Crane Cove Park, San Francisco
Born of the community.
Dogpatch Paddle started in 2020 as neighbors with boats and a brand new park. The shop came after, and the club is still running.
How this started
Dogpatch Paddle began as a community club in September 2020, when Crane Cove Park opened. We started a Facebook group where neighbors traded tide notes, route intel, technique and gear. That group is still running, and it is still the reason this place feels the way it does.
The plan was always Building 49, the shed at the top of the beach. Getting into it took four years. We opened a temporary shop on 18th Street in April 2021 and added rentals, lessons, youth camps, storage and retail. We partnered with the YMCA of San Francisco. We won the proposal process for the building, with 380 neighbors signing on to endorse it. Then came the historical review, the seismic work, the safety requirements and the budget.
Building 49 opened on 12 February 2025, and we held the grand opening with the YMCA that May. The sauna and cold plunge followed in the spring. In August 2025 we reopened the Mission Creek Boathouse with San Francisco Recreation and Parks, after it had sat shut for eight months.
Nobody here set out to start an outfitter. We wanted somewhere to launch.
In the press
S.F. is embracing saunas and cold plunges. Are they actually good for you?San Francisco Chronicle · August 2026 · Read the article
Our founder
Adam Zolot, Chairman of the Boards
Adam spent twelve years as founder and CEO of Latitudes, an adventure-travel company running kayaking, scuba, mountain biking and trekking trips across Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Pacific. It was an early mover in the region, and built one of the first online marketplaces for experiential travel.
After 9/11 reshaped that industry he moved into hospitality tech, and was COO of Feastly, scaling communal dining around the world.
He started the paddle club in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, because a new park had just opened at the end of his street and there was nowhere to launch from it. Building 49 was the plan from the first week, and it took four years.
Founding Dogpatch Paddle brought him back to his adventure roots. You will find him launching from the beach most weeks, and off paddling somewhere else the rest of the time.
Two places on the water
The club is still running
The Dogpatch Paddle Club is still running, and it is still where the neighborhood talks: routes, conditions, gear, and who is heading out this weekend. It is the group the shop grew out of, and it is open to anyone who paddles here.
Anyone can find it and ask to join.