FOR ADVANCED SAILORS ONLY
Launch is difficult over breakwater with big boulders and lots of barnacles. Besides being very short. If you miss it you can end up a real long way from where you started. Not recommended to sail durng a flood because you can easily be swept past the launch if you break down or the wind dies (which can happen quickly). Nearest haul outs are miles away if you don't just get swept into the middle of the Bay. Breaking down in the ebb can be even more disasterous. You're almost out the Gate already. Next stop, the Farrallon Islands and then Japan. Everyone that sails there regularly has at least one harrowing tale.
Otherwise, it's the best sailing in the Bay. Some hardcore types will only sail there. It can have the only wind on hot, still days in August. Wind starts right at the launch. Step right on you board and on to a plane. On a big ebb the ramps are huge. Slack can be as flat as a swimming pool. If all of the sensors are showing sub teens and Angel Island is in the 20s then it's probabaly happenning at North Tower. It doesn't work well on NW wind because the mountains create a wind shadow.
Most people slog over from Crissy unless it's filled in all the way across. Launching from No.Tower you can use smaller stuff. Not suitable for kite launching.