[Paddlewise] Day #91, Big and Little Arch RocknRolla

11/15/08

With Sunday spoken for this week, Ken and I decided to head out Saturday for
a short paddle. My mind might be wandering, but I don't think I've paddled
since the Rock Garden day in PV two weeks ago! I was glad to get away from
the Santa Ana winds at home, if only to brave them down at the beach.

We headed out with the help of the breeze, but near the harbor mouth we saw
what awaited our return. A group of outrigger paddlers were fighting the
wind and tide and not making a whole lotta progress, but why worry about the
future!

The tide was high and the ocean quite calm as we neared BAR. Things seemed
mild, so I didn't bother scoping out the Rock before riding a small wave
through the arch with Ken not far behind. I took up residence in the Arch
when a big ol' wave came outta nowhere and I had to paddle out to meet it
and caught some air on the backside. I was worried about Ken behind me, but
he'd weathered out the storm. I stayed in the Arch, with the tidal surge
really moving me around and some of the largest waves I've played in at BAR
making their way in. Ken, out to sea, rolled around in the early forming
swells. It was strange, because the waves everywhere else were small, but it
seemed the angle was just perfect to funnel into the Arch and make some fun
playtime.

We paddled home hugging the shore and the high tide made a Little Arch run
possible. I checked it out for a while, but I promised to be nicer to the
Lollygagger's gelcoat and so just tried to convince Ken to do it in his new
plastic Nordkapp. The big sissy decided it was too early for his first
scratch, but I kept heading in to show him how easy it'd be. All of a
sudden, all the water drained out of the arch and my bow was hung up on the
rock and over I went! I hurried my roll and lifted my head and blew it, but
felt confident I'd make my second try, but now the tide had pushed me into
the rock. I decided to just grab some rock and pull myself up, but as usual,
that never works as easy as it should. Now I decided to eject and swim, mad
that I'd missed my rolls when I knew I shouldn't have.

It wasn't pretty, but Ken helped me back in the boat none the worse for
wear, except for a bit of gear I didn't realize I'd lost till we got back in
the bay. We were real happy on the way back, because the wind had done a
complete switcheroo and now was helping us get home. We stopped at PC so I
could practice my missed roll and of course it worked fine. I turned out to
be another great day on the crystal clear waters or Newport.

Some video if you're really bored!

http://www.sandmarks.net/video/rescue.mov

Mark Sanders
www.sandmarks.net

#
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