After all the talk about paddling solo and paddling at night, it seemed logical to put the two together ;-). Here's a report of my first paddle at night. Full moon run from Goleta Pier to Goleta Point (2 miles -- round trip) I have been planning a night paddle for some time now and just missed the full moon last month when I decided that I would not miss another. I have not paddled at night before and wanting to start off easy, at or near full moon. I have been watching the weather patterns (made easy by buoy 46053) for the past few weeks with an eye on the winds at night. The winds have been routinely building to around 15 knots into the evening and then dying in the early morning around 5:00 am. Oh well, so I'll have some wind in the evening. Typically when the buoy, which is 7 miles off shore from Goleta, registers 15 knot winds the winds on the beach are half of that. Even less predictable is the swell. I don't mind dealing with the surf up to about six feet but for my first night run, I would prefer an easy two foot beach break. Since I have been looking forward to this outing for several weeks, I had ample time to get it together. Life being what it is, I found myself at the last minute loading the truck with gear; trying not to forget anything and running a bit late. I had thought that I'd like to put in before dark and paddle through sunset and wait for the moon to rise. The moon rise was scheduled for 10 minutes after sunset. It doesn't get much better than that! I didn't have time to print out a check list so I winged it, hoping that I would not forget anything crucial; like my paddle. While packing, I left the VHF running on the weather channel just in case the fog decided to come in early. The summer fog cycles have been fairly predictable the last week or so and I didn't expect the fog to hit the coast until after midnight, if at all. All the gear is in the box, the boat is on the truck, the paddle (don't forget the paddle!), the GPS that's been warming up and the radio that's blaring weather; that's it! I'm off to the beach. It's already dark enough to use the headlights. I have only a mile to drive to reach Goleta beach. Half way there, I remember that I don't have the lanyard for my glasses and without them the GPS won't be useful. I decide that I'll get by without my glasses, after all, this is only going to be a short trip in familiar waters; just enough to get a feel for paddling at night. At the beach, no moon yet, and it's past twilight now. As predicted, there is about a 5 to 7 knot wind out of the west; just enough to stir up a small chop. The swell is small with the waves less that two feet and breaking softly on a 6 foot tide. It's an ideal evening for a first night run. I take the boat down to the water and return to the truck to get my gear on. There has been a sharp rise in water temperature over the last week (from 60f to 65f) and the air is warm; so I choose to take my paddle jacket with me but to wear only shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Skirt on, followed by life vest, radio tied to vest, small flash light tied to vest; and I'm dressed. I load my deck bag with water, bilge pump, GPS, hat and headlamp. The paddle float is already bungied to the front deck. What luck! At the bottom of my gear box is my eyeglass lanyard, left from the last trip. I'll take that as an omen to paddle. With light from a restaurant a couple hundred yards down the beach and the last little bit of twilight, I can see will enough to mount my deck bag and manage to mount my under deck bag by feel. I move the boat a bit closer to the water, climb in, secure my skirt and I'm off. Once off shore, I checked my flashlight. It's a single AA cell light that looks to be waterproof and I have it tied to my shoulder so that it can hang over my back, lighting my back and rear deck without bothering my vision. It seems to work as planned. I take a drink, put on my gloves, savor the moment and begin paddling west toward Goleta Point. This is a routine course for me. I paddle here frequently, either to tour or to surf the point; so I know the reefs and how they will respond to this swell and tide. Tonight there is two sailboats anchored just a few hundred yards west of my put in. They are both burning small anchor lights. By the time I approach the first, my eyes are will adjusted to the night and I can see that one of the boats has a inflatable with outboard tied off the stern. It appears that there are people aboard the one boat. Remembering the headlamp is still in my deck bag, I stop to put it on. I don't plan to use the headlamp except to 'announce' myself to others or to check the surf line on my return. I steer wide of the two boats and press on towards the point. Looking over my shoulder, there is no sign of the moon yet. There is enough light to make out the small swells and chop as I paddle. Even though I can see the water, I find that I am a bit clumsy at first. I attribute this to the part vision plays in paddle control. Maybe I should practice with my eyes closed more often. Coming up on the point, I can see the white water of the waves breaking over the mostly submerged rocks at the very point. Inside the point there are a few rocks that can break unexpectedly, so while I would paddle inside them during the day; I decided to take the conservative approach and head out to sea before heading west again. Good thing, I think I over estimate the distance at night and though I thought I was well away from the point break; I found myself bracing and leaping over the incoming swells. It went OK, but again I felt clumsy in the low light. When I was out far enough to stop, I turned to find a huge yellow moon being extruded over the horizon. What a view! It was time for a choice. I could push on around the point and deal with somewhat rougher water or I could turn around and watch the moon rise as I paddled the mile back to the truck. The latter choice was an easy one, both esthetically and in keeping with the conservative approach I was trying maintain for this first night run. I took a moment to check the GPS and was surprised to find myself farther up the coast that I thought I was. Apparently in the effort to get outside the point break, I had paddled quite a bit further than I realized. In an effort to reconcile this idea with my senses, I scanned the shadows and lights of the bluffs finally realizing that I had gone around the point and was at least a tenth of a mile past where I thought I was. I turned east and retraced my course, taking my time to enjoy the moon rising; now well off the horizon and blazing a shimmering stripe across the water. I was growing more comfortable with my paddling and the return was ideal. When I arrived back at the beach near my put in and found my truck, I was reluctant to go in so I paddled aimlessly enjoying the night. I learned a great deal from this short trip. I'll be back out there soon and often. Night paddling is different that day paddling. The differences need to be learned and practiced just as day paddling skills are. There are paddling changes, the feel of the boat changes, navigation changes, and decision making changes. Great, some new stuff to learn and experience! I have posted this report with maps at: http://www.zooid.com/sbpaddle/logs/trip_980710_1.gif There has been lots of useful talk here on the list about lights and other safety issues. I'd like to hear more about style, the feel, the decision process - when to be conservative, when to go for it. How does paddling during the day differ from paddling at night? What changes in your style, your thoughts, your actions? Bob Tellefson http://www.zooid.com/sbpaddle Always looking for an excuse to paddle. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Jul 12 1998 - 11:22:33 PDT
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