Anyway, we didn't loose much time, but since we were so close to the caves, we decided to go east and check them out instead of going west for the deep pool. The mysteries of the deep pool will have to wait for another day.
Surf at Abalone cove was 1-to-3 feet and the same at Portuguese Point. Nothing was really very surfable, but there was a surprising amount of water surging through, over and around the rocks, creating a lot of fun opportunities. The large surge channels on the west end of the point were open, as well as many little ones. Tide wasn't quite high enough to get up on top of the reef. After warming up for a while, we proceeded to the cave on the east side of the point.
Though conditions are rarely suitable to do so, this is the cave that goes all the way through to Smugglers Cove. Technically, I guess that makes it a tunnel. There is a large fang hanging down which dominates cave center, making it fairly tricky to get all the way through with your head still attached. This wasn't a day for that because waves were peaking up in an alarming way in front of the cave mouth and then breaking about mid cave. During the lulls it was safe to back in while keeping a sharp eye on the incoming waves. None of us went very far back into the cave.
What makes for poor caving makes for good surfing. The east corner of Smugglers cove had very consistent well shaped waves, as it usually does. The shape of the cove focuses the swell, making the waves in there about 50% larger than the surrounding area. It was 3-to-5 feet of waves perfectly suited for our long boats. Tide was dropping, so this spot would only get better.
I was anxious to check out the long cave at the west side of Inspiration point (the east point). It's about 25 meters long with a left curve and a secondary cave at the rear which makes a blowhole during the right conditions. It's the best of our local caves and usually is loads of fun. There is a partially submerged rock just outside the entrance in the center of the channel that we often use to play "king of the rock", but also makes entering and leaving the cave more challenging.
On Saturday the combination of swell and relatively low tide turned that cave into a river. Waves weren't really breaking at all; they were just turning from swell directly into surge. The was enough water flowing that it made the likelihood of getting out of control too high for me to chance it. George was paddling the most maneuverable boat and was able to circle the rock, but didn't go in. We'll save it for another day.
The east cave of Inspiration point usually isn't too much fun. Saturday was no exception, except that the channel between the reefs leading into the cave was energized into a fun churn. I was trying out my coaster for the first time, so I wanted to do some exits and reentries anyway. This was the place.
I was first in and Paul came to the rescue. The waves in there weren't large at all, but it was pretty lively with rocks all around. George came in so I could grab his bow and he towed Paul and I and our boats into calmer water closer to the mouth of the channel. Paul and some others got in the water as well. This kind of practice is much more practically useful than open water practices because no one really ever swims in open water. It really gives you chance to find out how your rescues work in the real world. I found out that assisted re-entries were a little tricky in the Coaster due to the way the seat back attached to the sides. I need to change that some. Re-entry and roll was a snap and the boat floated high and dry.
Victor got the "ride of the day" on the east side of the point when he got off line on a surge channel entry. He ended up doing a washover that was about a 6 foot drop. Accidental, but very cool!
We took a long break on the west end of Portuguese bend - which is where the highlight of the trip was. Jack (for reasons only jack can explain) was tossing a piece of cookie at Victor who was a ways off - he had to throw hard. He somehow failed to consider that George was in between him and Victor, only a few feet from Jack. There was a kind of high pitched "whack" when the cookie hit George's helmet really hard.
George's response: "what the *&^! ?"
We all laughed for 10 minutes - even George. I'm still laughing.
Reason # 642 for wearing a helmet while kayaking.
Anyway, after a good long break we went back and surfed Smugglers cove until we tired of it. The waves were even better than earlier and everyone was catching good ones. The most consistent were close to the rocks on the right (east), but there was a bigger break to the left that was going off every few minutes. Vickie was patiently surfing that one. Everyone else seemed to be somewhere in between most of the time. I saw a few combat rolls, but don't recall any swims. As the day progressed I saw paddlers getting better and better control of their long boats on the waves. It was really fun.
Generally we had a good system going so that people would surf in, turn left, and then go back out on the left (surfer view). Most of the time the system worked, but not always. We did have a few collisions and near collisions and this is something we're going to have to focus on preventing in the future before someone gets hurt.
Steve Brown