For me this was also the christening of my 75 lbs piece of Home Depot lumber to a CKF event. I had been taking it out 20 times or so for short practice paddles from Goleta Beach. I have never yet wet-exited or rolled my kayak yet - decided to put that off until the water is warmer, say, in May or so. I recently took a rolling class in a surf kayak from Paddle Sports, and that worked out quite well so the basics are covered.
The weather was gorgeous although it got a little windy at times and there was a little chop and 4 foot swells. As we progressed it got more windy, especially near Gaviota which is known for its outlandish winds. By that time Mike Plummer had dropped out because of back problems. We would pick him up on the way back.
Mike Bode offered to land first so he could take our pictures as we landed. Gaviota has a slightly steep beach which can lead to challenging surf but not this time. Everybody landed without a problem. We quickly learned that the park was closed because it had been flooded recently. We had lunch, admired each others boats (I had not seen Pat's yet - nice boat but with a little bit of bow slap, otherwise fine).
Pat received cheers from bystanders as he routinely picked the worst possible moment to launch and made some spectacular jumps over a few breakers. The rest launched without cheers or spectacle. We had prepared ourselves for a speedy return with the wind in our backs, surfing all the way. Unfortunately, the weather was a little beyond surfing. Still getting used to the sit-in experience, I was scared at times and had to force myself to forget about it and just paddle with 6 foot swells and whitecaps coming in from behind. The slow pace was annoying, speed is a stabilizer and waiting didn't help me much. We picked up Mike a little later and on we went. Having stayed right side up that long without significant moments of panic, I overcame my anxiety and was relaxed for the rest of the ride. Just a long slug, excruciatingly slow because everybody spent their energy on bracing and negotiating the waves. For me, it felt like a riding a bull for 3 hours straight.
Despite the conditions and our mediocrity, everybody managed to stay up in their boats. Mike Plummer landed first, landing was now a breeze after all this. Pat was walking around like he had indeed been riding that bull, and Mike Bode quipped "Great! Let's do it again tomorrow!". If we can get up without medical assistance, that is. He thought we might at least have gained 10 minutes surfing, to me it seemed like we lost at least an hour - I've done this stretch before. How good it felt to have both feet on the ground. And what a great paddle it was. It surely boosted my skills. And by the way my kayak performed admirably. No skeg needed, no weathercocking, good speed. Thanks Pat for the organization.
Henk Aling