Here's an excerpt from a story in one of our local papers I thought Paddlewise might be interested in. Scott So.Cal. Kayakers find their way in the fog September 25, 2000 By DAVE STREGE The Orange County Register The two sea kayakers were in a cocoon of fog. Hearing became as important as seeing, since visibility was measured in yards not miles. They paddled and listened. "We were hoping the ships had their fog horns on," Duane Strosaker said. Strosaker, 36, of Irvine, and Jim Gabriel, 41, of Fontana, were smack dab in the middle of shipping lanes between Gaviota (near Point Conception) and San Miguel Island. Essentially, they were crossing a highway blindfolded. Not only that, during this 26-nautical-mile journey Sunday, the pair picked up an unwanted hitchhiker. Its name was fear. The fog was bad enough. Fear made it worse. They feared the conditions would worsen, that the weather forecast would prove accurate. Strosaker and Gabriel, advanced sea kayakers who have made several channel crossings, were on the first day of an eight-day, channel-crossing, island-hopping adventure. They planned to paddle to San Miguel Island to Santa Rosa Island to Santa Cruz Island to Anacapa Island to Santa Barbara Island to Catalina Island to San Pedro. The first leg from near Point Conception to San Miguel is the most difficult because of unpredictable currents and high winds typical of the area. Winds whip around Point Conception causing rough seas, the reason it is called the Cape Horn of the Pacific. The wind blew so hard Saturday, the pair's tent pole bent. Conditions delayed their start. But Sunday morning was calm, the wind sleeping like a baby. Yet the forecast called for 15- to 20-knot winds and 8-foot swells. They decided to go anyway, deducing the forecast was off. For eight miles it was clear paddling. Then fog seized them and never let go, allowing them to see for only 200 yards. "The fog depressed us," Strosaker said. "Not being able to see the island, our goal, was demoralizing. "I was really scared because we were bucking the weather forecast. I was worried about conditions getting worse." The swells were 8 feet and the wind 10 knots, which was bad enough. Luckily, conditions never worsened and the shipping lanes were without traffic. At 6:45 p.m. Sunday, they saw the island and landed an hour later, the 10-hour paddle, guided by GPS, uneventfully completed. "I haven't heard of anyone else doing it in quite some time," said Doug Schwartz of Southwind Kayak Center in Irvine said of that route to San Miguel. "Many people go from Oxnard to Anacapa; that's not commonly done, but it's not unusual." Next, the pair paddled to Santa Rosa Island on Monday and to Santa Cruz Island on Tuesday before deciding to forego Santa Barbara and Catalina islands. Wednesday, they paddled to Anacapa and on to Oxnard, completing a 90-nautical-mile trip, one cut short by 71 nautical miles. "We bit off more than we could chew," Strosaker said. "We were fatigued. "As far as I know, only a handful of people have done this and most of them had an escort boat. We were very happy with our accomplishment and have no regrets about dropping the Santa Barbara portion. It was fun but pretty grueling." Next year, they might try it again, preferably in clearer and calmer conditions. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:17 PDT