8/7
Calling all kayakers and canoeists, from world-class to beginners — prepare to spank the bay. It’s time for the eleventh annual “Race for Treasure” Sea Kayak and Canoe Race. This Saturday in the Oakland Estuary off Jack London Square, California Canoe and Kayak (CalKayak.com) presents a full day of water sports beginning with 8 a.m. registration. Race for Treasure participants can choose from five different courses: 1) a 13.5-mile race around Treasure Island and back (experts only); 2) a ten-mile race to Yerba Buena Island beach and back; 3) asix-mile race to the mouth of estuary and back; 4) a 3.5-mile race around Coast Guard Island; and 5) a one-mile Junior Regatta for eight-to-twelve-year-olds, along the Jack London Square waterfront.
Entry fee is $40 day of the race, $32 preregistration on the Web site; $15 for teens and kids (scholarships available). Proceeds benefit the City of Oakland’s Lake Merritt Mariner Day Camp Scholarship Fund, and the fee includes a T-shirt and lunch from Scott’s Restaurant.
But wait — there’s more. While the races are going on, spectators at the square can catch the West Coast Kayak Polo Championships, with fast and furious action that would put McCovey Cove baseball-grabbers to shame, all day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.–By Kelly Vance
8/10
Wild North
He did it. Canoe?
There are canoe trips (see the above item), and then there are canoe trips. In 1981, Peter Kazaks and three hardy friends — including legendary Canadian canoeist George Luste — paddled some eight hundred miles from Reindeer Lake on the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border to Eskimo Point on the western shore of Hudson Bay, through the Nunavut lands (home of the Inuit), enduring endless port-ages, tricky winds and currents, and clouds of black flies. Whew. Tuesday (7 p.m.), Kazaks visits REI Berkeley (1338 San Pablo Ave.) to show slides and tell stories from his 38-day journey through what some people call one of the last remaining wilderness areas on the planet. He’ll also discuss what it takes to plan such an adventure. Kazaks’ talk is free and open to the public. Info: 510-527-4140.
— By Kelly Vance
