Monthly Archive for October, 2010

From what I have read this evening most of the PPer’s get on the computer early and figure out what kind of weather to expect for the day. I had already made up my mind last night I was going to paddle today and woke up early after a late night then braved the wet oil slicked roads with all the crazy drivers on a Sunday morning.

It was just light sprinkles part of the way from Santa Rosa to Invernes,then it got a little stronger once I neared the Oyster farm coming down the hill then the blue water kayak trailer was heading back over the hill. Noticed one suv leaving with a sea kayak. Then I talked to a PPer from Sebastopol just leaving the oyster farm road and was informed Ray wasn’t there and the paddle was probably canceled? What Ray cancel the paddle just because it was sprinkling? I figured by the time we got on the water the skies would part and it would be partly cloudy.

Got to the parking area and Danny was sitting in his suv waiting for the rain to stop or ray to show up? Talked to Danny and decided to wait out the rain in our cars as we were getting pretty soaked. Waited 15 to 20 minutes then walked out to check the water, not bad just a light two to three mph breeze from the west. Danny came out and just when I thought I had him talked into just going anyways it started to pour and he passed on the paddle. I waited another 15 minutes and what do you know it stopped raining and was still just a light breeze with semi glassy conditions.

Against my better judgment I decided to paddle by myself it wouldn’t be thefirst time and not the last. Took off at 10:30 am and made a swift paddle to the mouth in an hour with the ebb starting. Paddled to the mouth and to my surprise it has moved a 1/4 of a mile to the south and the old channel is just a deep water channel that dies into the sand bar beach. I had to get out and check the surf then started back to home bay.

I hadn’t made it to one of our normal lunch spots on the left in home bay when I noticed a few boils on the surface and turned around to see if they were leopard sharks. No they were about five small 12″ skates/bat rays.Made the loop at the end of home bay and not one leopard shark. Paddled back to the oyster farm in an hour and packed up with dry skies. Paddled just about 10 miles in under three hours.This made my for days of paddling this week a total of 38 miles in four days.

I brought a whole dozen fresh donuts for the paddle — I guess I’ll have to eat them all myself?

The normal characters were spotted on the paddle:  seal, cormorants, loons, etc. Quote from Don F, I cheated death once again and kept the HEARTY in the Petaluma paddlers name.

Tedly

It was a rare and superb day on Tomales Bay! Sun was shining, air was warm and the water was calm! Ray said that the forecasts were all over the place, but that winds as high as 29 mph had been forecast, so it would be better if we launched earlier than the stated 10 am time so that we could return before it really breezed up. I had been out on the SF Bay the day before to see the Blue Angels and it really got ferocious late in the afternoon.

So eleven launched just after 9:30. (Good thing most arrived plenty early!) Two left early, leaving a core group of out-and-returners at the gravel beach at Marconi Cove: Ray, Gail, Chocolate Larry and Ellen, Joe and Sue, Kris, Laurie, Jeff and me. The light wind was from the NNW, so we struck off across the Bay to reach the lee of the far shore. We stopped for a brief break at a small beach and then headed north to Tomales Beach to watch the BASK Rodeo.

Just after hauling up the boats to keep them from drifting away in the quickly rising tide (it was just after the very high new moon tides) we saw at least four river otters swimming close by our point, out by the drifting kelp. They quickly disappeared to the north.

Some saw a great blue heron, otherwise most of the wildlife had probably scattered under the onslaught of the huge flotilla of boats!

At about 11:30 the rodeo started. Floats had been set up to define lanes and three boats at a time did an out and return trailing a line with a water-filled gallon jug. One fellow “cheated” (for apparent lack of clarity in the rules) and did an out and a – backwards! – return, which saved a lot of time by not having to turn around! The rules were quickly modified to even the playing ”field”.

We saw paddlers standing up in their boats as long as they could. And we saw floating boats stacked on top of each other, perpendicular.

Rolls were, of course, the highlight of the competition. The eleven-year old champ rolled fast with arms only – no paddles! The apparent winner (I do not know his name) looked like he did 8 or 9 rolls in the allotted time (30 seconds?)

We ate another superb PPer lunch. The broccoli salad was a big hit, as was the selection of Laughing Cow cheeses – which included a delicious blue soft cheese. The potato-&-egg salad was delicious, and we enjoyed premade sandwiches. There were snacks galore. No one left hungry!

Dick Mallory was there in combined PP and BASK capacity – and made a horn out of a length of bull kelp by cutting off half the bulb and making a mouthpiece of of the narrow end. The many wannabe brass players (and the one real trumpet player in the bunch!) took turns making surprisingly good tones and tunes from the kelpenhorn. The eleven-year old, in particular, loved to play.

At one point a gust of wind lifted our beach umbrella and set it upside-down atop the Bay. It was funny to see it drifting away – fast – before it was retrieved, signaling time to go before the winds increased.

The return was uneventful – but full of conversation and cameraderie.

See the attached link for some photos taken at the beach.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46009592@N00/sets/72157625157468044/

- Lyrinda Snyderman