Did my normal exercise paddle at Dana Point out to the red buoy on the right of the break water (further one out). Swells were maybe 1-3 feet? Not huge, but fun. The wind was blowing pretty good though. Waves were breaking over the breakwater, and slight white caps on the top of some swells in the open. The wind made it the toughest paddle I have had yet. The paddling itself was not that hard, but keeping the boat on track, and dealing with the swells occasionally busting over the top on my little SOT kept me busy. Rounded the buoy and headed back to the harbor entrance. With the swells and wind I made this round in record time. Just a couple of minutes and I was back to the harbor.

With plenty of sun left I played around near the entrance, and finally cruised over to the surf at Doheny. While waiting for a set to come in I got a little too close to shore when a set finally came through. While still small waves, they were the biggest I had messed with yet. I decided not to try a catch the first wave as surfers were currently in my way (crossing to a better surf zone, I hang out on the edges). So i paddled into the first wave that was about to break and I made it over... somehow. I decided to try and lean back in the boat for the next wave, that was a mistake. The boat went up and over. I loaded back into the boat and managed to get through the next couple of waves.

Now I was chilly from my swim. figuring there were too many surfers and not enough waves I decided to paddle back out to the entrance to try and warm up. It worked. After some more playing around I worked my way back into the harbor and was amazed at how low the tide was. I had already planned to stay into the night, but was not sure I would be able to after my swim and the cool winds.

Then I found something to play on. Over near the break water is a low shoal that often times is only a few feet of water over nice sand. Not last night. It was a full on beach. I played around in the shallows as the water washed in and out. sometimes trapping me on the sand until the water came back in. Other times trying to catch a little ride on the little 6" rolling waves the low tide was setting up. This turned out to be a lot of silly fun. Most of the time I was paddling in less then 1 foot of water.

By the time I finally pulled out of the water I was pretty chilly. OK, my teeth might have been rattling a bit. I know the water was warmer then the air.

Low tide was so low that swimming in the roped of swimming area did not appear to be an option. You would have to walk out beyond the ropes to get into deep enough water.

    Wayne