Kayaking Safety
If you only read one page on this website, make it this one.
The Bay Area is a beautiful place to explore in a kayak. But the beauty of the open ocean, the excitement of the currents below the Golden Gate Bridge, the numerous other boaters on the Bay, and the rip-roaring winds can create some of the most challenging conditions a kayaker can face. Even if you are an advanced kayaker, there are a number of important considerations to take into account before launching anywhere in the Bay Area. If you are a beginning kayaker, there are many local outfitters that provide lessons from beginning sea kayaking to playing in rock gardens and the surf zone.
- BASK Trips
- BASK policy/philosophy regarding safety on trips
- Kayaking Skills
- A checklist on skills requirements for different paddling environments
- Safety Gear
- A list of equipment you should carry when sea kayaking
- Safety Committee
- The Safety and Education Committee
- Weather
- Wind and weather and where to find information
- Tides and Currents
- Tides and Currents in San Francisco Bay
- Hypothermia
- Information on hypothermia and how to prevent it
- Boat Traffic
- The most basic and most important rules of the road
- Pod Dynamics
- Comments from fellow BASKers/trip initiators on Pod Dynamics..
- Current Thoughts
- Understanding and predicting the current is far from an exact science, but there is a lot you can do to improve your odds and really try to get a grip on what the current is doing. This article will help with that.