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<DIV>For those who aren't old enough to remember, there was an old man who
greeted people as they entered Laguna Beach. He was called "The Greeter"
and there is a bronze statue of him located in the downtown area. What
folks don't know is that he is still alive and is just offshore in the form of a
reef. Mark and Steve met the Greeter this morning. As I was
viewing all this carnage, I was wishing I had the Explorer instead of the carbon
EPIC. The visual of chunks of carbon floating down to meet the Greeter was
more than this old man could handle. Consequently, when I went to
the Southwind sales event today, I went straight to the booth that sale
helmets. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ken</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 5/4/2008 3:21:41 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
sandmarks@ca.rr.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>5/4/08<BR><BR>When you get to a certain age, regular school often isn't
enough for you, so<BR>some of our group today enrolled in the University of
Hard Knocks!<BR><BR>It was an early start for what was to be a longish paddle
to the Laguna<BR>environs. Ken and I left the Secret Beach early and met the
rest of the<BR>group chomping at the bit at the coast guard beach. It was a
nice crowd with<BR>Henry and Kathy, Dave O'Connor, Duane, BBBob McMurray and
Steve Wilson<BR>joining in. The wind was quite a bit stiffer than what we were
led to<BR>believe on the day and there was quite a bit of chop, so we had our
work cut<BR>out for us. Of course, we were also led to believe we'd be
paddling at a<BR>crossing pace, but Duane and Bob despite those skinny little
paddles had<BR>everyone working hard to keep up. Dave and I were able to catch
up to them<BR>just before we stopped to break at Crystal Cove to let everyone
catch up and<BR>hydrate.<BR><BR>You could tell that Steve was itching to
paddle, because he didn't rest for<BR>long. While the rest of us drank, he
headed in to shore to spend some time<BR>in the waves. As we continued south,
we could see him floating over the<BR>waves, his rock star hair blowing in the
wind. He was waiting a bit for us<BR>inside of Reef Point and as Duane and I
grew closer, we were surprised to<BR>see him paddle between the two rocks,
especially as a rather large set had<BR>come in. We paddled around half
expecting some carnage, but he was happy and<BR>intact on the other side. I
had almost mentioned to Duane that I find the<BR>outside area around RP more
dangerous than the inside, but then things had<BR>settled down a bit so we
seemed fine. Until...With Duane on my left, a wave<BR>decided to appear out of
nowhere right on my beam. I don't know how high it<BR>was, but I know it was
16' 10" long, as it was the perfect size to try to<BR>take out my boat. I had
no time to avoid it and planted a high brace as it<BR>broke into me. Perhaps a
bit too high. I found myself upside down, a<BR>condition I like to call a
"Libby" in honor of one of our newer CKF members.<BR>Now I figured we were
probably safe from most of the rocks in the area, but<BR>it's hard to tell at
Reef Point, but I took my time and rolled up-my first<BR>combat roll in my
long boat. I basked in the cheers as we paddled on for<BR>Abalone
Point.<BR><BR>Once again Steve seemed to be ahead of us, lingering right at
the edge of<BR>the reef at AP. Now this is an area I am always leery of as
even in mild<BR>conditions it can be down right contrary. Duane had just
mentioned that<BR>Steve was in a bad spot when a wave formed right on Steve's
beam and despite<BR>a good brace sent him careening into the reef! He seemed
to have been<BR>protected from his trip over the rocks by the amount of water
in the wave,<BR>but now he was upside down in the churn and his roll failed
him. He was now<BR>in the water with waves still rolling along each side of
the reef. I headed<BR>in to the south side of reef to see if I could help, but
with my hard to<BR>maneuver boat, I couldn't get close enough to help without
becoming victim<BR>#2. Duane headed around from the north end and got to Steve
toot sweet and<BR>held on to his boat while he did a quick reentry. But
Steve's boat was still<BR>full of water and you could tell he wouldn't get far
as unstable as he was.<BR>Dave headed in with his tow belt and hooked up to
Duane to pull them to<BR>safety, while Steve started pumping frantically,
their two boats rafted<BR>together. They were quickly out of harms way, but
decided to land at a<BR>nearby cove to empty out the remaining
water.<BR><BR>Although close to our intended destination, we all seemed to
agree that the<BR>adrenalin used up in the incident called for us to start
home early. Steve<BR>seemed well recovered from his play time, but kept asea
of any reefs on the<BR>paddle back. I took the inside passage home, soon to be
joined by Bob and<BR>Duane, with an eye peeled for any more sneaker waves to
catch us so close to<BR>shore. Time flew on the trip back and Steve voiced
mock relief to be back in<BR>the harbor. When everyone comes back alive,
you've got to admit that's a<BR>good paddle, especially if you decide to take
to heart the lessons only hard<BR>knock can sometimes provide. It was not a
paddle I'll soon forget!<BR><BR>The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Post
Mortem-<BR>I figure I better point out some of our mistakes made on this
paddle before<BR>those who weren't there point out the glaring facts. I hope a
few others on<BR>the paddle will add some choice words. Paddling in a group
today, I was<BR>lulled into not wearing my helmet in areas I would normally
have it on.<BR>Although conditions weren't really tough today, that tends to
be the time<BR>you start to push the envelope a bit and then find yourself in
trouble. Does<BR>the term "risk homeostasis" mean anything to you? Steve would
be the first<BR>to admit now he should have had a helmet on, but today wasn't
supposed to be<BR>a rock garden day. Perhaps he was trying to make up for
missing Jack's<BR>paddle a while back. Although there didn't seem any obvious
rocks in the<BR>area of the wave that got me, I figure there must have been
something under<BR>the water to make it form right on my beam. Alone, I've
conditioned myself<BR>to don my helmet at the mere hint of a rock or wave and
I shouldn't have let<BR>the safety of a group deter me from my usual prudence.
Steve took some<BR>chances paddling and hanging out where he did, but what
better time to take<BR>such chances then with a group around to come to your
rescue. But you have<BR>to realize the chance you are taking and a helmet
should have been the order<BR>for the day for Steve. Once out of his boat,
Steve maintained his composure<BR>which facilitated an easy rescue. And he
never lost his rock star good<BR>looks, even with the hair a bit plastered
down after his swim. Familiarity<BR>with rescues certainly helped and who
better to come to your aid than Duane.<BR>With no injuries other than pride,
everyone felt today was a great paddle<BR>with excitement to share for years
to come. Sometimes the dividing line<BR>becomes a bit thin.<BR><BR>Mark
Sanders<BR>www.sandmarks<BR><BR>#<BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Info
mailing
list<BR>Info@list.ckf.org<BR>http://list.ckf.org/mailman/listinfo/info<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? <A title="http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001" href="http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001" target="_blank">Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>