[Paddlewise] Day #67, Concentration

8/7/08

I guess I've lost my short term memory. Didn't I say no more long paddles
after my Catalina trip? And the Santa Barbara trek? I know I said it after
last weeks Dana Point to Oceanside 23+NM paddle extravaganza. But here I was
leaving my house this morning at 5am to pick up Ken to join the Rogue Otters
for their paddle from Oceanside to La Jolla. Perhaps conventional otters are
good with math, but the Rogue Otters seem to make up numbers willy nilly to
suit there needs and so told me this paddle would be shorter than the last
one. Of course you've got to have pity on poor Ken, after two weeks in
Switzerland, when I told him we'd be doing 20+ miles, he thought I said
kilometers!!!

I begged the ROs to give us an extra half hour this morning, so they moved
the launch time to 7:30. Of course, Ken being the early bird that he is, his
schedule got us there close to 6:30, so I wasted a half hour of sleep I
could have used dearly. Ken and I were about ready to go when the ROs showed
up chauffeured by Dennis Hyndman. My hope was after several days of revelry
at Casa Hyndman, the ROs would be so bloated and out of shape, the paddle
would be a slow one. Brett even assured me he was looking for a slower pace
than our last paddle and Ken and I were totally up for that.

The morning started out quite similar to our last paddle. We exited the
harbor glad to be greeted my glassy seas, cloudy skies and a hint of breeze
to keep us cool. To the south was nothing but mist, our destination shrouded
in unknown miles. Brett's short term memory seems to be a problem as well as
he lead the group out at a blistering pace. When I paddled up to ask him
about his burst of energy, he told me he wasn't feeling well. He said when
he's feeling bad, he likes to paddle fast to burn it out of his system! I
guess that's Rogue Otter logic for ya!

Ken and I took up positions to contain any stragglers and we settled down to
business. We passed by a curious looking work boat with a covered deck that
seemed to be missing a transom. Upon closer inspection we could see the crew
was working on what could only be a miniature version of the Beatles yellow
submarine. In fact, the captain did seem to have a rather big nose, it could
have been Ringo. By our second hour stop, we'd logged 8NM.

Dennis and the Otters seemed to take turns in the lead, while at the back,
Ken and I wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into. We put all our hopes
into the planned stop for lunch at Cardiff by the Sea. If worse came to
worse, we could pretend to fall down the stairs at the restaurant and bug
out early. We had had to beg Barb to pass on this paddle so she could come
pick us up at the end, so it wouldn't hurt to reward her sacrifice to make
her drive a few less miles. CbtS was a beautiful sight, even more so with
the 12NM under our belt. There were some nice sets rolling in, but I stormed
the beach and the only excitement was watching an Otter that took a swim in
the surf zone. Lunch was a tasty respite on a cool patio that soothed our
aches and lulled us into the false notion that continuing on to La Jolla was
a good idea. That decision was aided by more fuzzy math, with someone
suggesting that LJ was maybe only 7NM away. Ignoring reality we all launched
safely through the surf.

The next 12NM were a long slog, but I was feeling better than the first. The
coast was a bit more interesting and our short walk had eased my sore legs.
I paddle right outside the shore break keeping out of the way of the many
surfers. Ken and I resolved ourselves to watching Dennis and the ROs off in
the distance and tried not to whine too much. The sun had come out and it
got a bit warm, but it at least cleared up enough that far in the distance
we could finally see La Jolla. Passing the pier was a welcome milestone and
the busy beach beckoned us to shore.

Despite her disappointment at missing the paddle, Barb was parked at the
boat launch with a cooler full of sodas and chips and salsa for a tired
crew. I say tired crew although Dennis and the ROs looked like they could
have headed on for dinner in Mexico, but Ken and I were glad to load up and
say goodbye. Once again it was great joining them on the water. This turned
out to be Ken's longest paddle of his fledgling kayak career with his GPS
showing 25NM, while my identical unit said 24. Who cares! Ken was nice
enough to accompany me on this paddle despite a three week layoff from
paddling, but I'm not sure he'll ever go on a long paddle again. Of course,
I said that last week!

Mark Sanders
www.sandmarks.net

#
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