It was raining this morning, but with no wind here at home. I didn't want to do a long drive, and since the waves were relatively mild (5 foot swells) I thought I would do a local area that I had paddled well around in rough waves only once before. I put on the 3mm wetsuit because I felt like covering my arms from the rain. When I got to Gleasons Beach, the waves were rougher than I would have liked, and I begin to fear I would not get to explore close to shore. My first attempt failed, and a breaker took the kayak back up the beach without me. The safety line wrapped around me and snapped off again, but it had been accidentally abraded by sliding it under the kayak up at Sea Ranch recently. One day I'll find out how strong a fresh piece of that line can be. My brother Ralph used to swing from it between the trees at the Ancestral Higgins Home when it was his turn to grow up exploring and playing down at the creek. My second attempt at getting out to sea was successful, and I headed south past Portugese Beach. I wend landward of several rocks, and the water was very choppy. When I got to Arched Rock Beach, the waves were crashing against the prow of the namesake, and spraying water both ways back out of the arch. There were calm periods when it would have been approachable, but I'm not going to trust the timing of the waves. I'll wait for a calmer day. I traveled far enough south to look back through the arch, then headed out to sea.
I remembered to bring a snack this time, but forgot to bring my neoprene gloves. There was a slight breeze, and I would have appreciated the extra cover, but paddling hard kept me warm enough. I wondered if there was any reason to continue using the 3mm wetsuit. After wearing the 7mm one the last month or so, this one felt as thin as paper. Bob Fleming, who I have been working for the last year, describes wearing a half-inch wetsuit (14mm!) to go ice diving, and it is difficult to imagine being able to move with something that thick on! Bob has had a lot of diving experience, and he confirms my observation that the waves are ALWAYS rougher when you are getting out than when you are getting in to the water. He says that was always when he lost the most equipment. Getting out of the water this time could have been painless: I got close enough to shore to get out and run up the beach, but I stayed in the kayak to test my new resolve not to abandon ship so soon. The next breaker came up behind me and I braced to stay in, no mater what. But I was too close to shore, and the prow of the kayak dug into the sand, and didn't feel like it was going to pull out. I kind of jumped up and backwards over the top of the breaker which pulled me forwards away from the kayak. I didn't even get my face wet: by definition a good landing! The kayak came up far enough behind me not to be a bother and drifted up to be pulled ashore.