[Paddlewise] Trip Report or do we really need tow belts?

Six of us set out from Kiddie Beach at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, CA
for a leisurely paddle to Oil Platform Gina about 3 1/4 NM each way ( for
you land lubbers thats about 3 > statute miles each way. The paddlers were
Peter, Chris, Robert, Patrick, Bev, and me.



Since I didnt paddle last weekend, I knew Id be forgetting something. Of
course, when I got to Oxnard, it was cold  and I found I had forgotten a
paddling jacket. Chris loaned me one that he thought would fit, but I opted
to put on a wet suit and kept it in the day hatch.



Right after we launched, Chris asked if I had a tow belt and I replied,
yes., but I forgot to put it on and its still in the car. When I asked
Chris if he had one, we found he too had left his in his car. A quick check
of everybody found that both Peter and Patrick had theirs but Patrick
offered to go put his in the car since if Chris and I didnt have one that
meant hed be towing if there were any problems.



We pushed on and Bev was maintaining a nice steady 3.5 knot pace in her new
Capella. Chris, Patrick, and I were maintaining a little over 4 so we
periodically would stop and wait for Bev to catch up. She was being closely
watched by Peter and Robert. When we got to Gina, Bev decided to practice
some solo re-entries and thats when things started to go south. While she
was in the water swimming, she started to get sea sick. After we helped her
back into her boat, it got worse, but she wanted to paddle herself. I didnt
hear her say it was too far to be towed. If I had, we would have started
towing sooner.



Of course Bev didnt know that the last time Patrick was a tower, it was for
9 miles.



We started back at a relatively slow pace and we watched Bev getting
progressively worse. Finally just when I was about to ask Peter to clip on
and start towing her, she said to his question that she was ready to be
towed. Her sea sickness kept getting worse as we hooked on tow lines and we
decided that a rafted tow would be necessary in order for her to remain
upright.  At this point we were still probably about 2 = NM off shore.



Peter clipped on and I rafted up to Bev and used a contact tow clip to help
hold our two boats together. Off we went.  After about a mile we decided to
switch off (Peter noticed that the heaviest person in the group (me) with
the heaviest boat (Nigel Foster Shadow) was the one rafted up. Patrick took
over the tow, and Chris went in as the raft. After another mile, we switched
Patrick out and Chris took over the tow until we landed. Of course we had to
have Patrick take off his tow belt and hand it to Chris because neither he
nor I had ours with us.



We carried Bevs boat to the car for her and she quickly recovered once on
dry land. It was difficult to convince her that almost all of us have had
some degree of sea sickness while on the water. She couldnt  believe how
she pretty much lost the ability to do anything besides sit there. Having
paddled with another club member who used to get sick almost every weekend,
and a wife who gets sea sick just looking at her kayak, Ive seen it before.



Fortunately, we had enough tow belts for the group and we practice with them
frequently.



Forgetting tow belts is rather unusual for both Chris and me because we both
usually carry them all of the time, even if we are paddling solo. They make
great boat leashes and can be used to help land yourself onto a rock jetty
without destroying your boat.



Biggest lesson learned yesterday, was to make sure your paddling partner has
a tow set up before you leave the beach.



Steve Holtzman
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