Last night I attended an event for architects and builders that was sponsored by American Cedar and Marvin windows. The event was a ride on Watermark's tour boat 'Raven". The trip went up to and around the pylons of the Bay Bridge. The Raven tour turned out to be a great venue to get up-close-and-personal with the bridge. (I highly recommend her as an exceptionally nice venue for a waterboarn event.)
I was asked to do a brief talk on the history of the bridge. While I am not a very good public speaker, I enjoyed the doing the reaserch on the bridge as well as the ferry routes the preceded it and other bridge locations that were considered as early as 1909.
I have sailed through the bridge many times over the years, but meandering below the bridge on the Raven was a very different experience. Its always hard to gauge the scale and geometry of the bridge and its various construction methods. Being closer to the bridge and higher up allowed a viewpoint that I had not experienced from the decks of the boats that I sailed through the bridge.
Coming and going, it was a kick to watch the Opti's, 420's, J-22's, J-70's and J-24's doing Thursday night racing. The added height above the water allowed a very different perspective on the race fleet, and the perfect armchair to quarterback the tactics of the racers.
While it was a bit overcast, it was really a lovely evening to be out on the water. The sunset was lovely.