The Pier 39 Divers
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 37° 48.626 W 122° 24.625
10S E 551897 N 4184946
This Historical Marker is one of a group mounted on the walls of a hallway at the upper level meeting rooms of Pier 39 on the San Francisco Embarcadero.
Waymark Code: WMJF8J
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 11/10/2013
Views: 7
The Pier 39 Divers.
From mid-march to late November, seven days a week, five times a day, the PIER 39 Diving Team dives from the top of an 87 foot high ladder into a diving pool only nine feet deep. Whether accidental or not, they always manage to throw in a couple of flips and twists on the way down.
To make matters worse, westerly winds on summer afternoons on San Francisco Bay usually blow between 20 and 30 miles per hour, making kite flying a hazardous sport, let alone diving from insane heights into a pool this size.
To allow for the wind on particularly howling days, we considered moving the ladder about twenty feet to the West, where the diver would be looking straight down at nothing but people and wooden decking, but might have a good shot at hitting the center of the pool by the time the wind was through with him.
When they do hit the water, the shallow pool requires the divers to "spoon" at just the right moment. :Spooning" too soon gets them a good hard bump on their rump and "spooning" too late gets them...well, luckily no one has been insane enouigh to "spoon" too late.