Strokes, Braces, & Rescue Practice
Twelve and a half of us showed up to launch this morning for a practice session (the 1/2 was Pam paddling what she says is her surf boat--personally, I think she left it in the dryer to long and it shrank). The wind was blowing at 20-25 knots and large waves were breaking over the breakwater. It was impossible to carry a boat on your shoulder. All of us had 2 people carrying the boats to the water. We all decided that we would give it a try and if conditions were too bad, we would fall back to an alternate plan and paddle in the harbor.

It took us 30 minutes to paddle the 1/2 mile against the wind to our practice site - The Pond. As soon as we got there, 3 paddlers decided it was too rough and they were going to do the harbor bit. I called Mike on the radio and told him I would stay with these 3 and we headed back. Then it was 5 of us, then 7, then 10. I kept calling Mike and revising the count of who was with me and who was with him. Then I noticed Mike and Peter coming in too.

We all landed at Kiddee Beach, picked up another paddler and decided to go. We paddled the harbor in conditions that were as bad as we sometimes see outside of the breakwater. At one point, one of the group decided to try a roll and missed. During a wet exit and re-enter and roll rescue, somebody saw us and called the Harbor Patrol that there was a kayaker in the water needing help. It was a little disconcerting to hear them say, "Oh we know those guys--they're probably just practicing. Even though we were, it would have been nice if they had actually checked us out. We did call them and tell that we were all ok and not in need of assistance after we heard this radio exchange.We paddled back and as we landed, Pete mentioned that we should have gone to a restaurant instead.

The wind was measured at 32 knots inside the harbor by one of the people in the paddle and this is the strongest wind any of us have paddled in. It took 3 people to load each boat on the cars. Two people would hold it in place on the racks, while the third would run around tying it down.

Although our plans changed, it was still a good day on the water.

    Steve Holtzman

Submitted on December 9, 2001