Goat Rock to Wrights Beach, August 26th 1995.

This was the day before my first kayak camping trip, and I wanted to try out my kayak fully loaded. Marty wanted to come along (in the car) and go to Bodega aftewards, so I planned a one-way trip. I got in the water at Goat Rock Beach, with all my camping gear in two drysacks. One strapped in the well behind my seat, and a smaller one on the prow. The kayak handled very well loaded, the only difference I noticed was an extra inch of water comming up out of the self scuppering holes. The NOAA report said that the swells were 5 to 7 feet high, but they looked milder to me. There was very little wind, and I paddled behind all the rocks past Shell Beach. This is an area that I had often avoided in the past due to rough waves around the rocks. Marty was waving at me from the cliff at Shell Beach, and indicated that she was willing to proceed to the original landing spot. I had planned on going into Duncans Landing where there is a sheltered beach, or stopping at Shell Beach if Marty was waiting for me there.

I paddled past Wrights Beach, and through some rough waves around a big rock called the Hogback. Sometimes this rock is free from the sand, but on this day there was a small stretch of beach between it and Duncans Point. I saw Marty on this piece of Wrights beach, expecting me to land here instead of the sheltered cove on the other side of the point. At first I was surprized that she would want me to land here, then I though it would be good practice for landing at an unfamiliar beach when kayak camping. Then when I got behind the Hogback, I saw that the rough waves around the point of the rock were much calmer behind it. The Hogback has a crack clear through it that actually looked nagavable today. I would have gone through if I didn't have all my camping gear with me this time. Instead I just made a prety good landing, my first ever on Wrights Beach. Marty helped haul all the camping gear up to the parking lot.

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