[Paddlewise] Nice day on the water in SoCal

We got some blissful weather this weekend, and while Duane was surfing a
little farther down the coast at San Onofre, I went fishing out of
Newport Beach. The ocean was glassy, with an occasional 18-inch swell.
Sunny, air temperatures in the low 70s, water in the mid-50s, wind calm
to 3 knots.

I *try* to follow the advice to "dress for water temperatures, not air
temperatures". It's hard in conditions like today. But I put on a 3mm
Farmer John, then a fleece top to keep the PFD from chafing me. That was
warmer than I liked. However, it made me realize that sit-on-tops like
mine have one small advantage over traditional kayaks in such
conditions: it's easier to thermoregulate. I kept my wetsuit legs wet
and even dangled my feet in the water occasionally while fishing - that
bled off the excess heat quickly. (I guess a traditional kayaker with a
good roll could stay cool, too - but it's more awkward with a deck full
of fishing gear.)

Hardly any other paddlers were dressed for the water. I noticed the
outrigger canoe racing clubs working out in the open ocean, all shorts
and t-shirts. Didn't see any PFDs aboard. I guess they have forgotten
the incident about a year ago in Ventura when a six-person canoe flipped
and three people died of hypothermia and drowning, while the other three
spent some time in the hospital. Oh well, real men.

Fishing was pretty good. I usually try some new spot and sometimes I get
skunked as a result. This time, to preempt a skunking, I first went to a
spot near the harbor entrance where I thought I could get some spotted
bass, and landed two in quick succession. Then it was out the entrance
to deeper water where I tried to catch some halibut. I paddled around
out there for a few hours, but caught only a couple of sand bass and a
six-inch halibut (I was surprised it could even get the large hook into
its mouth). Didn't keep any today - I was too lazy to clean them.

January is gray whale season here, and the sportfishing boats full of
tourists plowed in and out of the harbor every couple of hours. It must
have been a slow day for whales. I didn't see any, and the returning
boats lingered around a buoy with some sea lions on it, giving extended
lectures about them. When watching has been good, they don't stop at the
buoy. At one point there were three large party boats and a few smaller
powerboats near me, turning the glassy surface into a washing machine.

When I eventually decided to go back and try the inside of the harbor
again, I was confronted by a veritable parade of sailboats. There were
over sixty of them streaming out the harbor entrance. I thought it was a
race, but I asked a couple of the sailors and they said it was just a
bunch of people who all decided, at the same time, to go for a sail on a
pretty day.

I had launched at about 8:40 A.M. on a high tide. Now there was a minus
tide, still ebbing. I beached my yak on a tiny shelf of sand among some
rock outcroppings and waded around in knee-deep water that would
normally be chest-high. As a lifelong Californian, I was once again
impressed by how the pollution controls finally seem to be taking hold.
The water was clear, the rocks held a healthy variety of plants and
animals, and this was all just yards away from a large number of boat
docks. It wasn't that nice when I was a kid - although I think there
were more fish then!

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