Tag: Paradise Cay

Windsurfer to Paradise

It was 9:05 when I parked my car at Windsurfer Beach. Early! Way Early! I got across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in record time. It was a 20-minute drive when I allowed for 45. As I climbed out of the car, I was hit by a chilly breeze with clouds overhead. I climbed back in the car to wait for my fellow paddlers. It wasn’t until later, when I suited up, that I realized I had left my duffel bag with my lunch and camera case at home. I wouldn’t be using my iPhone for photography today; however, I did have my Olympus TG-5 which I usually carry as a backup camera.

It wasn’t long until my fellow paddlers showed up. Nine of us were on the water at 10:30 paddling out the channel and past San Quentin. We were anticipating a very light ebb current with slack at 1:00, meaning we would be paddling against this slight current. We had a chilly northwest wind pushing us along as we headed towards Paradise Cay. Once we approached the Cay, three of our paddlers decided to turn around. The prospect of a slog into the wind on the return from Paradise was something to consider. Six of us continued on to Paradise Beach.

At noon we landed at Paradise Beach. With the wind and the fetch coming from the north, we had a little bit of a surf landing. We hiked up the short trail to the picnic tables for lunch. Having arrived without my lunch I was able to bum cookies, candies, and an energy bar off of my fellow paddlers. No shortage of sugar to keep my energy up on the return leg. With a temperature a chilly 45-degrees we didn’t dally long over lunch. We wanted to get back on the water and paddle and warm up.

It was a bit of a slog paddling into the chilly north wind with whitecaps and chop. When every stroke into the wind is an effort it’s hard to stop paddling, pick up my camera, and capture photos. Best to keep the cadence and the forward progress. Once past Paradise Cay, we veered east and found a little protection from the wind.

Shortly after 1:00, the sun started to tease us, which felt really nice. At 2:30, we were back on the beach having logged 9 miles. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Lunch on Angel Island

Approaching the beach at the Angel Island Immigration Station.

We were a small group for the BASK Thursday Lunch Paddle on May 9. Just three of us with Danny, Susan and myself. With today being Thursday and too stormy to paddle it’s time to catch up on my blog. For last week’s paddle we launched from Paradise Cay under cloudy skies with a prediction for wind in the afternoon. The plan was to paddle along the East Side of the Tiburon Peninsula which would afford us some projection from the wind with a stop for lunch at a little beach just shy of Bluff Point. Our paddle took us along the shore and past the Center for Environmental Studies Estuary & Ocean Science Center (Romberg Tiburon Center) operated by San Francisco State University. This was a Naval Net Depot for maintaining submarine nets across the Golden Gate during World War II.

We were paddling along, chatting and riding an ebb current and before we knew it we were at Bluff Point staring at Angel Island which seemed to be offering us an invitation for lunch. Conditions in Raccoon Straight looked favorable so we crossed to Angel Island and landed on the beach at the Immigration Station. On our return the wind tried to tease us a bit, coming at us from various directions, deflected by the land masses. We hung close to the shore admiring the mansions and estates along the Tiburon Peninsula. Our paddle covered 9.4 miles. You can see more photos here and view a track of our paddle here.

Track of our paddle from Paradise Cay to Angel Island