After a brief detour to check out Portuguese Point, Ann decided to sit this paddle out and the four of us headed west toward Point Vicente.

The fun started in the reefs at the west end of Abalone cove. There were several washovers and surge channels to choose from. The area does not have a single reef, but a multiple reef structure that can make getting through interesting. We all had fun. At one point Mike took and run through and flipped. From my vantage point on one side of the reef and also Hugh and Jack on the other side, it looked like Mike was going to do some major head whacking. He rolled up in a snap. I think we were all expecting some blood and helmet scapage, but instead Mike came up with a smile. Apparently there were two reefs and Mikes head went nicely in the space between the two. That same thing has happened to me at several different double reef locations so I'm starting to think it may have more to do with hydraulics than good luck. Anyway, I don't recommend doing it on purpose to test my theory.

In the lee of Long Point were weaving in and out of the rocks in the surge. Generally, the waves don't break hard in that area, but the swell causes some pretty strong currents to swirl in and around the rocks. It's really fun, unless you get flipped and jammed up in some rocks so you can't roll like one of our paddlers (become swimmer). He was calm and composed as he got circulated and swished around between some rocks several times as the surge came in and out. Eventually, he got the rhythm and swam one out for an easy assisted re-entry. He was covered in Neoprene so there was no damage done.

As we rounded Long Point we could see that Point Vicente was very active. Also, the whole line for several hundred meters up swell of Shark Rock was going off with some very grabby looking curling breakers. The tide was too low to consider going behind Shark Rock. Usually we would have weaved through the rocks in front of Shark Rock, but today it really looked like one of those breakers could grab and carry you all the way into the various exposed rocks in it's path.

In the lee of Point Vicente, right in front of the Point Vicente "Fisherman's Access", there is a really big rock (or rock jumble). The swell was just exploding off of it, sending water 20 of 30 feet into the air. Mike and Jack were having fun (?) taking turns sitting a few meters in front of the rock while the other snapped a photo of the detonation. I was too chicken to sit in front so I went behind the rock where I was soon joined by the others. Waves were coming in sets, and on a big one the back side of the rock was total chaos, with almost as much water above as below. Very fun, with virtually no danger.

We anticipated even more fun at the big rock 200 meters offshore of Point Vicente, but when we got there it just looked too ugly. Some of the waves would start breaking when they hit the rock, wrap around, and just keep breaking all the way in past the boulder field on the way to the point. We all sat there and looked for a while, didn't really say much, and then just paddled on (outside the rock).

A while later we parked off shore to look at one of our usual surf play spots. The waves were plunging hard a ways off shore. The big ones were probably 6+ feet, and all of them looked like no fun at all to surf. We discussed landing there for a break, but decided against it.

Later Jack found a nice quiet little channel in the rocks near the Big Pool to take a break & snack. We debated whether conditions were truly difficult, or whether our fright-o-meters were just over active due to lack of exposure over the summer. There was no clear consensus on that, but all were glad to have some non-boring conditions and looking forward to more throughout the coming months.

Anyway, a fun day, in enjoyable and dependable company, right at the beginning of kayaking season!

    Steve Brown