Preparing for my first downwind adventure...

[Strand Leper]

Rich drove us to Dave's and Dave's gf drove us to the launch site... I was along for the ride.  Mike (MRL) meets us at the launch, laughs at Candi, he is out because his lady is rehabbing, but he cheers us on as we depart.  A few gusts on the walk from the parking lot to the water...

We do a gear check before Dave's gf bails... water, pfd, protein, hats, shades, paddles, boards, leashes... cell phones in waterproof cases... good to go.

We are aiming for the gap in the breakwater... the same gap that the boat full of Chinese toys is going through at the moment... that was a big boat.  That big boat moved a little bit of water.

As soon as we got within three hundred yards of the breakwater, I knew that it was going to be a bit of a challenge.

Rich, Dave and I were so stoked that we were hooting and hollering... the wind was at our back, the wide ocean was in front of us... except for a boat or two, and we could almost see our destination in the distance... our line was basically right through the freighter... and onto Orange County.

[Strand Leper]

Now the fun begins... (no photos for a bit... as my hands were a smidge full)...  I get dumped about two hundred yards from the breakwater, Dave gets dumped another hundred or so yards beyond... the refractions off the breakwater, the wind pushing is out of the breakwater, the boats criss crossing, bedlam!  We are still hooting at each other.

As we pass through the breakwater, I hear HM saying, hydrate, hydrate... i sit down and take in some water... Rich is zipping between Dave and I, keeping everything under control, gliding cruising... going back to Dave and I to make sure that we are good.

We are good... but we aren't.  We are having fun.  It is amazing.  But now we are exposed to open ocean windswell that has been building for some distance (nothing like you Maui boys see... but for this rookie, it was intimidating)... with cross chops from freighters and container ships... and breakwater refraction...  it was really tough to get enough locomotion between swells to stay upright... and then Candi would pierce the next swell... like she was designed to do... and buck me off like nothing... I tried to unweight the rear but Candi's stability point is very specific... and it aint in the rear!

The water is bluer than blue... and my thighs are SCREAMING... I am alternating between surf ski and standup paddle... I switch back and forth to give my muscles time to rest and recuperate.  We see the lighthouse at the Queens Gate in the distance.  We aim for the right of the lighthouse... we should have aimed for far right of that point... but with Candi's rounded hull, I just can't quarter... to survive, I need to go nearly directly downwind.  After a half hour to forty five minutes of struggle, we slip to the outside of Queens Gate.  As we are approaching, my mental marker is a huge oil rig the size of a city block and the height of a small skyscraper... I put my head down and aim to the open ocean side of the oil derrick.  Grind, grind, grind, grind, and I look up... and this oil derrick is some sort of satellite platform that has its own locomotion... and it is moving inside the bay.  WOW!  That was freaking cool!  We can hear the cruise ship horns as they are about to depart... Now, the struggle begins... we are probably at mile 6 or 7... and we need to move along the breakwater to the South edge... All is good for the first mile or two... and then, the breakwater starts angling out towards the open ocean... but wait... the wind is pushing straight... and the breakwater is angling into the wind... and I can't quarter... and there is no turning back humanly possible... OH SH*T...

Dave and I are just grinding, getting dumped... resting with some Pocahontas paddling... standing... paddling... straddling... drinking... and starting to feel the refraction of the breakwater... things were about to get confusing... I am starting to get hungry... but I can't stop paddling for even two minutes... or the wind and swell were going to push me into the breakwater...

I was really second guessing the decision to go outside of Queens Gate at this point... the ocean was kicking my a**!

Have you ever done a thousand pushups?  Well, I think I did on Sunday.

Next.

[Strand Leper]

The wind is good though... Strong... slightly refracting off the breakwater... steady 15, seems to gust to 20.  And it is pushing us RIGHT in the direction we need to go... except that it is trying to push us into the breakwater.  

Chazz's rails let Dave quarter a little bit into the wind... Rich is just going off... zipping next to the breakwater... using the turbocharged wing at water level... riding swells breaking into the breakwater and zipping out...

I just can't hold Candi from going into the breakwater anymore... I just can't do it... I have three or so miles to get to the end of the breakwater... but I literally cannot quarter away from the breakwater... I can't do it... so I give up... I put my paddle under my chest, I get twenty or so yards from the breakwater... and I start prone paddling... every five hundred yards or so, I have to paddle directly into the wind to get out of the danger zone... this goes on for forty five minutes or so... it felt like a little bit longer... it was a little bit of a grind... but I frankly would not have it any other way... I got myself into this mess... I need to get myself out.  

Rich keeps zipping by to make sure that I was good... Dave is quartering and putting everything on the line to go to the right of the wind line... Dave stops every once in awhile to make sure that I am still alive... he is feeling guilty that he is riding Chazz... but hey, I had to see if I could do this on Candi... at least for this section, I can't.  I just have to get to the end of the breakwater... I think I can see it in the distance...

I see Mount Baldy in the distance... it's Father's Day... I remember all of those hikes from the village to the top with my now 18 year old son... I remember the lady bug nests... the times we didn't make it... the snow in May... the blackberry pie at the Mt. Baldy Inn on the way home... the time we made it to the top but had no film left... the time we made it to the top with him on my shoulders the entire way... and the time we ran down the mountain in an hour and fifteen minutes... he made it on his own when he was 7... I told him that I was pretty sure that he was the youngest kid every to make that fourteen mile, 14,000 foot elevation gain/loss hike in one day... I am pretty sure he was...

Am I hallucinating?

If things go a little bit astray, Rich and Dave are two guys who you want with you.  Period.

[Strand Leper]

I can see the end of the breakwater, Huntington Beach... the big Aerospace building on Bolsa Chica... but I am rising and falling with each swell... struggling to keep Candi out of the rocks... one more mile... put the head down... just give it everything...

As I cross the breakwater, I raise my hands in triumph... I paddle to the lee side of it... start guzzling water and ripping open pocket fuel... I eat two pocket fuels... and drink lots of water... I can see the end of the Seal Beach pier... the entrance to Huntington Harbor, the Surfside jetty... the inside of Long Beach Harbor... the island in the middle...

It is calm... I stop... text my wife... take a few pics... read a text from the "worry wart" Mike to make sure we made it... and look at the options... because I can't quarter...

I just can't get over to Surfside, though... I am sick of prone paddling and want to ride some wind... I tell Rich and Dave that I am good... and I will meet Rich at the Seal Beach pier after he packs up...

Now it's time to have fun... oh boy this is fun!  super short interval... glide, glide, glide, buck, glide, buck, buck, buck, glide, glide, and I am on the sand.

Shower off at someone's house... lay the board on the grass... and collapse on the warm concrete sidewalk... until my night in shining armor, Rich rolls up in his Tacoma!

By the way, Rich drove home... I don't remember falling asleep...

The first pic is the outside of the breakwater... where I had been straggling for the last hour... with our launch point barely visible in the distance...

Next is the inside of the breakwater...

Then looking towards HB...

Then looking towards Seal...

[Strand Leper]

Wait at Seal for Rich...

Me spooled...

A look out towards the breakwater... it's out there...

Rich, my white knight!

Home sweet home!

Jacuzzi time!

[Strand Leper]

Lessons learned:

Lots.  Candi is not a downwind board.  Go with people who have very good water skills.  The safety of you and your buddies is PARAMOUNT.  

Rudders on downwind boards probably come in pretty handy.

How much are those downwind boards (with rudders) again?

Cuz I am HOOKED!

This was a rad, controlled, adventure... the only reason it was not a total disaster is because Rich, Dave and I listened to what fellow Zoners with DW experience said, stuck together... stuck to the plan... and deviated from the plan ONLY when it was clear that we needed to deviate... and that no one was in any danger... and when we knew that we would communicate in a half hour... OR sound the alarm.

Oh, and if you think you can take your super skinny race knife in open ocean DW conditions... think again.

Oh, and South County windy afternoons are really incomparable to the wind whipping along Cabrillo, the harbor, Seal and Surfside every afternoon.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

[PonoBill]

Holy shit, that sounds like work. Next time you want to do a downwinder, jump on a plane to PDX, I'll pick you up at the airport and you can do a pleasant 8.5 miles of gorge downwinder. Big swells, max wind, lots of fun, suitable boards. You can take my poor abused glide. It knows the way to the event center, like a stable-bred horse. Dinner at the pourhouse and back on a plane. Or not. We do them pretty much every day.

Or at least, for sure, get an F16 or a Bullet if you're going to do that misery stuff.

[starman]

You can lead a horse to water......

[SEA]

IF HE HAD A BULLET , HE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN IN TROUBLE !! quartering would be a breeze with a rudder !! 

Thanks for the blow by blow Tim  ...  awesome day !!!  Down winding is definitely ADDICTING !!!  Can't explain it ..... gotta experience it !! 

Good going Tim.  When are you going again ??     )

[headmount]

Well I imagine your level of appreciation's just about as high as it ever will be and if you ever come here or to the Gorge, you'll probably move.

The last pic of you said it all.  And don't worry, we've all been there.

You're correct about that board. 

[90743]

The three stooges before the run ... Optimistic, and very naive !

[surf monkey]

I was feeling for you when you said refraction. It is the worst especially when your that close to the breakwater no fun,  not like open ocean when it's all going one way our harbor has the same thing it's always bad when you get close to the breakwater.

Thanks for being so entertaining.

Your idea about using a boat is a good one we have done that up here but not in big winds. Still lots of logistics loading boards and stuff.

[Strand Leper]

Pono is getting a call in advance of my next Portland trip.  Running the Willamette at super flood stage is fun.... But downwinding in Hood seems more fun for some reason... Just need to make sure that my Portland trip coincides with Bill's annual Oregon residency... It was a grind Bill, but it was kind of cool to figure out how to pretend that you are part of the cool Maui DW crew for a half a day... An hour from your house.  I will figure out a run that is more fun... I think Mike and Starman already have.

Starman is money... I am a stubborn bastard... But the next trip will be a put in at the fancy resort... And a run all the way to Surfside.  Will need more water, will do it on Chazz, and will take more pics.. And will get way far from the breakwater as we pass Cabrillo!

SEA, thanks for the equipment input.  The trolling has begun. When am I going to do it again?  As soon as my buddies and I can arrange it.

HM,  it was a grind, but it was an amazing adventure... With two true Watermen, Rich and Dave.  My wife asked for a pic to ensure I was on a street and not in a hospital room. She was a tad skeptical of the route.

90743, No, one stooge and two badass watermen!  But you nailed it on the optimistic and naive part.  Better than "jaded and skeptical.".

Monkey, your channel island trip sounds amazing. I am going to try to put together a small group to do Catalina to DP as soon as I figure this whole DW thing out... (ha ha) Or at least figure out exactly what it is that I don't know...

Thanks for feeling my pain, and joy,

Tim

[all~wet]

SL- Ha! Nice work on the write up! Was great meeting you boys and appreciate you both letting me plug in at the 11th hour! Good people. Straight up, I had a blast, would do it again today.

Have to tell you, much respect to SL not only for gutting it out, but doing so with a great attitude. Gave not so much as a word of complaint and had a smile on your face the whole time. Funny thing is, I'm sure he was feeling beat to hell, but SL was barely on dry land and already plotting the next go around.  Perfect team mate that. Regardless of preparation and planning to avoid him, ol' Murphy, the S.O.B. has a way of showing up to the party... plans go awry, shit goes wrong, so a wingman with some grit, and a cool head who'll grin and get on with it is always a good thing.

As for his date.... well... Candi would be fast and fun in the right time and place... she's definitely a hot number, but she was way out of her element.  Poor thing showed up for a party in her cocktail dress, high heels and lipstick on and found out we were going rock-climbing.  Narrow, no rocker to speak of, rounded bottom with no hard edge anywhere on the rails, was like doing a downwinder on a greased telephone pole.... smooth, straight and fast she does, but bumps, carving turns, going beam to weather, uhhhhhh.... not so much. Tim got her home safely, but it's a fair bet she'll ask where they're going before she goes out with him again.

D: thanks for opening up your home to a stranger, pass on thx to your girl for the shuttle and good work on the run!

Keep me posted for the next. Was already thinking of getting hold of a downwind, versatile open ocean board. My place is small, been trying to thin out, but... going to have to make it happen.

[headmount]

This is what I looked like after the finish of only a 7 mile race.  No wind, hot, muggy, no glides and a heavy board.  And as bad as this pic looks I've been even worse off.  

Wind cools you off out there and when there isn't any and it''s as hot as it gets here (probably similar to Houston TX)... it gets special.

On a windy day with a Bullet, I'm smiling after 10 miles..