Fortunately, what promised to be a dismal day to start ended up being really fun. Surf at Sunset Cliffs was 3-to-4 feet with nice clean waves. Participants were Chris, Jack, Victor, Philip, Vickie and me.
There were a few flips, some very minor collisions, and no swims. Mostly just fun surfing and the action was pretty much constant.
Our landings and attempted landings brought entertainment to all the people at the beach and to us. Tide was too low to get into our usual spot on the rocks with any style and a little too high to get into the alternate spot which is an exposed shelf adjacent to the usual spot.
I had the brilliant (not) idea of paddling into the crevasse and climbing out. It looked doable, so the first thing I did was throw my paddle up onto a ledge out of reach. Then I put my boat on the ledge just in reach, then I tried to climb onto the ledge. The rock was covered with some slippery green mossy junk and the hand/foot holds were sloping. It wasn't going to happen.
I kept trying to remember exactly why I threw my paddle out of reach. It seemed logical at the time, but now???
Meanwhile Vickie made it in using the alternate and came over to see what I was doing. After about 10 minutes of considering different options she used her paddle to reach down and sweep my paddle over to the edge where I could grab it.
I think Philip went in before me and Vickie caught his boat so he could exit before being swept out.
I paddled back to the usual landing spot and after repeated attempts (and rising tide) finally made it up onto the rocks far enough for Philip to grab my boat so I could jump out. "Jump" is a bit of exaggeration, but I made it out of the boat without falling back in.
Victor barely made it high enough to eject with some dignity while we held his boat.
Jack got a full head of steam and paddled straight into the rock with a thunk. We grabbed his boat, we grabbed him, and someone Jack and boat got up onto the rock without either falling back in.
By now we were all laughing and expecting more comedy when Chris landed, but he managed to paddle his boat all the way onto the rock. No fun at all. Must have been the rising tide.
Steve Brown