I work over at the Trader Joe's by Pt Vicente so I have been surveying the coast on my lunch breaks. I have walked down Pescadero Trail, The Malaga Cove trail to Rats, A trail down to Bluff Cove, and the Terranea trail to launch. I have to say they all seem like some lengthy walks down, but more importantly back up!
The Pescadero Trail is steep and i couldn't really see dragging the yak back up it alone, not that I haven't thought about it.
The Malaga Cove to Rats and the Terranea launch are by far the easiest to walk, but both very long. Malaga is short I guess if you can launch of the rocks, but I'm not there yet.
I drove down Royal Palms and I can see launching from there if the surf is light. That may be able to shave off about 2.5 miles from the paddle from Cabrillo. I haven't launched from anywhere really except Cabrillo Harbor and Beachside, so i can't really judge difficulty of theses other spots yet, but they are all rocky beaches, not nice cushy sand like Cabrillo! I looked into perhaps launching out of Abalone Cove, but once again it is a long steep walk down. As of now I think I'll stick to launching out of Cabrillo or maybe Rats.
If anyone has suggestions, I would also love to hear them! I don't know how many of you guys are local up here in the south bay yet since I am still new to the board.
If anyone is up Pt Vicente way, fell free to stop by the Trader Joe's in Golden Cove and Say Hi! My name is Dan and I am a supervisor there. 10 hours a day, 5 days a week except W-Th.
Good Luck!
Dan