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The Sea Was Apathetic This Day My Friends
Sunday November 1 |
| By: Mark Sanders |
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November One
But it was still a lovely day on the water! With an extra hour to play with this morn, I thought it was a good day to make the trip out to the Malibu environs to join Steve and Lee's Dan Blocker paddle. I was making good time as I passed LAX and thought I saw a car with a couple kayaks on top in my rear view. It looked like a Subaru and I wondered if Dave and Ken had decided to make the drive up. As it neared, I could see a kayak I'd never seen before, but it turned out to be Lead Foot Bob the Boat Builder and his lovely wive Meri! Bob was haulin' his new wooden creation to cause my confusion. Never having been to DB beach before, I was glad to have someone to follow, but Meri obviously was in a hurry to get on the water and told Bob to leave me in the dust, so I was soon heading down PCH alone! I got a little lost and called for help and soon I was driving up to the beach where Lee and Steve met me on the street and lugged the Sapsucker down to the water.
Also on the beach, to join the aforementioned, were Patrick and George Miller. I thought of all the stories I've read over the years of the northern crowd launching into killer surf, but you could find more waves in the horse trough on the Ponderosa than what we had to launch against! So the Magnificent Seven headed north on a clear morning way too warm to be expected. I guess I should mention that the one footer we faced as we left the sand WAS enough to sweep all of Steve's water off his deck without him noticing, so he was begging for water so as not to dehydrate on the trip. Good thing people like him!
It was a slow mosey north with time to chat along the way. I noticed Meri had switched to using a GP since the last time I paddled with her. George was just getting some time on the water since his accident, but still kept up the pace. I was enjoying the new scenery and in no time we were hanging out in the calm water at Point Dume. Next we landed at Paradise Cove, as Patrick had been harping on how great the bathrooms are there and wanted to show them off to us newcomers. Have to say, they were pretty fancy; not the kind of facilities you expect to encounter on a day paddle. We paddle home over the crystal clear water watching fish darting about in the sand and grass. Patrick and I were bit startled when we looked down and saw a scuba diver below us clear as day. We hugged the shore passing the few rocks lining the sand with little to worry about from the waves. By the time we neared the put in, George had again surged ahead. Everyone landed without incident.
Back at the cars, Lee told me that when he told his fiancee he was having his friend Steve play music at their wedding, she asked: "is that the guy with the cigar box ukulele?" Boy, she must be a saint if she would still marry him under those circumstances! But he set her straight tellin her "no, it's the guy with the hair!" Well, I like to think if I had hair, I'd sound just like Steve!
Feeling a bit guilty from all my kayak adventures lately, I decided to skip lunch and head home. Patrick helped me carry my boat up and when we got to my car, I noticed I'd parked in a read zone! Sure enoug, in the bushes there was a fire hydrant I didn't see as I pulled up in a hurry earlier. No ticket on the car, so maybe I got away with one today. And I had a great day on the water.
Mark
www.sandmarks.net
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