It’s always been somewhat ironic that when I’m around civilization is when I have the most trouble getting a post up on the blog. What happens is that I just get so darn busy with the people that I simply don’t have time. The last four days have been the busiest I’ve had in about four months which makes sense because it’s been about four months since I was last in San Diego working at the kayak shop. The activity and work surrounding the kayak shop has always kept us busy. This time the normal kayak store activity combined with symposium preparations, home remodeling projects, visiting family and friends, and paddling (of course) has left little time for writing.
I can’t imagine it’s so very different from other small specialty businesses like a kayak shop, but it seems like the normal work/activity load around here is always punctuated by unusual problems that creep up and rob our time right at the worst possible moment. This week brought a locked office door with missing keys, frozen breaks on one of our trucks, and an important computer that refused to send or receive e-mails. The door (my fault sort of) and the breaks came to me to take care of, while Jen got on the phone with the tech support people to sort out the e-mail problem. They were quick to say the problem was on our end until Jen dug in her heals and growled until, amazingly, they did find the glitch and got things fixed. Seeing her in action was a reminder of how small business owners are a tough breed and how Jen is one of the toughest of them all, which is one of the things I like most about her.
Margie on the placid Pacific ocean
I can’t complain about my busy week “of work” as it was wrapped around several chances to get out on the water. By Tuesday it had been an entire four days since I’d been in a kayak so when Aqua Adventures summer employee Margie (in town on spring break for only a few days) hinted that she wanted to get out in some boats, I was happy to oblige. We met at the store at 8:00 but before we could get on the water I had to deal with the locked office door. My solution was to use a hole-saw to drill a 3” hole through the wall next to the door knob. A filing cabinet was in the way on the other side which required a bit of brute strength and excitement to “move” but then I was able to reach through unlock the door and we were in. The filing cabinet tipped back into place nicely (not too many files spilled) and a blank switch plate cover on both sides will cover the hole (sans drywall and paint) and nobody will be the wiser. It was time to paddle.
Margie and me
People have been telling me how dismal the weather has been around here lately, somehow I couldn’t believe them as the weather today and since I arrived has been picture perfect. Margie and I paddled out the harbor entrance into glassy smooth gently rolling waves then down toward the Ocean Beach Pier and back. It was a relaxing paddle and a nice break from the effort to get Jen’s house ready for her parent’s arrival Tuesday night.
Jen’s parents and cousin did arrive late Tuesday and after a brief visit with them I turned in so I could catch a few winks before getting up in time to get back to the store early the next morning to go out with the weekly Wednesday morning group. I got up bright and early thinking I’d drive in to the store early and get a blog post up. I walked outside and turned the key in what we affectionately call “the little truck” which is my old Ford Ranger. Always being a good runner, it started right up but when I put it in gear to drive away it wouldn’t move. I knew exactly what it was, the brakes were frozen, namely the rear left where I’ve had this problem before. I didn’t have time to deal with it then so I went back in and grabbed the keys to the other truck saving the task for an impromptu break job for daylight hours.
Jen’s parents and cousin did arrive late Tuesday and after a brief visit with them I turned in so I could catch a few winks before getting up in time to get back to the store early the next morning to go out with the weekly Wednesday morning group. I got up bright and early thinking I’d drive in to the store early and get a blog post up. I walked outside and turned the key in what we affectionately call “the little truck” which is my old Ford Ranger. Always being a good runner, it started right up but when I put it in gear to drive away it wouldn’t move. I knew exactly what it was, the brakes were frozen, namely the rear left where I’ve had this problem before. I didn’t have time to deal with it then so I went back in and grabbed the keys to the other truck saving the task for an impromptu break job for daylight hours.
Being what I was told was the first nice Wednesday in a few weeks I was surprised at the low turn out (a big hint to all you regulars that didn’t show up… Jay, Bob, Robin, Neil, Herb, Mike, Joe, and others) but those of us who were able to get out of bed enjoyed crystal clear skies, smooth water, and warm temperatures as we did our usual morning loop.
The Wednesday morning crew leaving the marina
Even from our position on the outside I could see that the large rolling swell that slid gently under us as we paddled was facing up nicely with a gentle off shore wind and breaking in long running shoulders on the beach. It gave me the thought of getting out in a surf boat later in the day but I did have to do -some- work, so I put in a call to my friend Thom and made plans to get out the next morning (Thursday).
Greg and Chris checking out the sea lions on the red buoy
What a morning it was. We met at Sunset Cliffs at one of my favorite breaks called “Garbage”. It’s a great spot with a nice deep channel running from the beach all the way out between two beautiful reef breaks on either side. For kayak surfers it’s a spot that can only be visited a low tide. Once the tide fills in it covers the rock beach at the bottom of the access stairs with waves smashing into the vertical cliff at the back of the beach. Surfers can seal launch off the large rock at the bottom of the stairs but finned surf kayaks don’t have that option. It’s the magical combination of a good west or southwest swell combined with low tide in the morning that I wait for to get a chance to surf here, thankfully the moment came while I was in town.
Thom considers the waves from the top of the cliff.
Thom was immediately in the line up for the bigger of the waves while I stuck to the small stuff slowly getting the feel for my surf boat again and remembering how to surf. I got my rear end handed to me on a couple waves but, it didn’t take long to feel like I knew what I was doing and soon Thom and I were both enjoying excellent rides on 5 to 6 foot glassy smooth Pacific Ocean waves. All you kayak surfers out east playing around on storm chop owe it to yourselves to experience waves and a morning like this. It’s what kayaking and kayak surfing are all about.
That is a nice wave.
Thom climbing the stairs back up from the beach
After helping Mike open the store I chauffeured a couple of guys from Maine up to La Jolla so they could paddle the nine miles back to our store in Mission bay. Thankfully the surf was it’s normal docile self on the beach up there and they had no trouble getting under way. From there I returned to the store where I suffered the effects of “surfer nose” the rest of the day (the result of large amounts of sea water being injected in ones sinus while being tumbled inside a wave) while I worked on the never ending list of boat repairs that comes from our large fleet of rental/demo boats.
At 5:30 I put my tools down and geared up again to join the “Thursday Evening Social Tour” that Aqua Adventures puts on every Thursday night. Robby and Dave were there as well as a couple other regulars and just before we launched we were joined by two young couples visiting from Michigan. The warm off shore breeze we had all day lost the battle to the onshore wind which brought with it a thick marine layer of low clouds which put a chill to the evening. Despite the cooler temperatures we had a great time showing our guests from out of town a few of the sights on Mission Bay.
The Thursday Evening Paddle on Mission Bay
RSS Feed