Just after a 5' 4" high tide, Bob Glickman, Peter O'Sullivan, Lance Pillsbury,
Bev Waldron and I launched from Kiddie Beach, Channel Islands Harbor Oxnard.
There were clear skies, slight offshore wind, and calm seas as Bev headed up
the harbor, Bob and Lance to the south, while Peter and I headed NW into the
swells.
Lance and Bob headed to the Pt. Hueneme Pier. Peter and I watched a fog bank
roll in from the south, soon hiding oil platform Gina from view. The swells
were building to sometimes 3 - 4 ft. the wind at our back. We saw one seagull
sitting on the water and one seal swam across our bow. We than notice the
weather buoy was at about 2:00 off our bow, but did not paddle to it. We had a
nice push from the swells coming back, even though the strengthening wind had
switched so we were paddling directly into it. I noticed that if I leaned
forward in my kayak I started to get ahead of Peter. When I sat back we matched
speeds well.
Getting close to the breakwater, we noticed Lance, back form the pier, paddling
north on the outside of the breakwater. I veered off to intercept him. Peter
continued to the east end of the breakwater and reported seeing some dolphins
there.
Lance has been getting used to his Nigel Foster Legend kayak, finding it
tippier than his other kayaks. Today he reported being busy talking with Bob
when they came into some lively water. He noticed the Legend was performing
much better when he was not trying to train it to be stable. He felt much more
comfortable having decided that he would let the Legend train him rather than
vice versa.
That is the way it was on the Marine Corps 244th Birthday, 1 day before
Veterans Day, and 2 days before the Full Beaver Moon 2019.
Robert Tongen reporting.
