San Francisco Chronicle reporter Shayna Rubin, bottom left, visits McCovey Cove on a kayak ahead of the Opening Night game between the Giants and Yankees on Wednesday.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Kayakers at McCovey Cove during the MLB Opening Night game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 25, 2026.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Every native San Franciscan knows the rule: Bring an extra layer.
No matter how hot it is, a bank of fog might be looming from the Sunset over Twin Peaks and crisp breezes off the Bay can always sneak up and shiver your spine. You’ll be grateful you brought that sweater, just in case.
I took this local rule of thumb a little too seriously Wednesday morning as I zipped up a light rain jacket over my fleece, plus a long-sleeve shirt and sped off to Pier 40, ready to embark on a mini kayaking adventure to Oracle Park’s McCovey Cove.
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As I climbed into the bright red solo kayak and started paddling into Mission Creek, there were no marine winds or morning overcast skies to soften the sharp sun reflecting off the water. Those three layers and life vest became oppressive — and I feared tipping over if I took a few off — as I paddled and the ballpark came into view.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Shayna Rubin boards a kayak and launches from Pier 40 to visit McCovey Cove ahead of the Opening Night game between the Giants and Yankees on Wednesday.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Silly me, but a lesson learned. I’ve lived in this city my entire life and spent hundreds of days in and near Oracle Park yet, somehow, this was the first time I had been on the water in McCovey Cove.
None of that mattered once I started floating around the cove.
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The grand view of the ballpark’s structure and the cityscape surrounding me felt like a perfect backdrop to the serenity on the water. Sea lions yelped, lounged and swam nearby and suddenly I was wishing I was on one of the boats I’d seen during San Francisco Giants games on TV — like the guy several years ago with the charcoal grill fixated on the end of his kayak. Or the group that enjoyed a Giants-Mets game last year in a floating hot tub.
I always thought I got the McCovey Cove lounge appeal, but it wasn’t until now that I fully understood why dozens flock here just to hang out on game days. It’s the most uniquely San Francisco way to spend a summer night — no matter how balmy or frigid.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Shayna Rubin, bottom right, visits McCovey Cove on a kayak ahead of the MLB Opening Night game in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
McCovey Cove had always been on my bucket list, but it took a special event to get me on the water. The Giants were playing the New York Yankees on MLB’s Opening Night with exclusive broadcast streaming over Netflix — a first-time MLB thing that turned out to be an overwrought Netflix marketing spectacle.
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Netflix bought out the entire fleet of single kayaks at City Kayak off Pier 40, threw their branded “N” on the front and painted them red. The plan was to have 73 of them out in McCovey Cove to honor Barry Bonds’ single-season home run record — 73 in 2001.
Of course, few of the record homers were Splash Hits, but Bonds made mashing home runs into the Cove an art form and, soon, a way of life during the early part of the millennium. Over the past 26 years, the Cove has transformed into a community, a character and a place for unique floating devices.
It has seen floating bubble boats and UFO-shaped boats, floating hot tubs and gutsy paddle boarders. McCovey Cove Dave has been a fixture, turning Splash Hits acquisitions into a science — and a large collection.
Kayakers take a photo of a sea lion resting on a boat at the South Beach Harbor in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 25, 2026.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Inspired by the urban adventure around Mission Bay, Ted Choi opened City Kayak in 2003 not expecting the Bonds revolution to impact his business much.
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But as the home run-record watch intensified, Choi’s business began to boom. Everyone wanted to be in a boat.
“I didn’t really think about the Splash Hits at the time, even though I love the game of baseball and grew up playing baseball,” Choi said. “We started with 20 kayaks. Barry started hitting home runs and Barry started doing what he does, then by the next month I’m on the phone with a sales rep demanding another 20. Next month, I needed another 20.”
Choi’s team lined up their new, red fleet of kayaks for me and a crew of 20 or so other media members invited to take the same pilgrimage thousands of fans have taken from Pier 40 to the Cove, where Netflix had also inflated two giant floating baseballs and floating “N”s in the water.
During the Giants’ yawn of a 7-0 loss to the Yankees, Netflix abruptly cut to comedian Bert Kreischer — who happens to have his own Netflix special (a shocker) and was partying, yelling something-or-other on his own kayak with the regulars surrounding him.
Lou Seal among kayakers at McCovey Cove during the Opening Night game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees at Oracle Park on Wednesday.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Jarring as the spectacle looked and sounded to Giants viewers who are used to the dulcet tones of Kruk and Kuip and the leisurely pace of the game, it was Netflix’s way of ingratiating itself to the ballpark it descended on for a night.
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For years, the only parts of the field visible were the third deck stands and half of the video board. That is, until a few years ago, when the organization put up a large television on the side of the ballpark above the walkway for all those in the water to watch the game.
From the Cove at 10:30 a.m., I watched on half of the video board as the Netflix team rehearsed the gaudy player introduction that featured cable cars, New York taxi cabs, dance crews and a drone smoke American flag.
My trip into McCovey Cove wasn’t the real thing — I didn’t feel the game, see a Splash Hit, or float among the regular characters. That’s still on the bucket list. And when the day comes, I’ll still probably bring that extra layer.