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Riptides and Currents

Tidal rips, overfalls, and currents can cause some serious trepidation to an unwary paddler. In this weekend class, we’ll cover the skills and techniques necessary for negotiating turbulent and fast-moving water safely and efficiently. For a weekend we’ll meet on the San Francisco Bay, which provides the ideal conditions for learning how to handle tide rips and currents. Just outside of the protected launch of Horseshoe Cove are the tide rips of Yellow Bluff. When the tide is right, this area can produce sizable standing waves that mimic features you might find on a whitewater river. We will train in ferry gliding across the tide rips as well as holding our position in them. Just as in white water, we’ll practice “peel-outs”, s-turns, surfing in the standing wave faces, and reading water at a distance from the seat of your sea kayak. If time allows and depending on the skill level of the students, we will either paddle out to Alcatraz Island or conduct a night-time paddle inside Richardson Bay.

On the second day of this course, we will paddle out from Sausalito over to our lunch stop on Angel Island. We’ll become familiar with maneuvering our sea kayaks through the strong currents that flow through Raccoon Straits and we will use the current to our advantage on the way back. This course is a high-octane adrenaline rush that is not for the faint of heart, and having a ‘bombproof’ roll is highly encouraged. Completion of this course is a serious confidence-booster. The gorgeous scenery of the San Francisco Bay is unparalleled throughout the California Coast, providing this course an added plus. Lodging for this class will be at the affordable youth hostel in the Marin Headlands, which provides kitchen facilities as well as a large room for conducting the classroom portion of the course and end-of-day video analysis.

Price: $250


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