Here's my trip report and photos from Saturday, when we launched from Terranea, a resort on the Palos Verdes coast. As I hoofed it down the path at Terranea yesterday, I wondered if the sun would ever come up, but up it came 10 minutes too early and had me sweating by the time I hit the beach. It was a short boat day, especially for Jack, Lee and Lachlan, while I was in my Crossover, which is still smaller than most. With the flat condition, I expected Jack to take us north, but instead we made a left on the water. Lee and I got right to work balancing on a nearby rock and although the waves were small, there still could be a rather large tidal swing between them. We all piled through the nearest slot and started to play on a nice side-ramp reef. It wasn't easy trying to find the bigger waves, but they provided a nice ride when we did. We continued on through some sparse rocks near the shore before we set out on the inevitable long slog past Abalone Cove. Finally the real fun could begin, as the next point had much more action from the unprotected water. The little boats got right to work, insinuating themselves into every nook and cranny. I'd brought the Crossover thinking Jack was going to take us in the other direction and now I was regretting it a bit, as I missed the maneuverability, but I still managed to do what ever they were doing. I might have been a little annoying as I crowded in to take photos while they played and can only hope the result were worth the intrusion. We kept busy here in the toilet bowls, rodeo holes and caves, but then my camera was acting up, so I called for a break. We took it on the sand at Smuggler's Cove, happy to get out and stretch, short boats being tough on the legs. With my camera repaired we made the short paddle to the next point. Here there's a slot I call The Fun Way and a cave to explore. But at the mouth of the cave was a large group of teenagers using a ledge to jump in the water. Still we managed to play a while and watch them jump until it became clear that all the girls had their tops tied on very tight! Jack decided not to be intimidated by the youngsters and pulled his boat up on the rocks. He went up real high looking for a ledge to seal launch from, but the rocks up there were really nasty. He settled for jumping off sans boat, but then went back up to a lower section and still did an impressive seal launch. Even the kids had to cheer that. We played a little longer on the rocks around the corner and decided to make our wake back. Still we played along the way and made quick work of the paddle past Smuggler's. But when we got to Abalone Cove the real fun started. Unprotected the wind was hitting us at about 15mph. This is always and ugly slog home after playing in this area and short boats just make it ten times worse. Jack and Lee set out in front, while I hung out back hoping to provide Lachlan with a bit of a wind break. It was his first time slogging a short boat in the wind like this, so I hope it helped. Even the long carry back up the hill at Terranea was looking better than this! But sooner or later, you turn the paddle and all of a sudden it's all over and your back at the beach. It had been a long day, so we were happy to Pina's for some Mexican food. This group must have liked eating and talking as much as paddling, as it was about 5pm before I hit the road for the ride home. That's a long paddle! http://www.sandmarks.net/TShort/TShort1.html Mark 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/ ***************************************************************************
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