Monday I drove to Orange County to visit with Geoff Jennings. Unfortunately he got evicted from his cushy free housing. Luckily Cisco the dog needed to be sat, so he had a few days at another place. Tuesday we had a relatively slow morning. (Geoff picked up some stuff at "his" old place and cleaned up a bit). then we went by his new work, Southwind Kayaks and picked up 2 whitewater boats and paddles etc.etc. One was a relatively classic high volume boat, and the other was a small flat bottomed play boat. Then out to the shore, near Newport Pier to play.
Full wetsuits were the order of the day. So was our pacific ocean relocation program. We would paddle out. (a lot of effort), flip over, fill the boat up with water, bring it in to shore, and dump out the water. Actually I often managed to ride waves without flipping, and when I did flip, sometimes I managed to roll back up. The bigger boat was easier to paddle out, but the smaller boat was easier to catch waves with. Eventually we were cold and tired and hungry, so we loaded up and went back for some soggy lasagna and early bed.
Wednesday we drove south, but were uninspired by the waves and parking, and eventually we ended back up on the same stretch of beach. The waves were a little more uniform and smaller, which made things easier. As the day progressed, the waves seemed to shrink further. (or maybe I just got better). in any case, I didn't flip as much, and when I did, I usually managed to get back up without swimming. I think I swam twice though. There was another guy there with a custom surf kayak. he actually knew what he was doing, and managed to give us a few helpful pointers.
We stopped when our arms didn't want to function anymore, and returned the kayaks. Then back "home" for some much needed burritos and to rinse everything down.