Crissy Field (San Francisco)
San Francisco Bay (Golden Gate) · near San Francisco · SF Bay Area
Wind Sports
At a glance
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Best season
- May–September (afternoon westerlies)
- Water temperature
- Cold (mid-50s°F year-round) — 4/3 wetsuit minimum, boots/hood in winter
What is here
- Amenities
- Iconic Golden Gate Bridge backdrop · World-famous advanced bay spot · Alcatraz & skyline views · Grassy rigging lawn
- Best for
- Iconic, challenging bay sailing under the bridge
- Features
- Sail beneath the Golden Gate Bridge · World-famous advanced spot · Strong wind, strong current · Unbeatable scenery
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Strong ebb & flood currents · Cold water · Shipping lanes & ferry traffic · Getting swept toward the Gate/bridge
- Good for a first timer
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Lessons
- No
Wind Sports detail
- Discipline
- windsurf · kite · wing
- Conditions
- chop
- Venue
- bay
- Wind kt
- 22
- Wind
- W/NW funneling through the Golden Gate, 15–30 kt summer afternoons — gusty and current-swept
- Intl tip
- World-famous but ADVANCED — strong gusty wind through the Gate, RIPPING tidal current (an ebb can sweep you toward the bridge — very dangerous), cold water (4/3 wetsuit minimum), shipping traffic. Not for beginners. Check the tide (sail the flood, beware the ebb). Grassy rigging lawn. Unbeatable Golden Gate scenery. Know your self-rescue.
The guide
Crissy Field is one of the most iconic wind-sports venues on Earth — a grassy former airfield on the San Francisco waterfront w…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Crissy Field (San Francisco) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.805, -122.465