Best Paddle of the year.

The best paddle of the year for me was a Friday back in June. Carleen had planned the paddle as I recall but only Tim, Eric, Bob H and I showed up. It was a perfect paddle in so many ways. First, it was a vacation day for me. Others had more flagitious excuses. Then there was the weather. Sunny, just the right temperature, wind and swell. There was the company we keep. The four of us make kind of a rag tag bunch with so many differences. Yet I think we all revel in the comradery of the paddle and our love of little challenges without the pressure of competition. In a group of four each person really is looking out for the other three. A concept we needed once and were hair-trigger ready to utilize a second time.

We had a late start waiting for Carleen but we were all very relaxed and maybe not uber-timely ourselves. We paddled from the boat ramp in Westport out through the mouth of the river. From there we headed South-West into the wind and swell. The miles added up steadily as we made our way by Elephant Rock and South Shore to the large rocks off Briggs Beach in the shadow of Warren’s Point. Before Lunch I made good on my commitment to do some practice rolling “even when I didn’t really want to”. (I think this was my first paddle without a wetsuit and I’m not a big fan of having to bail out in anything but bathtub water.) The rolls were nearly effortless. That made lunch all the more enjoyable.

After lunch we were a bit more frisky and Bob and Eric poked about in spots where the swells were standing up a bit. Mysteriously Bob was suddenly upside down. Eric went in quickly to get him into his boat. I saw that they were precariously close to a rock so followed in and hooked up to tow them clear of the rock. Tim kept watch to make sure everything went well. I imagine that he was happy to see how things played out but too humble to realize that it was his tutelage that made it all possible.

With a few more miles under our boats it was Eric’s turn. He got caught up in a growler and started surfing towards a rock. Somehow he managed to get the wave to pass under him and I distinctly remember seeing him slide down the backside of the wave sidewise and out of imminent danger. I also distinctly remember seeing him put his paddle into high gear and boogie out of the area. Once Eric was clear of the danger it was easy to do a little teasing. Kind of the way three guys say “nice job” to the fourth.

We of course were in no rush to finish up so we did some rock gardening outside of the Knubble. On the way into the harbor we toyed with some standing waves that form in the fast moving current. It was just a wonderful day on the water. Relaxing, punctuated with some excitement, yet nobody hurt. Just the way I like it!

6/9/06