This was our first time paddling with Gareth. He paddles a very pretty yellow and red trim Romany Explorer that has me re-thinking my feelings about about glass boats. His has Kevlar reinforcement along the keel that looks like it would take a beating pretty well.

John was riding a little low in the water because he had his SeaYak loaded with about 80 pounds of water and gear as a dry (?) run for our trip to Bahia de los Angeles at the end of this month. He said the boat handled just fine when loaded.

Weather was cloudy, but warm. The water was clean (er than used bath water) and fairly warm. Weather stayed this way throughout the day, and I don't think we ever experienced wind over about six knots.

After putting in we checked out the small lagoon just northwest of the ramp. Current out of the lagoon was a couple of knots due to outgoing tide and were weren't able to go very far into it due to tide height. When the tide is right, this lagoon makes a nice quiet refuge from the howling wind that overtakes this area on many afternoons. Also makes a nice spot for rolling practice because after a few hours of daylight, the water is significantly warmer than the rest of the harbor (wear nose plugs). You can't land in there because the shore is private property.

We paddled away for our trip at 8:18AM, and returned before 1:00PM. For those who keep score, John's GPS said we covered 12.7NM at a "moving" pace of about 3.2 knots. I suspect our paddling pace was a little faster, because the GPS probably counted water breaks gently drifting in current as "moving".

Very relaxing and peaceful day on the water except for one negative. When next to one of the ships some of the workers on board were threatening to throw down some heavy metal rods on us. Nothing like this has ever happened to us in the harbor before, so I was a little surprised. We kept our distance and didn't say much as it didn't seem they weren't intelligent enough to have a meaningful dialog with anyway. This didn't really perturb us much and we didn't talk about it for more than a minute of two. Keep it in mind when you pass close to a ship.

Along the way, we stopped for several on-water breaks for water and snacks + a couple of get out of the boat breaks, including lunch in the shallow water habitat hidden behind pier 400. We entered the Shallow water area via the low bridge on the east side. A sandy beach in the north west corner makes a nice rest spot. There are "no trespassing" signs along shore, so we stayed below the mean high tide line (wet sand). I think you would be fine there as long as you don't pass the signs. This would also be a nice spot for rescue practice on a very windy (30+kts) day because you are completely enclosed in a safe area.

We also went into the Fish Harbor, but no one seemed interesting in looking around too much. I think we all had "get home-itis" by then.

I think this was the first time any of us had done this trip and all seemed to enjoy it. I think I would do it again every year or so. Very enjoyable day on the water, and one of the most relaxing I have ever had. Good exercise in good company. I'll put some pictures on my web site after the holidays.

    Steve Brown