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| - | ==== Sat. and Sun. at Westport ==== | ||
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| - | **Larry Goolsby** \\ | ||
| - | 11/05/06 #2023 | ||
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| - | 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. | ||
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