SF Bay Beaches

San Francisco Bay offers year round sailing opportunities. The Bay is not large by comparisons to worldwide seaports, though for sailing it offers vast a range of conditions unparalleled.

Paul Buelow

Land and water movement create mountains, valleys, coastlines, bays and deltas. Theoretically, tetonic plates or land masses push and slide against each other to, well, create California.

Watersheds flood into valleys, deltas and rivers. The gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon pull water and create tides. Dramatic physical attributes play a role in weather, surrounding hills around the Bay, the narrow entrance known as the Golden Gate and warm inland valleys are placed in the path of cool water and wind weather that forces cold wind into a venturi blast toward warmed hills and temperate climates. These microclimate variations or localized pressure gradients result in pockets of windy weather- known as the "air conditioner."

From the Coast to the Bay to the Delta, the conditions vary daily - variations are the common theme. Variable temperatures in close proximity generates wind-generally speaking. Here in the SF Bay Area, we take advantage of the differential in conditions to find wind as the temperature gradients move. Daily, it's possible to predict fair weather in some locales while gaurenteeing wind in others. For kiters, this is California Gold. Leave nice temperate weather to drive a short distance to windy weather. The variations are unfathomable. In 10 miles it's possible to find a 40 degree temperature variance. It's all well and fine unless you forgot your jacket because when you left it was hot and now it's cold -- freezing cold.

The SF Bay's microclimates work to your advantage and even guides your life. "The weather tells you where to go" says one rider. "I don't even think about second guessing the wind pager." "Don't argue with the facts," says another. I say, "it's windy let's ride." And we do nearly everyday.

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