The Festina Lente

On my last full day in San Francisco I was fortunate enough to experience the San Francisco Bay aboard the Festina Lente, the sailboat owned by Helen’s friends.  The invitation was contingent upon our arrival at the boat slip by 5:15 in the morning.  Timing was important.  The idea was to push the sailboat out into ebbing tide waters and, more or less, allow the boat to be carried out beyond Golden Gate Bridge by the strong outrushing current.

Though leaving in the dark of a late December morning required layers of clothing, the views proved fantastic.  The city of San Francisco seemed as if constructed entirely of streaming automobiles and light as we slipped away in the dark water and slowly skirted below the tall towers and bridges.

I have a fairly small and very specific list of events that have lived up to my full expectations.  For example, driving over Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park, Montana makes my list.  Walking amid the giant redwoods makes my list.

Near dawn, just as the skyline blushed with the first hints of pink and red, we skimmed below the Golden Gate Bridge on the Festina Lente.

This has been added to my list.

After anchoring beyond the bridge, crab pots were tossed out.  We sat on the boat and chatted as the sun cleared the Golden Gate Bridge and waves broke against some nearby sea cliffs.  After a soaking for a while, the pots and a few rock crabs were hauled in from forty feet of water.

We returned to the city and a warming sun.

The city now constructed of blue sky and glass.

San Francisco at Night

Crossing Back Under the Golden Gate

Sun on the City

The Festina Lente

—Mitchell Hegman