Category Archives: Trip Report

Saturday’s Paddle

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Thom Underwood and myself launched out of La Jolla yesterday morning heading toward Torrey Pines. It was a cold start (38 degrees) through tiny surf, but it warmed up to a toasty 58 degrees by the time we were done. We didn’t get very far before we spotted a juvenile Grey Whale breach about a 100 yards away. I chased it for a while and it resurfaced right in front of me – about 50 ft. away! After watching it come up a couple of times we headed north again and soon were surrounded by dozens of dolphins all around jumping and swimming around us – this was definately a nature paddle. Then we heading back, played near the rock pile off blacks for a few minutes and then back to our start.
Another great day on the water!

La Jolla Paddle – Nov. 17th

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I knew it was going to be a good paddle when I saw the rainbow on the way to La Jolla. Despite the rain showers prediction, we had warm(60′s) and sunny weather.
Five of us(Teressa, Jason, Jane, Eddie, and myself) launched through lake-like conditions. It was maybe 1 ft. surf and glassy, with 20ft. visibility all the way to Big Rock Beach. Where 3 of us landed and had a snack before heading back to the Shores. On the way back we paddled along with a small pod of dolphins(5 or 6) who seemed to be swimming slow just so we could keep up with them. They swam all around and under us for probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile until we decided to leave them near Horseshoes. The paddle was nice, the visibility awesome, the company great, and the dolphins a nice treat. Another epic day on the water!

CIRCUMNAVIGATING in S.D. Bay – Saturday, June 23rd

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What a great morning to paddle with a couple of buddies. John, Jane, and I launched off of Coronado on the ocean side opposite Glorietta Bay. We circled north into the channel and landed at the public boat ramp in Glorietta Bay.
We had a slight wind at our back and incoming tidal flow the whole trip. With glassy conditions, we easily averaged 4.2 mph for a total trip time of 2 1/2 hours. The GPS distance was 11 miles.
The San Diego Bay is always interesting with its mix of naval vessels, a spectacular skyline view, and friendly folks on the water.
A great trip with just enough distance to challenge us – we’ll do it again soon!

Navigation Practice Outside Mission Bay – Trip Report

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John O’Hagen posted the Navigation Practice paddle and 4 intrepid souls joined him on the water this morning: Jay Murdock, Jane Hardy, Greg Cade (Happy Birthday to Greg!) and myself, Debra Kettler.

Launch conditions were pretty calm with cloudy skies, air temps near 65F and water temps about the same. The swell was mixed …W 3 to 4ft @ 8s and SW 1ft @ 15s. The wind was about 5kts from the W.

We left the Aqua Adventure dock at a timely 8AM and headed to the mouth of the channel, saying hi to Jon Brindle in his new HUKI S1X-Special surfski along the way.

We were armed with charts and GPS, although you’d think those GPS would have better agreement….the wreck is here, no it’s here!

We first headed out the channel at 290Magnetic, hoping to catch sight of the buoy marking the sunken RubyE, only to find that the buoy was missing. We made a course correction and then headed on towards the Yukon at 330Magnetic, Jane leading the way.

Check out the buoy at the Yukon! The motley crew in front of the buoy at

We found the Yukon, took a short break and headed toward Crystal Pier at ~45Magnetic, under sunny skies. Of course this was easy to find and with the SW swell at our back (and a bit from our left (W), causing a slight southerly drift) we made the 1.5nm in 22minutes.

A break for food and water and a little dip….before heading to the tower on the north jetty.

dip-1

The bearing for the tower was ~165Magnetic, but taking into account the swell coming from the west, we used a heading of 180Magnetic, to maintain our course.

The tides were against us all day in the channel (high tide of 3.6ft at ~9:45AM), but the swell coming in on the way home made for a bit of fun.

We were treated to a couple of dolphin in Quivira Basin on our return.

Dolphin in the harbor

We also met Jason and his 8 year old son, Jack, on the water…It looks like Jack will be joining our paddles very soon!

Link to our GPS data for the day

Thank you to Jay and John for the photos….

 

 

Trip Report: Mission Bay to Pt Loma (almost) and back

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Eleven of us met at Aqua Adventures for an 0800 launch to Pt. Loma:  Present were Dom, Cyril, Johnny O, John Clinton, Lori and John Nickerson, Debra, Pete from Palm Springs, Steve H, Jerry and me.  We launched in pristine weather–clear skies, warm sun, almost no wind and just enough sea texture to make it interesting.  As we exited the channel we could see booming breakers on Dog Beach but the swell was rather minimal except for the set of two homongous swells that came along every now and again with seemingly no period except l-o-n-g!

Shortly after passing the OB pier we were greeted by a pod of dolphins heading south.  They kept pretty much abreast of us for the next 45 minutes or so until we stopped to take a break and shed some clothing due to the increasing warmth of the sun.

We kept outside the surf zone just enjoying the great weather and conversation as we went.  At about 0930 Johnny O turned back with the Nickersons as they had planned because of other pressing engagements and the rest of us paddled on.  About 1/2 mile from Pt Loma (actually the false point) we were treated to a couple of blows by a whale heading south in front of the entrance to San Diego Bay.

Just short of the false point we decided to turn back–we noticed the wind was picking up a little earlier than expected and it was a long way back.  A couple of us took a slightly inside trek which gave the rest of us some anxious moments when a huge swell came up way outside and passed underneath us threatening to break.  There was a little excitement as 2 boats came over the breaking top with nothing but air underneath.
The wind picked up to an easy 9 kt with a few gusts as we entered the channel and paddled to the dock.
Summer in January–great day on the water–
Saturday is skills day–
Mike Brown