First BASK trip: Paradise Cove

At the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium I was introduced to a number of people in the local kayak club: Bay Area Sea Kayakers. This past weekend I went on my first paddling trip with them: From Sausalito around Tiburon to Paradise Cove Park. A nice 11 nm paddle.

ParadiseCove_Feb12

This trip was focused on being a good trip for new BASK members. I'd talked with Krista, one of the organizers, at GGSKS and it really sounded like it'd be a good trip for me to meet people and a nice enjoyable trip for me.

We started from the beach at Sea Trek Kayak in Sausalito. Nice beach, but parking is a pain. (Which is so very typical of San Francisco.) It was a pleasant late morning start. And the currents were pretty favorable:

Predicted currents for Bluff Point (the tip of Tiburon) for Sunday Feb 26, 2012:
6:59 am -2.07 kt Max Ebb
10:53 am 0.00 kt Slack, Flood Begins
12:42 pm 1.43 kt Max Flood
4:20 pm -0.01 kt Slack, Ebb Begins

It was a nice day. So many of them are here -- I can't complain. And not nearly as windy as the GGSKS days the weekend before.

It was basically a pleasant paddling trip. Some of it was familiar from trips I did the weekend before at GGSKS: paddling from Sausalito across Richardson Bay to Belvedere Point and then going across Belvedere Cove (watching carefully for ferries and other boats). We stopped and regrouped a couple times before going around a couple points and cruised onto the beach in Paradise Cove Park on the east side of Tiburon. Had a nice time at lunch hanging out and getting to know the BASK folks. Nice folks. I enjoyed both hanging out and paddling with them. I'll definitely get more involved and do more trips with them.

And the paddle back was also just plain nice. The wind kicked up, and I was gearing up for real exercise, but it calmed back down after only for a short while.

Once back at the beach, folks took the opportunity to do a bit of self-rescue practice. I practiced my roll, which is always pleasant on a warm day. A good day on the water.