[Paddlewise] Corpus Christi Surf Fest 2003 trip report

Surf Fest 2003 Labor Day Weekend Event Report

In short.short but sweet! Our 4 day Surf Fest lasted only one day thanks
to the Tropical Storm Grace warnings. Had great Friday night and
Saturday, and then came Tropical Storm warnings out of nowhere.first
forecast to land at Port OConner Sunday evening with over 40 mph winds
and over 9 foot waves. By early Sunday morning it had changed to faster,
closer and stronger.early Sunday afternoon at Port Aransas. So I called
down to the beach to cancel the event for Sunday and Monday.only to find
that everyone camping on the beach (on Padre Island just south of Bob
Hall Pier) had gotten washed out from the pre-storm surge and high tides.
Most went home, but a couple went to motels, and one unlucky fellow who
had his truck and kayak impounded (due to a supposed unpaid parking bill
which he maintained was an error) was forced to move his tent up to the
state park parking lot away from the rising water. And as things turned
out (hindsight is so much better than foresight) the storm came in much
further north closer to Galveston and Sunday turned out to be a beautiful
sunny paddle day here with mild winds. Only problem was the high water
that flooded out the area where we were holding the kayak demo and
instruction (Packery Channel) so there would not have been any place to
park.

AnywaySaturday was a blast, thanks for Mark White from Austin Outdoor
Gear & Guidance, and Rafael Mier Maza from Mexico, who brought lots of
new kayaks for us to try out.  There was lots of drool over many of the
kayaks being demod. That morning the group enjoyed guided trips to
the Dunes and Shamrock Cove, followed by an impressive rolling
contest at Packery Channel that noon to see who could do the most
different rolls. Mark White was the winner with 11, closely followed
by Steve Walls with 10, Chris Kuhlman with 9, Juan Luis Del Valle
with 8, and Mark Arnold with 3. Later had some good roll instruction
by Mark White.  Several had a great time surfing in the waves at
the beach. For dinner the group had a great pot luck spread on the
beach that night just before becoming inundated by the waves and tide You
can see pictures of all this by looking for the newest album entitled
Surf Fest 2003 at http://community.webshots.com/user/johnsonkw1

Sunday morning my phone rang off the hook with newspaper journalists,
photographers, and intrepid paddlers who wanted to know where we were
(Friday and Saturday papers had good articles with pictures and schedules
of events). I was feeling very guilty about having canceled due to the
storm that didnt really arrive. Mark Arnold went down and found some
stray paddlers who wanted to do a trip and he guided them around some of
the neat areas that are normally to shallow to paddle. They saw several
large schools of skates, and Gretchen who likewise showed up for the
Lighthouse Trails paddle that is normally very tricky to paddle because
of shallow water, took several paddlers out and they had a great paddle
with some good dolphin encounters. I ended up paddling later that day in
Corpus Christi Bay which was beautiful, and bumped into several paddlers
who had left the coast, stayed in a motel, and were on their way up to
Canyon Lake to paddle.

Here are some interesting play backs from various people who attended:

Winnie:

I had a great time with the kayak group. Went on two paddles where I had
not been before. At the hottest time of day there was shade set up at the
packery channel and we all sat and talked there and I tried several of
the demonstration kayaks plus a couple that individuals were trying to
sell. I really liked the Slipstream kayak which is made in Canada, it
handled nice and I could lift and carry it. I am very limited in what
kind of sea kayak I could use in 10 or 15 yrs down the road. The heavy
ones are out for me. British kayaks are really nice but all are made
strong and heavy, I am sure they last a long time and can withstand heavy
weather but I could not load and unload them by myself. All of them are
expensive and a new Slipstream costs $2,600 dollars and the other ones I
like are similarly priced. There is a Mexican engineer designing and
building some cheaper ones and I like them but they weigh in at 55lbs
which is just a bit heavy for me. I had better choose the right one if I
get one. I am enjoying the plastic one and I am not in any hurry. Will
try to go to for sale sites on the web and if I saw a used Slipstream in
good condition for sale I would take a drive even interstate to get it if
the price was right.

The kayak groups are very friendly and nice people. Simple, enjoying
nature and not into money and possessions except I guess for their hobby
stuff. Most of them like boating and hiking like I do. Many of them have
white water kayaks also and go down river rapids in them but I am not
going to get into that aspect at all. Real kayak enthusiasts have 5 or 6
different kayaks but I only plan to have 2. The yellow plastic sit-on-top
for fishing, rivers and surf and places that have shallow water with
shell like barnacles and oysters. I would like to get a good sea kayak
too. they are long and narrow and cut through the water much better than
my sit upon for long paddles. I am a strong paddler so I could keep up in
mine on the paddles yesterday but I doubt I could keep up and paddle all
day with a group in sea kayaks. Yesterday I was the only one not in a sea
kayak doing the 4 hr paddle to Shamrock Island and the flats. I will take
Shirley on that paddle one day when it is not windy. Our kayaks are the
same and we paddle at the same speed, neither of us are in any hurry.

Today there are small craft warnings. I drove out to Bob Hall Pier but
did not see any of the group. The tropical storm is in the gulf and
expected to make landfall at 9pm today just north of us. The waterline is
way high and I am wondering how the campers on the beach did last night
and if they could drive up the beach okay this morning to get out onto
the road that goes to Bob Hall Pier. They all camped way down the beach
at the 250 marker. When I did not see anyone I came home and unloaded my
car and took it to the carwash for a pressure wash to remove any salt and
sand. I doubt anyone will be meeting at Sea Island Italian tonight for
the planned farewell dinner. I think everyone who came really enjoyed the
activities yesterday. Nature has cut the weekend short for all boaters.
They are forecasting thundershowers for the next 3 days.

Chris:

Marilyn and I both packed up and drove home. I got back to Seabrook about
3am. I hit a hard rain near my home and found out we have had almost 7
inches here in Seabrook. Today, Sunday, has been a nice day for washing
down the sand from all my camping gear, but I was thinking it might not
have been so bad in Corpus and I should have stayed. Don't feel bad about
the weather, I feel like I got plenty of paddling in and enjoyed the
trips and dinner - social time.

Marilyn:

Chris and I came home after looking at the difference in the height of
the tide. I think everyone left except the Cocoons. Great plans - and fun
first day. Now we need to find someone who can take care of the
hurricanes. I think the good news is that we mostly all left before
actually getting flooded out. The only guys left were the Cocoons. Hope
they were O.K. They assured me they understood the danger and would leave
in time.

Ellen:

It was great to meet you all for our first Surf Fest. Really enjoyed the
chance to demo boats and the great guided paddle Sat. afternoon out to
Shamrock Island. Delicious pot luck too! We were still camped on the
beach Sat. night/Sun. morning at 3am when the water started lapping at
our car tires and tent. We jumped out of the tent, warned a few others
still on the beach, ripped everything up, through it all in the car just
as the police came by to warn us, and hightailed it out of there. Images
of our car serving as the base of a new sand dune still haunt me. Spent
the next hr looking for a motel to ensure a good sleep. So we missed the
group of you that went out for a paddle Sun. morning. But caught up with
others (Kathy and Kevin) Sun. afternoon and had a great afternoon of
surfing, though a bit rough. Packery Channel was back down by then but no
one around. Monday morning was another fantastic couple hours of surfing
with just 4 of us left. Warm water, cloudy sky so no sun, and nice waves.
Then an amazing 1.5 hrs stuck in traffic to get off of Mustang Island!


Chip & Donna:

I cant express my gratitude any better than Chris did. Although new to
the sport I very much enjoyed myself on Saturday. I can readily see, too,
where you and Marilyn had invested a considerable amount of your time in
facilitating this event. The threat of storm notwithstanding it was all
worth it. Thanks

Gretchen:

planned a fantastic and very appreciated event. You sure can not control
Mother Nature though. I have worked my butt of for many bicycle events
that nature took south. Just part of the risk in the game I guess. I
missed the Sunday morning planning session and showed up at Lighthouse
Trails at 4. Another couple that showed up due to the article in the
paper (great article by the way!), and we had a very nice paddle. Event
had a dolphin escort on the way back - can't ask for better that! Thanks
so much for all your hard work.

Donna:

I would just like to take a moment to thank you for your efforts and hard
work involved in hosting last weekend's events. We had a great time, and
even though this trip was cut short, we look forward to coming back for
more fun on future trips!

Jean:

Thanks for posting the photos, & thanks for guiding the trip to the
dunes. It was a great pleasure to meet you & I hope I'll have the
opportunity to paddle w/ you some time when the weather's cooler, more
birds are out, & there aren't any approaching tropical storms.

Rafael:

The Mexican gang wants to thank Marilyn Kircus and Ken Johnson. We had a
great time and we think it is worth it the long trip from Queretaro and
San Luis Potosi. Marilyn. You were such a good organizer and managed to
warm up the event with previous planning, web page, notes in e-mail
lists, etc. Ken. You did an extraordinary work in scheduling events,
trying to satisfy all tastes and paddling abilities. You are as usual an
excellent host and we had a great time at your place. We learned a lot
and you can count on us on any future event to attend with growing
numbers of Mexican kayakers that will be more skilled thanks to the
exposure they get in events like this. Partly we owe to you two what we
have learned in kayaking and the relationships and friendships that we
have acquired. I hope we get to be worthy of it some time. Please, keep
doing this events, and as a retaliation I would like to organize one
event in a town in Mexico, say Tampico or Veracruz and invite you all for
a Mexican kayaking party. Just suggest date and place and well try to
organize some nice, free, event. We were so impressed also with the
quality of the kayakers attending, and their skills and unpretentious
knowledge. What a strong motivation to keep up improving.

Kathy:

Sunday was a beautiful day, Monday we had the beach to ourselves. Kevin
and I left the camping beach in our truck camper about 9:45pm Sat after
being told that most others were doing the same. We decided to try
Mustang Island State Park (with campsites on the back side of the dunes)
and got there as the ranger was closing the gate, but were allowed to
park in the day use parking lot overnight, which is on the back side of
the dunes. We were allowed to stay Sun night as well. Folks camping on
the Mustang Island beach were roused at 2:00am Sat night/Sun morn to move
to a spot on the back side of the dunes. They were also allowed to camp
in the day use area Sun night. As far as the rest of the weekend went,
the weather was GREAT! We found a few other folks looking for kayakers on
Sun. Christy Long, Linda Day, Gay Culbertson, and Ellen Prediger & Demir
all showed up and surfed on Sun. Some of those waves were BIG, although a
little disorganized and we all had a lot of fun. The 4 of us surfing Mon
had the beach to ourselves on a wonderfully overcast day. The waves were
very nice in the morning, big and in sets, but got a little disorganized
toward noon. We only saw a few sprinkles, no real rain and no lightning.
It was a great weekend. Thanks for organizing it Marilyn and Ken.

Fred:

As a non-kayaker, I want to say I enjoyed the kayak fest anyway. I
learned a lot about the sport. Looking at the kayaks and watching the
rolls at Packery Channel was really interesting.


 


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