[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 7/8/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

July 8, 2008

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

 

In San Francisco, Mapping Out a Trail on the Water

The New York Times- 7/8/08

By PAUL McHUGH

 

No one can leave a handprint on the water — as a hoary old saw declares. So, the idea of establishing a path on water may seem odd. But it has not stopped the states of Washington and Maine, among other entities, from building extensive water trail systems that include shoreline launch sites, camping spots and parks for recreational use.

 

A water trail is a frame for travel, more than an actual pathway. When a system is created, paddlers, rowers or sailors can connect its dots in any manner or order they like. Or, in whatever way wind and tide demand.

 

The nation’s inventory of recreational water trails is about to expand. In 2005, the California State Legislature sanctioned a plan for San Francisco Bay that was proposed by boating enthusiasts. Last fall, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission handed its vision off to the California Coastal Conservancy for implementation. Cities, counties and agencies ranging from the National Park Service to the East Bay Regional Park Service have plans to participate.

 

By next year, 57 of 112 sites scattered around the bay’s sprawl of 470 square miles should be ready for use, the C.C.C. project manager Ann Buell said. Most of those 57 sites had been developed as launch or picnic sites; the new San Francisco Bay Water Trail simply designates and links them. But freshly erected launch areas, hostels and shoreline campgrounds should soon come into the system, giving the nautical-minded a wide, new area for exercise, recreation and wildlife viewing.

 

“Having a water trail right here makes much more sense than driving off to some faraway lake to find your fun,” Buell said.

 

“You’ll burn less fuel, and reduce carbon emissions. Urban dwellers can score exercise and recreation on human-powered craft. The trail offers a way to get out and view, and learn about, and appreciate, all of the bay’s wildlife. And who knows what can ultimately be added to this system? Our trail is a superexciting work-in-progress.”

 

San Francisco Bay is an epicenter for more than earthquakes. It has hosted the world’s largest sea kayak race (the Sea Trek Regatta & ETC Paddle-a-thon) for almost three decades. In recent years, it has also been the scene of national championships in surf skiing, windsurfing and kiteboarding, as well as major dragon boat, rowing, outrigger canoe and sailing competitions.

 

Some big-boat sailors contend that if the America’s Cup is ever held there, it will not leave, because the bay’s mélange of winds and currents, swirling around hidden coves, points and reefs, could provide a pronounced home-turf advantage.

 

Similarly, water-trail advocates proclaim that the new trail can offer much more than a site for training and play. It could form a course for major international competitions: a Tour de Bay, for instance, much like the Tour de France, but deploying paddle craft rather than bikes.

 

“Water trails on rivers are usually linear,” said Penny Wells, president of Bay Access, a grass-roots group that started pushing for the project six years ago. “But in San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, they’re more like a net, with anchor points all along the rim.

 

“Such a network can provide a lot of opportunity for many different types of activity, from day trips to races. My own fantasy would be using it for a huge vacation, paddling all around the bay, staying overnight in a variety of locations.”

 

That last aspect is the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail’s largest glitch. Right now, there are only two places for boaters to camp: the National Park Service’s Kirby Cove and the state park system’s Angel Island. Supporters of the project, however, intend to add camps and launch ramps wherever liability and access issues can be solved, then add innovations like hotels and hostels on the shoreline. In one example, bed and breakfasts could be established on houseboats, then moored at existing marinas.

 

During a May full moon, I joined two companions — John Weed and Matty Kinsella, both experienced sea kayak guides, racers and instructors — and, using Angel Island as a base, roamed the bay. Blustery weather, winds rising to gale force and strong tides somewhat limited our course. But we enjoyed twilit cruises, and admired harbor seals and sea lions, and graceful flights of brown pelicans, California gulls and cormorants. We even cove-hopped out through the Golden Gate, then put a 4-knot flood tide and 20-knot west wind at our backs to cruise back under the bridge.

 

I finished with a one-day solo paddle from Angel Island to Redwood City, covering 37 miles in nine hours. I was helped by a Pacific Action sail (based on the South Seas proa canoe sails) that sometimes increased my speed to 10 miles an hour. En route, I reflected upon the bay’s nautical history. The Ohlone and Coast Miwok tribes navigated here for millennia, using balsas, or reed-bundle, canoes. Only a century ago, sailing barges, called scow schooners, worked as the pickups and semi trucks of the Bay Area, cruising inland as far as Sacramento.

 

Once, waterways were America’s highways, not just play spots. Depending on how things go, they could be again.#

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/sports/othersports/08outdoors.html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin