S.F. Boardsailing Association Tracks Vanishing Access to the Bay
Windsurfers, kiteboarders, and wing foilers are among the many forms of sailing that need public access to the Bay. We recently received an email from the San Francisco Bay Boardsailing Association, which has been tracking the public’s vanishing access to the Bay. The effort echoes the Surfrider Foundation’s efforts to protect public access to beaches and surf breaks in addition to sustainable ocean initiatives. We publish their email here:
Hello from the San Francisco Boardsailing Association (SFBA). The SFBA represents roughly 5,000 boardsailors who use Bay shoreline launches. Each year we audit public access at those sites and classify each one as closed, compromised, or under active threat. This is the 2026 report.
The nature of the risk has changed sharply since last year. Our 2025 audit documented erosion and operational neglect, conditions that degrade access gradually and can usually be reversed. This year the primary threat is different in kind: Decisions now before regulators and local agencies will set access terms for decades. Four stand out:
- A BCDC permit to charge for parking at Berkeley
- A proposed ferry terminal on Berkeley’s recreational waterfront
- Winter storm planning at Crown Beach
- Sea level rise planning for Richmond and the East Bay Crescent
Most of the boardsailors we represent depend on four keystone launches: Alameda, 3rd Avenue, Berkeley, and Crissy. Three of those four face binding decisions within the next 12 months. The volume and permanence of change arriving at once is without precedent in the Association’s history, and it is why we are bringing this year’s audit directly to your attention.
The audit may be useful to your own work. It is a year-over-year, site-level record of public access conditions along the Bay shoreline, documented by the people who use these launches regularly. If you are preparing comments, reviewing a permit, or building a planning record, this is field-level evidence on how access is actually functioning at specific sites, and it is the kind of detail that is difficult to reconstruct after a decision is made.
Thank you to the San Francisco Boardsailing Association for helping preserve recreational access to San Francisco Bay. And readers, don’t hesitate to share this story.
You can send questions or comments to [email protected].