Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Goolsby
11/05/06 #2023

Joost, Morris and I headed south to Westport for the weekend to get some big water paddling in. I already knew that the winds were supposed to be high but I didn't expect them to be thas high as they were. After we passed through Aberdeen and were on our way to Westport, the wind was trying to blow the boats off the rack of my truck but the weight of the heavy rains kept them down. I told the other two “At least it can't get any worse than this!” (wrong, it did). The first sign of diificulty was as we were driving up to the rock barrier by the look-out tower at Westport. A wave came crashing over this rock barrier suggesting that things were not real hospitible on the other side. It took all 3 of us to untie each boat and carry it to the beach at Half Moon Bay. Launching there was not bad at all since there wasn't much swell to create large breakers. The wind was well above 30 by now and the gusts must have been 45+. The air was a warm 55 F so we didn't need poagies. The water on the north side of the jetty was incredibly calm and protected. However, every few seconds a wave would break against the south side and come over the north side. I wish that I had my camera on me to show you guys Joost and Morris paddling along with the remains of a wave 30 to 50 feet over their heads. There was also a really big Sea lion that kept breaching the water to show us his size and let us know that he wasn't happy about us being there. He would stick his head up with a lot of his chest showing in order to make an impression. Our trip back in was uneventful except that each time we strayed from the protection of the jetty, the wind would literally try to lift you off your boat. The whole time we were out there it was raining really hard but the clincher was when we did make a downwind run across Half-moon bay, the sky opened up and dumped an ungodly amount of rain upon us. I don't know if I have ever witnessed a rain this hard. Visibility was zilch and we were out in the open wind. Time to call it a day. That afternoon when the rain quit but the wind was still high, we decided to walk from the cabin to the beach. Ten minutes later we arrived at the beach in time for the skys to open up once more and send a horizontal wall of water at us. By the time we reached the cabin, we were soaked once again.

The next morning, the winds were weak and the sea was covered in fog. We took our time loading up and finally got to the beach at Half-moon at about 10:30. This time the breakers were much larger so launching was going to be a chore. There was a definite increase in the size of the swells and water wasn't near as 'smooth' as it was the day before. We paddled out along the jetty to watch waves crash over the jetty but not as bad as the previous day. The wind was only about 10+ knts but there was a storm swell coming in from the SW that was huge. The Potato patch at the end of the jetty had giant breaking waves that looked to be over 15 feet tall. We went right up to the edge of this until we were going up and down in these deep chasms. The Sea Lions were back and showing off their size. They were miffed with us and one kept following Morris. Everytime I saw Morris come up over one of these giant swells, there was a big Brown Sea Lion just behind him. I had visions of this 1200 - 1500 pounder falling in love with Simon's V-10 and making love to the boat while Morris tapped him on his head with his paddle and yelling “Not with my boat!” We spent the next couple of hours paddling out the the edge of the Potato Patch and then trying to catch rides back in towards chore. We did get some rides but you really had to work to get them. The big swells were moving like freight trains. Later Heather called to say that the swells were predicted to be 17 - 19 feet that day. At times, the water was just like what we paddled in San Francisco just 6 weeks before. My Special did really well and I finally fell off of it for the first time when I didn't get my paddle out of the water in time to brace. Remouniting was really fast when I remembered that there were some large horny Sea Lions somewhere nearby.
Larry G.