San Diego

[PeterB]

I found myself in San Diego on short notice, escorting my thirteen year old on a vacation to a friends house,and,wanting to get my paddle wet in the Pacific Ocean, I showed up at Aqua Adventures on Mission Bay, where I found a very well equipped shop with a great fleet of rental boats (Valley, NDK, Necky etc) and a great staff. The couple at the front desk turned out to be transplants from New Hampshire and then I recognized the guy from pool sessions in Portsmouth a year and a half ago. His name is Matt (Palmierro? long Italian name, anyway..) probably familiar to a number of NSPN’ers. He now splits his time between ski trip coordinating in Utah and kayak guiding with Aqua Adventures in San Diego (a rough life but somebody’s gotta do it…)

I rented an Explorer and paddled out of Mission Bay, through the boat channel and, rounding the north jetty , I was introduced to the Pacific ocean by kayak.

I was impressed with the force of The Pacific Ocean. It, well, um, feels different from the Atlantic. There’s a relentless swell rolling in, surfers, hundreds and hundreds of them, are everywhere, all the time; and you feel like if you were a mile from shore and stopped paddling, you’d be borne right into shore, where on the east coast, it almost seems the opposite, as if you’d be swept out to sea, or just about anything could happen. The water temperature was 76 degrees. Pelicans, dolphins, and sea lions were frequent companions on my paddle.

The tip of the jetty was a good playground , where rebounding waves, eddies from along the seawall, and the ever-present swell create a zone of 5 foot confused seas, so I lingered there , practicing, playing. It was no place to relax, though; Every few minutes a big wave would suddenly materialize within ten feet of the jetty, then engulfing the rocks in an overwhelming crash , where an unwary paddlers boat would be atomized. Paddling several hundred yards away, I was back in the gentler stuff, and paddled up the coast about three quarters of the way to the headland of La Jolla, where the beach ends and the rocks begin. The eight mile beach was wall- to -wall surfers and swimmers, and the surf didn’t look long boat -friendly anyway, big waves (by east coast /Nahant standards) dumping into a mass of foam pretty close to shore, so I stayed parallel to shore, practiced and played some more, letting the forming waves hit me from various angles, and was impressed with the conditions- friendly hull of the Explorer, which allowed me to maintain speed even when being buffeted about by waves. Some say the Explorer isn’t such a fast boat, but I’ll bet it has few equals for speed in conditions , which the hull handles so well that the paddle can do more forward paddling and less bracing, what Tom Bergh described as “paddler” or “real” speed, as opposed to “hull” or “boat” speed.

In one rare, surfer-free patch of beach, I ventured closer to shore, messed around there for a while, then as I turned about, I saw a big wave juggernauting straight at me. I decided to punch through it, but had a fatal combination of bad timing and insufficient speed; the wave slammed me in the chest and sent my boat backwards, surfing straight for a remarkable long time, until I broached and was maytagged in the foam pile. Wow. (field notes: next time, first recognize an unpunchable wave: then, either back up, back up or capsize, then roll up after wave passes, …) I recovered, landed on the beach for a second, regrouped and punched back out in a better timed, event-free surf launch.

I returned to Aqua adventures the next day, and Jenn Kleck was in the store. Jenn probably needs no introduction, but she’s one of the best paddlers anywhere, and the second woman in the US to earn a BCU 5 star award. She attracts a great staff of young BCU trained paddlers from around the country , making hers a very well staffed operation, highly recommended to anyone who finds themselves in that area. Jenn is a great person, friendly, good natured, strong, unassuming. I told her I was in BCU 3 star training, and after talking for a good while about boats, rip currents, strokes,local conditions etc., strokes etc she said she was assessing one of her staff for BCU 3 star that afternoon, and invited me to accompany them. So, after a morning outing,( this time to the south , with more waves, practice , fun, capsizes, rolls,) three of us paddled out into Mission Bay. Like the other two BCU instructors I have had , Jen was a great mentor , relaxed , encouraging. She was quite undogmatic, and emphasized not getting too caught up in “this is precisely how you do this stroke” but to develop each stroke in the context of what you want your boat to do in any given situation. For example, we went over different ways to transition into the hanging draw from other strokes, and how the low brace turn can be done wide and fast (paddle ready to brace but not in the water ) or sharp but with lost speed (aggressive low brace, paddle in the water) depending on circumstances. Along the way, she related some BCU 5 star war stories which revealed the necessity to be both precise (e.g in one rescue exercise with full-kit boats a freed-up tow line got caught on the spare paddles on the rear deck , turning rescuer into a helpless pirouhette: its important on which side of the boat , and how precisely one disengages a tow. ), and also flexible, creative : although it’s gospel to not use the toggle for a tow, in one scenario with a victims boat with a faulty front perimeter deck line fitting the best option was a toggle tow.

The next day I had a few hours, wanted to see the sea caves of La Jolla. I couldn’t rent a composite boat, but realized I was becoming a boat snob, so I grabbed a sit-on-top (they’re a lot of fun) and paddled from La Jolla beach (mobbed, this time with swimmers, snorkelers, sit-on tops) and paddled the short distance to the sea caves on the north side of the La Jolla headland. Very cool sandstone pitted, Gaudi-esque (or maybe Gaudi is sandstone-esque..) formations, kelp, blood orange garibaldis, sea lions, pelicans.Way cool. Go in the off season though.

I felt as if I’d just scratched the surface of this area. Two Aqua Adventure staffers, Matt and Hailey, were off for Baja Mexico for two days of camping, surfing, and more sea caves. Next time, when I have more time, hopefully…

[birdseye]

Great report. I lived in San Diego for 6 years during my Navy days. I've tried wind sufing and sailing in Mission Bay and scuba diving near La Jolla but that was 20 years ago and before I even thought about kayaking. Sort of kicking myself in the but now.

Thanks for a good read.

[Kevin B (RPS Coach)]

Peter,

Great report...and yes, the Explorer is a fast boat condition or no conditions.

[Gillian]

okay i'm on the next flight to san diego

awesome trip report!!!!!