Sea Trek Regatta in Sausalito

This was my first-ever SUP race!  The race, which was a fundraiser for ETC (an awesome organization) was held by Sea Trek in Sausalito.

Most of the entrants were kayakers, but there was a decent-sized SUP contingent. Kayakers had the option of going around Alcatraz or a shorter-route around Angel Island. SUP options included a 2-mile within Richardson Bay or 5-mile to Angel Island and back. At the last minute they added a 9-mile around Alcatraz option for the really crazy. It was a great group of people, a lot of older ones but even a 13 year old boy who was going to do a solo kayak. I will get Mike and Miles out there next year for sure.

Hilary was sick and I was terrified to go to Angel Island by myself was the weather was so nice and didn't think I'd get the chance again any time soon, so I went for it.... The paddleboarders grouped together on the far side of the water start. I think they were afraid of getting rammed by kayakers. At least one fell in before the start. Here's a picture looking toward the San Francisco skyline.

Raccoon straights was terrifying.  The ferry came by - very close! - as I was on the way to the turn. I had to get down on all fours and hold on for dear life. I kept telling myself "you can do this, you can do this." I really can't imagine anything worse than falling on at Raccoon Straights. And of course the chase boat was nowhere in site.

I kicked ass. Sure, the hard core racers left me in the dust, but I left a lot of the recreational ones behind. I tried really hard to keep up with a guy with a Viking helmet on, but he was much faster than I am.

My time was 1:20, so five 16-minute miles.  I was truly dying for the last mile and a half. But now very excited for the next race.

Crystal Bay

This was it. The last day of the 2013 season in Tahoe. Finally completed the missing link and have now paddled from Sand Harbor all the way around the west shore to just one mile above Emerald Bay.

Although the beaches at Incline are for residents only, apparently they don't check in the fall.  I padded out of Incline Beach which is totally amazing (I can see why they don't let the rest of us use it) with sand and tons of tall shade trees. It's a very short walk from the car to the beach.

The water was like glass. It wasn't as cold as I expected, but I still didn't want to fall in. Crystal Bay is a great fall paddle, though, because you could always get out if you really needed to. Although you might have to land on the front steps of someone's mansion. 

I did four miles, and didn't see anyone else out until the last mile when I saw three kayakers and two other boarders.  And one hardy water skiier.

The details.

Chambers to Sugar Pine Point in the smoke

I did this paddle several times already this summer, and it is usually very beautiful. The big difference today was all the smoke that had blown in from the Yosemite fire. It looked like rain clouds. You couldn't even see the top of Heavenly. Apparently you couldn't see across the lake last week.

Although it was a holiday, there was only one hardy boat at Sugar Pine Point....

Speedboat to Crystal Bay (Burnt Cedar Beach)

I've paddled to Speedboat several times but this is the first time that I've paddled out of it. It's a long way to carry your board to the beach, including a few stairs, but totally worth it. This is definitely one of the most beautiful spots on the lake. Logistically there's not much of a place to load your board back into a bag at the end, but I did it on the walkway. There's a port-a-potty, but not much else.

We started around 9:45 and the water was so calm that we rounded the point by the wall and set off across Crystal Bay. Flat water, very few boats. It hardly felt like we were moving but we were doing 17 minute miles. We paddled to some houses in between the beaches at Incline and then made our way back along the shore. We paddled by Burnt Cedar Beach and the enormous and deserted beach next to it that must be private.

The wind kicked a little around 11 (as usual) and there were a bunch of water ski boats out so we had to work a little bit to get home. The shore is very rocky and deep. We passed Stillwater Cove community and a bunch of houses. Then back to Speedboat...

I had some trouble with the "Map My Run" app because an ad came up and I couldn't turn it off. But altogether it was 7-1/4 miles at an average of 20 minutes each.  Here's the map:

Emerald Bay

We couldn't figure out an easy way to paddle Emerald Bay (the nearest accessible beaches are Lester Beach at DL Bliss and Baldwin) so we decided to rent. It's a steep one-mile hike down to Emerald from the parking lot so carrying your board is not an option for me.

The rental shop opens at 10. It was busy the day that we went, but when I went back the week after to kayak there was tons of availability. The boards were beasts but it was still nice to be on the water there. The pictures really don't do it justice.

We got on the water at 11 and even in the bay it was very windy. I would suggest getting out right at 10. We had to beat it up the right side of the bay where it is quite wild. It is fairly rocky but we saw 6-7 osprey,  a belted kingfisher, and some creepy submerged dock.

Crossing the mouth of the bay is a little crazy. There are so many boats. Even some crazy people pulling tubes or water skiers right through the busiest part of the lake. We waited until there were no boats coming and then crossed quickly. The water is shallow and very turquoise.

On the north shore there are several lovely beaches that would be fun to take a boat to or walk in. (An easy walk from Vikingsholm).

As crowded as Emerald Bay is with boats, it isn't a bad paddle because they are all going slow.

South side..

The crossing. If you click on the picture to see the large version you can see the cliffs at DL Bliss that are three miles up.

Back at the island and the road.

Vikingsholm and the beach where you launch.

The details. Pretty good time with all the wind and the terrible boards.

Looking back down...

Kings Beach to Speedboat to Crystal Bay

This is another one of Lake Tahoe's best paddles. It's easy to park in the Kings Beach public lot (we got there at 10:15 and there were tons of spaces) and carry your board down to the water. There isn't a grassy place for packing the bag at the end, but its easy to do on the paved walkway.

If you enlarge the beach photo, you can see the rocks at Speedboat beach in the distance ~1-1/2 miles east. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Mike approaching the rocks at Speedboat...

And waiting there for me.

Here's a house on the Crystal Bay side. Lots of rocks!  I think there are some cabins that belong to Cal Neva that would be worth checking out for a vacation.

Coming back around the point from Crystal Bay. There's basically a wall here where the rocks go down hundreds of feet. I sometimes see divers here. Personally I find it very creepy!  You usually get crazy waves going every direction here, but today was pretty calm.

When we got back to Kings Beach I counted 50+ paddlers and kayakers who were tooling around the beach. It was so encouraging to see so many people getting exercise and enjoying the lake in a quiet, peaceful way. Imagine if they were all on jet skiis!

The details

Sand Harbor to Hidden Beach to Incline

Sand Harbor is one of the most beautiful places on Lake Tahoe and this is definitely one of the most beautiful paddles.

It's a little complicated, though. There are three "sections" of the beach. From north to south there's a boat cove, swimming cove, and beach. Hard shell boats (including kayaks and paddle boards) are only allowed in the boat cove or the southern end of the beach.  Also, the parking lot usually fills by 11:30 on a weekday and you need to catch a shuttle bus in from Incline.

I arrived at 9:45 and dropped the board at the kayak loading zone then drove around to park at the beach. I set up chairs at our chosen spot (the bluff between the swimming and boat coves, where we could see the kids playing but not be "in it" with the boats).  Then I paddled north toward Incline.

This is the view looking north as I crossed the boat cove.

This is Hidden Beach, a gorgeous beach about a mile or mile and a half north of Sand Harbor. It's beautiful but looks like a long walk down from the road so not a great place to launch. I paddled past it and into Incline before turning around. There were a few boats out tubing and some jet skis, but overall not too bad and although I was out on the later side the lake was pretty smooth.

This is the view looking south as I came back to the boat cove. Mia is in a blue shirt on the rocks in the lower picture.

 

And, the details...