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/ ***************************************************************************
Re. Jerry's Elkhorn report, not much to add. I christened my new Werner San Juan Graphite and really liked it. It's a little more than half the weight of my first paddle and more area in the blade. I felt I got more drive from it with with slower paddle travel and it was possible to make good progress paddling at a very relaxed rate. At maximum effort I was making quite a bow wave with my short wide Cobra Explorer. Both Jerry and I need to do some exploring of the side paths with our GPS's to pin down the locations of the ones that connect back with main slough. The side ways are almost all completely dry at low tide and it's not wise to explore on anything except a rising tide. They get real narrow and a long boat can't turn around at all. Both Sam and Jerry ended up with mud on their bows and sterns from going into the mazes. During the worst of the wind, it was instant stop and go backwards when you stopped paddling. I wouldn't care to paddle into anything stronger, ever. Occasionally you would feel the wind catch under the up paddle blade with really noticeable force. (I was doing a 60 deg. feather.) If it had been my first time I'd have been _damn_ nervous. If I was in the bay and it was an offshore wind, I'd be scared. In the powerful afternoon wind it would have been really nice to be able to go down the channel on the N. side of the slough which spans from the seal pullout, almost to the highway bridge. it has moderately high banks and would have made much easier going protected from the wind. Because of the seals all over the place at the top end of it, I've never gone in there. I don't like to disturb them and one would have to pass within about 15 feet of where most of them lie on the bank to get into the top end of the canal like channel. I'll probably being doing the slough on the last day of this month, Wednesday, 5/41 putting in at MBK at 9AM or so if anyone wants to join me. There's a 6 foot tidal change current to help going in and a 3 foot one coming out in the after noon. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. daflory_at_pacbell.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speak softly and study Aikido, then you won't need a big stick. ©2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
At 05:04 PM 5/18/00 -0700, Dave Flory wrote: >Both Jerry and I need to do some exploring of the side paths with our >GPS's to pin down the locations of the ones that connect back with main >slough. The side ways are almost all completely dry at low tide and it's >not wise to explore on anything except a rising tide. They get real >narrow and a long boat can't turn around at all. Both Sam and Jerry ended >up with mud on their bows and sterns from going into the mazes. I've canoe fished in Elkhorn slough a few times, launching from Kirby Park. Farther up, those side paths don't go back very far but are still influenced by the tides. During high tides a lot of leopard sharks, bat rays, and guitarfish go up into the side paths and then hang out in the shallow water as the tide goes out. We've spooked a lot of fish going up during low tide and they can make quite a ruckus when they frantically swim back toward deeper water. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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