Commute across the bay by speedboat?

[LeftCoastRider]

When I lived on Whidbey Island in Washington, there was a guy who commuted to downtown Seattle on a jet ski. I believe that he wore a wet suit and had a sealed compartment for work clothes, and a local paper even wrote an article on him. It was not possible unless the water was calm, but he cut the commute time from 70 minutes down to 20.

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

The Bay can get really choppy quickly. Definitely wouldn't do this is in bad weather...

i find south of treasure island (the alameda to pennisula route op mentions) very calm. the areas in direct line to the GG bridge can be a nightmare.

[irishman_irl]

I'm thinking of doing a few trial runs on an upcoming weekend, going to try and find somewhere to hire a small motorboat and make the crossing from Alameda to Burlingame & San Mateo a few times to gauge if this is realistic or not, key criteria for me are:

1. Safety

2. Reliability - this won't work if I can only commute by boat 3 or 4 days out of 5. Needs to be as dependable as commuting by car for the most part.

3. Time & Cost - don't mind if its a little more expensive than commuting by car, but not by orders of magnitude.

Does anyone know of anywhere to rent motorboats by the day in the bay area? (I have experience with operating small craft)

[Radio Flyer]

Originally Posted by LeftCoastRider

When I lived on Whidbey Island in Washington, there was a guy who commuted to downtown Seattle on a jet ski. I believe that he wore a wet suit and had a sealed compartment for work clothes, and a local paper even wrote an article on him. It was not possible unless the water was calm, but he cut the commute time from 70 minutes down to 20.

Wow. Very cool.