Tag: San Francisco Bay Trail

Gone Paddling

BASK Thursday Lunch Paddle 3/16/17
BASK Thursday Lunch Paddle 3/16/17
BASK Thursday Lunch Paddle 3/16/17

A welcome opportunity to get away today. The last three weeks have been quite intense with clients working hard to meet a deadline for a local design competition, but with the deadline come and gone I strapped my boat on the top of the car and joined a few fellow BASK members (Bay Area Sea Kayakers), and headed for the Coast Guard Station at Horseshoe Bay, just inside the Golden Gate. Paddling out the gate is not something you do without paying attention to the wind, the tides and the current. We had good conditions with light winds and a slack tide in late morning and an incoming current in the afternoon. We paddled out past Point Diablo and then returned to Kirby Cove for lunch. Back on the water after lunch we had a fast ride with the current and wind with us for our return. I returned feeling refreshed and restored from the trials of the past few weeks. Nothing seems to charge my batteries, so to speak, more than getting out in nature. You can view more photos here and view a track of our trip here.

Thursday Lunch Break

About to luanch from China Camp Beach
On the water
On the water with Mt Tamalpais in the background
On the water with the Sisters in the background

The weather prediction for today was 100% chance of rain, so we were expecting to get wet on our paddle; our Thursday BASK lunch paddle.  The rain held off though and we had a very pleasant paddle, launching from China Camp Beach in Marin and paddling along the shore past the quarry. Our original destination was Dynamite Beach, although we decided to change plans and paddle around the Marin Islands before finding a beach near Point San Pedro, near the quarry for lunch. There were three of us on the paddle, Danny, Susan and myself. More picture here and you can view the track of our paddle here

In Celebration of Independence

Oakland Symphony playing at the Craneway Pavillion.
Bicycling to the Craneway Pavillion for the Independence Day Eve celebration

The eve of the Fourth of July found us at the Craneway Pavillion in Richmond, picnicking with friends and listening to the Oakland Symphony. Given the divisiveness of events recently it’s a pleasure to come together in celebration. And no shortage of emotion on my part when the orchestra started to play the national anthem and the thousands of people stood and sung “Oh Say Can you See…” in honor of this place in which we live.

Rather than brave the traffic and parking for the event, we put our bikes on the car and drove to a convenient location just off the San Francisco Bay Trail, a yet-to-be completed 500 mile walking and cycling trail around the bay which passes through 47 cities and nine counties.

The entertainment started with the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra playing some rousing music starting with Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein and ending with a selection of suites from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Quite an amazing group of talented young musicians. They are off to Cuba shortly.

Then the Oakland Symphony came on stage, opening with our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. Where else can you hear a free concert with a full orchestra ? And as the orchestra played we watched the fire works barge chug by getting in position for the evening pyrotechnic display.

The evening ended with the orchestra playing Souza marches as the fireworks exploded in all manner of colors over the harbor. Not to go unnoticed where a couple of dozen kayakers on the water. Perhaps I’ll try that next year. You can see more photos of the evening event as well as photos from our local City of Albany 4th of July celebration here.