Patrick Pruit has just finished making a wooden kayak from a kit designed by Chesapeake Light Craft. He tried the boat out in Spring Lake the weekend before but wanted to try it in salt water for the first time. He invited me to come along with him and a friend of his, also named Mike, who is also a wooden boat builder. I invited Konstantin and he invited two friends Hans and Carla. We all met at Miller Park on Tomales Bay on Saturday morning.
After Patrick demonstrated his wet exit and re-entry for us, we headed out across the bay and turned north to go up the wild and beautiful west shore. It was a sunny summer day so I did not put on my fake fleece jacket under my paddle jacket. I brought it with me stuffed inside the cockpit where it stayed dry. I was hoping that we would have a chance to go surfing at the mouth of the bay and figured I would be cold and wet later. As we paddled up the bay, however, a cold wind came up and chilled me down even while I was still dry. So when Patrick stopped to dump some water out of his boat I zoomed ashore and added my fleece layer under my paddle jacket. We continued to Avalis Beach just inside the mouth of the bay.
Only Konstantin and I were interested in surfing, everyone else landed on the beach for an early lunch. Konstantin and I gleefully paddled across the mouth and into the surf breaking over the sand bars off the west end of Dillon Beach. The waves were steep and we managed to catch quite a few short fast rides. It seemed as if the waves were breaking perpendicular to shore and pushing us into the bay. But every once in a while I would look up from a ride and discover that I had surfed to within 20 meters of shore and it was time to paddle back out to sea again. We learned the best place to do this, a calm slot in the waves that probably indicated a deep channel in the sand bars. On either side of this the waves broke and we only had to make a wide turn to get in line for a ride again. In calm moments between sets I practiced a few rolls, but I never needed my roll in a “combat situation”. I did come close on one wave that rose up and broke very steeply behind me. I was unable to turn the boat down the wave in time and broached on it. The white water spilled down the wave and slammed into me sideways and threatened to knock me over. Ruddering as hard as I could with the paddle I managed to get the boat to turn far enough to just keep up with the breaking water. I might have been able to catch that wave, but by then I was so tired that that I started having trouble keeping my boat pointed down the waves.
Just as we were ready to ride “one more good wave” and join our friends for lunch, we saw them getting in their boats for the return trip. We joined them and paddled down the bay with the wind at our backs so the return trip did not take very long. I did three more rolls to follow “Rogers Rule” and keep in practice. Then Konstantin and I ate our lunches at Miller Park after strapping our boats back on our cars.