Salt Point Saga
Four of us, Sid, Mike, Paul and George, took a trip up the
coast from Stillwater Cove near Salt Point Park in Sonoma County as a "Shakedown"
paddle, in preparation for an upcoming 165 mile Baja Pacific trip.
View map.
Seven people had signed up for the Baja trip. Just the four of us made
it for the initial paddle together and meeting at Mike's the previous evening,
to plan, compare notes, work out rescue procedures, bond, and generally check
each other out.
Sid, from Redding, who has paddled the entire California coast and much of Baja,
for more than 12 years, planned the shakedown in Mike's home waters. Mike, a
high performance paddler, pushing the envelope in surf, rocks and caves, knew
the area coast like the back of his hand (check out Mike's phenomenal web site
www.kayaker.net). We had
canceled the shakedown just a few days before, due to a severe Pacific winter
storm that passed through the area.
George, an ex-runner and boater for 48 years, who lives in the L.A. area, had
paddled about six years and done expeditions in the outer Channel Islands,
Napali Coast of Hawaii, coastal paddles in several countries and had one crossing
under his belt. He had to come to San Francisco on business, so Sid suggested an
opportunistic San Francisco Bay paddle, promising us a trip to the Golden Gate
Bridge and around Alcatraz. He also signed up Paul, a strong and silent whitewater
kayaker from Sacramento, who had paddled the entire Colorado River and done major
Baja expeditions, among other notable accomplishments. At the last minute, it was
decided to reactivate the Salt Point trip, because it was believed that the
seas had calmed, which it turned out, was a relative thing.
Everyone had seaworthy boat designs. Mike had a custom Mariner Coaster, Sid had a
sleek Necky Arluk III, Paul a featherlight Necky Tesla and George a rented plastic
Eclipse Sea Lion.
We had a smooth morning launch in 8' surf
(see Stillwater Cove on a
calmer day).
There were (8-10') northwest swells as we headed up the coast, with occasional
rogue waves well over 20 feet, near one of the points along the way. Manageable.
The sky was partially cloudy and the wind was light and crisp, but, in California
coastal fashion, it grew steadily stronger and the waves larger and more powerful,
as the day wore on.
After searching for a suitable landing, we stopped off for lunch at Fisk Mill
Cove (see picture of cove
on a much calmer day).
It was a little hairy, getting in to a very steep, rocky beach with a stiff
break and powerful surge. Mike broached and braced coming in, ended up hitting
a rock and separating the hull from the deck along a two-foot section of his
well-built Coaster. Paul steamed straight in. After paddling the entire Colorado
River on a previous expedition, this didn't faze him. Sid broached and braced
coming in. George, emboldened by Paul's performance, headed in, but bailed out
on a mean wave and swam the last few yards, having neither a helmet nor extensive
surf-on-rocks experience. Mike was able to successfully patch his boat during
an extended lunch, while the wind and seas grew and grew.
Since the conditions had deteriorated considerably, we considered climbing
the steep cliffs and trekking back to get our cars, but ended up relaunching
for the return trip. George went first, but was thrown back on the rocks by
an untimely, crashing breaker. He broached and braced, quickly relaunching
to make it through the rows of angry, incoming waves. Paul powered through
the surf without incident. The tail section of Sid Taylor's Arluk III was
cracked in a difficult launch, as he was swept back on the rocks by a
powerful breaker. Unaware of any ill effects to body or boat, he elected to
continue, but refrained from using the rudder after being apprised of the
situation by Mike. Mike, launching last, unassisted, then took Sid under
tow, since Sid couldn't maintain a heading adequately without his rudder in
those circumstances. It was quite difficult to manage, with large, steep
breaking waves and high winds battering us around.
It became apparent that Sid's Arluk was taking on water in the stern compartment
and becoming unstable. It turned out that he had a leaky rear bulkhead as well, so
the cockpit filled, too. Sid, a very strong paddler, with impressive credentials,
finally capsized and was unable to self-rescue, given the triple handicaps of a
flooding boat, large swells (14' plus 3' wind waves at Bodega Buoy by then. A park
ranger later described conditions as 14-20' seas) and wind-driven breaking waves in
our seaway. Sid later pointed out that the whipsawing, tangling towline contributed
to the capsizing. It was too short for these seas.
Mike and George maneuvered alongside and helped
get Sid back in his boat, spray skirt fastened and rafted up. Forget about "T"
and "H" rescues in these conditions- suicide! The coaming was underwater, with
the rear compartment and cockpit flooded. Pumping out didn't appear to be a
viable option. With Sid's boat and Sid in the middle holding on, they "canoe
paddled" on the outside and towed him on. This was a surprisingly stable arrangement.
With the wind and waves increasing and few landing spots, we decided to continue
south to Gerstle Cove, rather than proceed all the way back to our original
launch point.
We almost made it into Gerstle Cove against the wind (28 knots at the Bodega buoy),
but could not deliver our tow in the last 200 yards at an angle into the wind and
current, past jutting rocks and surf, and started losing ground (ocean?). We ended
up opposite steep cliffs, with rocks below like sharks' teeth eating at the hungry
surf. We made an ill-advised move to stop and have Paul take Sid under tow with us,
but he couldn't position himself in those conditions, losing us valuable headway
and time. The deafening roar of the surf and wind was so loud that communication
was nearly impossible, restricted mostly to hand signals.
For fear that we would end up on said rocks, Mike ordered
Sid (against his better judgment) to exit his now sinking boat, so that we could
tow him into the cove and get him out of the water. The sudden jolt of Sid's
exit caught George by surprise and he nearly capsized. George maneuvered to
take Sid on board, but was unable to balance his big plastic Sea Lion with Sid
climbing on the back of it, trying to reach around the rudder. So George ended
up in the swirling seas, too. Sid instead hung on to the tail of Mike's Coaster,
which had no rudder. Mike then also capsized, but rolled up again, instructing
Sid to hold on, partially out of the water.
Sid bailed out right
about here, but on a much rougher day. Looking at this picture, it's hard to
imagine the life-threatening situation that existed on 14 January. A helicopter
later landed Sid right on that cliff to the left and they whisked Sid into a
waiting ambulance.
When Sid and George went over, somehow, Sid ended up with the spare Werner paddle
he had lent George. George retrieved the junk rental paddle he had lashed to the
stern. While Paul stopped to help George, his paddle became separated from him.
Swimming, George pulled along his Sea Lion and paddle and retrieved Paul's for
him. George couldn't get back in his boat with a cowboy entry, because his right
hand was nearly paralyzed from the unnatural canoe-paddling event and the seas
were too rough, so he had to do a paddle float entry. Paul stabilized George's
boat very nicely while he pumped out and refastened his spray skirt. About that
time, George was thanking Harold Trevort and Wayne Hordowhich for past helpful
lessons.
Paul and George dashed back north toward Gerstle Cove against a strong wind
(see picture from a calmer
day). They landed right there.
Along the way, George found Sid's other Werner paddle floating and immediately
grabbed it. He didn't want to stop and stow the rental paddle, so he just dumped
it ($50) and headed north toward Mike and Sid. He spotted Sid's boat, nearly
totally submerged and saw an orange object drifting downwind. Paul and George's
kayaks had blown downwind much faster than Sid and Mike in his coaster. They
passed them going north while Mike was headed south. At that point, Mike advised
Paul and George to head into Gerstle while he headed south with Sid toward Ocean
Cove.
The seas were so rough that we didn't dare open spray skirts to deploy
radios, but we were close enough to paddle in to land and talk to people watching
us from the cliffs overhead (radios stored in more spacious vest pockets would
have been a better option- not that we could have used them while hanging on
for dear life in those seas). The cove was rough, but it felt like a millpond
compared to what we had just fled.
Upon reaching the rocky shore, George queried
the Ranger and immediately learned that they had dispatched a rescue team from
Bodega Bay, so all we could do was to fill them in on the situation down below.
At that time we thought that they sent a boat, which would have been too little,
too late. George told them that Mike was paddling and Sid was hanging on, with
possible hypothermia, last seen headed south. Paul landed 3-4 minutes later.
A helicopter came by only 15 minutes after George beached and it alighted on
the cliff above. The rescue team had Sid aboard and transferred him to an ambulance
for treatment. In the meantime, rangers had given Paul a ride back to his car.
George hauled the kayaks and gear up the cliff to the road to load them on transport
when it arrived.
Meanwhile, back on the raging seas: with Sid's feet in the
water, Mike was unable to make any progress into the wind and back towards the
cove. So to try and get Sid out of the water, he turned south and made rapid
progress around the end of South Gerstle Cove, looking for someplace to crash.
This time the wind, current and curve of the land frustrated all Mike's efforts
to get close enough to the shore! Paddling as hard as he could, he could not
make the boat turn or make good progress towards the rocks. (Go figure, if they
DIDN'T want to land, the waves would have driven them ashore). The Sheriff's
Helicopter arrived then, plucked Sid right off the back of Mike's boat and whisked
him to a waiting ambulance on a cliff high over Gerstle Cove, where he was re-warmed
and examined by experts.
Released of his swimmer, Mike took off south with the wind and waves and
had an exciting trip to shore, landing at Stillwater Cove
(see picture from a calmer
day).
If you count the time spent sitting in his awash boat, Sid was in the water
close to two hours. But the paramedics say that Sid was not really hypothermic
yet. We partially attributed Sid's survival to good winter immersion dressing
and general toughness. He later inventoried an anorak, storm jacket, neoprene
vest (2mm), long sleeve and short sleeve polypro shirts, neoprene shorts (3mm),
farmer john ( 2mm) wool socks and felt soled booties, two pair of tights and
Lycra shorts.
Eventually, we all reunited back at Stillwater Cove, our morning launch
point. The paramedics released Sid into our custody and we brought him to a
nearby restaurant to eat, drink and rest, then to Mike's.
Sid and Mike spent
Monday morning walking the shore from Jenner to Gerstle Cove and saw none of
the equipment. Sid's blue Necky Arluk III with green hatches is still out there
somewhere with a lot of gear inside it. Tell your fishing friends that Sid is
offering a reward for the recovery.
Lots of things have occurred to us with
20-20 hindsight, among them: We should have skipped the lunch stop and/or the
relaunch. Sid should have aborted the launch and checked his boat after hitting
the rocks. We didn't think we could pump water out of his completely awash boat,
but we should have tried that to lighten the boat for the upwind paddle into
Gerstle Cove. We should have cut closer to the point on the way in. We should
have done a V tow, Sid should have immediately returned to Fisk Mill Cove --
shoulda, coulda, woulda, etc, etc, etc. We'll leave all that to a more technical
article being written by Sid, that may appear in a major paddling magazine in
the not-too-distant future. We have all suddenly become huge fans of float bags.
Mike noted that the Sheriff's helicopter picked Sid up half way to Ocean Cove!
If we had stayed rafted up, the wind would have blown the three boats (if the
Arluk didn't sink first) down there quicker than the helicopter got to us!
We elected Mike the hero of the day, for his feat of courage and athleticism in
moving Sid toward safety; next was the Sheriffs' team, for their clean, professional
retrieval of Sid and the shore rescue and medical team, for quick, professional
assistance.
As bad as these conditions might sound, they are not at all unusual
for winter in the region. What was bad were some of the decisions that were
made, things that went wrong and how we dealt with them. It was years' worth
of experience and learning, all in one eventful day.
Pictures from www.kayaker.net
are copyrighted by Mike and taken on much fairer days
George Miller & Mike Higgins
Submitted on January 28, 2001