It was a warm sunny day with no wind at home when I left. The waves were 7 to 9 feet, which could be a little high for me. When I got to Gerstle Cove the wind was starting to pick up and there were whitecaps farther offshore. But the wind was from the northwest and I would be paddling into it on my way to Stump Beach. If I got tired or in trouble, it would help blow me back to the cove. I put on the farmer john of my wetsuit, and put the jacket in the forward hatch. I carried the kayak on my back (10 lb. heavier than my little kayak) down the ramp to the beach, and Paul met me to help carry it over the driftwood and rocks to the water. I paddled out of the cove, around the point, and headed north into the wind and waves.
Half way to Stump Beach, I met another kayaker who was drifting back towards Gerstle Cove. His name is Peter and he was kayaking while a friend of his took a dive class. I told Peter I was heading to Stump Beach to practice surfing, and he decided to come along. Peter was borrowing his friends kayak and was not familiar with the area, so he did not know that there was a beach less than a kilometer from where we met. Of course, Stump Beach does a good job of hiding itself: It is at the end of a 300 meter long by 100 meter wide channel in the cliffs. We paddled up to the mouth of the channel and looked at the waves. They started to break going through the opening, but then calmed down again and didn't (usually) break again until close to shore. I stopped to get my jacket out of the forward storage hatch and tug it on. I had a little trouble and got it wet while trying to slip it on. As a result it didn't go on quite right and felt uncomfortable for the rest of the trip.
We paddled into the channel without any problems and paused in the calmer water. Peter turns out to be an avid surfer (and wind surfer) who has tried surfing in a "Frenzy" kayak: Exactly the same model as my old kayak! Peter gave me some pointers on how to recognize good waves for surfing. We both rolled over in our kayaks close to shore on our first attempts. Peter says that is because these long touring kayaks are not as stable as a cute little Frenzy. If my purpose is to go surfing, I'll take that kayak out next time. But I think the surfing practice in this machine will serve me well in rough water one day. Better to get the practice now at a familiar beach than to have to learn how in an emergency one day. We both took the lesson from the first tumble to heart, and managed to stay in our kayaks for the next few surfing attempts. I surfed to shore 4 times and managed to turn around once in the backwash and head back out for the next try. The other 3 times I rode all the way up to the beach. Peter got what looked like the best ride on his second attempt, but claimed that the waves were not really very good for surfing this day.
I could really feel the extra 2 meters of length in my new kayak: It was difficult to get it to turn when I needed it to in the rough water. In calmer water this kayak doesn't track as well as the little kayak which has a deeper keel. The longer kayak will glide much farther than the little one, but will turn left or right if I don't keep it on track. This reminds me of my kevlar canoe before I put the skeg in it. The new kayak also had a tendency to turn sideways to the bigger swells at sea if I don't keep it pointing where I want while paddling. I suppose I will have to get a rudder for it one of these days, but I would rather avoid one more piece of equipment that must be attached before heading out. At least this kayak is designed to accept a rudder if I do get one.
We headed back out through the mouth of the channel, with Peter whooping it up through the rougher waves closer to the edge. As we came out of the channel into open sea, I saw a strange bird sitting in the water. It was all black accept for white patches on the side of the head. It was facing away from me, but turned its head left and right to look over its shoulder at me. This exposed those white patches, and I think a flash of yellow-orange. I think I was looking at a Puffin, but it flew off before I could get close enough to be sure. I checked with Marty later, and there is a type of puffin that is mostly black that does spend time off the California coast. Until now, we have never seen one in our neighborhood!
While we had been surfing, the wind and the waves had picked up a little bit and it looked rougher out at sea. But with the wind and the waves going more or less in the direction we wanted to go, it was a fun ride. The trip back to Gerstle Cove was soon over, and as we came around the point, I saw a cormorant with a ring around his neck fly by. On closer inspection it was acually a black brant goose, a bird I have only seen once before, in Drakes Estero. We drifted into the calm water of the cove and went our separate ways. I slipped out of the kayak and tried a self rescue (getting back in) and found it just as easy as in my smaller kayak. Yes, I should have tried that out before I headed out to sea!
