Another paddle

Got up early this morning to paddle with California Kayak Friends, a southern Cal kayak club. I met them at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard at 8:30 am, and was surprised to see the size of the crowd. Many of the guys were in skin-on-frame or handmade wooden kayaks. Many were also very skilled in rolling, sculling and other kayak magic. The two other women, Paula and Bev, were in sit-on-top kayaks.

The paddling was relaxed, and very social - Oxnard has smaller surf than Ventura. It was a nice recovery from yesterday's workout. There were hundreds of young snowy plovers on the breakwater, a juvenile great cormorant on the breakwater tower, and lots of brown pelicans.

After the paddle, I ran into my friend Mitch (and met his friend Rob), the husband of my co-worker Lisa. I also met Connor, a friend of John & Sabine's who I've heard much about. He paddles with the long-distance crowd - they had planned to paddle to Anacapa Island today, but the forecast was for 25 knot winds, so they stayed along the coast.

A bunch of us went for lunch after the paddle, and then it was back home for clean up (washing sand and salt water off everything) and errands. Need to get to bed early and get ready for another long work week. Hope yours is awesome!

Oh, BTW, I have ordered a fabulous new fiberglass kayak from Current Designs. It's a Suka, make for smaller paddlers - and even customized for the even-shorter-than-normal me. It should be here around the end of April. Woo hoo!!