Read, Vickie, and I launched at the Sheriff Station/Coast Guard Beach on Bayside Dr. in Newport beach today at about 10:00AM. Vickie was in her Avocet, Read paddled my Sirocco, and I was in his Express. The agenda was mostly just coastal cruising, but also some light surfing as opportunity arose to test the boat. I was hoping the wind would come up so I could see how the boat handled it. We paddled south. The rock gardens in this area were beckoning, but I stayed clear since I didn’t think Read would appreciate it if I damaged his boat. I did get to try a little surfing and the boat handles great. Resists broaching and pearling. When I did start to broach, I felt that I could have successfully resisted it, but I chickened out and let it go. In spite of the fact that my eyesight has degraded significantly, after many years of hunting, my eyes have become attuned to identifying game animals even under difficult or unusual conditions. From ¼ mile away my eyes locked on the unmistakable image of a deer standing on a rocky reef, 100 meters from shore. My brain was struggling to comprehend what my eyes were seeing, but as the distance closed it was clear that there was indeed a deer standing on that rock. Why? As we got closer the reason became clearer. There was a lifeguard truck on shore adjacent the deer, and a man in a wet suit (presumably another life guard) working his way out toward the deer on the reef. Obviously they were trying to “help”, but if there is one thing I have learned through years of hunting it is this: If you chase an animal it will run. Not exactly rocket science, but apparently allusive to those city slicker life guards. As wetsuit-man closed on the deer-boy (he was a young buck), deer-boy predictably jumped in the water and began swimming at a brisk pace, roughly in the direction of San Clemente Island. After a few quick computations which included wind speed and direction, swell height and direction, water temperature, and the phase of the moon, I decided it was best to head deer-boy off at the pass before he tired and drown. Soon Read joined me, and between the two of us we got deer-boy to stop and at least think about turning around. At this point I have to say that herding deer in a kayak is a lot of fun. To my complete surprise, it is even more fun than shooting them. I guess because it lasts longer. Anyway, what made it even more fun was what the lifeguard said over the bullhorn (this is not a joke): “KAYAKERS, COULD YOU PLEASE HERD THAT DEER INTO THE SMALL ROCKY COVE” (and after a many second pause) “BEING CAREFUL NOT TO JEOPARDIZE YOUR OWN SAFETY”. I guess that last part was for liability purposes. Ironic since those same lifeguards have lectured me on the dangers of landing in that rocky area. After some yelling and waiving we finally got those lifeguards to understand that the deer was not going to come in unless they moved to the side – they finally did. Then we herded that critter into the cove. YeHaaaa! Once he entered the surf zone, there wasn’t much left for us to do, but block the way so he wouldn’t come back out. He got window shaded a couple of times, but quickly “rolled” back up. I think he touched bottom during the rolls, but I’m not sure. Generally, he had very good surf zone skills for a deer, but his roll was sloppy as he seemed off balance during recovery. When we paddled away he was standing, panting in 4 inches of water trying to get his wind. Steve Brown *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Mar 14 2003 - 20:00:26 PST
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