Short trip report - Dave Flory invited along any Paddlewisers who might want to make a weekday trip down to the Elkhorn Slough near Monterey, CA. Only his nephew, Sam, and I were able to join him. (Come on Paddlewisers! ) Sam rented an SOT from Monterey Bay Kayaks, as he was a first-timer. I stopped to watch part of the pre-rental training, which they provided even though he was going along with experienced people. I missed seeing whether they offered him a paddlefloat. They provided a map and instructions on where to go, and gave an accurate caution about the weather (winds 15 - 30 kt forecast for the afternoon) and encouraged him to head back if the wind began to grow. The only missing element was water -- Sam left without any. Water was extremely calm as we headed into the Slough. We paused to watch a helicopter crane putting a new center channel marker into place. The sea lions and otters were present in good numbers. The seals and sea lions had lots of pups present. Pelicans, a few types of egrets and other birds in good numbers came around for us to look at. I guided us into a wrong turn into a side passage which was to the limit of what my 17ft 'yak could manage. We headed back out into the main passage. Only one other kayak was out, an inflatable. No fishing boats at all. After a leisurely break we headed back. Dave took a shot at guiding us into another side passage, and finding falling water and very shallow conditions we again headed for the main slough. The wind began to pick up slightly and at 5 - 9 kt wasn't a problem but did slow us a bit (especially Sam, the first timer). As we turned west for the final 2 miles the wind really picked up, with plentiful whitecaps. We stayed near shore or in the lee of whatever cover we could find but it wasn't much. The headwind hit around 15-18kt in this area: Enough to produce waves that ran up over my fore deck and burst against my compass, showering me each time. Dave guessed wind might have peaked at 20kt. The normally mellow slough produces a lot of complex wave action when the wind exceeds 15 kt; not ideal beginner conditions. Our new guy was a trooper through this; I thought I would need to tow him in but he kept going, albeit rather slowly in the strong wind. The wind eased for a few minutes in the last half mile. The slough has a narrows under a highway bridge, and with the water flowing out and the wind gusting in, it can get bumpy, but for us it was easier than expected. On the final stretch, the helicopter was gone, but a workboat was laying pipe across the harbor so we had to go well around him out into the traffic lane. I think Sam was ready to kiss the sand at the beach. 11 NM, 4 Hrs. It was a nice day overall and it was good to paddle with other people for the day. jerry. *************************************************************************** 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 Thu May 18 2000 - 16:12:36 PDT
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