California Canoe & Kayak

Great, easy affordable kayak rental. Friendly peeps, good service. Can't fault them that the actual experience on the water feels like you're exploring a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Strange but ultimately fun experience!

Wow you guys actually prompted me to go thru the entire reset process on my yelp account for this one.

Congrats, you earned it!

Going to have to write a bad review here unfortunately.

These are kayaks guys.. Not sailboats. Get over yourselves.. And yes. I've been sailing and kayaking the bay for about 12 years.

I actually purchased a kayak from them a number of years back. Did they care to ask? No.. Just patronization.. That's all I got.

Initially talking to these guys about renting a few sit on tops for a trip in the bay. No problems, some paperwork etc..

Called to lock in the dates and was told I had to take one of their high priced kayaking classes.

Asked to talk to the manager to see what the big change was here as dates were set as were more importantly expectations.

Enter the patronization~

I was rudely greeted with how policies were changed and that there is all sorts of liability etc... "Cracking down" was the terminology used. I guess there's a big effort to have semi suicidal people do a run on this place to go out and kill themselves in the bay... I have heard this was an issue?

Now I can understand if there is someone out there that blankly has no idea what they are doing, but to blindly and more importantly RUDELY turn down rental business with your quick and ridiculous kayaking questions it absurd. Get over yourselves.. Again, this is a kayak.

Also, it was really great to be informed that you've been around forever. That doesn't mean you're going to be around forever with this poor attitude and customer service.

I am wondering how many people that are turned away based on the attitude decide to just head out anyway and in danger. Where you could point someone in the right direction with just a hint of good customer service and ensure everyone can enjoy the bay.

Spreading the word about this place.

My advise. Go elsewhere...

I had been considering a paddle board purchase for a long time, and recently visited CCK to see what they had in stock. I was helped by Nick (great kid) who took about two hours out of his day to let me paddle 5 or 6 different boards so I could get a feel for each one, which was so, so helpful. Each board was very different from the last and without the benefit of the "test driving" I got to do, I probably would have settled on the wrong board for me.

As it is, i got just the right board at just the right length and displacement and I'm having a blast. Big thanks to Nick for being such a patient salesperson and for letting me A/B so many boards (some, multiple times).

Nick was also super helpful when it came to accessories. He hooked me up with a great wetsuit, booties, a wind breaker, leash, paddle (measured and cut to my height), and board bag...all for a great price.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better customer experience. Thanks CCK and thanks Nick!

My wife and I originally called here looking to buy a used kayak, and Keith spent around 15 mins with me on the phone, listening to our needs and talking through the options he could provide. He runs a business, and spent this long on the phone with a random prospective person! Point one for good service.

Fast forward, we landed on two boats that we were interested in and drove to The CCK store to check them out. Keith just wrote us a rental slip (no payment required to test out boats, since we were prospective buyers, I guess), and we spent at least an hour testing and retesting two different boats. The guy on the dock helping us, also, was funny, helpful, and professional. Point two for good service.

Once we decided that we were going to buy one of the two boats, we asked if he could go down in price. He said no. Oh well, we tried. He does have to make a profit to survive, after all. He did ask us what we do for work, though (we're a teacher and national parks intern), and in the process of getting paddles to fit us and a PFD for my wife (all used equipment) he decided that he was going to do whatever he could to keep our purchase total to $1000! He marked down the PFD a lot to make it happen. Bonus point for going above and beyond to help new boaters get outfitted to have fun.

We finally got he boat outside, it was after 6 (when they were closing), and he ended up throwing in a set of straps for our car, since he said that our straps sucked (they had been really annoying for us in the past), as well as some mesh bags for us to hold drinks in when we're out on the water. Another bonus point for clearly REALLY wanting us to have the best time possible in our new boat! Thanks Keith! We'll definitely come over from SF if we need anything!

Awesome experience here! Great place to take freinds/family from out of town & locals alike! Some friends and I decided to hit the water on the 4th of July. Two of us did the tandem kayaking and two did stand up paddle boarding. This was my first time kayaking and it was so much fun! Since it was such a beautiful day it made the experience even better!! You get an awesome view of the city and you're right next to the shipping cranes. (Great photo ops!)

The staff on the dock were very helpful and patient. They let us be girls and take our millions of pictures before heading out! Lol Life jackets are provided for each person and we were able to leave our shoes and phones at the dock. Even though the walk from the actual store to the dock is very short, you gotta get those pics! Lol

Overall great experience here! Would definitley come back!

Went for the paddleboarding for beginners class as a total newbie and had a blast. Mitch gave great instruction and was attentive to the individual needs of everyone in the class - giving us tips, correcting form, making sure we were comfortable on the board and water - and shared his passion for paddleboarding, which was very inspiring. Plus, he was just an all around awesome person, which makes any class happen.

And the pretty much still water of the harbor made it great for first time paddleboarding.

Also, CCK is really a great shop filled with genuine, nice, fun, and passionate people. I thought I left my gloves in the life vests after the class, and they went through each vest to find them. And those were a lot of vests!!!!

The paddleboarding class and CCK really went well beyond my expectations. Thank you CCK for an incredible and memorable experience.

Had questions about rigging a kayak for fishing. JT told me what to get and rigged it all personally! All he did worked perfectly! He went above and beyond. Great knowledgable fast service. I wish I could get that kind of service everywhere.

Objectively, this is a great place to rent a kayak in the Estuary. But, despite the high rating I'm giving it, I'm not happy with my last experience using a rental certificate bought at a charity auction.

It was a rental certificate that had expired many years ago and on a lark I asked if there was a possibility of honoring it. To my surprise they said "no problem". The problem occurred when I returned the rental and checked out with the owner. He said that the more recent rental certificates are only for singles and although my certificate said "any kayak" he was only going to give credit for a single. When I said that his employee had told me the certificate would be honored for a double, he said that he can't control everything his employees say. On followup with the owner he said that this will not happen again because he trained his employees on how to handle expired certificates.

My rating was based on
great place +5
took expired certificate +2
changed rental terms after rental -3

Brilliant fun. Helpful staff and a great way to spend some time out on the water in the fresh air!

Lots of fun. Was a bit windy when we went but fantastic views of San Francisco and Oakland.

Great staff.

The view while kayaking was kinda ok... We got to lazy to drive to the city ... But still wanted to go kayaking. So for scenery skip this place. But they do have a lot of restaurants nearby which is always a plus and parking was super easy too.