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As a Seattle refugee, I still don't understand why there are so few boats on the bay.

I get that the Bay is not Lake Washington.. but seriously, lakes vary in height too, and still have docks.

Somehow the bay has almost no docks, no boating (except some sailboats way up north in SF), no recreation at all. Is it water quality? Chop? Regulation?

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http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/sediment/southsfbay/depth_maps.html

there is a marina in redwood city, but notice how shallow the bay is south of SFO (aside from the channel) - much of that is mudflats (lakes don't have tides), marine preserves, etc.

Damn. DAMN. I didn't realize it was that shallow. (I'm familiar with the RWC Marina as I bike by there on my commute, and in college I rowed out of Seaport). Thanks. Obviously it goes without saying that if the water is only (say) 5m deep, there's a hell of a lot of crap between 0m and the 5m floor. The changing height is not as much of an issue; plenty of lakes vary in height by 5-10ft and docks accommodate it just fine.

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