: WARNING: SHAGGY DOG STORY:
: This morning I went out, Redondo Beach, King's Harbor, --hoping to
: see more sharks--I guess.
: Foggy--which I like. Navigation training. ( I love to go out in the
: fog, at night, in the rain--but not if there's a chance of
: lightning).
: Visibility 1/5 nMile. My goal was to reach the red buoy off Lunada
: Bay Palos Verdes 5 nm out. 210 degrees magnetic. I was 6 minutes
: from it (about 4/10 nM) when I first heard the bell. Adjusted
: course to 240degrees. 3 minutes before arrival when I was
: finally able to see it's silhouette in the fog (so 1/5th nMile
: vis. based on 4 knot pace).

: I didn't listen to my iPod this trip. I wanted to hear everything.
: A mile out away from the surf, I hear everything anyway with my
: ear buds on ( I listen to books) , but today was more
: critical--less visual distance, and less expectation of seeing a
: kayaker far off the coast in the fog.

: The deep sea fishing charter gang was hanging out on the pier when
: I walked to the bathroom in my gear. I look like some kind of
: demented Halloween commando with my skirt, pfd (not yet
: leather), Tilley hat, and today I wore my wetsuit. Sort of like
: James Bond in drag in an episode of Sponge Bob. I might've
: gotten heckled but I've got that big knife attached to the
: front.

: The next time I we met was 3-4 nmiles off the coast when I paddled
: right by them. The charter was slowly going around in tight
: circles like a dog about to lie down. I guess they were fine
: tuning where to drop anchor. They crossed my path three times in
: about 8 minutes. Weird. I waved at the skipper, but he didn't
: wave back. I'm not trying to make friends, I just wanted him to
: acknowledge that he knew I was there. No body had their gear in
: the water so I was the entertainment. Cameras were even out.

: I was thinking about our colleagues who were hit by the speed boat,
: anyone speeding today and I might be toast. Knuckleheads seem to
: sleep till noon, or maybe that's when they're let out of jail.

: I heard one boat which sounded like it might be making some speed.
: The typical course for boats is to head for the buoy. I always
: do a bit of a dog leg avoiding the busiest direct route. When I
: heard this boat I was still near the buoy, so I paddled to get
: between the buoy and the kelp--they wouldn't go there. He came
: by, two people at the wheel, both keeping a look out, and they
: weren't traveling fast at all. False alarms are practice.

: I recommend kayaking in the fog in a safe place to work on
: navigation skills. On a good day are we really navigating by
: compass? If we can see, we cannot not look. (Our brains do a lot
: more than they let us know they are doing.)
: Today, I followed my compass, the angle of the swell (which off
: California is long straight parallel and 11-13 second
: intervals), the wind on my cheek. I noticed the seagulls were
: heading towards the harbor, or the beach. The sound of the surf
: on the beach and the breakwater faded away quickly, but there
: was always a little j'une c'est quoi noise from the beach. Maybe
: something we hear but aren't conscious of.

: We aren't lost until what we are looking at doesn't fit the picture
: in our heads. Wander around on vacation, in a new town (Venice
: is perfect). Set the alarm on your watch, when it goes off, try
: to figure out the most direct route to your hotel or the place
: you planned to eat. If you really were wandering you'll
: immediately feel uneasy and confused. This is good. This is
: lost. Or when you look at a landmark but it's in the wrong
: place, or there should be only one peak there, but there's
: three--you start to try to fit what you are looking at with what
: you know. (Maybe there are 3 peaks and a highway on the side of
: Mt Hood......) This is lost.

: For me this morning, I had some brief moments (but safe moments).
: The first, outbound, when I noticed the swell coming from the
: side. I'd lost my heading and was about 40 degrees off. This
: means the swell was an important part of my feeling I knew where
: I was and where I was heading. This was neat--and a learning
: experience. After I rounded the buoy I heard whales--I'm pretty
: sure, 3-4 long loud breathes but off in the fog... I paddled in
: the direction, heard them again a couple more times but never
: saw anything. Gray whales don't migrate until November....
: What was neat about turning to paddle in the direction of the sound
: was that I was near enough to the buoy to still see it, but it
: was behind me. I manuevered around to see the whales all on dead
: reckoning, and felt completely comfortable. When I looked for
: the buoy it was where I'd expected it to be. I couldn't find the
: whales, and if they were moving up or down the coast, I wouldn't
: see much anyway. Again, I wasn't lost because I where I was fit
: what I expected. I'd been in the fog off Santa Monica Pier once.
: I turned around to head back, no problem. I had one moment of
: doubt--and pow! I felt lost and confused.

: I had more of these moments when I was heading in.

: The trip in heading should be 30 degrees (210 out, -180 = 30 ) but
: I had a more difficult time keeping my heading. Maybe because
: the swell was behind me, there's there's a large kelp bed off
: starboard--so even though I was in fog, with no GPS, the worst
: that could happen was to run into the kelp and then poke along
: the cliffs till I got to the beach and then follow that to the
: harbor- - -which is sort of what happened. One reason I didn't
: pursue the whales was they were further out.
: I saw some shapes in the fog, figured they were boats off Palos
: Verdes in a popular fishing spot. They turned out to be rocks
: off the coast, one with some bushes on it. It was amazing, like
: suddenly I was off Oregon instead of a bit of coast I knew like
: the scars in my hull. I'd never seen them before. At least I'd
: never seen them without the cliffs above and around them. The
: fog turned the familiar into a dream.

: What I think kayaking has done for me this year, is to take me to a
: new level of seeing. We don't see with our eyes, we see with our
: brains. The more we learn the more we can see.
: I'll bet I will now see blue shark fins every time I head out. They
: were probably always there, but now I know how to see them.
: There are fish everywhere. Mostly small, but I see more than
: ever before. The whales? I'm pretty sure they were whales,
: because a gray whale popped up right next to me in Marina del
: Rey last year he breathed and now I know what that sounds like.
: I heard breathing when I was inbound--shorter, quicker--sea
: lion. I saw him.

: Love kayaking. Love the ocean. No wonder the Aleut didn't mind
: living out on those windswept islands.

Nice story, thanks :)

I have a thing about being lost. If you know you can find your way back you're not lost, you just don't know where you are, there is a difference :)

Bill H.