The weather forecast for Saturday was for warm (80 deg) weather but very windy due to our local Santa Ana winds. These winds are usually an off shore wind with gusts to about 60 mph. We had tentative plans to do a local paddle that would not become firm until we saw the actual weather for today. My paddling buddy lives just a few minutes from Channel Islands Harbor where we launch from, so at 9:00 AM he called to say the winds were very mild there. I loaded my gear and kayak and met Gregg at about 11:10. By 11:30, my boat was in the water and the weather was looking so good that we decided to forgo the coastal paddle we planned and go 3 1/2 miles out to one of the oil drilling platforms and return. Just before we launched, we saw a solo kayaker launch from our normal spot. As we paddled out past the breakwater at the harbor entrance, we spotted this lone kayaker and asked if he wanted to join us. We now have a new friend, Roy. Gregg, Roy, and I paddled out to the platform with 2 short rest stops for water. We had a lot of boat and jet ski traffic close to the harbor entrance but they were quickly left behind as we paddled southwest. It was a very quiet trip. The only occasional noises were a loud racing type boat in the distance, and the very few times when there was some radio traffic on the VHF. We arrived at the platform, took some pictures, and noticed a buoy that had three sea lions on it. Gregg paddled over to get some pictures of them and we then headed back. We then rested for a few minutes before starting the trip home. Our return was a little longer than the outgoing paddle, because the harbor entrance is more difficult to see than the platform (actually, it can't be seen from a kayak at 3 1/2 miles) and we underestimated the speed of the current. When we were close enough to notice how far we had drifted, we had added about a mile to our return trip. We paddled in to the harbor and quickly over took some inexperienced young paddlers, who were just paddling around the harbor. Since all three of us are in our 50's, we felt pretty good about being in decent shape. We arrived at the launch site at about 3:00, loaded our boats and all went our separate ways. It was a great way to get the spring season off to a great start. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Apr 03 2000 - 08:11:46 PDT
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