Golden Opportunities

Spring 2009

The San Francisco Bay Marine Trail

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Andrea Pflaumer

Enjoying the roil in Yellow Bluff. Photo by Penny Wells

Yellow Bluff, a spot below the north stanchion of the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, is one of Casey Walker’s favorite kayak launching sites.

“The bay floor drops suddenly and dramatically, causing the water to roil,” says the San Francisco business lawyer. “It only happens on the strongest outgoing tide because there is an eddy right to the side of that play spot. You get into the eddy and circulate out to less rough water where you can be easily rescued. It’s not a place for beginners.”

Across the bay, building contractor Rik Pickrell and his wife Sandra launch their Folbot off the Richmond Marina to make the 20-minute paddle over to the beach at Brooks Island, a native archaeological site and bird sanctuary.

“We like the short trips because you can stop and lollygag on the beach and have a picnic. There’s a breakwater there so the water doesn’t get choppy – you don’t have to worry about strong winds,” Rik says.

From whitewater ocean surfing to bucolic bird-watching expeditions, you’d be hard-pressed to find any other water trail in the world with as diverse paddling opportunities as the newly designated San Francisco Bay Water Trail. Ringing nearly 500 square miles of open water, the trail offers an up-close history lesson about the Bay Area and its ecology over the past 200 years.

Formal designation of the water trail was the result of lengthy efforts initiated by several individuals and environmental groups like Save the Bay and Bay Access, plus people like Walker and members of the Bay Area Sea Kayakers. At BASK club meetings, discussions frequently turned to the subject of improving access to sites and increasing the number of overnight accommodations. But the members quickly realized these were projects too big for the club to tackle.

The Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. Photo by Jef Poskanzer.

“BASK was all about having fun and being on the water. We knew this would take us directly into politics,” Walker says. It did just that, but rather than meeting a mountain of obstacles he found enthusiastic support among a variety of stakeholders.

“People loved the idea,” he says. “Water trails don’t need right-of-way, building or grading. They involve the whole community and there’s tourist potential.”

In 2005 state representative Loni Hancock introduced legislation formally establishing the San Francisco Bay Water Trail, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Members of BASK celebrated by paddling across the bay from Berkeley to San Francisco. But overseeing the establishment, maintenance and improvement of launching and camping sites as well as encouraging private investment and related tourism eventually required financing. In spite of growing sentiment against incurring more state debt, California voters approved a 2006 water bond naming the water trail as a beneficiary. At that point Walker willingly handed over the reins to Ann Buell, the trail project manager for the California Coastal Conservancy. The final hurdle, an environmental impact report, is due to be completed this summer.

There’s still a lot of work to be done.

“Almost all the sites need parking along with a place to assemble equipment. They need loading and unloading areas, docks and ramps, restrooms and fresh water for rinsing off boats. Food and drink nearby would be a bonus. To the extent possible, access for people with limited mobility would be great.”

Although kayakers, canoeists and other self-propelled boaters have been using many of these launch sites for decades, formal designation as a water trail offered a suite of boons: publicity, maps and brochures, legal protection for access and right-of-way, safety training, education programs and ecological stewardship of the bay. It also provided legitimacy to some existing casual sites and eliminated those that were either found to be on private property or in sensitive habitat areas. But for local paddlers there will be no formal ribbon cutting ceremony.

“To us the trail has already existed,” says Walker. “We recommended 86 sites we’ve been using all along. They’re open and established.”

A unique twist to the trail is its non-linearity.

“Think of it more like a web with anchor points. You can go from any point to any other point depending on the tide, the wind and your stamina,” says BASK member Penny Wells.

Paddling the San Francisco Bay requires not only stamina but paying close attention to tidal charts, especially if you’re heading out the Golden Gate.

“The tides around the bridge are most powerful – as is the wind,” Wells says. “You have to go out with the ebb and come back in with the incoming tide. The tides on a new or full moon can double the average paddling speed.”

The San Francisco Bay drains about a third of the runoff in the state, receiving water from both the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. It can be especially high after a storm. A tide log can show a six-knot ebb, but if it has been raining for a while it will be higher.

“Conditions can go from mild to wild within six hours, depending on what the tide is doing,” Wells says.

In more protected areas, like the northern inlets and the marshes of the South Bay, tides present a different problem: the possibility of getting stranded at low tide.

Taking a break on Ashby Shoal. Photo by Paul Kamen

And because the bay hosts one of the largest shipping ports on the West Coast, boaters have to be vigilant of larger vessels and fast-moving commuter ferries.

“You can call up vessel traffic control to find out who’s going to be where, when,” says Keith Miller, owner of California Kayak and Canoe at Oakland’s Jack London Square. “They know when these large vessels and container ships are approaching and their every movement when they’re in the bay.”

This is especially prudent when visibility is poor: the chute that runs from the Golden Gate Bridge to the East Bay hills can become shrouded in fast-moving summer fog acting as an air-conditioning system for the hotter and drier communities to the east. But to a large degree the trail is outside the shipping lanes. “The choicest kayaking is just staying close to shore – observing the interaction of water and land,” Wells says.

The trail has been a great success story, the result of a lot of committed paddlers, environmentalists and people who just enjoy the bay.

“The San Francisco Bay is just perfect for a water trial,” Miller says. “It’s a rare combination of natural and urban beauty. It was a no-brainer and long overdue.”

Andrea Pflaumer writes about art, culture and the environment from Berkeley California. For more about the trail including maps visit www.abag.ca.gov.