Joining me for the paddle was Tom from San Clemente, Tom from Lake Forest, Roger from Lake Forest and Joe from Irvine. We all met Tom from San Clemente for the first time today.

As we were paddling in the beautiful weather, Tom from Lake Forest stopped to evaluate passing through the split rock at the point. He said he was going to go through it, and I though he was crazy, because he was in his fiberglass kayak and didn't have a helmet. But then I saw that with the high tide and relatively small swell it was doable, provided you timed it right! I was also in a fiberglass kayak and without a helmet, and I set up next to Tom.

I moved in a little too close, got sucked into the rock, and had to push off the rock with my paddle. Then a few seconds later I made a clean run through the split. Tom followed a moment later and also came back through the other way. I started a second passing, didn't time the swell right, got pulled into the rock, used my paddle to push off it and braced a few times in the whitewash before being able to back out. That was enough risking of fiberglass for me and we paddled on.

We landed through the small surf at Three Arch Bay and had a relaxing break there. Then we headed back. Towards the end he had a few sprint races. Just before landing back at the swim beach, Tom from San Clemente surprised us all with a well executed brace roll. Afterwards, we pointed out the sign on the beach that said the water had unsafe levels of bacteria. Oh, well!

I wished you all could've been with us today.

    Duane Strosaker