The senior Mrs. Horodowich has never been in a kayak, so Wayne brought his Current Design Libra XT Tandem with a center cockpit for a small child. Unfortunately, neither his mom nor Hadley fit, so Hadley paddled her Gulfstream. Wayne helped Hadley launch and then Peter and I helped launch Wayne (that's a new twist--he's usually the one helping everybody else), but the tandem is big and heavy and does need some help for a surf launch when you have an inexperienced bow paddler. Wayne punched out though the 2 foot surf without even getting his mom wet. The rest of us then launched without any incident under the watchful eye of a sea lion staring at us from just beyond the surf zone.

We then paddled about 2 1/2 miles and the Horodowichs had to turn back because of other plans. The rest of us then paddled about another mile and landed to stretch our legs. The surf had picked up to about 3 feet and as we started in towards the beach, Chris pointed out that I had a friend following me. I turned my head and saw a cute little sea lion staying 30 feet behind me as I made my run to the beach. We all made very nice straight in landings without incident. Peter said that he was disappointed that I didn't do a broached landing.

Launching was a little tricky because the frequency of the waves was very short and there was a wicked sideways rip that kept trying to turn the boats. I launched last and had to exit my boat when it got turned completely sideways. I straightened it out and then launched. Our heart rates were definitely higher during the launch because we all had to launch, wait for a wave to break, and then paddle like crazy to get through before the next wave broke.

We started paddling back and arrived back at Butterfly Beach in about an hour. Peter, Chris, and Dave all made straight in approaches. I started in straight but soon got caught by one of the larger waves of the set and had to do a high brace side surf, when that wave released me, I still wasn't at the shore and had to do a low brace side surf, and then when that wave released me, a third. Fortunately the landing gods were smiling on me and I stayed dry as Chris ran over to hold my boat as I popped the skirt and exited. I guess that made up for disappointing Peter earlier.

The two single members of the group couldn't help but notice some of the "beautiful people" on the beach. Especially the ones in the skimpy bikinis (well the married guys couldn't help but look either).

Dave then left because he had a long drive back to Orange County. Chris, Peter, and I stopped at Paddlesports to pick up some prizes for next week's CKF Fest 2002 that they are donating to the club, and then went to my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch.

All in all, we had beautiful scenery, great company, and absolutely fantastic weather for kayaking. I can't wait for more days like today.

    Steve Holtzman