I set course for the shore right away. In a split second I realized that I headed into the place where these 6 foot swells broke right in front of me and looking over my shoulder, 8 footers were on the way. I backpaddled frantically to stay upright because I'd rather be closer to a shark in my kayak than a little further away swimming with the sharks with no chance of re-entry.
I managed to stay upright and started heading back for Goleta Beach. After a while even nastier swells showed up breaking further and further out. Moving out to sea I had trouble keeping up with the speed of the breaking point moving out even though I knew I should have enough speed in spite of the wind. Eventually I got past it and was able to paddle back, deliberately not looking too close at objects that might be a shark or maybe just kelp. Being new to sit-in kayaking I took my time to land and got very close to the 2 foot surf that did not seem to change. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a set of 6 footers approaching and started backpaddling like I did before. Just in time. After the set passed I came in for a perfect landing in 2 foot surf. Normally a set takes an equal amount of time as the window but this time the window lasted at least 5 times longer.
This just goes to show how unpredictable the waves can be even in one of the most sheltered places along the coast. I took a walk of a few miles and noticed that the otherwise friendly surf had turned into a dumping surf which is unusual for this place. The tide was really low too. Surfing the web later I found that there was a small craft advisory in effect. When you think about it, 4 things went wrong at the same time:
The good thing about it is, I'll enjoy Christmas even better than I would otherwise. Merry Christmas everybody,
Henk