The stated agenda of the trip was touring, so I kept my word and stayed out of the rocks except to land behind the reef at White point to strip off some clothing. I was paddling Vickie's Avocet and she was paddling my Sirocco (no time to explain). I could roll the boat effortlessly, but felt very cramped and shaky (10 pounds of dirt in a...) so I wasn't all that eager to play anyway.

We got a little spread out along the way, but kept each other in view. After regrouping at Inspiration point we landed together at Smugglers Cove.

The waves were a bit bigger at Smugglers Cove than at Cabrillo. Sets brought in nicely shaped waves up to 3 feet. After a few minutes another group of paddlers (not with us) came in and we were entertained by watching a couple in a plastic double unsuccessfully attempt to outrun a wave. They were soon entertained to a refreshing swim in the 63 degree water. They were laughing harder than we were (but not much). The female of the pair, who said it was only her third time kayaking, seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

After a little eating, drinking, and exaggerating (lying?) about past heroic paddling exploits, we launched almost without incident. One of our group made a little bobble, missed a roll or two, then took a short swim just outside the break line. After quickly re-uniting paddler and boat we were on our way. The whole thing was so quick and painless I doubt it should be called carnage and even describing it as a "rescue" seems to be a hysterical exaggeration.

Anyway we got spread out again on the way back, but kept each other in view, re-grouped before landing and all landed one after another, very neatly and right-side-up.

Fun day of low adrenaline paddling with good exercise and good company.

    Steve Brown