Lot's of good paddles depending on skill level, etc. Also, Sage is up in your neck of the woods, and works part-time at Southwind Kayaks. He's a terrific paddler and a terrific person to paddle with.
Here's something I want to share with you, it's better to have a small group of no more then three paddlers then a large group. In my experience of crazy group dynamic occurs, and the group fragments into confusion.

Personally, I think paddling off LA stinks to high heaven however, The Dana to Newport paddle is fun, the Dana to San Onofre paddle is fun, the Cabrillo to Pacific Palisades paddle is fun. We have friends north of Malibu and have all paddled all along the coast north and south.

Paddling off the North County of San Diego is a series of long beaches and never ending homes with tiny rock points periodically. Further south the La Jolla to Del Mar paddle is nice and pretty. La Jolla south to Mission Bay or vice versa is good (look for "the Landlord"). Mission Bay to Point Loma is a nice cruise, the Mission Bay to SD Bay paddle and back is more challenging. The Imperial Beach out and around the Coronado Islands paddle is wild (look for "The Landlord" out here, too). A good compass course exercise is La Jolla out to the "navy buoy" and back, round trip 21-22 miles.

: Looking for paddlers and paddle spots centered around Seal Beach, CA. I was
: there for a couple days this past week and paddled the harbor and a short
: trip "outside". I also covered most of Newport: harbor, back bay
: and some of the rock gardens out towards Dana Point. On the last day,
: Thursday, it was in and around Cabrillo Beach.

: Any recommendations on places to paddle?

: As a side note: Any wood boat paddlers thought of printing up a sign that
: says something like, "Yes, I built it. No, it was not difficult. It's
: not done yet so I can't tell you how long it took." ?

: Greg