Wow, if today is any indication, rock gardening just might be taking over the sea kayaking crowd! 19 people were clamoring on the beach at Crescent Bay for Jack's play date. We had 3 or 4 long boats, but the rest were WW boats. Conditions were pretty mild, but there was a small wave hitting the beach to give us hope of fun around the rocks. After Jack's brief oration, Duane reminded everyone to stay away from any wildlife that may be inhabiting the rocks. It took a while to get all 19 of us out on the water and we slowly started to make our way south. I thought with 19 people we'd be fighting for every nook and cranny, but there was plenty to go around and we spread out a bit. Of course with so many people around, you always had someone nearby in case you got into trouble. We found a nice shelf to wash over and even though the waves were a bit slow to arrive, they brought enough water for everyone to have fun. There were plenty of area to explore as well. We paddled, what, maybe a mile down the coast checking out different rock formation and then decided to head back to an earlier one that had the most action. By then, the tide had risen a bit and this one washover was even more fun than before. A couple of the long boats acquitted themselves well going over. I rode a somewhat large wave over for a fun ride and Duane told me next time to go over sideways, as it would be a sure rolling experience. Well I did and it would have been, but I got my paddle stuck in the rocks and ended up swimming. A couple folk helped me get me and my gear over to some rocks where the waves weren't reaching and after a brief rest it was back out. Conditions had calmed a bit and Jack thought it be a good time to practice getting someone back into their WW on the water, no easy feat. Ian got volunteered to wet exit, although we realized later he wasn't wearing a wet suit. I think it was just Jack me and Hugh rafted up and we pulled Ian's boat up and tried to get out all the water. Hugh told me to open the drain plug to let the water out. Ian has a RPM Max like mine and although he was closer to the plug, I reached over and unscrewed it. Now on my Max there's a little bungy cord on the inside that keeps you from losing your plug and I just ASSUMED it was the same on Ian's. Ooops! And plugs don't float. So now poor Ian's in the water getting cold and we're trying to scrounge up any duct tape people have stuck to their boats or paddles to make some kind of plug to cram into his hole. Mission accomplished and we got Ian back in his boat and his makeshift plug lasted the rest of the day. Occasionally we were passed by other folk in the kayaks who must have wondered at this large group tempting a rocky collision, but then came a man out on a stand up paddleboard. He let it be know he didn't like the way we were treating the rocks and the poor barnacles there attached. He said we should stop immediately or he'd call the authorities. We let him paddle on, then decided he was just a jerk and continued on our merry way. He returned saying we gave him no choice other than to go call the police and I told him we appreciated his opinion, but disagreed, so off he went to fink. Now as Jack said, we were ready to call it a day, but we didn't want this punk to think he'd scared us off, so we continued massaging the mussels for another 20 minutes before heading home. Before we hit the sand, we played at one more spot where the waves were washing over a shelf into a small pool. Jack made it look easy, so I took a nice sized wave and found myself heading at speed for a collision. I was expecting pain, but got my hull turned up to take the blow, which just left me upside down in the churning pool. I found enough rocks and water to pull off some kind of roll to at least atone a bit for my earlier failure. The carry up the hill from the beach didn't seem to slow down many besides me, but we did get a visit from a representative of the local lifeguard establishment. They told Jack that some jerk had complained to them, so they had to at least pretend to care and told him to just watch out out there. Clear water, sunny skies, enough water to have some fun without too much skin left on the rocks, it was a great day and I expect more rock garden parties in the near future. 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 2:14 PM, Mark Sanders <sandmarks_at_ca.rr.com> wrote: > Wow, if today is any indication, rock gardening just might be taking over > the sea kayaking crowd! Sitting here next to my frozen-solid lake, I must admit to a bit of envy. However, I'm going cross-country skiing tomorrow so I'm sure the feeling will go away. For wet exits in white water boats I've found that if you have two people in kayaks you can line the third (empty) boat between you and let the paddler clamber up the stern holding onto the other boats as necessary. It's quick and easy (usually). One of the nicest attributes of a w/w boat is that it's short and most people can practically reach the aft cockpit edge in one lunge. Ok, maybe a lunge-and-a-half. Thanks for another nice story Mark. :) Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Mark wrote: but then came a man > out on a stand up paddleboard. He let it be know he didn't like the way we > were treating the rocks and the poor barnacles there attached. He said we > should stop immediately or he'd call the authorities. "Home Land Security, how can I help you?" "You're calling about what?" Right. Can I get your name. H O R A C E. Ok and what's your surname S O N O F V I T C H. Is that Russian. No, no just curious. Now Mr. Sonofvitch, you say there are a bunch of kayakers down at the shore and that they're terrorising barnacles. Mr. Sonofvitch do you drink or take recreational drugs. No, no, please understand I have to ask these questions. Thank you. So can I put you down as an occassional user. Ok which do you prefer. Mr. Sonovitch, Mr. Sonofvitch please lets keep this polite. These calls are monitored by retired female civil servants who are screening for code words. Thank you that's better. Now how many kayakers where there. Nineteen, thanks, and how many barnacles were being terrorised. You don't know. I see. Where any of the kayakers dressed kind of funny? That's good, you say some of them were wearing rubber and others had helmets. Were the helmets the cool kevlar models that sort of look like world war 2 German helmets. No, that's too bad, I like those helmets and was hoping the President would get us some with our new uniforms. Yes, yes I understand, now just two more questions. Think about this carefully, were any of the terrorists, yes yes the kayakers, speaking foreign? Right you think one of them might have been a Canadian. Yes Mr. Sonofvitch that's very important. Why do you know how many of them there are in Los Angles. Well lets just say it's the second largest Canadian city on the continent. That's right only Moose-pit is bigger. Now what language were the barnacles speaking? What do you mean they don't speak. Good God are you saying they're mute. That's cruel, they can't even cry out for help. That's just sick, we'll get a team down their right after the Super Bowl. You want us to go now. Are you nuts kick off is only 15 minutes away. Say Sonofvitch, are you sure you're an American? Arnie, put a trace on this call and send one of those hockey lovin Canucks from the exchange program over to pick this guy up for questioning. G Warner *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 9:47 PM, hmgwarner <hmgwarner_at_shaw.ca> wrote: > > Arnie, put a trace on this call and send one of those hockey lovin Canucks > from the exchange program over to pick this guy up for questioning. > > There's always someone who feels that everyone should do it his way. A hockey stick where the sun don't shine would be too good for him, in my opinion. Send him to Victoria after a storm and he'd probably keel over dead from the shock. Nice piece of narrative. :) Craig Jungers Moses Lake,WA *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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