It really was a dark and stormy night, on Tuesday, March 5, when the lights were lit for the first time on the western span of the Bay Bridge. Perhaps you had a table at one of the restaurants that had a view of it, sitting there, snug and warm, finishing the last of that bottle of wine. In that case, what you saw was a little rain.
The Bay Lights is the world’s largest LED light sculpture, 1.8 miles wide and 500 feet high. Its 25,000 white LED lights are individually programmed to create a never-repeating, dazzling display across the Bay Bridge West Span through 2015. Photo by Lucas Saugen
By CaptaIn Ray
Published: April, 2013
It really was a dark and stormy night, on Tuesday, March 5, when the lights were lit for the first time on the western span of the Bay Bridge. Perhaps you had a table at one of the restaurants that had a view of it, sitting there, snug and warm, finishing the last of that bottle of wine. In that case, what you saw was a little rain. Perhaps you were walking on the Embarcadero. Then you felt the rain and some wind too. But if you were out on the Bay on one of the many boats that came to view the initial lighting, then you know just how dark and stormy it was!
The club had arranged skippered charters to view the bridge lighting from the water. The offer sold out within 24 hours of being posted on our website, so more boats and skippers were scheduled to meet the demand. It turned out to be quite an event. When I arrived, at about 6:30 p.m., the parking lot was full and there were people everywhere. I checked in, got my boat rigged and rounded up the six people assigned to my boat. We departed the Berkeley Marina about 7:15 p.m.
The wind was blowing hard, 20 to 25 knots, and directly from the direction we wanted to go, so we chose to motor across the Bay. With the current flooding (the water around Treasure Island was moving from north to south) and a southwesterly wind opposing it, the surface of the Bay was very bumpy. My original plan was to cross to San Francisco and get protection from the city front. As we passed the north end of Treasure Island, the bridge came into view and the waves decreased. We considered staying right there in the lee of Treasure Island, taking advantage of its protection, but with plenty of time before the lights were to be turned on, we decided to proceed to the city front. There, we took advantage of the much greater protection it afforded. I tucked in between two of the piers, motoring slowly near the Pier 23 Café.
We’d packed food, and with the boat’s motion calmed considerably and about a half-hour until the show started, we decided to eat. That’s when the rain started—not too heavy, but steady. But, hey, it’s an adventure! And as someone from Seattle once explained to me, "There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." The sandwiches got just a little soggy, but we were hungry and they were gone quickly. The cookies included in the provisions disappeared even faster.
A few minutes before 9 p.m., we moved out from the protection of the piers. The bridge lighting started right on time. We crossed to Treasure Island with the beautiful display off our starboard side. We were looking directly into the wind and rain; unfortunately, this was when it blew the hardest. The cold raindrops felt like small hail as they hit my face, driven by the storm wind. The waves rose as we left our sheltered spot and the motion of the boat was quite, well, vigorous. Treasure Island provided us with some protection from the waves as we passed into its lee, but no respite from the rain.
It took an hour, but eventually, we were back in the marina and I was bedding the boat. During that period, the wind dropped down to 12-15 knots and the rain had stopped completely. Go figure! At that point, I was looking forward to a warm shower, dry clothes and post-sail cuba libre!
The next morning, just before I sat down to write this, I checked a few weather sites to see just how hard the wind had been blowing. The weather buoys out on the ocean showed the wind peaking at 31 knots about 9:30 p.m., the exact time we were out there on the Bay. The Golden Gate Bridge reported gusts to 38 knots, and San Francisco Airport reported gusts to 40 knots.
Yes, it really was a dark and stormy night … and we loved it!
Ray Wichmann, is a US SAILING-certified Ocean Passagemaking Instructor, a US SAILING Instructor Trainer, and a member of US SAILING’s National Faculty. He holds a 100-Ton Master’s License, was a charter skipper in Hawai’i for 15 years, and has sailed on both coasts of the United States, in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Greece. He is presently employed as the Master Instructor at OCSC Sailing in the Berkeley Marina.
