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SAILING

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Old salts will tell you that the Bay Area has the best sailing in North America; Anthony Sandberg of OCSC calls it “the black diamond course.” We have big, big wind here—and other challenges like major swells, fog, strong tides, and plenty of cargo ship traffic. (Hint: if you hear a ship honk five times, you’re about to become chum.) It takes plenty of skill to navigate these waters, but once you know the ropes, you’ll be able to sail just about anywhere.

OCSC SAILING “OCSC is the best big-boat school in the country,” states Matt Gingo, director of small-boat school Cal Adventures. Founder Anthony Sandberg puts it more modestly: “We’re old school,” he says. “We believe you should learn to drive a stick shift before you drive an automatic.” The school doesn’t advertise—it doesn’t need to—and limits classes to three students each. And it goes out of its way to make women feel welcome, with the result that half of its clientele is female.

Sandberg chose to situate OCSC at the Berkeley Marina so that students learn in the strong winds blowing from the Golden Gate. “If people learn in light wind,” he says, “they’ll go scurrying back to light wind.” Still, he thinks late in the year is a fine time to learn and to sail, because the Bay Area’s fall and winter wind is what the rest of the country often calls a storm.

In the learn-to-sail course, four to five days of instruction for $790, you’ll spend almost all your time on the water and acquire the foundations of sailing. About half the students need addi­tional help to earn their certificate after they complete this class, and OCSC doesn’t charge for the extra lessons. But “you’ll need more skills before you can comfortably handle the fog coming in or the wind blowing 25 knots,” says Sandberg. That’s where the basic cruising class ($890) comes in; it prepares you to skipper a boat on the bay.

After students finish these courses, they often opt to join the club. For a $395 initiation fee plus $59 a month, they can rent one of OCSC’s 50 24- to 82-foot yachts at a discount. When you split the $125 rental cost—from 9 a.m. to 8 a.m the next day—among everyone on your boat, says Sandberg, “it’s cheaper than bowling.” One Spinnaker Way, Berkeley Marina, 800-223-2984, ocsc.com.

CLUB NAUTIQUE This is one of the top sailing schools around, with a maximum of four students per teacher. Don’t be scared off by its association with a yacht dealership—it’s not just pushing yachts. The school recently won US Sailing’s award for instruction. And when you break down the cost—$1,295 for eight days in the basic skipper’s course, plus a three-hour bay cruising workshop so you feel comfortable when you go out after school ends—it works out to a little less than $20 an hour. Blimey, that’s reasonable!

You’ll spend only about an hour a day in the classroom and the rest on the boat, four days on a responsive 26-footer and four on a 29- to 33-foot boat, learning to handle your craft

and doing drills. (You can choose between two locations, Sausalito and Alameda.) “We don’t just teach people to sail in open water,” says general manager David Forbes. “We make sure they can motor in close quarters, dock, and the like as well.”

Club Nautique is so confident in its instruction, it guarantees its courses. You can take review courses at no charge, provided you put in “a good-faith effort” (for example, you didn’t play hooky) the first time around. And if you’re not ready to invest in a boat of your own after class ends, you can rent one. A 31-footer is $335 from 9 a.m. till 8 a.m. the next day. Bring your pals along for an unforgettable weekend. 1150 Ballena Blvd., Ste. 161, Alameda, 800-343-7245; 100 Gate Six Rd., Sausalito, 800-599-2582; www.clubnautique.net.

SPINNAKER SAILING Located in Redwood City, the southernmost school in the Bay has squads of seasoned instructors and a relatively smooth estuary to learn in. It’s about 15 degrees warmer here than in the city most of the time, and winds in the afternoons usually reach 20 to 25 knots, although they’re often lighter in the estuary.

One of four schools west of the Rockies deemed an outstanding sailing school by the American Sailing Association in 2005, Spinnaker has been in operation for 26 years, and the majority of its instructors have been with it for 10 years or more. Pricing is similar to Club Nautique’s, but instruction is broken into two classes instead of one. You need to take both of them, even if you think you know what you’re doing after the first one. Each is $595 for four days of instruction. Also as at Club Nautique, classes max out at four students.

Once certified, you can join the club for $160 a month for unlimited access to boats up to 25 feet (more for larger boats). “We like to keep them sailing during their ‘wonder year,’ ” says owner Rich Ferrari. (The first year after you learn to sail is critical, he says—that’s when you solidify your skills.) 451 Seaport Ct., Redwood City, 650-363-1390, www.spinnakersailing.com.

CAL ADVENTURES For people looking for incredibly affordable sailing lessons on small boats, Cal Adventures is the ticket. Its goal is to make sailing accessible to just about everyone. For a mere $280, you can take both the beginning and intermediate classes, with four half-day sessions each, getting coached from motorboats in Berkeley Marina’s south sailing basin.

The student-to-teacher ratio here is 6 to 1, and the beginning classes on 15-foot, two-person dinghies are taught weekend mornings. In the afternoon, when the breezes stiffen up, the intermediates

go out. Rest assured that if you learn on a small boat, it won’t take long to figure out how a larger one works; the basic skills and concepts are completely transferable. As an intermediate, you’ll refine your skills and do lots of vital drills like man overboard (rescuing a fallen sailor). When you pass the intermediate class, Cal Adventures will let you rent its boats for $15 an hour (or $115 for a two-month pass) and cruise 50,000 acres of the bay—you just can’t cross the shipping channels. And if you need to sharpen your skills, you can repeat the last two days of the intermediate class for free.

If you plan to rent boats on, say, the East Coast next year, though, your Cal Adventures diploma won’t mean much there, whereas the US Sailing or American Sailing Association certificate you’d get at the previous three schools will. So if you want to be able to take your act on the road, you might need to spring for one of the pricier schools. 100 University Ave., Berkeley Marina, 510-642-4000, calbears.berkeley.edu.

WINDPATH If you already know how to sail but don’t want to own a boat solo, WindPath is an intriguing prospect. It’s like a time share for yachts instead of condos. The national company, which just launched in March on the West Coast, hopes to attract multiple owners here who will share their boats with seven other sailors. As of press time, the Bay Area division of WindPath owns only one boat, docked in Emery­ville, but it’s a cushy one—we’re talking two cabins, white leather interiors, and a flat-screen TV.

WindPath takes care of maintenance, dockage, insurance, and part of the mortgage (on owners’ boats), and the owner and other sailors book boat time through WindPath’s online scheduler. Each day is divided into two slots, one from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., the other from 5 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. For $565 a month for nonowners, plus a $1,000 training and initiation fee, each member gets seven slots per month. Peter Kend, who sails with WindPath in Connecticut, says, “It takes all the headache out of sailing. I get off the train, get on the boat, it’s ready for me, and I never have to fix anything.” 510-499-9463, www.windpath.com.

WORDS TO KNOW
It’s always useful to have a few buzzwords to sling around when you’re learning. At least you can pretend to know what you’re doing until you actually do.

Fall off No, not off the boat. “Fall off” means change course away from the wind.

Tack or jibe Turn the boat enough that the sail has to move to the other side. (You can learn the difference between tacking and jibing later.) When you hear the words “ready about,” “helms a lee,” or “prepare to jibe,” duck. Otherwise, you might get a nice whack on the head with the boom.

Heel When the boat tilts partway over in the water. Don’t be alarmed; this is normal (usually).

Irons You’re going nowhere. (The boat is pointed too far into the wind.)

Luffing That little flapping motion the sail makes when it wants you to pull it in or adjust course.

Starboard tack When heading toward an oncoming boat, the boat on the starboard tack (which means its mainsail is on the port, or left, side of the boat) has right of way. If the bozo on the other boat doesn’t acknowledge that, remember it’s better to give in than to be right and sinking.

WORDS OF WISDOM
Within minutes, you can be out in the middle of the water, where sometimes there’s no­body else.

You have a different perspective on the Bay Area. No motor on, a return to a simpler era. It’s a peaceful thing.

The principles are the same whether you’re sailing a Sunfish or a 40-foot yacht. The biggest challenge for students is sensing where the wind is. The sails have to be trimmed properly for each point of sail. It’s a subtle thing, and it can be frustrating at first—the boat’ll stall, and you’re not quite sure why. It doesn’t take long, though, to pick it up.

This is a wonderful, challenging place to learn to sail. You can sail at least eight months out of the year here—October, even through November, is really nice. One thing that’s great about learning on the bay is reliable wind conditions—you know it’s gonna start picking up in the morning, and by afternoon it’s gonna be howling. You have a choice of conditions. You can tool around or you can rip around.

MIKE CHAMBERLAIN, instructor, Spinnaker Sailing

 

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ROWING

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The beauty of a shell skimming across water catches every eye. But rowing is no Ivy League perk these days; everyone from urban teens to grandmothers is leaping into boats to get the ultimate workout—a low-impact one that uses virtually every muscle, pumps the heart, and starts the day on an upbeat. If you learn to row with a crew, it’s an education on how to play well with others. If team sports aren’t your thing, sculling (rowing with two oars) can be done alone or with a group. Whether you’d prefer to fly across flat water or ride the bay swells, there’s a Bay Area rowing club for you. It may just become your new social life.

LOS GATOS ROWING CLUB LGRC rows at a reservoir surrounded by greenery alongside Highway 17, where the peace is only occasionally interrupted by a big rig downshifting. No power boats are allowed except the club’s launches, so the water can be mirrorlike on a calm day—especially good for learning. LGRC has a staggering amount of equipment—20 eights, five or six fours, two quads, five doubles, eight to nine singles, and 51 private boats—and a comprehensive beginners program. Three to five times a year, it teaches learn-to-row classes (four two-to-four-hour sessions for $250), and it offers

coached adult skills development programs, which last six to eight weeks. The club has eight coaches, and membership is $395 a year. LGRC is big on outreach to people who might otherwise never pick up an oar, including the visually impaired and kids from low-income families. 10000 alma bridge rd., los gatos, www.lgrc.org.

LAKE MERRITT ROWING CLUB In the midst of urban Oakland is a lake 3.5 miles around, sided by the nation’s oldest bird sanctuary, with a boathouse that’s existed since the beginning of the 20th century. Here you’ll see a magnificent variety of geese, pelicans, and other birds diving for their dinner as you row along. LMRC is a terrific place to learn to row, partly because the water is so smooth most of the time, partly because the club gives thorough, affordable sweep lessons ($100 for 15 hours of instruction) several times a year and sculling lessons ($100 for six hours) monthly, and partly because the membership is so reasonable ($300 a year). “We really want to be open to a wide range of folks,” says former LMRC president Brian Birch. LMRC has a comprehensive lineup of four eights, four fours, two quads, three to four racing singles, six to seven Aeros, and two pairs, and established men’s and women’s competitive programs as well as a coed intermediate program. It’s also home to the San Francisco Bay Blades, a GLBT group that focuses on sweep rowing. 1520 Lakeside Dr., oakland, www.rowlakemerritt.org.

NORTH BAY ROWING CLUB This plucky little Petaluma club is “laissez-faire, and we want to stay that way,” says president Win Rumsey. While NBRC uses containers rather than a bona fide boathouse, it has a goodly armada with four eights, two fours, two quads, 10 open-water singles, and six doubles, one of them open water. And, remarkable for a club without a boathouse, showers! Membership is just $300 a year, and several people here offer private sculling lessons, including former National Team rower Jerome Ryan. Petalumans row down the winding Peta­luma River surrounded by marsh grass; some go as far as the Highway 37 bridge, 13 miles one way. You might think rowing upriver would be a chore, but since the tide is only about two knots on a bad day, it’s usually no big deal. NBRC is known for regatta barbecues unmatched by any other on the rowing circuit—grilled duck, lots of sides, killer desserts, and boatloads of beer. Second and H Sts., Petaluma, www.northbayrowingclub.org.

JACK LONDON AQUATIC CENTER A relatively new jewel in the crown of the Oakland-Alameda Estuary, JLAC has focused on getting the youth of Oakland involved in water sports since it opened in 2000. Now it offers sculling classes to adults through December as well ($100 for a two-day session) and sweep rowing classes June through August. After graduating from the sculling course, students can rent the center’s Aero singles for $10 an hour and set out to explore the fascinating cityside estuary, a miles-long jaunt that takes them under four bridges, all the way to San Leandro Bay. 115 Embarcadero, Oakland, www.jlac.org.

OPEN WATER ROWING CENTER This Sausalito club is one of the prime spots to learn to row in open water and to store your own boat once you have your chops. With 14 ocean-ready, self-bailing club boats and 120 private ones; calm water for learning in Richardson

Bay before you venture out into rougher water; regular lessons (four hours for $150) year-round; eight coaches; and rough-water clinics ($70 per person), OWRC has trained battalions of novices to take on open water. Staff members are on hand to help you get your boat to and from the dock—this is the only club we know of in the area with that perk.

Popular rows here cruise along the Sausalito city front and out to the Golden Gate; en route, you’re likely to see seals, sea lions, and loads of birds. There’s no organized rowing except in the classes, so be friendly and you’re sure to meet partners. Membership is $950 a year—the priciest around, next to Marin Rowing Association—or $105 a month to store your own boat, but this is also the only spot we’re aware of besides JLAC where nonmembers can rent boats ($25 to $30 an hour), provided they know how to row. 85 Libertyship Way, Sausalito, www.owrc.com.

MARIN ROWING ASSOCIATION MRA is indisputably one of the top clubs around. It has it all: great coaches and equipment—12 eights, eight fours, six pair/doubles, and 12 single shells—serious competitors, a full-time director and rigger, locker rooms and showers, and both flat and open water. If you like the rough stuff, you can scull out to Red Rock; twisty Corte Madera Creek provides calmer water. If competing is your goal, this club is a terrific choice: you’ll be surrounded by people who live to race (don’t try challenging the ferries, though). In the summer, MRA offers nine sweep lessons for $275; year-round, private sculling lessons are $60 an hour. Members row in beginner, intermediate, and advanced programs or on their own. Naturally, given all of its advantages, MRA is relatively pricey: initiation is $300, dues are $50 a month, and coached programs are an additional $50 a month. It’s still cheaper than a top-of-the-line health club, though (and it’s way more fun). 50 Drakes Landing Rd., Greenbrae, www.marinrowing.org.

SOUTH END ROWING CLUB If you’re up for a challenge, you’re a self-starter, and you want the whole bay at your disposal, SERC, near Fisherman’s Wharf, might be your pick. “Launching here can be…exciting,” says rowing commissioner Paul Nordquist laconically. You also have to be strong enough to carry your boat down the ramp (or persuasive enough to get someone to help). SERC has two six-person coxed wooden barges, one of which has raced since 1915; 12 rowboats (single and double); 10 shells; two flyweights; four Maas 24s; and four Aeros—all of them self-bailing. The initiation is $105, and membership is $355 yearly.

People here form their own groups or row solo, with occasional organized expeditions like sunset rows to the Golden Gate. You can go as far as your skills and stamina will take you—some members recently rowed 36 miles to Petaluma and spent the night. There’s a casual mentoring system whereby a veteran rower will show you the ropes after you learn a few basics in the club’s monthly clinic, which consists of four hours of instruction. Contending with the powerful bay tides is an ongoing learning experience, and the water

can be rough right from the launch, so this isn’t the easiest place to learn. “Rough-water rowing requires learning about the elements, persevering,” says Nordquist. Still, if you row out of South End, you are undeniably macho (or macha). 500 Jefferson St., S.F., www.south-end.org.

WORDS TO KNOW
Catch The moment when your oar drops into the water. Also the moment when you’re bound to catch a crab at least once in your rowing career.

Catch a crab Moving your oar through the water at the wrong angle. At best, it’ll screw up your rhythm and forward movement; at worst, it’ll catapult you out of the boat.

Sweep Rowing with one oar per person.

Swing What every crew is looking for. It’s when the rowers are working together and consequently making the boat move.

Recovery The time between strokes, when hands, arms, and body move forward for the next catch. A good time to puff and pant—and to let the boat do some of the work for you.

Port and starboard The left and right side of the boat, respectively. You’re called a port if you row with a port oar, but remember that you’re sitting in the boat backward, so that port oar is actually to the right of your body.

Coxswain That small person who keeps barking orders at you. A good coxswain knows plenty about technique, strategy, and motivation, so hush up and listen.

Weigh enough Stop rowing.

Weigh enough, hold water Stop rowing, dig your blades into the water, and wait for the crunch.

WORDS OF WISDOM
Be patient with yourself as a beginner. Allow your body to feel the water. It took me six years to start to get better at technique.

Rowing is such a feeling sport: learning the early blade preparation, finding the water. My legs were always down before my blade was in the water because I just wanted to go.

Sculling is what improved my sweep rowing the most; it’s about finesse, technique. The more time I spent in the single, the more I realized I was the one who had to move the boat. Now I have a good catch—after 16 years! I’m still learning about rowing every day.

Rowing teaches discipline, teamwork, integrity, ethics. You have to pull as hard as everyone else no matter what, even though only you know how hard you’re pulling. There’s a spiritual feeling to being on the water, too. When I have a really good row in a quad, it’s like it’s effortless. The catches are in sync, the finishes are in sync. Everything is quiet, and the boat suddenly lifts out of the water and moves. Once you find that click, you’ll always come back.

CASSANDRA CUNNINGHAM, former National Team rower and current MRA instructor

 

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KAYAKING

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As your kayak glides across Tomales Bay, the only sound is the slow stroke of your paddle rhythmically cutting the mirrorlike surface. A harbor seal pokes his nose up, snuffles, and peers at the boat. Or perhaps you’d rather paddle alongside freighters and rusted-out hulls on the edge of Oakland. A quiet estuary, a crystal clear lake, even a commercial waterway—all are playgrounds of Bay Area paddlers (although San Francisco itself can be challenging for a novice). And it doesn’t stop here: once you get the bug, you may find yourself paddling in Italy, Alaska, Chile, even Vietnam—local companies offer sea kayaking

adventures around the globe.

CALIFORNIA CANOE & KAYAK Tucked in among the fish restaurants and shops at Jack London Square is a way to get away from it all: California Canoe & Kayak. The company offers a full complement of sea kayaking classes and puts together trips to Italy and Baja California. Most people can get a feel for the sport in about half an hour, but taking comprehensive classes enables you to quickly become a confident paddler who knows essentials such as self-rescue. A daylong beginning course ($99) shows you how to paddle using your whole body—not just your arms—as well as various strokes and rescue skills. Graduates are qualified to rent sea kayaks.

Although the Oakland-Alameda Estuary is a busy urban waterway—the Port of Oakland loads and discharges more than 99 percent of the containerized goods moving through Northern California there—it makes for an entertaining paddle, what with the WWII historical sites (including a launch ramp for Navy freighters and FDR’s presidential yacht), plentiful bird life, and Coast Guard Island. At the head of the estuary is the new Middle Harbor Shoreline Park. Dredging and landfill caused problems here for decades, but with an ongoing restoration effort, the estuary is now home to harbor seals, herons, egrets, and jellyfish. And it provides miles of fairly flat water for practicing before you tackle rougher waters. jack London Square, Oakland, 510-893-7833, www.calkayak.com.

SEA TREK The palm trees and luxury yachts may give Schoonmaker Point Marina a SoCal look, but being out on Richardson Bay, with stunning views of Angel Island and San Fran­cisco, is the quintessential Bay Area experience. Sausalito’s Sea Trek, a local favorite since 1982, helped popularize sea kayaking throughout the ’80s. Owner Bob Licht now draws on a crew of over 40 instructors and guides and a fleet of 100 kayaks to teach the basics as well as lead tours around the Bay Area and beyond.

Three-hour tours along the Sausalito waterfront, past harbor seals and houseboats (Scenic Sausalito, $65) and trips to the Golden Gate (Paddle the Gate, $75) and around Angel Island (Angel Island Adventure, $75) are offered to those with no experience. But to rent equipment or go out solo, you must take Sea Trek’s one-day introductory class. After an hour on land, you launch into the water to learn basic strokes and rescue techniques ($110), and you’re ready to explore the bay. A single kayak rents for $15 an hour ($150 for a 20-hour pass).

While Sea Trek’s Sea of Cortez trip is the most popular adventure, the company also guides groups around glaciers in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest (nine days for $1,980) and mixes kayaking with scuba diving off Guanaja Island in Honduras (eight days for $1,300). Schoonmaker Point Marina, Sausalito, 415-488-1000, seatrekkayak.com.

KAYAH TAHOE One of the clearest lakes in the world, Lake Tahoe rivals Half Dome and the giant sequoias for jaw-dropping scenery. Even in midsummer, you can spot snow-covered peaks reaching above 10,000 feet from the deep blue lake. Kayak Tahoe, in business for 16 years, will teach you how to tour some of the lake’s 72 miles of shoreline, including gorgeous Emerald Bay ($65 for three-and-a-half hours or $80 for five-and-a-half hours, which covers

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SAILING

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Old salts will tell you that the Bay Area has the best sailing in North America; Anthony Sandberg of OCSC calls it “the black diamond course.” We have big, big wind here—and other challenges like major swells, fog, strong tides, and plenty of cargo ship traffic. (Hint: if you hear a ship honk five times, you’re about to become chum.) It takes plenty of skill to navigate these waters, but once you know the ropes, you’ll be able to sail just about anywhere.

OCSC SAILING “OCSC is the best big-boat school in the country,” states Matt Gingo, director of small-boat school Cal Adventures. Founder Anthony Sandberg puts it more modestly: “We’re old school,” he says. “We believe you should learn to drive a stick shift before you drive an automatic.” The school doesn’t advertise—it doesn’t need to—and limits classes to three students each. And it goes out of its way to make women feel welcome, with the result that half of its clientele is female.

Sandberg chose to situate OCSC at the Berkeley Marina so that students learn in the strong winds blowing from the Golden Gate. “If people learn in light wind,” he says, “they’ll go scurrying back to light wind.” Still, he thinks late in the year is a fine time to learn and to sail, because the Bay Area’s fall and winter wind is what the rest of the country often calls a storm.

In the learn-to-sail course, four to five days of instruction for $790, you’ll spend almost all your time on the water and acquire the foundations of sailing. About half the students need addi­tional help to earn their certificate after they complete this class, and OCSC doesn’t charge for the extra lessons. But “you’ll need more skills before you can comfortably handle the fog coming in or the wind blowing 25 knots,” says Sandberg. That’s where the basic cruising class ($890) comes in; it prepares you to skipper a boat on the bay.

After students finish these courses, they often opt to join the club. For a $395 initiation fee plus $59 a month, they can rent one of OCSC’s 50 24- to 82-foot yachts at a discount. When you split the $125 rental cost—from 9 a.m. to 8 a.m the next day—among everyone on your boat, says Sandberg, “it’s cheaper than bowling.” One Spinnaker Way, Berkeley Marina, 800-223-2984, ocsc.com.

CLUB NAUTIQUE This is one of the top sailing schools around, with a maximum of four students per teacher. Don’t be scared off by its association with a yacht dealership—it’s not just pushing yachts. The school recently won US Sailing’s award for instruction. And when you break down the cost—$1,295 for eight days in the basic skipper’s course, plus a three-hour bay cruising workshop so you feel comfortable when you go out after school ends—it works out to a little less than $20 an hour. Blimey, that’s reasonable!

You’ll spend only about an hour a day in the classroom and the rest on the boat, four days on a responsive 26-footer and four on a 29- to 33-foot boat, learning to handle your craft and doing drills. (You can choose between two locations, Sausalito and Alameda.) “We don’t just teach people to sail in open water,” says general manager David Forbes. “We make sure they can motor in close quarters, dock, and the like as well.”

Club Nautique is so confident in its instruction, it guarantees its courses. You can take review courses at no charge, provided you put in “a good-faith effort” (for example, you didn’t play hooky) the first time around. And if you’re not ready to invest in a boat of your own after class ends, you can rent one. A 31-footer is $335 from 9 a.m. till 8 a.m. the next day. Bring your pals along for an unforgettable weekend. 1150 Ballena Blvd., Ste. 161, Alameda, 800-343-7245; 100 Gate Six Rd., Sausalito, 800-599-2582; www.clubnautique.net.

SPINNAKER SAILING Located in Redwood City, the southernmost school in the Bay has squads of seasoned instructors and a relatively smooth estuary to learn in. It’s about 15 degrees warmer here than in the city most of the time, and winds in the afternoons usually reach 20 to 25 knots, although they’re often lighter in the estuary.

One of four schools west of the Rockies deemed an outstanding sailing school by the American Sailing Association in 2005, Spinnaker has been in operation for 26 years, and the majority of its instructors have been with it for 10 years or more. Pricing is similar to Club Nautique’s, but instruction is broken into two classes instead of one. You need to take both of them, even if you think you know what you’re doing after the first one. Each is $595 for four days of instruction. Also as at Club Nautique, classes max out at four students.

Once certified, you can join the club for $160 a month for unlimited access to boats up to 25 feet (more for larger boats). “We like to keep them sailing during their ‘wonder year,’ ” says owner Rich Ferrari. (The first year after you learn to sail is critical, he says—that’s when you solidify your skills.) 451 Seaport Ct., Redwood City, 650-363-1390, www.spinnakersailing.com.

CAL ADVENTURES For people looking for incredibly affordable sailing lessons on small boats, Cal Adventures is the ticket. Its goal is to make sailing accessible to just about everyone. For a mere $280, you can take both the beginning and intermediate classes, with four half-day sessions each, getting coached from motorboats in Berkeley Marina’s south sailing basin.

The student-to-teacher ratio here is 6 to 1, and the beginning classes on 15-foot, two-person dinghies are taught weekend mornings. In the afternoon, when the breezes stiffen up, the intermediates go out. Rest assured that if you learn on a small boat, it won’t take long to figure out how a larger one works; the basic skills and concepts are completely transferable. As an intermediate, you’ll refine your skills and do lots of vital drills like man overboard (rescuing a fallen sailor). When you pass the intermediate class, Cal Adventures will let you rent its boats for $15 an hour (or $115 for a two-month pass) and cruise 50,000 acres of the bay—you just can’t cross the shipping channels. And if you need to sharpen your skills, you can repeat the last two days of the intermediate class for free.

If you plan to rent boats on, say, the East Coast next year, though, your Cal Adventures diploma won’t mean much there, whereas the US Sailing or American Sailing Association certificate you’d get at the previous three schools will. So if you want to be able to take your act on the road, you might need to spring for one of the pricier schools. 100 University Ave., Berkeley Marina, 510-642-4000, calbears.berkeley.edu.

WINDPATH If you already know how to sail but don’t want to own a boat solo, WindPath is an intriguing prospect. It’s like a time share for yachts instead of condos. The national company, which just launched in March on the West Coast, hopes to attract multiple owners here who will share their boats with seven other sailors. As of press time, the Bay Area division of WindPath owns only one boat, docked in Emery­ville, but it’s a cushy one—we’re talking two cabins, white leather interiors, and a flat-screen TV.

WindPath takes care of maintenance, dockage, insurance, and part of the mortgage (on owners’ boats), and the owner and other sailors book boat time through WindPath’s online scheduler. Each day is divided into two slots, one from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., the other from 5 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. For $565 a month for nonowners, plus a $1,000 training and initiation fee, each member gets seven slots per month. Peter Kend, who sails with WindPath in Connecticut, says, “It takes all the headache out of sailing. I get off the train, get on the boat, it’s ready for me, and I never have to fix anything.” 510-499-9463, www.windpath.com.

WORDS TO KNOW
It’s always useful to have a few buzzwords to sling around when you’re learning. At least you can pretend to know what you’re doing until you actually do.

Fall off No, not off the boat. “Fall off” means change course away from the wind.

Tack or jibe Turn the boat enough that the sail has to move to the other side. (You can learn the difference between tacking and jibing later.) When you hear the words “ready about,” “helms a lee,” or “prepare to jibe,” duck. Otherwise, you might get a nice whack on the head with the boom.

Heel When the boat tilts partway over in the water. Don’t be alarmed; this is normal (usually).

Irons You’re going nowhere. (The boat is pointed too far into the wind.)

Luffing That little flapping motion the sail makes when it wants you to pull it in or adjust course.

Starboard tack When heading toward an oncoming boat, the boat on the starboard tack (which means its mainsail is on the port, or left, side of the boat) has right of way. If the bozo on the other boat doesn’t acknowledge that, remember it’s better to give in than to be right and sinking.

WORDS OF WISDOM
Within minutes, you can be out in the middle of the water, where sometimes there’s no­body else. You have a different perspective on the Bay Area. No motor on, a return to a simpler era. It’s a peaceful thing.

The principles are the same whether you’re sailing a Sunfish or a 40-foot yacht. The biggest challenge for students is sensing where the wind is. The sails have to be trimmed properly for each point of sail. It’s a subtle thing, and it can be frustrating at first—the boat’ll stall, and you’re not quite sure why. It doesn’t take long, though, to pick it up.

This is a wonderful, challenging place to learn to sail. You can sail at least eight months out of the year here—October, even through November, is really nice. One thing that’s great about learning on the bay is reliable wind conditions—you know it’s gonna start picking up in the morning, and by afternoon it’s gonna be howling. You have a choice of conditions. You can tool around or you can rip around.

MIKE CHAMBERLAIN, instructor, Spinnaker Sailing

 

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ROWING

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The beauty of a shell skimming across water catches every eye. But rowing is no Ivy League perk these days; everyone from urban teens to grandmothers is leaping into boats to get the ultimate workout—a low-impact one that uses virtually every muscle, pumps the heart, and starts the day on an upbeat. If you learn to row with a crew, it’s an education on how to play well with others. If team sports aren’t your thing, sculling (rowing with two oars) can be done alone or with a group. Whether you’d prefer to fly across flat water or ride the bay swells, there’s a Bay Area rowing club for you. It may just become your new social life.

LOS GATOS ROWING CLUB LGRC rows at a reservoir surrounded by greenery alongside Highway 17, where the peace is only occasionally interrupted by a big rig downshifting. No power boats are allowed except the club’s launches, so the water can be mirrorlike on a calm day—especially good for learning. LGRC has a staggering amount of equipment—20 eights, five or six fours, two quads, five doubles, eight to nine singles, and 51 private boats—and a comprehensive beginners program. Three to five times a year, it teaches learn-to-row classes (four two-to-four-hour sessions for $250), and it offers coached adult skills development programs, which last six to eight weeks. The club has eight coaches, and membership is $395 a year. LGRC is big on outreach to people who might otherwise never pick up an oar, including the visually impaired and kids from low-income families. 10000 alma bridge rd., los gatos, www.lgrc.org.

LAKE MERRITT ROWING CLUB In the midst of urban Oakland is a lake 3.5 miles around, sided by the nation’s oldest bird sanctuary, with a boathouse that’s existed since the beginning of the 20th century. Here you’ll see a magnificent variety of geese, pelicans, and other birds diving for their dinner as you row along. LMRC is a terrific place to learn to row, partly because the water is so smooth most of the time, partly because the club gives thorough, affordable sweep lessons ($100 for 15 hours of instruction) several times a year and sculling lessons ($100 for six hours) monthly, and partly because the membership is so reasonable ($300 a year). “We really want to be open to a wide range of folks,” says former LMRC president Brian Birch. LMRC has a comprehensive lineup of four eights, four fours, two quads, three to four racing singles, six to seven Aeros, and two pairs, and established men’s and women’s competitive programs as well as a coed intermediate program. It’s also home to the San Francisco Bay Blades, a GLBT group that focuses on sweep rowing. 1520 Lakeside Dr., oakland, www.rowlakemerritt.org.

NORTH BAY ROWING CLUB This plucky little Petaluma club is “laissez-faire, and we want to stay that way,” says president Win Rumsey. While NBRC uses containers rather than a bona fide boathouse, it has a goodly armada with four eights, two fours, two quads, 10 open-water singles, and six doubles, one of them open water. And, remarkable for a club without a boathouse, showers! Membership is just $300 a year, and several people here offer private sculling lessons, including former National Team rower Jerome Ryan. Petalumans row down the winding Peta­luma River surrounded by marsh grass; some go as far as the Highway 37 bridge, 13 miles one way. You might think rowing upriver would be a chore, but since the tide is only about two knots on a bad day, it’s usually no big deal. NBRC is known for regatta barbecues unmatched by any other on the rowing circuit—grilled duck, lots of sides, killer desserts, and boatloads of beer. Second and H Sts., Petaluma, www.northbayrowingclub.org.

JACK LONDON AQUATIC CENTER A relatively new jewel in the crown of the Oakland-Alameda Estuary, JLAC has focused on getting the youth of Oakland involved in water sports since it opened in 2000. Now it offers sculling classes to adults through December as well ($100 for a two-day session) and sweep rowing classes June through August. After graduating from the sculling course, students can rent the center’s Aero singles for $10 an hour and set out to explore the fascinating cityside estuary, a miles-long jaunt that takes them under four bridges, all the way to San Leandro Bay. 115 Embarcadero, Oakland, www.jlac.org.

OPEN WATER ROWING CENTER This Sausalito club is one of the prime spots to learn to row in open water and to store your own boat once you have your chops. With 14 ocean-ready, self-bailing club boats and 120 private ones; calm water for learning in Richardson Bay before you venture out into rougher water; regular lessons (four hours for $150) year-round; eight coaches; and rough-water clinics ($70 per person), OWRC has trained battalions of novices to take on open water. Staff members are on hand to help you get your boat to and from the dock—this is the only club we know of in the area with that perk.

Popular rows here cruise along the Sausalito city front and out to the Golden Gate; en route, you’re likely to see seals, sea lions, and loads of birds. There’s no organized rowing except in the classes, so be friendly and you’re sure to meet partners. Membership is $950 a year—the priciest around, next to Marin Rowing Association—or $105 a month to store your own boat, but this is also the only spot we’re aware of besides JLAC where nonmembers can rent boats ($25 to $30 an hour), provided they know how to row. 85 Libertyship Way, Sausalito, www.owrc.com.

MARIN ROWING ASSOCIATION MRA is indisputably one of the top clubs around. It has it all: great coaches and equipment—12 eights, eight fours, six pair/doubles, and 12 single shells—serious competitors, a full-time director and rigger, locker rooms and showers, and both flat and open water. If you like the rough stuff, you can scull out to Red Rock; twisty Corte Madera Creek provides calmer water. If competing is your goal, this club is a terrific choice: you’ll be surrounded by people who live to race (don’t try challenging the ferries, though). In the summer, MRA offers nine sweep lessons for $275; year-round, private sculling lessons are $60 an hour. Members row in beginner, intermediate, and advanced programs or on their own. Naturally, given all of its advantages, MRA is relatively pricey: initiation is $300, dues are $50 a month, and coached programs are an additional $50 a month. It’s still cheaper than a top-of-the-line health club, though (and it’s way more fun). 50 Drakes Landing Rd., Greenbrae, www.marinrowing.org.

SOUTH END ROWING CLUB If you’re up for a challenge, you’re a self-starter, and you want the whole bay at your disposal, SERC, near Fisherman’s Wharf, might be your pick. “Launching here can be…exciting,” says rowing commissioner Paul Nordquist laconically. You also have to be strong enough to carry your boat down the ramp (or persuasive enough to get someone to help). SERC has two six-person coxed wooden barges, one of which has raced since 1915; 12 rowboats (single and double); 10 shells; two flyweights; four Maas 24s; and four Aeros—all of them self-bailing. The initiation is $105, and membership is $355 yearly.

People here form their own groups or row solo, with occasional organized expeditions like sunset rows to the Golden Gate. You can go as far as your skills and stamina will take you—some members recently rowed 36 miles to Petaluma and spent the night. There’s a casual mentoring system whereby a veteran rower will show you the ropes after you learn a few basics in the club’s monthly clinic, which consists of four hours of instruction. Contending with the powerful bay tides is an ongoing learning experience, and the water can be rough right from the launch, so this isn’t the easiest place to learn. “Rough-water rowing requires learning about the elements, persevering,” says Nordquist. Still, if you row out of South End, you are undeniably macho (or macha). 500 Jefferson St., S.F., www.south-end.org.

WORDS TO KNOW
Catch The moment when your oar drops into the water. Also the moment when you’re bound to catch a crab at least once in your rowing career.

Catch a crab Moving your oar through the water at the wrong angle. At best, it’ll screw up your rhythm and forward movement; at worst, it’ll catapult you out of the boat.

Sweep Rowing with one oar per person.

Swing What every crew is looking for. It’s when the rowers are working together and consequently making the boat move.

Recovery The time between strokes, when hands, arms, and body move forward for the next catch. A good time to puff and pant—and to let the boat do some of the work for you.

Port and starboard The left and right side of the boat, respectively. You’re called a port if you row with a port oar, but remember that you’re sitting in the boat backward, so that port oar is actually to the right of your body.

Coxswain That small person who keeps barking orders at you. A good coxswain knows plenty about technique, strategy, and motivation, so hush up and listen.

Weigh enough Stop rowing.

Weigh enough, hold water Stop rowing, dig your blades into the water, and wait for the crunch.

WORDS OF WISDOM
Be patient with yourself as a beginner. Allow your body to feel the water. It took me six years to start to get better at technique.

Rowing is such a feeling sport: learning the early blade preparation, finding the water. My legs were always down before my blade was in the water because I just wanted to go.

Sculling is what improved my sweep rowing the most; it’s about finesse, technique. The more time I spent in the single, the more I realized I was the one who had to move the boat. Now I have a good catch—after 16 years! I’m still learning about rowing every day.

Rowing teaches discipline, teamwork, integrity, ethics. You have to pull as hard as everyone else no matter what, even though only you know how hard you’re pulling. There’s a spiritual feeling to being on the water, too. When I have a really good row in a quad, it’s like it’s effortless. The catches are in sync, the finishes are in sync. Everything is quiet, and the boat suddenly lifts out of the water and moves. Once you find that click, you’ll always come back.

CASSANDRA CUNNINGHAM, former National Team rower and current MRA instructor

 

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KAYAKING

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As your kayak glides across Tomales Bay, the only sound is the slow stroke of your paddle rhythmically cutting the mirrorlike surface. A harbor seal pokes his nose up, snuffles, and peers at the boat. Or perhaps you’d rather paddle alongside freighters and rusted-out hulls on the edge of Oakland. A quiet estuary, a crystal clear lake, even a commercial waterway—all are playgrounds of Bay Area paddlers (although San Francisco itself can be challenging for a novice). And it doesn’t stop here: once you get the bug, you may find yourself paddling in Italy, Alaska, Chile, even Vietnam—local companies offer sea kayaking adventures around the globe.

CALIFORNIA CANOE & KAYAK Tucked in among the fish restaurants and shops at Jack London Square is a way to get away from it all: California Canoe & Kayak. The company offers a full complement of sea kayaking classes and puts together trips to Italy and Baja California. Most people can get a feel for the sport in about half an hour, but taking comprehensive classes enables you to quickly become a confident paddler who knows essentials such as self-rescue. A daylong beginning course ($99) shows you how to paddle using your whole body—not just your arms—as well as various strokes and rescue skills. Graduates are qualified to rent sea kayaks.

Although the Oakland-Alameda Estuary is a busy urban waterway—the Port of Oakland loads and discharges more than 99 percent of the containerized goods moving through Northern California there—it makes for an entertaining paddle, what with the WWII historical sites (including a launch ramp for Navy freighters and FDR’s presidential yacht), plentiful bird life, and Coast Guard Island. At the head of the estuary is the new Middle Harbor Shoreline Park. Dredging and landfill caused problems here for decades, but with an ongoing restoration effort, the estuary is now home to harbor seals, herons, egrets, and jellyfish. And it provides miles of fairly flat water for practicing before you tackle rougher waters. jack London Square, Oakland, 510-893-7833, www.calkayak.com.

SEA TREK The palm trees and luxury yachts may give Schoonmaker Point Marina a SoCal look, but being out on Richardson Bay, with stunning views of Angel Island and San Fran­cisco, is the quintessential Bay Area experience. Sausalito’s Sea Trek, a local favorite since 1982, helped popularize sea kayaking throughout the ’80s. Owner Bob Licht now draws on a crew of over 40 instructors and guides and a fleet of 100 kayaks to teach the basics as well as lead tours around the Bay Area and beyond.

Three-hour tours along the Sausalito waterfront, past harbor seals and houseboats (Scenic Sausalito, $65) and trips to the Golden Gate (Paddle the Gate, $75) and around Angel Island (Angel Island Adventure, $75) are offered to those with no experience. But to rent equipment or go out solo, you must take Sea Trek’s one-day introductory class. After an hour on land, you launch into the water to learn basic strokes and rescue techniques ($110), and you’re ready to explore the bay. A single kayak rents for $15 an hour ($150 for a 20-hour pass).

While Sea Trek’s Sea of Cortez trip is the most popular adventure, the company also guides groups around glaciers in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest (nine days for $1,980) and mixes kayaking with scuba diving off Guanaja Island in Honduras (eight days for $1,300). Schoonmaker Point Marina, Sausalito, 415-488-1000, seatrekkayak.com.

KAYAH TAHOE One of the clearest lakes in the world, Lake Tahoe rivals Half Dome and the giant sequoias for jaw-dropping scenery. Even in midsummer, you can spot snow-covered peaks reaching above 10,000 feet from the deep blue lake. Kayak Tahoe, in business for 16 years, will teach you how to tour some of the lake’s 72 miles of shoreline, including gorgeous Emerald Bay ($65 for three-and-a-half hours or $80 for five-and-a-half hours, which covers equipment, instruction, and a guide). It has operations in South Lake at Timber Cove Marina and El Dorado Beach and in North Lake at Carnelian Bay. Also, this year it’s offering the Upper Truckee River wildlife tour ($45 for three hours). timber cove marina, South Lake Tahoe, 530-544-2011, www.kayaktahoe.com.

BLUE WATERS KAYAKING It doesn’t get much more spectacular than the edge of Point Reyes, and Tomales Bay can be like glass in the morning—great for learning to paddle. Narrow, shallow in places, and 12 miles long, on its north­ern end Tomales Bay opens to Bodega Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Blue Waters Kayaking specializes in naturalist-led sea kayaking tours, which depart from Inver­ness or Marshall. A morning paddle, including an introductory lesson in strokes and boat handling, costs $68, and first-timers are welcome. Take the tule elk–Hog Island tour ($98), observing pelicans, harbor seals, bat rays, and Point Reyes’s famous tule elk.

When you’re ready for something more exotic, Blue Waters has an ecoresort on the Sea of Cortez in Baja California (eight days at the ecoresort and kayaking, $1,395) with a camp on the Pacific side in the heart of the whale-calving lagoons. 12938 Sir Francis drake blvd., Inverness, 415-669-2600, www.bwkayak.com.

KAYAK CONNECTION Elkhorn Slough is a birders’ paradise, with more than 340 species migrating through or making it their home, joined by sea otters, harbor seals, and other marine life. The terrain here includes oak woodlands, marshes, and mudflats. Kayak Connection out of Moss Landing will take you on a private three-hour guided tour of the slough for $60 a person—or you can sign up for one of the popular full-moon paddles in Elkhorn Slough or at the Santa Cruz Harbor for $50. In the prime birding seasons of fall and winter, families enjoy taking bird-watching tours ($65) in the slough.

Want to venture into the surf and open water? Kayak Connection in Santa Cruz teaches intro to sea kayaking ($100 for five to six hours), in which students learn ocean-entry skills, bracing in the waves, and other oceangoing techniques. In the surf skills class ($90 for five hours), designed for anyone who is a strong swimmer and is comfortable in the ocean, you’ll use open-deck kayaks. Students learn how to read and catch waves and self-rescue along with surfing etiquette. Or learn to catch dinner from your boat with a kayak fishing class in Santa Cruz ($105, or $85 if you have your own kayak, but you must bring your fishing license and rod). Plus, the company leads trips to Vietnam, Palau, Chile, Fiji, Tonga, and Baja. Elkhorn Slough, Moss Landing, 831-724-5692; Santa Cruz Harbor, Santa Cruz, 831-479-1121; www.kayakconnection.com.

WORDS TO KNOW
Sprayskirt A neoprene or plastic skirt that you wriggle into and fasten to the edge (or coaming) of your cockpit in the boat to seal out the water. Not all kayaks require these, but they’re useful and sometimes essential in rough water.

Beam The widest part of the boat. Hence the impolite expression “broad in the beam.”

To feather To turn the paddle with your wrist so that it cuts through the wind. You turn it back again before it enters the water.

Bow and stern The front and back of the boat, respec­tively; also, the person in the front or back in a double kayak (as in, “If you don’t like my steering, then maybe you should try being stern”).

Tracks Means “goes straight.” A boat that tracks well generally isn’t as maneuverable as one that doesn’t, a tradeoff to consider when buying a boat depending on the type of kayaking you plan to do.

WORDS OF WISDOM
Kayaking is not just physical; it can be spiritual. Sometimes you become aware of the vastness, the expansiveness, of the ocean. There’s a feeling of nothingness, in a good way—your concerns and worries seem insignificant on the water. At the same time, everything has a place on the ocean, and so do you.

I’ve been sea kayaking just over two years, and right now I’m counting the hours until I can get back on the water. I got into it accidentally—as a runner, I wanted to do adventure races, and kayaking was part of the races. I ended up with shin splints and stopped running, but I’m still kayaking.

My first time was terrifying. I was on a sit-on-top kayak and was constantly falling

off. The third week I went out, I thought, ‘I can build a life around this.’ Later I took beginning sea kayaking, and I definitely recommend taking a course to learn how the boat moves, how to paddle properly, and how to rescue yourself and others. Anybody with an interest in water sports or nature will find some aspect of kayaking that will turn them on.

ED ANDERSON, president, Bay Area Sea Kayakers (BASK)

 

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WINDSURFING

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For skin-tingling adventure, there’s nothing like windsurfing. Imagine hanging your weight off the boom to balance the sail, whipping along flat water and flying off chop, propelled by the bay breeze. “The Bay Area is off the charts windwise,” says John Miller of Advanced Surf Designs. “If you’re not taking advantage of it, it’s like living in Tahoe and not skiing. And with windsurfing, you don’t even need a lift ticket.” In the fall, though, the winds usually start to mellow out, which most say makes it a good time to learn. And the newfangled equipment available today—including bargains available online or at the swap meets held yearly at most windsurfing shops—also gives beginners an edge. (Some spots offer no lessons or equipment rentals, so you’ll need to have your own rig to go to those.) Sign up for a lesson or two, and you’ll be zipping around in a matter of days.

BOARDSPORTS SCHOOL Alameda is a mellow haven for beginning windsurfers: “This is the bunny slope,” says manager Rebecca Geffert. The wind at Crown Beach blows diagonally toward the shore, ensuring that you won’t be washed out to sea before you know what you’re doing. The water is also shallow enough that you can stand up more than 50 yards out at low tide—reassuring for windsurfing newbies, many of whom fall off the board dozens of times over the course of a few hours. And the water off of Alameda is positively balmy by Bay Area standards—often a full 15 degrees warmer than at Crissy Field.

Alameda’s lack of major rip currents is also an advantage for the fledgling windsurfer. “You’ll never be pulled out to sea, and the currents don’t really push in a major way,” says Geffert, who notes that the heavy currents at some other Bay Area locales, like Crissy Field, can be much too strong for novices. By the same token, the lighter winds at Alameda are friendlier to beginners, too; they can sail here as slowly as two to three miles per hour, while the veterans at Crissy Field might scream around at a hard-core 40.

You’ll first get a feel for the wind with an on-land wind simulator, and then wade out to test your wings. Classes of five or fewer students per teacher cost $150 for six hours of instruction, including the rental of wetsuits and other equipment; private lessons are $80 an hour, not including equipment. For kiteboarding, Boardsports recommends a one-day kite clinic ($50) and a beginner lesson (six hours in a group for $340 or a three-hour private lesson for $330). Crown Beach Park, Alameda, 415-385-1224, www.boardsportsschool.com.

SHORELINE LAKE AQUATIC CENTER Another terrific location for beginners. As one of the only schools on the Peninsula that offers windsurfing lessons, and one of the oldest around, this Mountain View center trains over 800 students a year, starting them on wind simulators on land before they progress to the water. Beginning classes for adults and teens (eight hours of instruction, $185) include equipment rental; to learn how to windsurf on the bay, you’ll need two more classes ($95 and $160). Like Alameda’s Crown Beach, saltwater Shoreline Lake is a well-kept Bay Area secret. Even in a heavy wind, windsurfing on a lake ensures that you’ll never be blown off course into the rough seas. “You’ll just wash up on shore,” says Christina Ferrari, the Aquatic Center’s president. The lack of strong tides and waves also makes it easier to find your balance on the board, and as at Crown Beach, the water here is also much warmer than at most places. 3160 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, 650-965-7474, www.shorelinelake.com.

CAL ADVENTURES Once again, Cal Adventures comes through with relatively inexpensive, thorough lessons off the shores of Berkeley. “You’ll do a lot of swimming for sure,” says Cal Adventures’ Matt Gingo, “but you’ll eventually get the hang of it.” You’ll spend part of a weekend learning about rigging, equipment care, self-rescue, and the rest of the windsurfing basics, with a four-hour lesson on both Saturday and Sunday ($90 total). Lessons happen in the morning before the wind gets big; once you’ve gotten the basics down, you can try tackling the strong afternoon winds whipping through the marina. With 70 boards from large to small, Cal Adventures also rents equipment ($15 an hour or $115 for a two-month pass). 100 university ave., Berkeley Marina,

510-642-4000, calbears.berkeley.edu.

ADVANCED SURF DESIGNS Coyote Point in San Mateo draws everyone from beginners to weekend warriors to die-hard locals who hit the water after work on weekdays.

While he agrees with those who say it’s easier for beginners to learn when the winds are lighter, John Miller, co-owner of the windsurfing rental operation Advanced Surf Designs, thinks intermediates need to push themselves. “Lots of wind means you’ll progress more quickly,” he says.

With flying flags and a resident parrot named Laura who welcomes visitors with loud squawks, Miller’s operation resembles a moored ship. Unfortunately, lessons here stop in September (they start up again in April), so after that, you’ll need to have a friend teach you to take advantage of Coyote Point. In April, beginning windsurfing lessons last three hours, cost $150, and are offered every weekend that the wind blows. 1603 Coyote Point Dr., San Mateo, 650-348-8485, www.asdwindsurfing.com.

LARKSPUR LANDING In the summer and fall when the city’s fogged in, you can bet that the sun is out and the wind is blowing at Larkspur Landing, located near San Quentin State Prison in Marin County. (Beware: if you get blown onto prison property, you’ll be warned off by armed guards.) Also, the Golden Gate Larkspur Ferry travels through the channel here, leaving a wake. So total beginners might find Larkspur Landing a little intimidating at first, but if you’ve got your basics down and have equipment of your own, it’s one of the most picturesque places around to windsurf. Aside from the ferry wakes, the landing is relatively smooth by windsurfing standards, so it’s a terrific place to work on speed or even drag-race a friend. Off E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in larkspur, adjacent to the ferry terminal.

WADDELL BEACH It isn’t any wonder that Waddell, a ruggedly beautiful Santa Cruz County beach, has earned a reputation as a world-class windsurfing spot—a place where serious windsurfers trade flat water for waves. “Waddell is really blessed,” says local wave sailor Joe Dihl, who owns Davenport SurfSail. “We get huge waves from winter storms in Alaska and south swells in the summertime.” But with its waves, high winds, and heavy chop, Waddell can literally take the wind out of a beginner’s sails: “In those conditions,” Dihl says, “you can only uphaul if you’re extremely good.” And even then, it’s easy to break equipment. From spring till fall, wave sailors zip around with all the kiteboarders who have descended on Waddell in recent years, so even if you’re not expert enough to get out there with them, you might learn a few tricks just watching from the beach. Davenport SurfSail, 100 Riverside Ave. (at old coast rd.), Davenport, 831-429-6051, www.davenportsurfsail.com.

THE DELTA OK, so it’s barely in the Bay Area, but the conditions are so fine on the Delta that it’s worth the drive. Unlike other spots, where strong wind often blows only in the afternoon or evening, accommodating winds blow much of the day in the Delta. There is a “lunchtime lull,” but it’s usually not too long before the breeze picks up again and the sails are out. Also, the freshwater here is much warmer than in the bay and the ocean, so most go out sans wetsuit. See the Delta Windsurfing Company website (click “Local Knowledge” for directions) if you already know how to windsurf, or book lessons there starting in April next year (lessons stop in September). Rio Vista, www.deltawindsurf.com.

WORDS TO KNOW
Boom The curved horizontal piece of equipment attached to the sail that you grip to control the sail while underway.

Uphaul The rope attached to the boom. When you’re standing on the board, you pull up the sail with it and let the sail hang in neutral before you grab the boom and take off.

Waterstart When you’re in the water with your feet on the board, and you get going by letting the wind pull you into an upright position. Very impressive to your sweetie watching from the beach.

Nuking When it’s really windy and the conditions are good for killer windsurfing (“Dude, it’s nuking!”).

Windward Any point closer to the wind.

Leeward Any point farther away from the wind.

WORDS OF WISDOM
A lot of learning to windsurf is getting over the fear of falling in the cold water. You have to get comfortable leaning back—the sail will float you if you let it. Most people are initially afraid of getting wet, so they’ll try to stand straight up or bend at the waist. That’s where it gets hard. When you accidentally fall backward, you’ll see how the wind pulls you up again. “Oh my god! That’s it!” It’s a revelation.

Windsurfing takes total concentration. It’s kind of a flying feeling, and it feels like you’re going much faster than you actually are. The buzz you get from that is something you don’t get on land.

When we had that heat spell in July, I was on a 3.5-meter sail and everyone was going, What? There’s not even a breath of wind, it was 106 degrees, and I was on a 3.5. No matter what day it is, there’s always some wind, usually to the end of October. The weather here changes every day, which keeps it interesting.

Windsurfing really focuses my mind. If you have a bad day and you go windsurfing, you can’t even think about your problems. You come home and you sleep like you’re dead.

KEN HARTZ, two-time masters freestyle champion in the Gorge Games, Hood River, Oregon

Contributors: Georgina Balkwell, Kathleen Doler, Rahul Kamath, Byron Perry, Radha Weaver