Treasure Island

rigatoni · Joined: 25 Feb 1999 Posts: 498

I had to go to Treasure Island last weekend and with the start of the season soon upon us thought I'd go checkout the status of the launch. Needless to say, what I saw was not good. The area that was fenced off last year has been expanded to include the entire road and area where we used to park. The area inside the fence was excavated down about 5-10 feet. Access down 10th Street (where folks were parking last season) was closed.

Given the history out there, I'd be shocked if we had any sort of access this season. Equally troubling is the removal of the road and parking. When this work is complete, it is unclear how we restore access to the launch.

If anyone has any more details, please share.

airwave · Joined: 29 Jun 2000 Posts: 386

Rigitoni, Thanks for the heads up on T.I.

You got me to checking on the future development plans. It's anyones guess but I suspect all the work being done will not be reversed to the past launch situation.

Attached is a map of the approved plan. Also the following links are details of the plan and maps showing vehicle access to the north shore.
It looks very promising for an awesome future windsurf launch.
Especially if you are 25 years old and plan to sail into your 50ties.

http://sftreasureisland.org/sites/sftreasureisland.org/files/Final_Ch1.pdf

http://sftreasureisland.org/sites/sftreasureisland.org/files/Final_Ch3_2.pdf

jse · Joined: 17 Apr 1995 Posts: 1460 Location: Maui

airwave · Joined: 29 Jun 2000 Posts: 386

[I've been less and less enthusiastic about bay area sailing lately]

jse,

Easy for you to say ( - :

But yea, the SF launches get little support form the SF community. We are lost in a host of other activities in the area. And political strength for windsurfing is lost among way to many other issues.

But it does look like T.I. will have a windsurf launch. [/quote]

jse · Joined: 17 Apr 1995 Posts: 1460 Location: Maui

mac · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 2:50 pm Post subject:

jse--you are certainly correct that it is not always easy to preserve the quality of our limited launches--the battle over Candlestick makes it clear that tall buildings upwind of the water can reduce the intensity of wind, or make it more turbulent.

Treasure Island is a somewhat different story. The launch we have used remains the property of the US Navy, and they have, sadly, discretion about how they use their property until it is transferred to the City of San Francisco. For a period of time we just started using it, and found it to be of tremendous value. But the laws governing clean-up of contaminated Federal facilities--i.e. Treasure Island--don't provide any priority for recreational access. The laws governing re-use of the sites do give priority to access along and to the water, and the San Francisco Boardsailing Association has used those authorities to successfully lobby for improvement in access for boardsailing (as well as kayaking and stand up paddling. Kite access at TI remains a challenge, but is done by those teaching, from a boat, and those who are highly skilled.)

While it is frustrating to have to wait, I'd like to remind folks that there are many different bases in the Bay area, and throughout the country, that need clean-up before they can be reused. If you want to try to speed up the process, you might write your Senators and Representatives and urge them to appropriate more funding for clean-ups, and to make clean-up of Treasure Island a priority.

airwave · Joined: 29 Jun 2000 Posts: 386

jse,

We hope to sail with you again, the sooner the better.

I went by T.I. today. Yep, the north wall is closed off. I'm betting it will be a few years before it is open but who knows, maybe SF and the Navy will make allowances and gives us a way to access the boat ramp.

Good news, for those that are willing, the 13 Street "launch" is open and accessible. So, if you are willing to bang your way down the rocks and catch the elevator on the ebb, then swim your way back in and bang your way back out on the rocks you'll still be able to sail T.I.

rigatoni · Joined: 25 Feb 1999 Posts: 498

I completly disagree with the belief that we don't work towards improving launches here in the Bay Area. The SFBA was involved with folks who did that master plan for Treasure Island as well as getting that location designated as a water access point in the Bay Area plan. As Mac points out, until the Navy completes the work here; we have no leverage whatsoever.

My big issue has been the incredible slow pace of the clean up and the general mismanagement of this process by the Navy. This work should have been done years ago. This particular job that is affecting the launch should have been completed last year. Efforts to engage them have been frustrating to say the least.

Steve-compared to the Gorge, a lot of our launches are a hell of a lot more foot friendly. As much as I love sailing up there, my feet take a real beating getting in and out of the water at places like the Hatchery

mac · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:03 pm Post subject:

True that. The Navy has two speeds-slow and slower.

SwellRipper · Joined: 21 Apr 2009 Posts: 193 Location: Channel Marker 11

Thanks all for the TI updates. The far future sounds promising! The present and near future, not so great, oh well.

I might start a water taxi service from 3rd Ave when the wind is SW. It will bypass TI and have one stop, Blunt Point, haha