Roger Lamb agreed to do a paddle out of Goat Rock Beach today since we have launched out of Bodega several times in a row. This was another "first" for him, the first time he carried his boat over a rough trail to the water since his broken ankle. I launched first and waited for Roger to finish getting organized on the beach. While I waited I hung out next to one of the submerged rocks and waited for a large wave to come by and give me a surfing ride. Be careful what you ask the Gods for. A large wave came and started breaking before it even got to the shallow area around the rock. The wave got even steeper around the rock, picked me up and buried the nose of my kayak in the water.
I was paddling my plastic Narpa in order to get used to it again before taking it to Baja in April. This longer boat does not have the volume in the bow that my Coaster has to resist this diving into the front of a wave. I leaned and braced to get the boat to turn sideways to the wave and was entirely too successful. The boat spun around until I was surfing almost backwards, a position from which I always flip over. I rolled back up after the wave passed and met Roger as he paddled out. He had not noticed that I had been knocked over!
We paddled out through the big arch south of Goat Rock and continued south. The swell was a bit big, too big to go behind most of the rocks but we managed to find a little fun. We looked through the Crack in the Hogback and decided not to risk it, nor the channel between Death Rock and Duncans Point which is often calmer and more navigable. We landed at Duncans Landing and sat on the beach to eat our lunch.
We were going to turn back after lunch but went through one more rock garden before heading north. Again conditions were a little rough and we blasted out of the rock garden between three close set rocks just as a big wave came through. The adrenaline rush, the roar of the water coming off the rocks around us and the beauty of the waves made me shout out loud for joy.
I got that joyous feeling again as we headed back past one of the larger offshore rocks. This rock was white on top from bird droppings but exposed a yellowish gray rock farther down. Then it was a slick wet black where the highest waves had wetted it. Below that was a blue layer of mussels at the water line. On the troughs of the waves a wider band of short red kelp was clinging to the rock interspersed with white gooseneck barnacles. The swell would gently pick me up as it covered up all these colors, then gently take me back down exposing them all with a roar of white froth.
When we were getting ready to launch we had agreed not to obey "Roger's Rule" which requires doing six practice rolls. The water and the day seemed too cold. However, my "combat roll" in the surf waiting for Roger had gotten me in the mood and soon we were both practicing rolls. I convinced Roger that combat rolls should count for two towards my total of six! I still had one more roll to do and saved it for rolling in the middle of the big arch. Roger held back to watch and rescue me if necessary which of course was not. But he did claim that I did my roll in the calmest moment inside the arch for several minutes.
As we headed in for our landing Roger angled closer to shore so I hung back and waited for him to land first. He waited and waited and passed up a bunch of waves I would have landed on. Finally he hit the beach just before a large set of waves came in. I had to back over these waves one at a time waiting for the water to calm down. Each wave in the set was larger and LARGER until I was backing up as fast as I could and flying back over the tops of some of them! Unfortunately I drifted sideways as I backed up and soon I was behind one of the submerged rocks off this beach. I could not back up any more, so I could not build up speed to attack the waves. And the rocks made the waves rise up even steeper behind me. Eventually one of the waves broke on me and shoved me forward. I tried to side surf the wave but my boat spun around until I was facing backwards again. Perhaps I do need more practice with this boat in the surf! I flipped over and rolled up behind the wave. Two more for my daily score! The waves finally calmed down after this large one and I made a calm landing on the beach.