 6AM call from the island to tell us if the trip was a go or a no-go. By 6:15 Rick was there to help crew, the call still hadn't come through, and I was antsy to get going (the ebb tide was already running), so we threw off the docklines as it started to rain.

Finally got a call after we were well under the Golden Gate bridge to say that they had 30 knot winds and lots of rain. :-( We decided to continue until daybreak when Peter (out on the island) would be better able to check conditions and give us an update. (Ironically, we later learned that he had called at 6AM to tell us how awful things were, but the call hadn't come through on our cell phone and we didn't pick up the message until we were already on our way back from the Farallones. That call would have delayed our departure for certain.)

Long story short. As conditions deteriorated for us (increasing rain, wind, and seas) because we were passing through the incoming front, things were actually improving out at the islands. So with each call from Peter, we got more encouraging reports, which meant we really couldn't turn back. We had six brand new solar panels, 15 gallons of gasoline and about 10 boxes of food to deliver, plus there were four people who wanted to come off the island and go home for a break.

We were wet, cold, and queasy, and a few times we'd hit a big wave so that water came pouring over the starboard caprail and into the cockpit. I steered most of the way while John navigated below, and I took a couple of big hits of salt spray in my face, but at least the rain washed it off quickly. At one point the rain was hitting us so hard that it felt like hail. I was a little scared but the boat plowed through it all like a cork (we were motor sailing). And gradually things did get better until the sun began to break through just as we reached the island. (That evening, as we said goodbye to our passengers, they told us that when they woke up that morning they figured there was no way they were going to go home that day. When they learned that we were on our way out there, they told us they kept asking, "Who are those guys?!" :-)

By that time none of us felt much like touring the island - we pretty much just wanted to get back home. So we quickly offloaded all the gear and started loading passengers. I watched as the last group of people were being ferried to Nakia in a 10' Boston whaler. Everyone else on Nakia was facing the other direction watching Rick fish. I couldn't believe it when I saw the entire top profile of a shark come out of the water right in front of the whaler! I saw the top of the head (not eyes or mouth), the dorsal and the entire tail, made some wordless exclamation (John calls it "the Linda alarm"), and cried, "That's a shark!"

This is shark season out there and not two weeks ago we had seen a 1994 National Geographic special on great white sharks at the Farallon Islands featuring Peter Pyle and Scott Anderson, two of the guys we were returning to the mainland. They were in the whaler and immediately stopped heading for Nakia and started trying to find the shark. There was one more sighting of its dorsal (which I missed), but then it was gone. Peter told me that it was about 12-14 feet long, not 100 yards from Nakia when it came up the first time, and that the breach we saw was a classic feeding lunge (though it had not made a kill). It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen, and made the whole trip worth the discomfort. After we saw the special I kept thinking "wouldn't it be neat if," but I knew it would be a miracle to see one. And the guys said we were unbelievably lucky to have seen something like that.