San Francisco has been called the 51st state in the Union, and there's more than a little truth to the rumor since, like a grudgingly adopted child, it bears little resemblance to the rest of California. It is the third largest city (behind Los Angeles and San Diego) only because it covers a scant 46 square miles, compared to several hundred for the larger cities. Having risen from the ashes of the devastating 1906 earthquake, San Francisco is as much a state of mind as it is a city, and it has become synonymous with the Beat Generation, Hippies, earthquakes, high-technology and the Golden Gate.

To the sailor, however, San Francisco is more than just a city. It means San Francisco Bay, an often wild, windy and tide-swept stretch of water that, at more than 400 square miles, is really an inland sea rather than a mere harbor. The bay lays undisputed claim to more spectacular dismastings and wild broaches per square mile than any other stretch of water in the U.S. For many skippers and crews, racing on San Francisco Bay is the Mt. Everest of sailing: they know it's going to be very scary, often painful and certainly expensive, but it's hard to resist the challenge.

San Francisco and the surrounding communities are incredibly water-oriented, perhaps because it's difficult to travel far without seeing the sparkling blue bay. San Francisco alone has more than 43 hills, and residents never seem to grow tired of the endless parade of yachts, freighters, aircraft carriers and other vessels who share their bay. When boosters of San Francisco proposed that they host the next America's Cup, one of their favorite arguments was that the bay is literally a natural arena, where viewers could sit comfortably in hotels, homes and offices to watch the entire spectacle.

It was an impelling idea for the usually invisible event, but it conveniently overlooked the one feature that makes racing on San Francisco Bay both exciting and frustrating: the swirling tides. With a tidal flow that can reach 7 knots (twice that in some of the eddies!), it makes local knowledge the single most important factor in winning a race. A strong ebb tide going against an afternoon breeze of 25 knots creates a square-edged wave pattern that literally ties knots in modern bendy masts, and accounts for the surprisingly large number of sailmakers in the area.

The ocean outside the Golden Gate is inhospitable and mean, with few anchorages within 150 miles to the south and 1,000 miles to the north. A nasty shoal area called the Potatopatch can generate 30-foot waves without warning on an otherwise placid day, and the entire coast is regularly swept by gales. Yachts venturing outside are nearly always in transit to other areas, and it's no wonder that San Francisco skippers find their pleasures on the inland side of the mighty orange bridge.

In spite of the vigors of wind and tide, boating on San Francisco Bay is a delight. The air is clear and pure, and the scenery ranges from the much-photographed San Francisco skyline to the rolling hills of Marin and the Berkeley hills inland. Boat owners can also choose between extremes in weather within a few mile radius. One crew, straight downwind from the Golden Gate, can be having a cold and wet thrash to windward while another crew on a yacht anchored at Angel Island just a mile away is quaffing cold beers to beat the heat. The famous summer fogs, rivaling the worst of London, are as selective as they are clammy. Sweeping under the Golden Gate Bridge and over the Marin hills, they can reduce visibility to just a few yards, while leaving other parts of the bay basking under a warm sun.

The center of San Francisco yachting activity is St. Francis Yacht Club, the wealthiest and most powerful of the many yacht clubs on the Bay. With members ranging from America's Cup skipper Tom Blackaller to yacht designer Gary Mull and international helmsman Paul Cayard (a graduate of the St. Francis Yacht Club junior program), the club sponsored the innovative twin-ruddered, 12-Meter in the last America's Cup and has long been a backer of international 6-Meter racing. With its own protected marina, the club faces out on the Golden Gate Bridge, and spectating is raised to an art during the Big Boat Series when the ocean racers compete directly in front of the club's windows.

Visible from the bar at St. Francis Yacht Club are the hills of Marin across the bay, known as the "hot tub capital" of the world and the site of several affluent residential areas for commuters to "The City," as it's called by natives. Sausalito clings to a hillside often wreathed in tendrils of fog, and the homes climb up from waterfront restaurants and a marina to peek out from the wooded hillside. Just as non-conformist as San Francisco, Sausalito is noted for the madam of a house of ill-repute who became mayor a few years ago, as well as for Pelican Harbor, a lovely marina that has taken a stand against modern technology and accepts only vintage wooden boats for moorage.

But Sausalito's most visible nautical landmark is the houseboat community on the shore of Richardson Bay, within walking distance of the center of town. Ranging from half-sunken (sometimes completely sunken) derelicts to floating palaces, this houseboat community has been under assault for years by various governmental agencies that are irritated by the free and easy lifestyle. The houseboats are gaily painted, often with hippie slogans, and the owners range from buttoned-down businessmen to unemployed artists. The various agencies have managed to make the area more sanitary as well as better organized, but the overall effect remains one of cheerful chaos.

Across Richardson Bay from Sausalito is Tiburon, another smart residential suburb. A quaint waterfront area is filled with restaurants, where San Franciscans fill the waterfront decks on weekends to enjoy leisurely brunches of eggs benedict and gin fizzes in the sunshine. Waterfront homes are priced in the millions, and one enclave has its own private canals for casual rowing or dinghy-sailing ... no engines allowed. Tiburon is also the home of San Francisco Yacht Club, the second most powerful yacht club on the bay and an entirely different style than St. Francis YC. Nestled in a protected cove, SFYC is as casual and relaxed as St. FYC is formal. A large deck overlooks the club marina and San Francisco across the bay, and it is sometimes hard to believe that a cold 25-knot breeze is blowing just a mile away.

Offshore from Tiburon is Angel Island, a popular weekend cruising destination. The island has a history that ranges from Civil War fortress to a hospital for malaria victims of the Panama Canal but, today, it is undeveloped and remains a quiet retreat for hiking or simply relaxing. Between Angel Island and San Francisco is the popular tourist attraction Alcatraz, once known as "The Rock" for the prison that held the most dangerous prisoners of America's gangster days.

Connecting the San Francisco peninsula with the mainland is the Oakland Bay Bridge, which touches down midway on Treasure Island. Created as the site of the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition, the island also served as the starting point for Pan American Airways' China Clipper seaplanes on their pre-World War II Transpacific flights.

South San Francisco Bay, stretching more than 25 miles south of Treasure Island, is a mixture of industrial areas on the western side mingling with a few recent housing developments built around man-made canals. The east shore remains mudflats and undeveloped land, including the city/island of Alameda, with its large ship channel lined with marinas, boatyards and brokerages.

Probably one of the best-kept secrets of San Francisco sailors is the immense cruising grounds of the Sacramento Delta, sixty-odd miles north up San Francisco Bay. With 1,000 miles of navigable waterways fed by three major rivers, the Delta has deepwater ports at Stockton as well as at California's capitol, Sacramento. Once a lowland that was reclaimed in the 1800s by creating levees, it is a world away from the cold blasts of San Francisco. Summer temperatures can soar above 100 degrees F to form the low pressure that sucks the wind through the Golden Gate, and the salt-free waters are perfect for swimming or simply floating on an inner tube. Spring and fall bring gentler temperatures, while winter is bright and cool with an occasional low fog to keep crews snuggled in their berths.

With passages deep enough for ocean-going freighters, yachts of all sizes can enjoy this area, and you might see a maxi-racer like Windward Passage in a quiet anchorage, or a big sportfisher tied to a tree with its massive fighting chair empty while the crew stalks bass amongst the reeds. Many of the anchorages, such as Lost Slough and The Meadows, have tall trees overhanging the waterway, creating cool green glades for long weekends of silence.

On the main channels, water-skiers skim smoothly along for miles while the postman delivers mail by boat and school children take their dinghies to catch the school bus. Hollywood discovered the Delta years ago, and it has served as everything from China (John Wayne's "Blood Alley") to Catfish Alley ("Porgy & Bess"). It has a genuine ghost town, once occupied by the Chinese laborers on America's transcontinental railroads, and you can row a dinghy up to the mainstreet, where the buildings once served as opium dens and brothels. Houseboating is popular on the Delta, with dozens of companies leasing fully equipped vessels by the week.

Whether you call it Frisco (which you probably don't want to do with any natives within earshot) or The City, there's no place like San Francisco for exciting and varied boating.