At Dan Blocker Beach this morning, there were five paddlers at the appointed spot. They were Patrick Martin, Skip Muns, Paul Jonason, Peter O'Sullivan, and me. Peter commented that he had seen Lee Shurie driving the other direction, but a walk up to the PCH did not find him.

By the time we were ready to launch, we could see 2 kayaks about 1/4 mile down the beach. Peter decided to launch first with Skip and catch up to the other paddlers to link up with them. Unfortunately, Skip got his first kelp award of the day and Peter had to stop to help Skip get back in his boat. Patrick and I had been commenting about how flat the surf was just in time to watch Paul launch into the only large wave of the morning. About 1/2 his boat went airborne as he successfully punched through it.

Then Patrick and I launched and neither of us got as much as a splash on us - unfortunately, it was so hot, we would really have enjoyed getting wet.

We all paddled to the other two paddlers and met up with both Lee Shurie and Dave Houser, who drove up from Long Beach. Dave has been paddling with Dublin Dave and Duane Strosaker on their Wednesday evening fitness paddles, and also was the 2nd place winner of this year's Bay to Bay race in the 17' and under class. When we all started paddling, I think Peter had to attach a sea anchor to Dave's boat so that the rest of us could keep up with him.

The water was very warm, flat and the air temperature was unbearably hot. There was a lot of rotary cooling going on. We made it to Point Dume (5 NM) in about an hour and thirty minutes. Not a bad pace considering we were stopping every 20 minutes or so to get wet and cool down. We all landed (with only one kelp award being handed out for a capsize) and I performed a rather new move called the O'Sullivan maneuver.

Several months ago, Peter fell after exiting his boat and was grabbed by the rip going out and pulled out to sea without his boat. Well today, after I landed, I popped my skirt, got out and promptly fell on to my butt in the water. Patrick, who was the only one who hadn't landed yet, was laughing his butt off since all he could see were my legs up in the air and me coming out to meet him. It could have been worse - at least it wasn't the middle of the winter with it's cold water. Today, it was refreshing.

After a 40 minute break, we all launched without incident and paddled back to Dan Blocker. It was nice to see the entire group of seven staying together as a tight knit pod. We broke off into two groups at the beach to land near our cars, and everyone landed without incident.

After loading our boats, we all went down to the local Subway for some lunch and as Peter said - to observe the entire free world's supply of Botox and silicone.

See ya on the water.

    Steve Holtzman

During one of the cooling off periods, Peter did a roll and I commented that I had not seen him do one where he lays forward instead of back. He said it was his storm roll and he practices it frequently.

Dave Houser asked some more questions about it and decided to try it

He missed his first try, and then his second. He then tried two attempts at an off side roll and missed those. Then he went to his on side and missed. Peter then went in to try a bow rescue, but Dave was still trying to come up. Of course the bow of Peter's boat made it impossible for him to come up, so he then wet exited and we did a standard T rescue.

I don't think I have ever seen one person do that many attempts at a roll. He had to have been breathing underwater. Maybe at the next CKF fest we can have a contest for the most amount of successive failed rolls as well as the normal rolling contest we hold.

Peter O'Sullivan, Steve Holtzman, Patrick Martin, Lee Shurie, Skip Muns, Paul Jonason and I attended the Sunday, 9/12, paddle from Dan Blocker Beach to Point Dune. Lee and I managed to meet on PCH parking next to each other. No one else had appeared at the 8:30 launch time so Lee and I we getting ready to launch when the rest of the gang appeared approaching from the east on the water. How they got on the water just a short ways down the beach with out us seeing them is still a mystery to me because we were watching for kayakers on the sand.

The launch was not too intimidating with just a couple foot high breaker feet from the sand. Just let one crash and push off and you’ll be past them. Well, I can screw up any thing with just a little imagination. I set up too close to the water and by the time I got the spray skit on I had 4 inches of sand and water in the kayak. The launch was easy but I had to pump out when I got outside.

It was an absolute beautiful day, glassy water, sunny and clear. With a few intros the group was off. It took me a short while to adjust to the slower rhythm of the group, abandon the Orange County madman paddling pace and adapt to the Old Farts gentlemen’s paddling etiquette. There was plenty of time to practice whatever along the way. So I did a lot of bow ruddders, hanging braces and low braced turns and the blazing sun inspired everyone to stop and practice rolls frequently. Peter was a master with his Popsicle stick shaped (greenland) paddle. He showed me the forward Storm Roll. He said it could be done with a euro paddle. I have to differ with that statement!

We stopped outside the Great White pen and looked for fins cutting the surface but none were seen. A few of us speculated which mansion on the bluffs belonged to Barbara Streisand and no one seemed to really care. We all just enjoyed the scenery

We landed just around Point Dume on the end of Westward Beach. The locals were kind enough to provide us entertainment. A film crew was set up doing a lot of not much. An organized group was top roping (rock climbing) the major cliff on the point with at least five ropes set up with climbers hanging, skidding, shaking and oh yea climbing all over the rock.

I was determined to do better on the second launch. So I set up higher on the wet sand and got buttoned into my boat just as the shorebreak crashed up onto the steep sand. With a quick shove and couple strokes I was riding the backwash out head on into the next building wave. I paddled with my best Orange County form and punched through the wave just as it curled and slammed against my chest. I am glad it was only ten feet offshore, two more feet and I would have been picking sand crabs out of my hide.

The return trip was just as causal and delightful as the trip out. Lee and I pretended we were rock gardening by backing up to some tide pools in the bathtub still water. Then along the side of the next cove Pat and I went inside in the shallows over the sea grass in search of underwater wildlife only to see a few baitfish and starfish. More rolls, paddling backwards and maneuvers on the way back. And then, as Dublin Dave showed me on a previous trip, I practiced my hang time by kayak snorkeling, hanging upside down with a face mask on while watching the underwater world and then rolling up, great fun between the sea grass and kelp. Lee and I parted from the group at our put in location and managed to find a small area clear of beach bathers to land in front of our cars.

This was my first trip "North" and it could not have been more fun. Skip, the newest paddler in the group, mentioned several times throughout the paddle how much fun he was having and I can only agree. It was a great day with fun group of paddlers.