Another wonderful evening under the stars and moon...ok, the moon and stars were mostly covered up by the coastal fog, but it was still a great paddle! 16 paddlers showed up with 15 boats ranging from the standard sit-ins, a Feathercraft (folding kayak), a 2 man SOT, and SOTs. The paddlers ranged from the experienced to a first timer and according to my Timex all boats were in the water by 8:17pm.
Steve H took the lead and I opted to be the sweeper...especially since we had a few beginners. Steve headed to the east channel with the low bridge since we knew that the tide was high and still increasing. Steve and the faster paddlers had no problem ducking under the bridge, however, by the time I arrived (20 minutes later), the water, according to Steve had rose another 6" the last group of paddlers had to perform the Jamaican Limbo to squeeze under the last pipe (I had to lay completely flat on by back and suck in my gut!).
As we were nearing the far north end of the channel, Steve received a radio call telling him about 2 lost kayakers! Unheard of on my sponsored paddles...especially since I was the sweeper. To make a short story long (report writerss are paid by the word), our Feathercraft kayaker (Fred) instructed us to go w/out him since he still needed another 10 minutes or so and since we had his wife as hostage (Rachael), I mean paddling w/us, consensus felt it was ok. Just as Fred, was getting his boat wet, up pulled a late arrival, Brian. Brian asked Fred to wait and go w/him, since he was sorta/kinda familiar w/the harbor. I was told as they were paddling to find us in the west channel, Brian mentioned that he was surprised that the water was so low and he couldn't remember the bridge being some 30" above them (of course, this is hearsay, but funny nonetheless!) So Fred, put out the distress call (remember we had his wife as hostage!) Steve took a group back down the main channel to meet up with the lost souls while I anchored by the new homes waiting for the group ahead to return 2 lost kayakers were way above my limit and I didn't want to set a new CKF record.
Almost exactly 2 hours later we were back at Kiddie Beach with all heads (and boats) accounted for, however, Fred seem distressed (no, we didn't keep Rachael as a hostage). Brian offered to hold Fred's keys and after he landed decided to take a solo paddle out to the open ocean along w/Fred's keys. Last I heard he was still waiting for Brian to come ashore...just kidding, but it must have felt like an eternity waiting for him to come back.
I want to thank all the paddlers (Steve, Will, Chris, Ken, Fred, Rachael, Sherry, Laurie, Dennis, Sue, Wally, Brian, Jerry, Gail, and Christina) for indulging me in Full Moon paddle Certainly did enjoy the highlites a sea lion putting on a show (twice, going out and coming in) and the bioluminescent trails from the red tide. And to know that a few of us would make a 7 hour turn around and join Steve in Santa Barbara for a paddle was just icing on the cake!
Thanks!!!!
Steve Pietrolungo
Great paddle thanks for letting me come. We traveled about 6 miles according to my GPS, subtracting Steve Holzman's pre-launch jaunt to initiate me to the 'Pond')
The highlights for me besides hanging with y'all, were paddling at night and the bioluminescent trails from my paddle strokes. I could have stayed out all night padding in circles just staring at it. Paddling out past the jetty to the breakwater with intrepid Steve into 2-3 foot waves (I guess those 1-2 foot waves I had been paddling in were more like 6-8 inches) was pretty exciting for this newbie. I'm not sure I would have done that alone. The sunset was spectacular.
Also the two bright points of light visible in the western sky just after launch were Venus (closest to the horizon) then Jupiter.
Thanks all.
Will