Marine Land
Jack, Geoff. Kirt, Vickie, and I launched at Marine land at about 9:30 today in gentle surge with virtually no wind. Launching went fine except that I started my seal launch too high in the rocks, I broached (in the rocks), hit the water sideways and capsized. I whacked my head on a rock, but my helmet kept it from being too painful.

Consensus was to paddle east to the caves because the small swell made it a perfect day for it. Not all of the paddlers went into every cave, but every paddler went into some cave, and every cave was entered by someone (figure that out). We did a little playing in the rocks and surf (what little there was) along the way before heading back to the launch site.

We didn't paddle all the way through the east cave of Portuguese's point, even though we probably could have. I have only been able to do that once in three years of trying. Today it seemed possible, but every few minutes a couple of waves would blow though that could cause injury if you were in the passage in the back at the wrong time. The blowhole in the west cave at inspiration point was going off every so often, but even on the big (?) sets the cave was manageable and a fun place to play.

On the way back Kirt politely excused himself and bolted for the terminator wreck at PV point. He asked me how far it was and when I told him 10NM round trip from the launch site he seemed glad. I think he wanted some exercise. We never saw him again.

After returning to the launch site, Geoff, Jack and I dropped Vickie off at Marine land and paddled west past point Vicente for a little more playing in the rocks before calling it a day and heading back. The big offshore rock one headland east of Pt Vicente was a fun place today as even the biggest waves were not enough to totally trash you. I still managed to capsize there (as usual), but a rather sloppy roll (I'll take it anyway) kept me in the boat.

On returning, the success of the seal landings was light and variable. One paddler made a picture perfect transition well up into the rocks, only to be swept back out with the surge after putting down paddle and removing spray skirt. Great entertainment soon followed. One of the two remaining paddlers made it up and managed to stay put, the other made it part way up before sliding back in for some additional entertainment.

At the end of the day the statistics were one hit (my head), several errors, no OBEs, no injuries, some pride remaining. Swell was a little small, but it was nice for a change to be able to poke into everything without seeing your life flash before your eyes.Very little surf, very few animals (some seals), but a fun day, especially in meeting and paddling with some new kayak friends.

    Steve Brown

Kurt E-mailed me on the outcome of his solo excursion. Apparently, we missed a good show. Here is an excerpt from his email:

"After I left the group I went as far as the light house. I stopped for a drink of water and a bit of a rest. As I was resting I had a whale blow about 100 yards off. He took two and then sounded heading south. I changed my course to take a look crossing the flat water left behind by the dive. He blew again after about five minutes. Since we were on the same course I expected to see more of him, however I was not so lucky......."

For those that are unfamiliar with the area, the light house is the Point Vicente Lighthouse. It is about 1NM west of where we first launched at Marine land. The Marine Land launch is the best access to that portion of the PV coastline.

I think we are going to have to spend some time looking for whales in season. The last one I saw was between Point Fermin and White point, but that was 3 years ago. Obviously, they are out there if you're paying attention.

Submitted on January 20, 2002