Has anyone been sailing in SF bay since the oil spill? As you probably know, a week ago a container ship "touched" the fender protecting one of the towers on the bay bridge and tore a gash in the hull that spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel into the bay. The tide flushed the spill into the north bay and out into the ocean, fouling beaches and killing sea life. A criminal investigation is ongoing. I have not been in a position to personally see if there are any sailboats on the bay, but from what I can tell from web cams, there is not much activity. I would think that if you encountered a blob of oil tar it would stick to the gel coat and, at the minimum, stain it, or even dissolve it. And cleanup would be difficult and a bit hazardous. Pictures of the volunteers on the beaches show them in hazmat bunny suits and gloves, but cleaning a boat on a trailer should not present too great a problem. The oil got into some marinas and some of the boats there were fouled, so they will be facing cleanup problems. I hear that ships now burn crude oil, so a spill has lots of nasty stuff in it. This may sound trivial in light of the magnitude of the problem, but I guess my questions are: does anyone have experience with the problem of oil spills and its effects on fiberglass boats, and have any of the locals been on the bay since the spill and how long are you planning to wait before going out? Thanks, Bob M15 #208 Castro Valley, CA Bob and Judy Becker bobjudy2@comcast.net