Bridging the Golden Gate, and sailing under the bridge

Terrence Jeffrey:

A magnificent ongoing act of defiance against the forces of nature, the Golden Gate Bridge symbolizes the scope and fragility of American greatness.

I grew up near the bridge, commuting across it every day when I was in high school. My father, who drove me, called it the most spectacular commute in the world. I once suspected him of hyperbole, but passing years and travels taught me otherwise.

No bridge is as elegant as the deep red Golden Gate. None matches its splendid setting. With the precipitous Marin Headlands on one side and the craggy face of San Francisco on the other, it is a perfectly cut ruby set in gold.

From this bridge, sublime vistas shimmer across the water at every compass point: the tree-studded peninsulas of Marin; the prison island of Alcatraz; the high hills of Alameda; and the skyscrapers of San Francisco. On clear days, the distant Farrallons loom above the Pacific like mirages on the horizon.

The most commanding sight, however, is the bridge itself. It is a ribbon of concrete suspended by threads of steel, hanging down from parallel cables that are three-feet wide and nearly 8,000 feet long. These cables ascend from building-sized concrete piers at either end of the bridge, and then form matching upside down arches strung between twin towers rising 750 feet above the sea.

Almost two miles from end to end, the roadway sits 220 feet above the water. The foundation of the south tower lurks 110 feet in a murky deep churned by ceaseless tides.

No wonder many engineers said a bridge could not be built here....

...

He goes on to recount how the bridge was finally financed and built.

It remains an awesome sight. If you take the Sausalito ferry from San Francisco you can get a better view of the beautiful structure and its surroundings.

I raced my sailboat there back in the 1980's. Going out into the Pacific you go through a stretch of water called the potato patch that got its name from the "lumpy" ride that is enough to make many sailors wretch beating into the wind. But, coming back going under the bridge with the wind over the starboard rear quarter and the spinnaker flying was one of the most exhilarating experiences a sailor can have. It is one of the few times I have been on a sailboat that was plaining. The water was literally flying up off the hull several feet into the air as the boat lifted onto a plain.

One of the ironies of this trip is that my Mom told me I should not go out there where I might be swallowed by an earth quake, but while I was gone a devastating hurricane came through Galveston Bay and destroyed most of the boats at the Houston Yacht Club where I kept my boat. It was one of the best trips I have ever been on.

It is really too bad that area does not have better politics.