3/2/08 Lugged myself out of bed in time this morning to join Duane's first Sunday paddle in a long time. When I pulled in to the beach at Dana Point, Henry and Kathy were already there talking with George M. We all had our boats down by the water by the time Duane strolled in. Treasure Island was the destination, although H&K had other engagements on the day and could only go about half way. Compared to yesterday's miserable weather, we had it pretty nice. The sun was out and the sky was clear and once out of the harbor, Abalone Point was quite clear in the distance. I was a bit worried we might get too warm, but the breeze kept us comfortable all day. The sea was mild which let everyone paddle close together and gab while keeping a leisurely pace. It seemed too early when H&K decided to turn around. On my rolling practice yesterday, I tweaked a chest muscle, so today I decided to only use my GP. I figured with Henry still recovering a bit from his shoulder troubles, the pace wouldn't get too high. Trying to eliminate clutter and simplify my paddling style, I left my Onno in the car. We fell into a good rhythm and soon were closing in on TI. There to greet us was Dave O. who had left early to get in some extra miles and join us on our way back. On our landing at TI, I was able to provide the only drama on the day. This was my first time landing at TI and despite George's warning earlier that things could get tricky, I just plowed right in. Those who have paddled with me know I often utilize a modified wet exit on beach landings where I just sort of roll out of my boat on shore and get all wet and sandy. I'd timed a wave just right to leave me on the beach, but found the shore to be a bit steeper than I expected. So when I rolled out, my boat and I got sucked back into the water. I was floundering about in the rocky shore, no worse than most of the indignities I have to endure, but my real worry was the new VHF radio I had stored in my snack bag in my cockpit. Sure enough, it got sucked out along with all its contents and now my radio was at the bottom of the rather shallow sea. George had a dive mask with him and lent it to me, but the search didn't go well. The water was so cold I could barely stay under to look and the receding waves would suck me past the area I was searching in. I had to hold on the copious sea weeds to keep my place. But the water was too roiled with sand and the rocks and sea weeds to plentiful to see anything and I soon gave up hope. But ladies and gentleman, Poseidon smiled on me today and George saw the radio spinning about in the shallow sand. It became a mad electronic grunion hunt as he grabbed for it in the fast moving water. George really saved my bacon on this trip. The guys were nice enough to give me a bit more time to recover from my ordeal. We talked about every paddle always having some excitement, but I said that was most true about landings. Always seems to me there is always something to be learned in even the easies surf launches or landings and I usually always enjoy them! Soon we were heading off and the same conditions that gave me trouble on landing sucked my right out for an easy launch. Now Dave is usually out ahead setting the pace, but today he was chatting it up with George, so Duane and I had the lead. I was soaked, but despite the cooling conditions felt warm under our steady pace. I learned something else today though--an unfinished Greenland paddle can get hard on your skin during a 13 mile paddle. I had 5 blisters on my hands that soon lost all there skin to become gaping open wounds. I figure by the time we made it back, my hands would be bloody stumps. Not something I thought of when I decided to leave the Onno in the car. Finally Dave had had it with our lollygagging and took the lead to get us home. Even he had to rest a bit to catch his breath as we turned into the harbor, but then he had quite a few more miles in than we. My fingers held up during the slow paddle back to the beach. We loaded up and then chatted a bit and then everyone went home to get ready for the next paddle. 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/ ***************************************************************************
Hey Mark, Glad you got your radio back. I'd like to suggest that you put it in a dry bag and tether that to your PFD, or if you feel lucky and it is a submersible model, put it in your PFD pocket - again tethered. As far as the blisters and the GP, try holding the paddle LOOSELY between your thumb and index finger with the rest of your fingers laying loosely on the edge of the blade. Push with the palm of the opposite hand while you pull easily with your thumb and index finger. Torso rotation also helps quite a bit. Then get busy and sand your paddle smooth - the water raises the grain and oil the hell out of it. Steve *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:48 PDT