San Diego Kayaker

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Paddling with the Wednesday Gang

I had a rare chance to paddle with the Wednesday morning paddlers. We launched out of Aqua Adventures, unfortunately as I slid off the dock, my wetsuit snagged on a nail and tore a small hole. Crud.

We headed out the channel, the high tide was about +7.5 feet so slipping over the jetty was a real option. However, the surf at Dog Beach made it suspect. In the end, all but Mike Brown opted to head down the channel.

We regrouped with Mike near the buoy, then turned southward toward the pier. We cruised past the pier for a bit. Greg needed to be off the water no later than 9:30, so we turned back. The water was fairly calm and the weather wonderful. It was hard to imagine this was the end of December even in San Diego.

After returning to the docks and loading up our boats, we enjoyed a warm drink from the deli. We wished everyone a good and healthy new year (not before helping Mike transfer a shipment of some new kayaks from the delivery truck to in front of the shop).

Thursday, December 03, 2009

BCU 3 STAR!!!

As many of you know I have been working on my British Canoe Union (BCU) assessments. They recently revamped their assessments, requiring us to retake each assessment. Four of us meet down at Aqua Adventures on Sunday. The day began with us assessing the paddling conditions and risks we might face. The float plan was to launch from next to the shop, then work our way down Sunset Cliffs.

After carrying the boats down the rocks, we slipped into the San Diego River. We quickly found ourselves at Dog Beach. We took a moment to pop into an eddy, and survey the surf before heading out. The surf was not like the last time I had my assessment (5 footers0, so paddling over to Ocean Beach Pier was not a problem. We spent a few minutes navigating under the pilings (weaving backwards through them, surfing down the middle), before continuing down the cliffs.

The conditions were such that we could get in nice a close, in fact one test Jen had us do was touch the cliffs while we were tucked inside a cove.

We landed down at No Surf beach (without surfing) for lunch. After lunch, which we sent Jake an SMS know how nice of a day we were having. After lunch we worked on the wet stuff. We did our various tows. Jen had us do some rapid tower-towee switching, as well as fast tow rope storage during the assessment. We then turned to rolls and rescues. The roll is what I failed on during my last assessment. I figured I should get that out of the way as quick as possible. I set up, and BAM up I came. In fact I almost went 360. At that point I knew the rest of the assessment should be no problem. We did the various rescues with no problem.

The Santa Ana winds were picking up slightly, so we wrapped up the deep water portion, and headed back to the shop. The paddle back was nice and comfortable (except for my thermos rolling back and forth as the swells rolled past.

We stopped off at Dog Beach again and played in the surf and demoing bracing. There was not a lot of surf. In fact I never caught a wave at all.

We then headed back toward the buoy and came back in via the channel since we were now at low tide and did not want to carry the boats up the rocks. They are working on the jetty, so we had to head a little further out and wider to get back in. Once we returned docks, we were informed that all four of us passed!!!!

Next up for me is attending the Golden Gate Kayak Symposium, past that I am not sure. 4 Star? Level 1 Coach?

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