something new, something blue

I went sailing today. I didn't do much to make the boat sail, but I helped out a little. A friend of mike's has a stake in a sailboat and the three of us, plus another friend of Mikes took it out tonight around 9pm. Right around sunset. It was very calm in the dock, but once we got out we had a really nice smooth wind take us out for about an hour and a half.

About an hour out we came near the "Carter Harrison Crib". I had no idea what this was, and to me it looked like a mini Alcatraz. But apparently its a water pumping sort of thing they installed about 100 years ago to get fresh water from the lake! The crib takes water from the lake and drains it down into a tunnel that goes inland to a water filtration pump (apparently the one around here is the largest in the world). Here's an olde timey illustration.

This idea of a sole building out a few miles off the shore that just sits there with a small crew doing light maintenance and work kind of blows my mind. When we passed by (at a distance of course, because of post 9/11 security) there were no lights on, except for the tower to make sure no one sails into it. Kind of spooky. The unit itself is around 100 years old, which to a San Franciscan like me, is ancient and even spookier. Wish I could go aboard.

More info.