Day Sail

Pacific Seacraft 25 Dash on the San Francisco Bay

It was nice to be out of the marina. Scientists are not yet sure of the cause, but there is an algae bloom in some areas of San Francisco Bay, including the marina, filling the water with a brick-red slurry, like the rinse water from a paintbrush after you painted the Golden Gate Bridge. The clouds fill the water, creating a visibility of only inches, and whatever fish are left must think they're swimming in an ocean on Mars.

They have identified the algae as Heterosigma akashiwo, apparently only considered a nuisance and not dangerous. The newspaper suggests people and their pets should avoid the water as a general precaution, but the health department has not issued any explicit warnings. Still, I sure wouldn't want to be kayaking or standup paddle boarding in this stuff, and I definitely wouldn't be eating any fish from the Bay for a while.

Scientists have offered a guess to its origin. Heavy nutrient rich discharge from wastewater treatment plants, combined with the warm weather of summer and climate change, created the perfect storm to bloom a red tide.

Usually, strong tides, sea breeze, and flows from the major Delta rivers are enough to rinse the Bay of these stagnant waters. The Bay and the Delta are getting sicker and sicker. This might be explained with climate change and drought, but also with the state's water management, sending more and more water south through the aqueduct, quenching the thirst of Southern California. Fish are dying in the Delta, invasive plants are overgrown, and salinity is moving further and further up river. This algae bloom seems to be yet another symptom of California's water struggles, most of them self-inflicted.

But out here today in the Bay, with a perfect 12 knot westerly, fog swallowing the Golden Gate Bridge and the tops of the San Francisco skyline, salt spray washing across the cabin top, the Pacific Seacraft 25 sailboat Dash heaves and shudders through the chop, and the only thing I have to worry about is a sunburn.