Re: [Paddlewise] [CKF Info] The Expendables

wahhhhh!!! not expendable! bring radios \

On Sun, May 1, 2011 at 5:59 PM, Mark Sanders
<marksanders_at_sandmarks.net>wrote:

> The hysteria started a little early this year! The OC Register ran a photo
> of an early Blue Whale visit the other day and talk of a hunt wasn't far
> behind. With the OC Marathon clogging up my usual haunt, I didn't mind
> heading out today on a wild goose chase!
>
> Debra and I set off too close to 8 to quibble. Ken, Barb and Dave had set
> out an hour earlier, so there was some thought of catching them on the sea.
> It was a super clear day, so as we made our way out of the jetty, I thought
> it shouldn't be too long before we saw them bobbing about.
>
> We aimed for a small buoy and soon could see it was occupied by a couple
> paddlers. But when we got closer, we found two paddle boarder resting
before
> the trek home. They said they'd seen no kayakers, so we started heading a
> bit farther up the coast.
>
> Soon I saw a group of 5 kayakers and I could tell Barb's Pilgrim was in
> there. Debra took an inside angle to intercept them, as they seemed to be
> abandoning the hunt for a coastal paddle. As we got a bit closer, I was
sure
> they'd stop and wait for us, but for the first time in my life, I was
wrong!
> Debra was far ahead to my right when I started thinking I came to hunt
> whales, not Ken and Barb! They weren't trying to make it easy for me to
> catch up, so I decided to return to whale hunt mode--sitting idly on the
> water!
>
> Soon I was all alone. I can only assume that by how close Catalina looked,
> I must be half way there. Truth be told, I couldn't be disappointed on the
> day, as I had no hopes of seeing a whale and just wanted an excuse to sit
on
> the water and enjoy the beautiful coast! And this was an exceptionally
> beautiful day.
>
> A whale watching boat took up residence a mile off my starboard bow, but I
> didn't figure they'd have any more luck than I. All of a sudden, I was
> sitting up in my boat and sprinting in their direction! I saw something
dark
> rising slightly out of the water. Following along, I saw it again, but no
> spout or tail. I figured if It was a whale, the boat would have spotted it
> by now and they weren't moving an inch, so I wonder if I'd seen a pod of
> dolphins rising. Anyway, looking at the boat still quite distant, I could
> see the kayak group on their return leg.
>
> I remained lollygagging in the Lollygagger as Debra and Ken paddled up to
> me. Debra splashed me with water and asked in mock indignation where I'd
> been the whole time! Turns out as she finally joined the group, she'd seen
a
> kayak the same color as mine and assumed I'd joined them on my separate
> tack. When after a while she realized it wasn't me, they all looked around
> and couldn't see me anywhere on the water! It was as if a Blue Whale had
> swallowed me whole! They actually paddled to the whale boat to ask if they
> could see me and they pointed me out.
>
> So we all paddled home mostly together. Debra was happy not to have lost a
> kayaker on her first paddle after all that training. We pretended that next
> time we'd bring radios and try to stay in better contact, but really, who
> wants to do that! I paddle solo and/or abandon the group so often, it's
best
> to accept that maybe I should just be assumed to be expendable!
>
> Mark
>
> #
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> Info mailing list
> Info_at_list.ckf.org
> http://list.ckf.org/mailman/listinfo/info
>



--
Debra
dbk92675_at_gmail.com
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