At 7:30AM John Petersen, Peter O'Sullivan and Rick Powell met up for an 8 o'clock launch. As usual, Peter was ready to go on time but the rest of us were still attending to gear, pit stops and the like. We were underway by 8:17 and headed out under overcast skies, a small west swell and light (almost non-existent) winds.

The first part of the padlle was uneventful. Peter was setting speed records with his new Nigel Foster paddle (I tried Mike Brown's a couple of weekends ago and have to say I am impressed with it's speed and comfort), John and I were having fun keeping up and we were all keeping a watchful eye out for powerboats coming out of the harbor.

At 2 miles we came upon our first pair of Sunfish. Peter and I both got some underwater shots (I had one come out good, the others cut out so much of the fish that they look like sharks) and John got up close and personal with one. At mile three we came upon a group of six small sunfish that immediately dove out of sight. Peter commented that he has never seen as many Sunfish in this area as he has this summer.

As we approached Gina there was a supply boat offloading ..... you guessed it, supplies. John and I were lining up for a couple of shots with Gina as a backdrop when all of sudden John is being swept up against the buoy for Gina which incidently had a large and a small sea lion sitting on it. I was thinking to myself, "Boy, John sure has no fear of that big sea lion that is perched two feet from his head. I am impressed!" About that time John looks up, applies his paddle to the water in a very determined and forthright manner and propels his kayak forward at a speed I did not know a collapsible kayak was capable of. As soon as we were clear we got some good shots and discussed the speed of the current and how it would affect our trip back.

While John and I were entertaining the sea lions Peter had paddled around the south side of Gina and was in the middle of a group of harbor seals or small sea lions that were swimming all around him. As we approached the rig John got into a quick conversation with one of the workers who was on a lower platform watching the crazy guys in the little boats paddle by.

We took a break on the north side of Gina, did some rolls, and had the biggest pod of dolphin I have ever seen swim through. There were well over fifty of them and Peter noted that they were a smaller variety than we do not see near shore and these were usually found around the Channel Islands. The overcast was still too thick to see Anacapa which was about 7 1/2 miles away at that point.

On the way back in we spotted another couple of Sunfish and decided to play in the pond for some rolling and/or surf practice. Peter demonstrated his encyclopedic knowledge of roll variations (making all of them look too easy). I tried a new roll at Peter and John's urging which resulted in S.I.C. (Self Inflicted Carnage) and an O.B.E. (Out of Boat Experience). Peter paddled over,we did a quick assisted rescue and I was back in the boat before Moby Minnow could say "Gotcha!".

At the point in the rescue where I am corkscrewing back into the cockpit Peter says" Now Rick, stop moving for a second.." My knife had come out of it's sheath and was about to slide off the side of my boat and into either (A) the top of Peter's deck or (B) Davey Jones' Locker (hopefully hitting Moby Minnow on the way down!). Now, I have to admit that Steve Holtzman gave fair warning on this and I passed on the advice. I need to find a place to mount a fixed blade knife in a way that avoids this situation in the future.

After my unintentional OBE John decided he wanted to do a wet re-entry and roll. After some quick tips from Peter he rolled over, wet exited and then spent a good deal of time underwater before he popped up with a great roll on the first try. Definitely a good skill to have in the bag of tricks.

After a few more minutes practicing rolls and drifting around we headed in and grabbed lunch at Daddy-O's. Definitely a great day on the water. As I am writing this I am looking out at the full moon wishing I was out with the rest of you who are paddling with George and Carol tonight!

    Rick Powell