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Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium
I attended the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium (GGSKS) in San Francisco (fortunate confluence of business travel & vacation time), and I think it was the best event of its kind that I have experienced.
The event (three days) was based in Marin County, at Horseshoe Cove Marina, almost underneath the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. The location was perfect for this event, and beautiful, too, with views of the San Francisco skyline, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate and the wild Marin headlands. Tidal currents were everywhere, there were at least Force 4 winds every day, weather ranged from fair and sunny to rainy and bleak, and …. Big Seas
Inside the Golden Gate there are tide races all about, including a favorite spot, Yellow Bluff, only about .5 miles from Horseshoe Cove. The race under the bridge ebbed at @5.3 knots(I think the symposium was planned around spring tides) and the standing wave at the south end of the bridge is only for the most advanced paddlers. I think access is restricted because boaters & surfers have come to grief there.
Seas were too big for any groups to venture past Point Bonita into the open ocean: too dangerous to land on any of the dumping beaches .(we recon’d nearby Rodeo Beach most mornings: Wow… ) The Symposium’s 1st day : 13.5 foot seas, 2nd day: 18 foot seas, 3rd day:14 foot seas, with periods each day of around 16 seconds.
Every morning there was a group briefing by Sean Morey, who was safety officer for the Symposium. In the briefing, local conditions were reviewed, and safety matters well covered, while paddlers were encouraged to use this opportunity to “push their limits” a little bit. There was also a safety power boat around and about. The instructor/paddler ratio was high.
It is hard to see how one can paddle this area without serious tidal planning, the ability to hold one’s own in tidal streams, and managing deep draft boat traffic. The quality of paddlers in this area is high; there’s no impediment to paddling year round: temperatures during my stay were from the low 50’s to the low 60’s., water temps in the low 50”s.
All coaches and paddlers stayed at the Marin Headlands Hostel, tucked into a eucalyptus knoll in the Marin headlands, about 15 minute drive from Horseshoe Cove. Food & beer was plentiful, part of the cost .I was not in the practice of sleeping in dormitory rooms ,and was unable to sleep well some nights; lots of snoring; earplugs are essential)
On Friday evening four coaches give slide presentations; most notable was Jeff Allen’s, an hour long, extremely personal exposition of his life’s journey from soldier to kayaker, which included some very difficult times. He’s a remarkable man. If there’s a stronger paddler, I just cannot imagine who that might be.
On Saturday night we all went into San Francisco for a presentation hosted by BASKC, (Bay Area Sea Kayak Club) by Freya Hoffmeister, on her recent Australian circumnavigation. What most impressed me: how well- planned her trip was, how well she managed with sponsorships, and that she had no doubt at any time that she would succeed. She said she wasn’t “attempting” a circumnav. She was just plain doing it.
My first two days were “Boat Control Master Class” with Gordon Brown , Ben Lawry, and Steve Scherrer, and ” Incident Management” with Jeff Allen & Rob Avery. In “Master Class”, there were Force 5 winds , and a 45-50 kt. gale struck, (the strongest winds Sean Morley had ever seen in the area) so we didn’t venture far. “ Incident Management” was held around a large rock pinnacle just inside Golden Gate, which receives interesting swells, and then at Yellow Bluff , where we did all sorts of tows & rescues in the race.
On the third day, I was on the “Advanced Coastal Tour” with Jeff Allen, probably the best led and managed trip I’ve ever been on. The original plan to paddle up the coast to Stinson Beach (about 9 miles) was scrapped: nowhere to safely land. So we ventured out the Golden Gate towards Point Bonita before heading back under the bridge before ebb built. With flood current running around Point Diablo, and 12–ish foot swells reflecting off its rock walls, we were in confused 18 foot seas .
I was so impressed with the leadership on this trip. With a group of 9 paddlers, Jeff (and probably Sean) had arranged for four locals and assistant coaches to be along on safety, so we were a group of 14. Freya Hoffmeister was along as a participant: she was quiet, low-key, and blended in with the crowd.
I’d never paddled an area with this many giant fast moving-tankers, and Jeff & co.’s monitoring of boat traffic was very impressive. A tanker traveling at 15 knots can go from behind a headland and out of sight 2 miles away to being upon you in 10 minutes. When we were unable to safely cross shipping lanes and on to Alcatraz , we changed our plan and paddled to Angel Island instead, then back with the tidal stream, but against Force 4 winds, stopped at Yellow Bluff for some play, then home to Horseshoe Cove and off to the airport for a red-eye back home.
It was luxurious to paddle at this time of year with no gloves or balaclava. I would recommend this event to anyone who likes symposiums, tidal currents, and bigger conditions. Since the hostel was $140/3 days including food & beer, my airfare was $219, and I needed no car, the whole thing no more expensive than most other symposiums, opposite coast notwithstanding. I will definitely consider going again next year.
http://vimeo.com/9865678
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