[Paddlewise] Day #35, Chewing up the Scenery

4/19/08

In keeping with my desire to get in some extra miles, I hit the water at 9am
today. The sky was gray and threatening and I fought a stiff head wind out
of the harbor. Although I had my ONNO today, I tried to concentrate on my
foot and knee placement that Duane had talked about at his GP clinic. As
always seems the case at the start of a paddle, my posture was good and I
made good time while concentrating on good rotation(well, come on, as good a
rotation as someone my size ever gets!)

My XMAS GPS saw its first duty today as I hoped to keep track of the day.
Abalone Point was in the back of my mind as a decent destination considering
my sloth of late and I was glad to see it showing so clear in the distance
as I exited the jetty. It was a rather chilly day with the wind and a couple
contradictory swells making their way through. I remembered back in the day
when just getting out of the harbor would call for two or three rest stops,
but it's been a couple years since I've denied myself a break till I hit the
ocean. Today I didn't stop till I hit BAR and settled alongside the churning
water for a quick swig.

Continuing on, I came along side Crystal Cove and became aware of a small
tingle in the middle of my upper back. That's often where I start to feel my
mileage and I doubt if it's a sign of proper technique, but I ignored it and
paddled on. Now I'll admit I like to cut corners, which is why we had to
decide that for a true paddle to Crystal Cove, you have to be straight off
the Green House. For Abalone Point, I like to think you've made your
destination when you come to the first part of the cliffs past El Moro
beach, but I'm sure others would argue that "point"! Once at AP, I was
feeling adventurous and decided to head for one of the coves closer to
Laguna. I hoped to land and rest and snack before my trip home.

Crescent Bay was rather rough and the proceeding coves not much better.
There was often a lull, but it was hard to judge with two significant swell
coming from different directions to cause a bit of shore break. With my long
paddle home, I just didn't want to get soaked. I made a note to carry a dry
bag and extra shirt and towel to remedy that situation next time. All by my
lonesome, I gave up my hope of a nap on the beach, figuring with no sun out,
I'd just be cold anyway! Starting home, I thought of taking the inside
passage at Seal Rock, but hesitated not knowing the reef real well there.
Then a large set of waves came it to dissuade me for good and I hurried out
into calmer water. As I neared AP again, a bit of blue sky appeared and I
saw my first shadows on the day.

A bit past AP, I met up with the ubiquitous Chuck Freedman and his friend
John returning from their paddle. We paddled along together for a while, but
I was sad that Chuck no longer had his hitchhiker from the other day. Even
so, we were treated to an appearance from some sort of small whale who
popped up not too far ahead of us. It came up to spout a few times, but gave
us no spectacular views. After a while I left C&J to try a landing at
Crystal Cove. I still hadn't eaten any of my munchies and the shore was
calling. But after watching the shore break a while, I decided against a
landing. While I sat a bit off shore, a swimmer came by and told me he was
training for a triathlon and asked if I had any advice for his swim! I told
him to head north so the tide would help him home and that he was probably
out far enough to not have to worry about waves breaking on him. He said
thanks and I turned to head off and of course a big ol' wave decided to come
crash right on our location! I hightailed it out to meet it and was greeted
with a full soaking. I looked back to make sure my swimmer was still alive
and headed on.

I continued to head home using the inside passage. Regularly I'd have to
spin my log of a boat out to meet the cresting waves coming in. The tide was
getting low and showing off all the reefs that dot the shore on this stretch
of water. I had more close calls, but finally made it to Toxic Creek Beach
and headed in to see if I could have some fun in the breakers. As I paddled
over some of the big waves, I saw Chuck and John out side joined by a whale
watching boat and got to see one more spouting on the day. They headed off
and I took another break farther off BAR to finally get to my munchies.

When I hit the jetty, my GPS had me at _at_14 miles. I still felt
good-especially my feet often a concern of mine-and decided to do a bit of a
harbor paddle to pad my miles. Once past the Pavilion, it didn't seem all
that much to throw in a paddle around Lido Isle, so I went for that too. I
had hoped that would actually put me close to 20 miles on the day, not too
shabby. I came around the back side of Balboa with my GPS registering 20.1.
The only problem was it was set to statute miles. I knew if I bragged about
doing 20 statute miles, people would just snicker and berate me, so I
figured I'd convert it over and finish off in NM. I wasn't too happy when
the conversion showed I had almost another three miles to go!!! But I was in
it for the long haul and once again started off against the stiff head wind
to make my way out of the harbor. This little set back had a rather nasty
impact on my demeanor and I gritted my teeth and decided a trip around the
channel buoy would do the trick. I was a long slog and I found the buoy
standing room only for the seals. The biggest guy with the best seat in the
house wasn't too happy with my close pass by, but I was too tired to go out
any farther. The paddle back to the beach was uneventful except for an
obliging wave that lifted my spirits giving my a nice ride a bit of the way
down the harbor.

It was painful getting out of the boat, but I managed to get the boat
cleaned off and up on the car. After 6+ hours and 20.5 NAUTICAL miles, I was
done for the day, tied with my longest paddle to date. I'm glad it's over.

Mark Sanders
www.sandmarks.net
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