The weather was sunny with a slight breeze and remained that way all day. Paddling close to shore, the scenery was mostly made up of expensive beach houses and estates. There were very few people to be seen along the coast considering all the dwellings. I arrived at Summerland within a hour, so I decided to continue on to the next point. Later I found out that this is Loon Point. It was a rather pretty place with a sand beach between some boulders. I ended up side surfing in on a 2 foot wave and took on a little water in my cockpit. I was relieved to find out that my day hatch bulkhead no longer leaks from the cockpit. The silicone caulk seems to work rather well, as the bulkhead didn't leak all day.

After a quick break and an almond butter sandwich I set off back to Montecito. Instead of following close to shore, I set a course straight to Montecito which brought me about an eighth mile from shore in places. The only wildlife that was present during the paddle was when I was about a half mile from Montecito. Here I was treated to four separate pods of dolphins having quite a feast while seagulls were picking up the leftovers.

I must say that I prefer the paddling up the coast better than the highly populated areas around Santa Barbara, but this added another 4 = miles to my coastal paddling record.

Now I have paddled from Gato (see Gaviota to Cojo trip report) to Loon Point. This is a total of approximately 53 miles. To continue this I guess next I'll paddle from Summerland to Carpinteria. It was a nice paddle, but I missed the camaraderie of paddling with my CKF friends.

Regards

Mike Plummer