Connecting People to the Water Since 1982
A letter from Galen Licht, CEO & Co-owner, Sea Trek
Sea Trek has been getting people out on the water in Sausalito since 1982, when we opened at Schoonmaker Point as California’s first commercial sea kayaking business. Today, we launch from the Bay Model, but what we’re here to do hasn’t changed: help people get on the water, connect with nature, and experience the Bay for themselves. Today, we serve around 20,000 people a year. Some are experienced paddlers, but many are getting out on the Bay for the first time.
And their experience usually doesn’t begin and end at our docks. In a study of our customers, we found that more than 70% combine their paddling experience with food or drinks in Sausalito. They paddle, then grab lunch, meet friends for a drink, get coffee, or spend more time exploring town. Access to the water isn’t just good for recreation — it helps connect people to Sausalito and supports the businesses and community around the waterfront.
This year, we added Fun E-Boats (Duffy Boats with Boat Sausalito) to the ways people can experience the water. They’re electric, stable, easy to drive, and require no experience. A family can bring three generations aboard, pack a picnic, and explore the waterfront together. Different crafts, same idea: make getting on the water easy and welcoming.
It starts with access. Maybe it’s a first kayak rental, an hour on a paddleboard, a sailing lesson, or a family boat ride. Someone gets out on the Bay and experiences this place from a completely different perspective. Then something changes. You notice the harbor seals. The birds. The eelgrass. The tides and wind. You begin to understand that the Bay isn’t just something you look at from shore it’s a living place that we’re all connected to. And connection creates caring. That’s why we created Sea Trek CARES to further this mission, creating more ways for people to get on the water.
We see people come back to take a class, join coastal cleanup, bring their kids paddling, or simply become more curious about the Bay and how to protect it. Over time, that caring becomes stewardship.
Access and experience creates connection. Connection creates caring. Caring creates stewardship.
That’s why the future of public access to Sausalito’s waterfront matters so much to us and why Sea Trek wants to be part of the conversation about what comes next. For us, access doesn’t mean one particular kind of boating. We want more ways for more people to get onto the Bay: kayaks and paddleboards, sailboats and motorboats, charters, boat ramps, moorings and guest docks.
We want places where someone can launch their own small boat, tie up while visiting Sausalito, take a lesson, rent a boat, or simply have their first experience on the water. A healthy waterfront should make room for all of that. Every one of those public access points creates an opportunity for someone to build a relationship with the Bay. Create more of them, and we build a larger community of people who know, enjoy, and ultimately care for this place.
For more than 40 years, Sea Trek has worked to create those opportunities through rentals, trips and classes, youth programs, community partnerships, beach cleanups, and thousands of simple afternoons spent on the water.
Come down to the docks at the Bay Model sometime.
We’d love to get you out on the water.
