St. Columba departs Port of Richmond

Here’s 90 seconds of video showing the fascinating slow-motion ballet between a ship’s pilot and tugboats to navigate out of the narrow inner harbor of the seaport in Richmond, California, on San Francisco Bay. The St. Columba was there to pick up a load of coke before sailing to Portland, Oregon.

On the radio calls, you can hear San Francisco Bar Pilot trainee G, Captain Lilly Gallo. She’s accompanied by Unit 34, Capt. Nicholas Deisher. And they’re assisted by AmNav vessel assist tugs Patricia Ann and Z-Three.

This all took place over about an hour. The time-lapse sequences are about 30x real-world speed.