[CKF Info] CKF: Trip report: Haskell's Beach to El Capitan 5/11/08 11AM

[Henk Aling]

Three people showed up for the paddle from Haskell's
Beach to El Capitan Beach: Alice Courvoisier, Scott
Christie and myself (Henk Aling). Alice had rented a
plastic 16' Necky from Paddle Sports, Scott brought
his Coho and I brought my own home built. Alice asked
if riding your home built wooden kayak was the norm
here, since she had just paddled with Richard who has
one, and next Scott and me, that is 75% home built
wooden boats so far.

I picked Alice up at Paddle Sports with her kayak and we 
got to the Bacara a bit before 11AM. After we carried our 
kayaks to the beach, Scott had arrived. The upper part of 
the beach was all rocks, the lower part was a flat sandy beach 
thanks to the low tide. We figured this could be a problem by 
the time we came back. The weather was basically fine but 
overcast, without the sunshine that makes paddles like these 
spectacular.

Alice launched fine, scaling 3 or 4 waves right before they
broke, Scott followed. At my first trial I got swept sideways -
always tricky with a zero rocker 19 foot kayak on a flat beach. 
I set up again and made it fine except that I got splashed by the 
last wave. What else is new?

The views were magnificent. There was a bit of oil and tar but 
only very locally so that was not a problem. We saw lots of birds. 
The water was calm. When I suggested we stop for a break after 
an hour, Scott and Alice said they were still good to go so we 
went on. I spotted a nice quiet beach right before El Capitan and 
decided to turn back after we got to the end point and to land 
at that beach for lunch.

We did not stay there very long because of the chill. Only Scott 
wore a wetsuit, and the kayaks were warmer than the outside air. 
The ride back was very calm too with litlle quartering waves. We 
saw pelicans, dolphins, seals, cormorands. The only traffic we saw 
was a fisherman in a small boat. I felt grateful to paddle this little 
piece of paradise.

The landing was rocky as suspected. I saw a bit of beach right by 
our launch spot which was more than I had hoped for and started 
concentrating on the landing. It went great, I hit the last foot of sandy 
beach with my bow straight on. Alas, part of planning a landing is 
to arrive ahead of larger waves. These waves arrived instantly and 
the last foot of beach was gone. The waves broached me as I made 
sure that my boat did not miss any of the rocks nearby. Getting out 
in a foot of water while being bashed by the rocks is a bit humbling, 
luckily there were not many spectators. Scott and Alice were smart 
enough to land 50 yards down where there was a much better strip 
of beach.

As the muscles near my crotch are hurting as a result of insufficient
back support and practice, I feel gratified about spending this great 
day on the water in a beautiful scenery with friends.

Henk