[CKF Info] CKF: Trip report: Haskell's Beach to El Capitan 5/11/0811AM

[Christie, Scott NAVSEA]

My apologies for this late appreciation of Henk's paddle hosting,

What a wonderful paddle I had with Alice and Henk through waters that I
suspect few have shared.  There were lots of cormorants (double
crested?), pelicans, even a great blue heron and a pair of little
tweeter birds that I think were phalaropes of the red neck variety.  A
boxer pup-dog kept us entertained at our break just before El Capitan
beach.  I thought boxer retrievers were rare; this one iced the cake by
retrieving big sticks from the water.

Haskell's Beach was a bit rocky but a nice launching/landing point to
access this area of our coast.

Thanks for setting up this paddle Henk!  Please let me know when you'd
like to paddle left out of Goleta beach.  I'll most likely be there.

Regards,

Scott Christie


-----Original Message-----
From: info-bounces at list.ckf.org [mailto:info-bounces at list.ckf.org] On
Behalf Of Henk Aling
Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2008 18:37
To: CKF Friends Email List
Subject: [CKF Info] CKF: Trip report: Haskell's Beach to El Capitan
5/11/0811AM

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

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