Tag: Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor

Winter Paddling

People seem to be amazed that we go kayaking in the middle of winter. While much of the country is gripped by cold temperatures the San Francisco Bay Area is often mild. Even this January with the constant parade of atmospheric rivers and their deluge of rain and wind we’ve had some fine weather for paddling. In the spring the wind comes up and that can be a challenge for kayaking.

Yesterday we had rain. Tomorrow we’ll have more rain. Today we have a break in the weather. Seven of us launched from Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor. There was some discussion about water quality, given the reports of raw sewage spilling into the bay, as well as debris and who knows what else coming down the river. Even so, we decided the risk was low.

We were on the water at 10:00, paddled out around Point San Pablo and over to The Brothers.

After passing between The Brothers, we picked up the ebb current and headed south towards an island near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Those of you that know the bay will know the location, otherwise you can check the map with the track of the trip on the map below. The island is privately owned and landing on the island is not advised. It was 11:00 AM when we rounded the island. We made good time with a 2-knot current giving us an assist.

After lunch we made our way back. After passing back through The Brothers two of our party split off and headed over to The Sisters in order to add a few miles to the day. The remaining five of us headed back to our launch site. The current prediction had slack water at 12:13 at Point San Pablo, although the additional water coming down the river may have had an effect on the currents. We had no current at 1:00 PM when we passed back through the islands.

Coming back around Point San Pablo we stopped to look at a sailboat that was on the beach, presumably a casualty of the recent storm activity. We did see a fair amount of debris in the water; driftwood, bottles, and plastic bags. Our paddle covered 6.9 miles, with a maximum speed of 7 mph when we had the ebb current with us. We were back on the beach at 1:25 PM.

More photos are available in an online gallery.

Gone Paddling

I can’t seem to keep up with my own adventures. To get current, here are three kayak trips I’d like to share: February 4 from Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor, March 17 Windsurfer to Loch Lomond, and March 22 Loch Lomond to some islands.

Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor

On February 4, five of us launched Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor. The idea was to cover some miles as training for a club event we call the Gonzo, an endurance paddle that visits 15 islands in the Bay. Depending on the route you take, this can be 40 miles. No way am I going to paddle that distance, but I did want to stretch my endurance a bit so I joined this training paddle. Our plan was to paddle between The Brothers, then to an island near the San Rafael Bridge which will remain unnamed, then between the Marin Islands, through The Sisters and back. Our plans changed a bit after we reached the Marin Islands. It became clear that going for The Sisters would put us at a strong disadvantage with the current and wind to make it back to our launch. Just getting back to The Brothers took some effort as the current was starting to build. We managed to cover 9.8 miles with a moving speed of 3.8 mph. Check out more photos in my online gallery.

Windsurfer to Loch Lomond

On March 17 five of us launched from Windsurfer Beach. Our original plan was to paddle on Tomales Bay, but the predicted wind did not bode well for that paddle. My wife and I got an early start with the plan to beat the traffic across the Richmond San Rafael Bridge with a stop at the Bovine Bakery for breakfast. We were already on the road when the call was made to cancel the original plan. With a few quick phone calls, we were able to formulate a plan “B” to launch from Windsurfer Beach. No Bovine Bakery, but we did find Rustic Bakery which also has a delectable selection of goods, so that suited us for breakfast. We logged a healthy 8.3 miles with a moving speed of 3.2 mph. Check out more photos in my online gallery.

Loch Lomond and Islands

On March 22 eight of us gathered at Loch Lomond Marina for a paddle around several islands. Since our route included crossing shipping channels and dealing with currents, we had a briefing to discuss the route. Once on the water we paddled out to the Marin Islands. We found some very shallow water on the way to the islands, barely six inches of water in places. If the tide had been any lower we would not have been able to paddle this route. From the Marin Islands we headed to the island near the San Rafael Bridge that will remain unnamed, and from there it was back to our launch point. We logged 8.9 miles with a moving speed of 3.4 mph. Check out more photos in my online gallery.

Point San Pablo to Bullhead Flat

On the morning of March 1, six of us gathered at the beach at Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor with a plan to paddle across the bay to Bullhead Flat, a destination in China Camp State Park. Since currents, wind and shipping traffic are concerns, we spent some time discussing the plan before launching our boats. With a slight flood we expected the current to push us north, up the bay, so we set a ferry angle taking us more directly across the shipping channel with the current carrying us towards our destination.

We were on the water at 10 a.m. David turned his radio to channel 14 to notify Vessel Traffic Control (VTC) that a pod of six kayakers would be crossing the shipping channel. He was not able to raise VTC. We paddled on until we were outside of Point San Pablo where I was able to contact VTC on my radio. I reported our location, our destination, and the estimated time for our arrival across the shipping lanes. The red buoy marks the starboard (right) side of the shipping lane.

Once across we headed for The Sisters, a couple of islands off of Point San Pedro. Several of us decided to “thread Grendel’s Needle,” a gap in the rocks on the westernmost Sister. We had calm water paddling through the needle. With a stronger current and wind, there can be quite a surge of water.

We were a bit hesitant to paddle the needle since there was a flock of cormorants on top of the island, and we try our best to not disturb the birds when we are paddling. From The Sisters, we paddled north past McNears Beach, past the China Camp Village beach, and on to Bullhead Flat. There we pulled our boats out of the water and found a picnic table to use as we broke out our lunches.

After lunch, it was back on the water for the return trip. The current was now ebbing a bit, so we had the current working with us as we crossed the bay. Again, we set a ferry angle to compensate for the current. The gathering clouds caught my attention on the return paddle, and I thought they made for a lovely photo composition with the kayaks. I’ve posted an online gallery with more photos. You can see a track of our paddle below. We logged 8.3 miles for a very pleasant day on the bay

Wind and Chocolate

August 5. I had planned a paddle that would originate from Ferry Point going to Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor. When I arrived at the parking lot at 9:15 I was surprised to see that none of my paddling buddies had unloaded their boats. The boats were still on cartops. Everyone was concerned with the wind. After a quick consultation we decided on an alternate plan, to launch from Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor and paddle to Point Pinole for lunch. Our thinking was that this might be more sheltered from the wind.

Eight of us were on the water at 10:40, paddling in some wind and chop with the wind and waves coming at us on the stern quarter. This was a good exercise in boat control, since my boat, a Pygmy Ronan, was tending to weather cock and I was constantly correcting for the wind. At noon we were breaking out lunch at Point Pinole, having traversed the 4.2 miles in an hour and 20 minutes.

During lunch Steve broke out a stash of chocolate. Mind you this was no ordinarily chocolate. A well-known Napa Valley restaurant is apparently about to launch their own chocolate brand. Steve managed to get his hands on some samples. We had a treat tasting five flights of chocolate starting with milk chocolate and moving on to some amazing 85% dark chocolate.

We were back on the water at 1 p.m., slogging into a headwind and choppy water. Our strategy was to head towards Riviera de Garbage, and hopefully find some protection from the wind in the wind shadow of the land. At 2:45, we found the boat ramp at Riviera de Garbage and stopped for a welcome break. It had taken us an hour and 45 minutes to cover the three miles. On the crossing we were entertained by pelicans fishing, dive-bombing for fish quite close to our boats. My efforts to photograph them were unsuccessful. From Riviera it was an easy paddle back to our launch site landing at 3:40.

Everybody agreed that the paddle was a good workout and we were back on the beach without an incident. We logged 9.8 miles over the course of our paddle. You can view more details on my GAIA GPS account, and you can view more photos here.

San Pablo to Pinole

March 25. Our adventure today takes us from Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor to Point Pinole for a lunch stop and then back to our launch. Eight of us were on the beach next to the Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor at 10:00 ready to get on the water. Our paddle north felt like a bit of a slog. We were hoping to have the tail end of the flood helping, but our progress seemed to suggest we were experiencing a bit of an ebb.

  • Ready to launch
  • On the water
  • Approaching our lunch stop

We decided to head further out into the main channel to get out of any eddy that might be working against us. You can see the jog in our course on the map below. Needless to say we did not pick up any speed. We landed on the beach just south of Point Pinole at 11:30 and moved the boats up the beach out of the tide zone.

  • The beach at Pt Pinole
  • Getting back on the water
  • Return paddle

After a suitably socially distanced lunch we were back on the water at 12:20 and back at our launch point at 1:30. It took us an 90 minutes to cover the 4.25 miles to Point Pinole and 70 minutes to make the trip back. It felt like a quick trip back after the our paddle out. We logged 8.6 miles.

  • Alan, Chris & Joann
  • On the return
  • Map of our course

Another glorious day on the bay paddling with friends under blue skies with calm water. You can see more photos here. And view more of the track on my GiaGPS account here.

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