Rainy day activity

Saturday the forecast was for rain, a 6-8 ft swell, and 20-25 kt winds. Didn't sound like a good day to be outside... unless you were sea kayaking.

Four of us rode the ebb out the bay past the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind was there, but more in the manageable 10-15 kt range. With the current, though, we took a pretty quick direct route a couple mile out to Point Bonita, the last point of land before getting to the wide open ocean.

We figured that making it a couple more miles around to the next beach wasn't going to happen, but we decided to poke our boats around the corner. There, we encountered the 8 ft (at least) swells that the weather forecast had called for. With the wind opposing the current out there, the swells were pretty steep, too. I was able to launch my boat over the top of one of the swells, catching air and landing with a resounding thud. Even though I was probably only about 6 inches out of the water, an 18 foot fiberglass boat makes an impressive noise when it lands.

After poking outside, we decided to turn and head back. The push that the wind and swell gave us made going against the last of the ebb easy, and the swells were steep enough to have some nice fun surfing back. After a snack on one of the beaches near the gate, we headed back into the bay and grabbed a beer at the nearby yacht club.