Seven kayakers and one used to be kayaker, now a kayaker wannabe (me) gathered on the beach at Westward Beach this morning much later than planned. As I was driving to the put-in, Mike Brown called to let me know that he was running a little late.

Soon I was at the beach and met Patrick who was parked on the street and not in the pay lot, 1/2 mile down the road. I parked and we watched the surf which was coming in extremely close to each other. The only good launch times were between these long sets and I was thinking it would take everybody a long time to launch doing it one at a time.

Mike finally showed up and told Patrick and me that we were in the wrong place as everybody usually meets in the pay lot. We drove there and found three other cars and boats there. George and Mike Condit were already launching as we unloaded our boats and changed clothes.

Finally we had Paul Jonason, Mike Condit, and George Miller on the water, with Patrick Martin, Ines(I can't remember her last name), Mike, and I on the beach. As we were getting ready to launch, a new to the group paddler, Chris (no last name given) came up and said he just arrived. Although he had taken Southwind's coastal kayaking class, he wanted to know if we would wait for him as he didn't want to paddle in the fog alone.

We waited, and Mike Condit landed in his brand new Avocet, while Patrick launched. Patrick got caught in the soup and was having a little trouble getting turned in the correct direction and getting out through the 3 foot steep breaking waves. Mike B gave his significant other, Ines a mighty shove and she paddled right through some huge breaking waves. At that point, Patrick got his boat turned and paddled out as well.

Mike C and I then launched Chris and he paddled out through all of the breaking waves without any problems. Then I launched and Mike B followed.

We started heading NW towards Broad Beach and soon we overtook a swimmer - then another (lifeguards out for a practice?) We kept going and saw a few dolphins. The water was pretty calm and we soon paddled the 3-4 miles to Broad Beach.

We picked out a landing spot midway on the beach and everybody made a great landing. That is everybody but me. Patrick and I were sitting outside the surf zone just watching the beach. Finally I decided to pay attention and notice Patrick, who was about 50 feet further out, furiously back paddling to get over a wave that was starting to break.

I was parallel to the wave and I realized it was going to break right on top of me. I started to do some extended sweep strokes to turn into the wave and I just got my bow into it as it started to break. Of course, by doing extended sweeps, I was leaning the wrong way and promptly capsized.

I was half over and and half up on my off side (it's hard enough for me to roll on my on side and I've never done one on my off side), so I pulled the plug and wet exited. The water was shallow, so I stood up, and grabbed the toggle of my capsized boat and kept pushing it ashore as I followed.

Once on shore, and in keeping with the Kelp Award tradition, I draped a small piece of kelp over my bow, Soon there was a lot of kelp draped over my stern and bow as well.

We got out the photo map we had of the coastal access areas and we stayed right next to a sign that said it was private property from the sign for 25 feet closer to the water. According to the Coastal Commission map, it should have read this is PUBLIC land from this sign and 25 feet further inland.

We decided the illegal signs must all have typos. Soon a security guard on an ATV drove by and waved at us. There were no hassles of any kind. We then launched and played in the long soup zone at this beach.

While we were playing around, Mike B rolled and said it was my turn. I said ok, and promptly went for my second swim of the day. Mike B came in for a T re-entry and as I was partway on my back deck, Mike C asked me to stop and stay in that position. He had an idea.

In many of the classes we have all taken from Wayne, he has told us not to stand around but see what we could do to assist in rescues someone else was doing. Mike's idea was paddle up behind the rescuee, and have them hook their foot over his bow. It was sort of like using a boat for a sling or stirrup. I will say, it worked extremely well, but I don't think it would have been doable in rough conditions.

After I was in my boat, we started paddling back. We saw numerous dolphin playing in the surf zone, a paddle board person paddling towards us - and finally surfer and CKF member Rick Powell, paddled out on his surf board to say hello to several of the group.

The conditions on the way back were considerably different than we had going out. There was a 15 knot wind on our sterns that we didn't feel until we landed, but the smooth water was now full of whitecaps. Most of us had several breaking waves break on us as we paddled back and there was not only a lot of regular surfing, but there was a lot of side surfing as we paddled back through the breaking wind waves.

When we arrived at Westward Beach, everybody landed without incident and we made the long carry of the boats back to the beach.

What a great day on the water even if I did feel like a beginner again. Patrick's friend Moby Minnow was there to make certain that I didn't get too cocky today. The best thing about my multiple swims was that the water was extremely warm today.

    Steve Holtzman

Directions: Exit Highway 1 at the south end of Zuma Beach at Westward Road. Drive to the end and park. See Tour LA2 from Robert Mohle's "Adventure Kayaking Trips from Big Sur to San Diego"

See picture of Westward Beach (Pt. Dume County Beach)
See picture of Broad Beach

I wanted to add a note to Steve Holtzman's report about the fun we had at Broad Beach yesterday. I was really impressed by a maneuver made by Paul Jonason.

Paul is a professional photographer, and when he pulled out his camera it caught my eye. Unlike most of the cameras that I've seen on the water, Paul's camera had a big lens, a sleek silver body, and looked like it was worth more money than most of my boats. I was about to ask Paul if his camera was waterproof when one of those big nasty waves seemed to come out of nowhere to ambush us. Ask any of the Old Farts about all the goggles, glasses, and sun glasses that we have lost in the pond and it becomes obvious that big waves are attracted by expensive optics.

I was facing the shore and Paul was facing the ocean. As I backpaddled frantically into the wave with the hope of making over the top I took a last glance at Paul. Paul was still holding his camera and he was sitting at ground zero with the wave about to blow him away. I groaned as the wave devoured him. I briefly saw Paul's bow poke through the dumping wave but the bow was rotating. Not a good sign.

When the wave had passed, the hull of Paul's boat was all there was to be seen in the foam. I was hoping for three things: I was hoping that Paul was not hung up in his boat; I was hoping that he had not lost that beautiful camera; and I was hoping that the camera was waterproof. Then, just as I was starting to paddle toward Paul, he rolled up and shook the water from his face. After checking to make sure there was not another big wave on the way, he retrieved his camera from it's tether, checked it out and smiled as he said "I'm glad it's waterproof". The only thing that he had lost was his hat, which he recovered after landing briefly on the beach.

When I talked to Paul, he told me that he realized he was in trouble when he saw the wave looming behind us. Since he had his camera in his hand rather than his paddle, he decided to make the best of the opportunity and shoot the wave. His only regret was that there wasn't time to check his settings before clicking the shutter.

Paul's a real photographer. He thinks about camera settings while looking drooling death in the eye and calmly taking his picture. He's also a pretty good kayaker to pull off a roll like that.

I can't wait to see what that picture looks like.