[Paddlewise] International Friends

Just wanted to let everyone know that I had an extremely pleasant day trip
with a fellow Paddlewiser yesterday.





About 10 days ago, Alex Ferguson from New Zealand, posted a message that he
was coming to the Los Angeles Area and was interested in paddling.





To make a long story short, a friend of mine had organized a paddle from one
of the local harbors to one of the off shore oil drilling platforms and back.
All in all about a 7.5 NM trip.





Thirteen paddlers (members of California Kayak Friends and/or Santa Barbara
Kayak Association)  in  12 boats set out from the harbor at about 9:00 AM.
Alex was paddling a SOT (for the first time) that I loaned him and was
surprised that it wasn't quite as fast as the boat he usually paddles.





Upon arriving at the platform, we noticed some Sea Lions lounging on a mooring
buoy for the tender ship. One of the sea lions had a festering wound around
it's neck from fishing line. We called the Coast Guard on VHF and one of our
group was a veterinarian and he discussed with them and later seal rescue how
badly the seal was injured. My GPS proved valuable because the CG needed the
longitude and latitude of the platform (it is marked on the charts!!).





On the way back to the harbor, the swells were coming from behind and Alex
kept trying to surf them in. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the loaned boat
moving quick enough to catch them. I guess that's what happens when you are
paddling a strange boat. 





As we entered the harbor, a zodiac full of teenagers saw us and opened the
throttle all the way and tried to make a high speed run between each of the
kayaks. The idiot driving was laughing and the girls on board were all
screaming. Our veterinarian in the group also happens to be a retired deputy
sheriff. He placed a call on the VHF to the Ventura County Sheriff and one of
their boats met us.





After we got off the water, we all went to a local sandwich shop and while we
were eating, watched the zodiac, VERY SLOWLY return to the harbor. Mission
accomplished. 





We then sat and talked with Alex for several hours about his trips in New
Zealand and ours in Calif.





All in all it was a great day. Now I can't wait to go to NZ and borrow one of
Alex's boats. 





Steve Holtzman





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