Along with some of the usual suspects, Mike, Pamela, Carol, George, Tim, Pat, and Vicki, we had Steve (in the process of becoming a usual suspect), his extended family and friends from Simi Valley, and "Lefty Re" from Northern CA, visiting kayak scholar. Our enthusiastic participants showed up very early and were chafing to go. I actually conducted our trip briefing in the water, while Mike Brown physically restrained our energetic paddlers. Mike was later assigned as trip "sweep," to escort or scuttle stragglers. He had occasion to help a few and towed one for over a mile. Tough conditions and low pay for CKF sweeps. I am proud to report that he filed no lawsuits on this trip and did not break his boat.

It was unusually warm and still for this region and partially cloudy. The moon showed itself big and orange as we were paddling up the main channel. Pam and Bill Schlotter intercepted us just north of Port Royal restaurant, raising our numbers to 18. Several paddlers (not them) had little or no experience, but didn't allow that to spoil their paddling pleasure.

A sea lion tagged along behind one of our paddlers for a while. Traffic was otherwise light in the harbor-- just a few fishing boats straggling by and a few night cruisers and revelers at the Pacific Corinthian Yacht club, which was alive with people gyrating to the strains of "Play that Funky Music, White Boy!" as we passed under the main bridge over the West channel. We saw Banana Republic clad yachters exiting shore boats and joining the throng.

A number of boaters were camped out on their craft on this warm and lovely evening. We always get questions about kayaking, since boaters are almost always vitally interested in anything to do with the water. More and more boaters are carrying kayaks aboard with them. They get better mileage and run a little cleaner than diesels.

When we got all the way to the end of the main channel, some of us explored the large harbor extension under construction. I'm all for anything that increases access to marine resources in a good way.

Some of us saw two blue herons. One of them lumbered low and slow across the channel and swooped over us like some prehistoric monster, before vanishing in a forest of yacht masts.

On the way back, we took a side channel over to the East channel, then proceeded South, even though we knew we wouldn't fit under the bridge on a full moon tide. Some of us explored other channels on the way back.

We all arrived back at Kiddie Beach within a few minutes of each other, except Pat and Vicki, who sent word that they exercised the extended offshore tour option (see Pat's addendum to this report at the end). Bill and Pam returned to their waterfront retreat. Carol spied and corraled a couple of her 6th grade Oxnard students on the beach, up past curfew. They were taller than Carol.

Before starting, we had agreed on a "nightcap" after, rather than during, the paddle, in case some people wanted to leave earlier. So, we settled on "Sea Fresh" over on Harbor Boulevard. When we paddled past it earlier, the place was really hopping, but by the time we arrived at nearly 11PM, only the dateless and clueless (and kayakers) remained (hey, this is Ventura County, not Manhattan Beach). Sea Fresh reawakened for us and managed to provide a decent spread of drinks, salads, shrimp, clams and mussels to satisfy our paddle-stimulated appetites. Since it was fairly quiet, we could all talk easily about subjects ranging from kayaking, the state of education today, the state of the state and Gray Davis, etc.

We left in the wee hours of the morning and headed home, after a very nice evening. I was thinking about arising 0600 Sunday morning to go to Duane's rescue practice, down in darkest San Pedro. We invite you to join us on future club events!

Regards,

    Carol & George Miller

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View picture of Channel Islands Harbor

Hello Everyone,

I expect that there will be a more formal trip report coming from George Miller or Mike Brown, but I wanted to make a small offering regarding the wonderful time Vicki and I had with at the almost full moon paddle last night in Channel Islands Harbor.

The weather was perfect for a relaxing summer moonlight paddle. No fog, so we could see the spectacular moon. No wind, so the moon was reflected off of the water. The air temperature was perfect. And the company was entertaining and fun to be with.

There were about seventeen paddlers on this trip all decked out in light sticks on the ends of our paddles and boats. I don't think I've ever seen so many different colored light sticks. Red, green, blue, purple, yellow and orange. The light sticks were quite visible in the dark, yet they were not so bright as to impair our night vision. In order to make sure that my boat stood out, I stuck a spotlight inside the bow compartment of my boat. The light of the spotlight coming through the kayak's yellow plastic hull made the whole front end of the boat look like a giant light stick.

Vicki told me of an interesting thing that she observed while I was unloading our boats. One of our more charismatic kayakers had acquired a light that was attached to a rather large suction cup. Since the paddler was fortunate enough to have a head so perfect that he did not require hair to cover it up, the idea occurred to him that he could mount the light on his head by sticking the suction cup to the top of his head. Well, you guessed it, the suction cup was rather large and worked better than expected. The poor guy really had to fight with the contraption to get it off his head. When he finally managed to break the suction the light let go with a loud "pop". And where it had been was this large red hickie on the top of his head. You never know what our friends will do to amuse us.

The trip through the harbor was really beautiful. I wish that I had brought a camera to get a picture of the moon reflecting of the water with a variety of colored light sticks marking the location kayakers. The memory of this scene is one that I hope to keep for a long time.

Vicki and I were having such a good time that we did not want to quit when everyone else decided to head back. So we took a round about route back which entailed going around the breakwater. Although paddling in the harbor at night was special because everything looked different, getting out on the open ocean in the moonlight was really wonderful. We could see lights along the coast line all the way from Port Hueneme to Ventura. There were even occasional fireworks from a variety of locations that added to the magic of the evening. The swell was just enough to be fun without being intimidating. I don't think I could have orchestrated a more interesting blend if I had the power to do so.

Not long after we rounded the breakwater and headed into the calm water of the "Pond" I heard a thump in the bow of may boat as if I had hit the boat hard with my paddle. Only problem was that I was sure that I had not banged my boat with my paddle or anything else for that matter. Something in the water had taken an interest in the glowing hull of my boat! When I mentioned this to Vicki she said that she thought she had seen a seal or something in the water near my boat. With all the talk of white sharks recently I began to feel a little nervous. Are large predators attracted to glowing kayaks? Vicki didn't make things any easier when she started to sing "Dum, dum, dumb" from the Jaws soundtrack. I told myself that making the boat glow was probably a good idea for paddling around in a harbor at night, but not such a good idea for heading out into the ocean.

Fortunately whatever it was that had smacked my boat decided that yellow plastic was not what it wanted for supper, and we made the trip back to Kiddie beach without any more excitement. We left the water about 11 pm. But the wonder of the evening is still with us.

My thanks to George and Carol Miller for organizing this paddle and bringing so many interesting people together for such an enchanted evening.

    Patrick Martin

Submitted on July 13, 2003