Posted by jas on March 15, 2002 at 22:40:33:
(I'd just wait until these low pressure systems w/ the winds are totally gone.......we have more wind to come. It'll be much much much more safer to fish next week)
OCEANHUNTER and I hooked up for a very easy launch at Escondido. The "beach" wind was about 10 knots at 7:00. We were both pretty stoked at the time since the weather reports, news, etc; were all talking about gale force winds w/ gusts out of control.
The weather reports were sooo much more accurate than our beachside assessment of the situation. Our original plan was to hit the deeper reefs for some reds. Long story short: We made it out to the Escondido frontal kelp beds in the 40 ft depth range. We tied up to discuss our next move. The horizon soon came into reality.......the seas were HAIRBALL!!! The shore was soooo incredibly deceiving it blew my mind. After 20 minutes of no action, not to mention gusts up to I don't know how heavy(I'd guess 40-50+ knots)we decided to "TRY" to paddle back in.
The wind was sooo bad that I was almost ready to climb the kelp back in. What I mean is that it was almost more realistic for us to pull on the kelp w/ our hands like rope, slowly pulling ourselves in, than it was to paddle. After 100 yards of paddling against this wind out of the North, I was almost totally exhausted. If we had even tried to make it out to the deeper reefs, we absolutely would have not been able to paddle back, or even beach ourselves. The most realistic senario would have been for us to save our energy and to rudder ourselves to Catalina (if we were lucky).
"The point" did shelter the wind in between the shore and the very first set of kelp beds (20 ft depth). After that, it was gale force plus even stronger gusts.
It was extremely, extremely deceiving. The white caps weren't really that kicked up for whatever reason. But if you looked at the horizon from the kelp, you can see what appeared to be a HUGE rise in the level of water. It almost looked like the water was 20 feet higher at the horizon than the closer inshore water.
This wasn't one of those days where you can just tie up to the kelp and battle the wind. Even w/ the shock chord,3-5 strands tied, the kelp was getting broken off sending me and my yak about 10 feet a second towards the open ocean.
If the winds out of the North/NW totally diminish, I'd say it might be worth getting the yak wet. Until these low pressure systems are totally gone (there are many more lined up waiting to hit) I'd stay very, very close to shore. Even in Paradise Cove. That Point will not protect you from these winds.
When I got in to shore, I grabbed my water bottle, took 15 minutes to catch my breath, and thanked God and OCEANHUNTER for being "less stupid" than we could have been.
If you go out, take it really easy. I would stay within a close proximatey to the kelp. That way if you have to you can paddle from bed to bed, tie off to take a rest (if the kelp doesn't snap before you recover).
VHF Radio, anchor, shock chord, cell phone, dive flares,etc; Not one or the other, but all of the above.
The wind on shore doesn't neccessarily reflect the wind 50 feet off shore. And the wind 50 feet off shore doesn't neccessarily reflect the wind 100 feet of shore.
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