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 *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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