[Paddlewise] Day # 8, Crazy Man Calling

1/24/08

When I called Ken to see if he wanted to go out today, Barb announced me as
"Crazy Mark". Perhaps because it had poured rain all night and most of the
morning, but really I was hoping Ken would say "no" so I could get some work
done around the house. No such luck.

It had actually become a nice day at my house. The sun was out; the wind had
died down and the clouds were off on the horizon. It seemed like it might be
nice on the water. Well, if I was crazy, turns out Barb is a bit loony too,
as she showed up with Ken for the paddle. Turns out we were all wrong, as
conditions in the harbor were almost the same as yesterday. A stiff wind
tunneled straight down the jetty kicking up waves and the gray clouds only
occasionally let through some warm rays of the sun.

Barb was all for paddling just in the harbor, but Ken told her it was my
paddle and I had said I wanted to at least stick my nose out to take a
looksee past the jetty. As we made our way out, a slim, two masted sailboat
was ahead of us and we could tell conditions were a bit rough as the boat
yawed steeply up and down as it met the outer swells. It is strange how
benign conditions can look from the harbor until you get out in them. We
must have made it out in a bit of a lull, but we were soon battling the
large confused swells that like to hang out at the harbor entrance. We just
hung out about 15 minutes working in the swells and then tried to get turned
around in one piece to get back in the harbor. Once back in, we talked about
the best way to handle a rescue in those conditions and decided it's best to
have a roll.

We decided to finish off with a harbor paddle and we stayed close to the sea
wall to avoid the wind. We talked of the lure of the scent of waffle cones
as we drive home through the main street of Balboa Island. We passed the
ferry and head to the other side of the island for the trip back to the
beach for more protection from the wind. We managed to combine some
challenging surf time with a nice harbor paddle and despite the rain that
fell as we loaded up, had another nice day on the water.

Mark
www.sandmarks.net
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