[Paddlewise] Doheny Visit

10/28 18:50

Sunday at 2pm, I was at Doheny to set up my camp on the sand. I wasn't staying
long though, as I decided since no one was visiting with me till the next day,
I was going to head out to Altadena for the Victoria Vox concert. It was a bit
breezy at the beach, with no hint of rain, so I left off my rain fly to
prevent it from catching the wind.

The concert was great! Victoria is a ukulele player with a great voice and she
amazed everyone by playing the trumpet while strumming the ukulele!! Well, she
really just made trumpet noises with her lips, but it sounded so real she had
the whole house clapping! Sadly, the whole house was only about 30 people,
which surprised me. Having been to a ukulele club meeting before and seen how
rabid they can be, I expected this performance to be standing room only based
on the fans she has. The venue was great though and I felt sorry for the +or-
100 thousand crammed into the Rose Bowl forced to watch U-2!!!

I was heading back down to my camp at about midnight and the fog had really
rolled in, which probably explained why the inside of my tent looked liked it
had been hosed down. Still, all my sleeping gear was dry, as I kept it in my
car till I arrived. So I fell asleep serenaded by a small but crashing surf
break, the constant fog horn and the occassional passing trains. It was a damp
night, but not too cold.

In the morn, the sun was up quickly and Duane arrived after my breakfast. It's
not often I get to hear it, but Duane said he really wasn't feeling up to a
long paddle and wondered if I cared if we kept it short!!! These words are
always music to my ears and when Ken arrived, we decided to make it a "learn a
new roll" day.  Doheny not having the cleanest water, we paddled quite a way
out before starting our work. I showed Ken the roll I'd learned at TAKS,
although I don't know its name and soon we were warmed up for some instruction
from Duane. He had us doing various sculling and hip snap moves associated
with learning a backwards sweeping roll. Ken was doing really well, but as
this roll calls for so forward leaning maneuvers, I was a bit at a
disadvantage. While my back deck my impede my rear leaning rolls, I'm afraid
it's my gut that's my bigest impediment to a forward lean. Still, I was able
to do what I call a "b*st*rd back sweep" roll, which was mostly a slight back
sweep to a CtoC.

Ken and I retired to the camp early and Duane continued on his routine, no
doubt practicing for next years competition. The sun really decided to come
out and it was hard to believe we're almost into November. Soon we were all
eating around the table and discussing our kayak adventures, past and future.
K and D finally hit the road and I was all by my lonesome trying to avoid the
sun with what little shade there is at Doheny.

Perhaps it doesn't reach the level of irony, but I had brought the book "Two
Years Before The Mast" to read in camp. I'd tried a couple times before to
read it, but never made it through, but having just reread the "Master and
Commander" series, thought I'd give it another try. Perhaps being exposed to
all the jargon was the trick, as it's going much better this time. My next
door neighbor was a bit annoying though, as she gabbed with her friends using
words more suited to the sailors in my book. I could only take so much of
their conversation and move off into the cool shade of a nearby lifeguard
station to read and watch the folks pitching horseshoes.

Later on, Ken and Barb showed up for hotdogdinner. It was cooling off, so we
got a nice fire going. Ken started off with a beer, but soon switched to the
champagne I'd uncorked for the occasion. It was a bit dark, so it was hard to
tell when the dogs and buns were ready, but everything tasted tasty sight
unseen. After gabbing and enjoying the stars, Barb broke out her guitar and
sang some pretty songs despite claiming not to have practiced for a while. I
played a couple new songs and the Cat family had to leave.

Monday night was dry but chilly, but with no paddle planned for the morn, I
could sleep in. I arose to a gusting wind that made my fancy planned breakfast
a challenge. I made coffee pancakes that just didn't want to cook with wth
wind blowing all the heat north as soon as it left the stove. Still, I
succeeded to some degree and had a nice meal. After loading all my gear, I had
time to sit and enjoy the nice breeze, overcast sky and miles of coastline.
The Metrolink passed every few minutes and it warmed my heart to think of all
my tax dollars stoking the furnace of the engine pulling the barely populated
cars! Too soon I gave up my beachfront home for the drive back to the real
world.

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/
***************************************************************************