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Saturday 09/14/02    Return to Recent Trips

Marine Land - to - Palos Verdes Point

The four of us met at the Marine Land parking lot at 9:30AM. It was great to see and paddle Patrick and Don. We haven't paddled much with Patrick since our aborted Tsunami class. Between his vacation and ours, we hadn't seen Don in about 7 weeks. Jack is still in Minnesota and likely won't be back until November.

Peninsula Paradise Tours was taking a large group out on SOT kayaks, and another group looked like they were holding some sort of training for divers. Once on the water, many of our favorite play areas were packed with fisherman (and fisherwomen) We paddle this coast every week, all year, and we are definitely looking forward to "getting it back" when the weather and water starts to turn cold. It's not that we don't want to share the ocean, maybe just with fewer people at a time. Our real paddling season is fall, winter and spring, but especially winter when the whole coastline belongs to us. We use the summer to stay tuned up for the rest of the year.

I expected to see some carnage at the launch with the PPT group, but they did a great job of getting their clients into the water unharmed.

Weather was cool and overcast, perfect for paddling. Actually, once wet, the light wind was a little biting after some rolls soaked my hydroskin. Vickie complained of the same problem. It's about time to switch back to a full 3/2 wetsuit for rock gardening.

Water conditions were very mellow. My Fun-O-Meter rating of only "Very Fun" for this trip is not a negative. As the Fun-O-Meter rating gets into the "Super Fun" range, the relaxation level begins to decline. By the time it gets to "Euphoric", you're running on pure adrenalin. Vickie and I have been going pretty non-stop for the last 6 weeks or so, so a mellow (but not at all boring) day was just what we wanted.

There wasn't much trouble to get in except in the rocks, and then not very much. Early in the day Don and Patrick somehow got tangled up behind Shark Rock, but there was no damage to boats or bodies, and everyone stayed upright. I missed the shot, but finally got my camera running just as Patrick was exiting. He is trying to beat that small curling breaker coming around the rock.

This was one of the first times that Patrick has had his new (not anymore) Looksha Sport LV in rock gardens. It looks like a pretty nifty rock garden boat. He seemed to be able to point it wherever he wanted and get the job done. He said he is still getting used to it, so I don't think he has taped the full potential yet. He did put some nice "character scratches" (his words) on the boat so it is not new anymore. Off all the places I have paddled in rocks from Baja to Northern California, the PV area has the sharpest rocks of them all.

Tide was too low for getting into the Big Pool on the way out, but we were able to play some on the shelf in front of it. Don got the best ride out. We paddled to Rest Point and ate lunch. Then we headed for PV point to take a look at the Dominator Wreck. It was mostly submerged and not very interesting today.

On the way back we cut behind the reef at Resort point. I went in the side all the way the north, but Don found an alternate entrance in the front (west). My ride was pretty low intensity, but I saw a lot of paddle whirling over the rocks, and then eventually saw Don. I think he picked the fun route which I will try next time.

We took another break at rest point. Really we were just killing time so that the tide would go up and make the Big Pool more accessible. By the way, I finally counted headlands and figured out where Rest point is. It is the third headland south of PV point -

33º45'37"N x 118º25'08"W

On the way back to the big pool, I was able to find some little channels I had never been in before. My 17' Siroco got me jammed up a few times. Once the pointy bow stuck right into a little crack, then the current started to pull the boat to the side. Some very energetic (panicked) sculling draws got me to where I could back out before crumpling the plastic. I'm anxious to get back with a shorter boat again. When I got out of there the group was looking for me as I was completely hidden in this channel. I think with the right tide and swell it will make a fun ride.

Once back at the Big Pool we were able to get in. I made four runs. One was decent, the others were very sloppy. Don made two runs. One good one and one excellent one. He makes it look easy, which is all part of the fun. Click the picture at right to see the video (I hope):

The rest of the trip back was mostly deep water paddling with some rolling practice (as usual) thrown in to finish off the day.

After having a blast in Baja, and then up in Washington the past few weeks I realized that Dorothy was right: "There is no place like home".