[CKF Info] CKF & SDKC Dana Point Trip Report - Sunday, June 22, 2008

[Henry Pilcher]

CKF & SDKC Dana Point Trip Report
Sunday, June 22,2008

What a great group of kayakers for our joint paddle today!  And so many!  We had 23 paddlers representing CKF, SDKC, Meet-Up.com, and Freelancers from the counties of San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Bakersfield, and Los Angeles.

A big thank you to Jane Hardy, president of SDKC, for promoting today's paddle with her club and a big thank you to our CKF paddlers and all the other kayakers who came out and supported today's joint club paddle.

We launched a little after 8:30 a.m. once we took care of a welcome, introductions, and most importantly a few safety cautions regarding fog, rocks, and the shoreline.  Which was important because while we were unloading boats and gathering gear a blanket of fog descended on Dana Point Harbor first obscuring the sky, then the jetty, then boats in the harbor, and finally the beach where we were standing. 

After rounding the jetty we did a quick regroup before heading for the opening between one large rock that stands out in the bay and the rocks off the point.  Trouble was the rock and the point were nowhere to be seen due to the fog. We altered course and went for the farside of the rock and kept wide of the point which we could finally see had large waves breaking on the shore.

Somewhere after the jetty and before we rounded the rock we lost two paddlers who went off into the fog abyss and disappeared in seconds. What's that thought from the Ventura group - keep lost paddlers to a minimum of 10% of the total group.  Well, that was about right.  Actually, Duane and Steve took off for a little exploring on their own so we figured they were okay and we'd see them again sometime.  Which we did when funny enough they landed back at Dana Point at the same time as our group. 

By now the sun started to break through the fog bank giving us a view of our beautiful coast.  We paddled easily through the kelp under calm conditions to Three Arch Bay where we all decided to do our turn around after taking a peak at the three arches giving that point its name.

Heading back to Dana Point we passed numerous fishermen out for a day's catch, sailboats taking a spin in the wind, and boaters enjoying a beautiful day on the water.  

Most of us went to Charo Chicken for lunch where we took up two long tables and scrunched in close eating, talking, and getting to know each other with our new and familiar friends!  

Great conversations with a fun group!  Thank you for coming!

Kathy Pilcher, Director, CKF
Jane Hardy, President, SDKC

P.S. Paddlers today included Henry & Kathy, Howard & Sharon, Ken & Barb, Jane, Teresa, George, Ben, Bob(1), Bob(2), Bill, Win, Joe, Dennis, Pete, Duane, Steve, Carol, Vicky, Chuck, and John.