[Paddlewise] Day #38, BAR Newbie

4/28/08

Although we were both still rather parched from our day of yaking and
gabbing at the Fest, Craig and I planned a short paddle to BAR for the early
afternoon. No more having to settle for viewings from Google Earth! But for
the morning we had time to go look for a copy of Adventure Kayaking, Big Sur
to San Diego that Craig wanted after seeing my coffee table copy. I thought
Southwind would be a good place to find one, but they had just sold their
last one, so he had to settle for the northern version of the series. All
was not lost though as we checked out all the boats and found out that
Harold is a secret Paddlewise lurker and had heard of Craig. They were able
to talk shop while I wondered a bit more through the store. Of course, I had
to show off my picture of Big Arch Rock that adorns the bulletin board by
the checkout stand!

Next we headed to REI to check for the book and while there looked at the
boats hoping to find the new Necky Looksha 14, which Craig heard was a bit
like a coaster. We had seen one listed on the REI website, but none had made
it to the showroom floor. Craig bought his book and we headed for lunch at
my favorite burger joint.

Finally we hit the water and although it was a bit cooler than Sunday, the
heat still slowed us down. The harbor was more quite than usual and it took
a while before we could find even one sea lion floating around the bait
barge. I pointed out my usual play spots in the harbor, like Pirate's Cove,
which may not live up to the hype I give them in my writing. Caveat emptor!
We hit the open water and Craig was a bit surprised by the derelict fleet of
boats moored in the bay. We paddled in and across the kelp close to shore
with BAR in the immediate future. Past Little Arch Rock, we could see a
large group of teenagers mingling on top of BAR, so we figured we might be
in for some cliff diving, but none of them summoned the courage to take the
leap while we were in the area. I went back in for a look see, but even
though we tried to go out near high tide, there wasn't enough room for any
fun in the cove. Craig spent some time outside hoping to see the remnants of
our gray whale migrators with no luck.

We headed back into the harbor with little wind to cool us down. With
Craig's interest in Mother Shipping, we paddled by some of the moored boats
to figure out which best suited such an activity. There was still enough
water between the two islands to let us paddle through and then we headed
back to The Secret Beach. With his bad leg, Craig was glad to have the dock
to exit from his boat and once out, shot his boat to me on shore so I could
take the Express out for a spin. Like the Coaster, this boat has a 15 inch
wide cockpit, but unlike his Coaster, it has the Mariner sliding seat. I
liked the rigid, built-in back support, but because the seat goes straight
down from the cockpit rim, I had less room for my hips to expand once
passing the cockpit bottle neck. It was a tight fit, but I still had a great
time paddling the boat. Initial stability seemed a bit low, but I quickly
gained confidence in the secondary sort and could quickly spin the boat
around on edge. The boat came to speed quickly and I could tell it had more
speed than the Coaster. I felt like it would be great fun out in conditions
and my one roll attempt came up just about as well as I did in the Coaster
and a lot better than I do in my old boat. I guess I'm just going to have to
keep my eyes peeled for Mariner looking for a new home!

We headed home and after an ice cold Coke to quench our thirst, Craig loaded
up his car and headed home for Moses Lake. It was nice to finally put a face
to a name of someone from Paddlewise and I hope to someday make a journey to
the Great Northwest to meet more Paddlewiser and ply some new waters. I hope
Craig enjoyed checking out my home waters and meeting some of us city
paddlers and it was great to have him at the Fest.

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