[Paddlewise] Day #13, TAP Dance

2/14/07

The folks predicting global catastrophe in our future said a high pressure
system would bring sun and warm weather here today. Imagine my surprise to
find rain, wind and gray skies. Very inconvenient Al Gore!

I can only surmise it was due to this being my 13th day on the water, but I
didn't let triskadecaphobia ruin my Thursday Afternoon Paddle. I was joined
on the water by the better half of Ken & Barb. Ken stayed ashore to walk the
islands while his bones heal. Barb and I set off to stick our noses out of
the harbor to see what was up.

The water was just about flat as could be, but a swirling wind had us
wondering its true direction. The flags about seemed pointed in different
directions than the intermittent head wind we seemed to face. We were lucky
to at least have pockets of clear sky and another beautiful day to paddle
in.

Chuck Fowler had hoped to join us today, but got hung up at home. Imagine
our surprise as we paddled out the channel to see a kayaker heading in. None
other than Chuck F., but this one was Chuck Freedman back from a paddle to
Abalone Point. He warned us about a tricky off shore wind blowing outside
the harbor, which started Barb worrying a bit. Still, we stuck our nose out
just to see the pretty view of the coast and turned back in to tour the
harbor.

Newport Harbor really is a nice place to paddle and the wind and light rain
had scrubbed the sky clean to make the whole are look like a Norman Rockwell
cover. We paddled under the docks dodging pylings to try to block the wind.
At one point, Barb zigged when she shoulda zagged--her new nickname?
Barnacle Barb! We paddled on towards the Pavilion and it got so warm I had
to roll to cool off. We talked and paddled and past the ferry headed for the
round about around Balboa Island. We snuck under the low hanging bridge and
too soon seem headed back to our launch site.

Back at the secret beach, I decided to try one more roll, but my lack of
practice caught up to me. I almost came up on the first try, but ended up
swimming after the third. Barb was there to give me a bow, but I felt like
cooling off anyway as the sun had come up for good. Another TAP in the
books, we headed for Starbucks for the aprhs paddle recap.

Mark Sanders
www.sandmarks.net
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