I (Patrick Martin) was the first one to get to the beach. Since I get distracted by conversations when getting my gear ready, I try to get there at least an hour before launch time. To my surprise George Miller showed up early too. Since it only takes George a couple of minutes from the time he parks his car to the time he launches his boat, George seldom shows up as early as I do. George's plans were to launch from the same beach as us, but instead of paddling to Pt. Dume, he intended to paddle to Leo Carrillo beach which is so far beyond Pt. Dume that it doesn't even show up on the same page of my map. Since George intended to paddle about 8 miles farther than the rest of us, his plan was to launch about 40 minutes before everyone else and then pass us by on the return trip.

Just as George was about to launch, Steve Holtzman showed up. Steve remembered to bring his new camera, but somehow left his kayak at home. Since he didn't want to appear to be absent minded, Steve came up with this wonderful story that he really hadn't intended to paddle with us today because he's going to be heading to the Amazon jungle on Wednesday and he needed to spend his day packing the things that an intrepid explorer needs to survive on a trip up the Amazon river. I decided to believe Steve on the merits of the creativity of his story (although I suspect that it is one of the stories that he used on his grade school teachers - "Honest, Ms. Fill-in-the-blank, an alligator ate my homework!). Anyway, Steve was able to get some really great shots of the follies that followed. A word of advice, be careful what you do when there is a guy on the beach holding a camera attached to a 10-pound zoom lens. View Steve's shots of the follies.

The next paddler to show up was Paul Jonason. By the time Paul got there, George had disappeared over the horizon. Then came Mike Condit, Paul Change, Skip Muns, and Mike and Ines Brown. Ines also forgot to bring her boat, and her story was that she didn't intend to paddle because she is running in a race and needs to rest (as if keeping up with us required energy or something.)

While we were waiting for Mike Brown to get his boating gear organized, Paul Chang decided to show us some interesting surf landing techniques. Steve got this wonderful shot of Paul's kayak on its side with his foot sticking up in the air (ref: Glub Glub). This pretty much set the tone for the rest of what was to follow. When it came time for all of us to launch there was chaos everywhere thanks to some tricky waves that washed across the beach from side to side taking kayakers with them. Although no one went swimming during the launches, some people did set new records for the number of attempts that were required to make it through the surf zone.

Also, a lesson to be learned: just because the guy next to you finally makes it off the beach, do not launch until he makes it all the way through the surf zone. If you do feel an overwhelming urge to launch at the same time as someone else, move your boat far enough down the beach so that there is no way you will ram into each other when the surf clobbers your friend and sends him back at you faster than you can get out of the way. This is not a new lesson, but for some reason the excitement of carnage in the water can impair our judgment.

Anyway, the rest of the day went pretty much as planned. We did a landing at Paradise Cove to drop off a couple of paddlers who did not want to go all the way to Point Dume. Then we met George on his way back. George joined us for the trip from Paradise Cove to Pt. Dume and back. But on the return trip his kayak slipped into fast-forward and he ended up back at the starting point in about half the time that it took the rest of us. As we passed Paradise Cove on the return trip we picked up our two paddlers who where hanging out on the beach and they swore that they were not drinking at the bar while waiting for us go come back.

All it all it was a great day on the water. About the only thing missing were the whales. My thanks to Paul Jonason for organizing this trip.

Patrick Martin

Directions to the launch are as follows:
From the Valleys: East on PCH from Malibu Canyon intersection. At the bottom of the hill turn right on Webb Way (signal) then right on Malibu Road following it almost to the end where in climbs back up to PCH. There is a public phone and a road down to the beach.

From the LA/Santa Monica area: West on PCH past Malibu Pier and Surfrider Beach. Cross the bridge continuing past the controlled intersection at Cross Creek. Left at Webb Way and follow as above.

View map
View picture of Dan Blocker Beach