Sailing the Bay

by Kimball Livingston

Sailing The Bay is a complete survey of San Francisco tide, wind, folkways, mores, the places to go, the ocean outside, the bruises, the beauty, and the inside line. Here is everything you need to know to be a complete sailor on San Francisco Bay. Kimball Livingston's writing is packed with the spirit and the canny tales of a water rat who has sailed the bay upside down and sideways. The author also gives rein to his scientific, analytical side, and he draws upon the best talents of the time, relating their favorite "holds and escapes" for the challenging winds and tides of the region. Whitbread winner Paul Cayard writes the foreword, Olympian Jeff Madrigali speaks on racing strategies for the Berkeley Circle, and U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Ralph Ta-Shun Cheng addresses the interplay between wind and tide, for example. Cruisers will find a guide to favored destinations from Petaluma on the north to Alviso on the south. But, Sailing The Bay reaches beyond the nuts and bolts of racing moves and overnight anchorages to embrace the characters and events that have "made" San Francisco Bay. If you want to be a savvy sailor, you need this book. If you want to share in the traditions of San Francisco Bay, you have to have it.

95 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1981

Reviews

[Morgan McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is useful but not in fact everything (or most) of what you need to know to sail the Bay today, despite the claims on the cover.

Having sailed the Bay myself and learned several things the hard way, a more detailed explanation of the weather cycles, areas where wind and current suddenly change, ferry patterns, silted in harbors, surprise underwater obstructions, race areas, local conventions, etc. would have been very handy. Some of this is available on nautical charts, of course. Other parts are not, and in general some of the information is simply out of date. San Francisco and the fleet have presumably changed a lot in the past 40 years due to the tech boom.

This is more of a weak pilot guide for cruisers from afar coming to the Bay than a guide for new local sailors. The basic wind and tide explanation is handy, and then most of the book focuses on harbors for anchoring and provisioning and local tourism that is not, strictly speaking, the Bay itself, and is dated.

I sure would have liked to know that:

- the wind turns on at 2pm in the summer when the Valley heats up
- where the eddies are in the Golden Gate
- the cross-bay ferries fly past on particular routes at high speed and should be looked up before casting off
- South Bay is barely navigable at low tide, and not at all within a kilometer of shore in most places
- North of the Bay Bridge, it can be blowing 25 and 100m away it will be 5 kts on the South side
- the remains of the Berkeley pier stick out about 2km into what seems to be the middle of the Bay and deep water, and are nearly invisible at high tide
- many sailors in expensive boats apparently don't know navigation rules and shouldn't be trusted

and many other practical facts one learns in a moment of terror, which are unique to SF.

[Bern J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh! Sailing the Bay! It brings back memories like sailing backwards under the Golden Gate trying to enter the Bay during a spring ebb tide. This is a classic book of sailing San Francisco Bay that I doubt but very few Bay sailors have in their bookshelf or chart table aboard their boat. Livingston writes knowledgeable and interestingly.

[Chris DeSalvo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a pretty topic-specific book, but if you sail in the SF bay area then you absolutely have to read this book. Whether you're a cruiser looking for the perfect day sail on the bay, or a racer looking for some info to get that extra bit of edge, this book has it all.

As a bonus, Kimball's style is charming, witty, and poetic. You can tell he truly loves this place.