[Paddlewise] Carpinteria, the World's Safest Beach-----HA!

Thirteen of us met at Carpinteria City Beach this morning with paddlers from
Santa Barbara County in the North, LA County in the South, and the UK to the
East. We were joined by a very nice young woman, Alice Courvoisier. Although
she is French, she works in the UK and is here to do some work at UCSB on
solar physics. I think our rocket scientist Patrick, was the only one who
understands what she is doing.

 

Several of the group were new to surf launches and landings after having
taken one class on how to do it. I figured it was going to be an interesting
day. Little did I know.

 

The launch started off quite well until Robert went over but managed to
roll, pry, and push his way back up. Shortly after, I launched as Patrick
and Mike were joking about pushing me into the largest set of the day. They
pretty well succeeded and as Dumpy tried for a 4th time to push me over, he
succeeded. This is the first time that my glasses were actually pulled off
of my head in the water, but fortunately my Chums float passed its test and
I got my sun glasses back. Meanwhile, Alice donated her water bottle to
Dumpy, Richard did the same, and Peter got knocked over but managed to roll
up.

 

Soon we were joined by Jill who paddled in from the State Beach. She was in
a short 8 or 10 foot boat and we all thought she'd have trouble keeping up
with all of the 16-18 foot boats the rest of us were in.  Not to worry
though, she stayed with us the whole day.

 

We saw a couple of dolphin as we waited for everyone to get on the water and
it was soon time to land at Lookout Park. Peter and Mike went in first and
the first two paddlers after them promptly went swimming instead of coming
in. Then another went in. At this point Alice was the only woman who
successfully landed.

 

After a short break Charlotte and her friend, whose name escapes me at the
moment, decided to leave early.

 

When the rest of us launched, Win somehow went without his paddle. Patrick
looked down and saw - then threw it to Win while saying "I think you're
going to need this. Win was now surfing backwards and starting to broach. He
grabbed the paddle as it landed on his deck and quickly threw out a brace
and then paddled out. He gets the "Cool Award" for the day. 

 

Paddling back was easy, we had the wind and swell to our backs and the only
problem was the heat. Several of us rolled to cool off I asked Chris to spot
me while I rolled and he said "no, you don't need a spotter". With that kind
of incentive, I quickly came up.

 

When we got back to Carpinteria City Beach, it was crowded and sure enough
there were kids all over the place. I stopped going in first, and Mike said
he was clear so he'd do it. Then he went over and rolled up, then he went
over and wet exited.  Next was Patrick and he went over and wet exited.He
claims he did that to avoid a kid, but one never knows.

 

I came in and had a great side surf into the beach - Then Alice came in and
did exactly the same. Carol was next to swim and Chris became the lifeguard
of the day as he raced into the water to get her upright. I understand that
Carol's bicycle club nickname is Crash Carol. We've decided that should also
be her CKF nickname.

 

Win's boat came in like a battleship and everybody else seemed to make it in
without incident.

 

Over burritos, beers, and chips at the Mexican restaurant, we all decided it
was a great day and that we should do it again.

 

My thanks to my fellow Old Farts for helping on the beach for all of the
launches and landings. Peter, Chris, Patrick, and Mike - you guys really
helped me keep this a safe paddle.

 

As for Carpinteria City Beach being the safest beach in the world, all I can
say is HA!

 

Steve Holtzman
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