Garrapata to Carmel = long day

Sorry, no pics.

Long story made short, I had a long day. Caught some fish. Got seasick. Took a nap.


Mahito and I drove down to Garrapata after hitting the MBK sale Saturday morning. Lugged our kayaks and gear down the long, sandy trail. Crossed the creek, which was totally swollen due to the high tide--actually had to paddle across the mini-lagoon LOL!

Set up on the beach and picked a good spot to launch so we dragged our kayaks to the best entry point into the surf. The waves really seemed to be getting bigger right before our eyes. Got psyched up and went for it. Mahito went first and bailed. I went next and kinda wussed out because a big set appeared out of nowhere and took my kayak up the beach. D'OH!
I think Mahito tried it again before we decided that the waves were definitely getting bigger. We needed to time it perfectly to get out. So we waited. And watched. But the waves just kept getting bigger, and now they were forming and getting steeper out further. But at the same time, they were also breaking closer to the steep beach. Well over head high and no particular pattern.

So, after much debate, we grudgingly dragged our kayaks and gear back up the long, sandy trail. But we had a plan. Head to Carmel and check out the river beach. Pulled right up to our own secret parking spot and carried our stuff down the stairs. We launched after a great talk with another kayak fisherman who had just got out of the water. He told us it was windy around the point, and he was right.
I got seasick for the first time in a kayak. And it was my first run in my new (used) OK Drifter. It was pretty bad. Now whenever I hear the term yak fishing...I think of something different LOL!
Still managed to catch about 20 fish in 2 hours of yak-fishing, which is about par for this spot. I fished for about an hour after initially getting sick. But it just wasn't that fun reeling in the fish while "yakking" so I retreated to the sandy beach. Upon landing I forgot my legs didn't work and my knees buckled and I fell to my knees--a wave washed my kayak up against me and I stumbled up and dragged my kayak 15 feet up the beach then just fell face first into the sand (fell that time on purpose---I was happy to be back on terra firma/sandy). I probably layed there for like 3 minutes until some kid, about 7 years old, wandered over to me and said, "Hey, are you dead?"
I looked up at him smiling and said, "I'm dead tired, thats for sure!" It was pretty funny. But I think his mom put him up to it.
I took off my wetsuit and pfd and layed back down in the sand with my hat over my face and napped for a while, until Mahito came back to shore. He got a nice fat stringer of blues. I kept a couple blues and a fatally-released copper. Never kept a copper, wonder how they taste?

Carried the gear back up to the truck and went straight to Chipotle for burritos. My stomach was telling me I needed food and it tasted awesome. Maybe because it really was a good burrito, but maybe it just tasted good because I had a really, really long day.

Yak-fishing expert,
PK
   

Were the humpbacks still there?

Didn't see the whales this time. But I didn't really paddle out that far past the point.

Sin-yakker,
You have to go for it when the waves in play. Wait for the set, ready to go with kayak in hand, last wave run, jump on, and paddle (make sure gear is secured of course). You'll be surprised how fast you can make it out.
As a surfer, I know the set thing, but you can make ground way faster on a yak and with momentum can make plowing whitewater what you would think you couldn't. G-pada is a good spot and is rarely an "easy" launch.
practice w/o gear, in a wetsuit.

SR

nice job of catching fish while puking.  I personally can't take it on those big swell days.  I get green at about 6 feet and I'm pretty much done in at 8 feet swells.  It's not easy having to paddle back in that condition.

next weekend at the lake?

Did ya take any Dramamine or similar before you headed out??
I have been sick on a kayak several times and it isn't fun. It is usually from a combo of exhaustion from diving and poor digestion. I usually have a small breakfast then dive about an hour later. The Dramamine makes it so my head isn't the reason for me getting sick. If I don't take the stuff I might as well throw in the towel.

Did ya take any Dramamine or similar before you headed out??
I have been sick on a kayak several times and it isn't fun. It is usually from a combo of exhaustion from diving and poor digestion. I usually have a small breakfast then dive about an hour later. The Dramamine makes it so my head isn't the reason for me getting sick. If I don't take the stuff I might as well throw in the towel.

I was reading an article on seasickness written by a party boat captain who was saying that from his experience dramamine is pretty much worthless.  He claimed that Bonine or the motion sickness patch (prescription) works much better.  What do you guys think?

The first time I puked over the side of my kayak I was trying to tie a knot about a mile off La Jolla Shores. I had never heard of anyone getting sick while kayaking before, so I decided to keep that little nugget to myself. However, I paddled over to my fishing partner and immediately felt better. His face was about the color of an Oakland A's logo and had been miserable himself.
Dramamine has no effect on me, but the patches worked well the two times I tried them.

I think there is a mental aspect to seasickness as well.
A wise man might once have said
"Barfing must not be at the forefront of the mind if it is not to occur."

 - which is no help at all when in large rolling swells.

was a fun day of fishin  =)
still sorry you got sick pat  =( 

garrapota was interesting.  I think I could have gotten out but was unsure how much bigger the surf would get and if I would be able to land or not  =)  real steep beach and some of the waves would have easily been crashing over my head       if I was standing on the beach at the base of the wave.  not like del monte beach or something where you actually have time to get on the yak and start paddling before the next one etc.

very similar to launching the middle of monestary beach in  carmel (which is alot of fun but you often get a audience of tourists) 

fishin was steady.  mostly blues blues and more blues  with some grass, gopher, and coppers mixed in
no lings  =(  I did pull up one blue with major toof marks though  =)

dang! where the heck did you guys put in the ocean at Garrapata? sounds like a different area from where we went the previous times. Maybe north of where we were.

john

Dramamine is diminhydrinate, an antihistamine.  Dramamine II is meclazine, also a antihistamine and the same ingrediant in Bonine.  Meclazine is longer acting than diminhydrinate but can also be more sedating for some people.  The longer action of meclazine alows one to take an initial dose the night before your fishing and then second dose yourself the morning of your fishing.  This works very well for me but could be too sedating for some.

Patches use scopalamine which is one of preop meds used in surgery.  It works well for some but occasionally can cause visual hallucinations in susceptible individuals.

Motion sickness is caused by interference in a very complex function in the brain.  There is an interplay between the visual input to the brain and inputs from the semicircular canals (in the inner ears) and position/sensory receptors in the muscles and joints, particularly in the neck.  These are integrated in the brain, probably at the cerebellum, and allow us to move smoothly and perform complex motor tasks.  As motion and the trajectory of the body is computed, the brain anticipates where the body will be and gears the joints, muscles etc. to appropriately prepare for the new position.  We have probably all had the experience of anticipating a step we thought was there, which wasn't, and felt jarred when our next step was not properly prepared.  

When there is imbalance or conflicting input from these inputs we experience motion sickness.  When you are rocking in a kayak and you look to the horizon, the conflict between visual input and other inputs is minimized since your brain isn't anticipating an immediate change in trajectory.  But if you are staring at a knot you are trying to untangle and the motion of the kayak tells your body you are moving the brain is confused and you get sick.  Being aware of this can help you reduce the chance of motion sickness in rough conditions by being aware of what you are looking at.  That's why dancer's are trained to "spot" a distant point in the room when doing pirouettes.  Another example would be if you are prone to motion sickness in cars you can deliberately influence the input from your semicircular canals.  You will note that the driver always tilts his head into a curve, while a passenger's head tilts in the opposite direction due to the centrifugal force.  So a passenger can reduce the risk of getting sick if they consciously tilt into the curve.

People are quite variable in their susceptiblity to motion sickness.  We have all heard about MoBasser's unfortunate, exquisite sensitvity to it.  Conversely some don't seem susceptible at all. I once sailed out of Auckland, New Zealand into force 8 gale winds.  This was aboard a 525 foot liner and the waves were breaking over the bridge.  We awoke to the decks strewn with passengers barfing their guts up.  But one of our nurses was running arround attending to their needs.  She never got motion sickness and never needed medication!

I am very susceptible to motion sickness, but as long as I "lived" on Dramamine I was fine aboard ship.  Even enabled me to perform a vasectomy while sailing past Malta in the Mediterranean--talk about a highly focused visual task!

Cool review.

Does Loratidine offer any help for motion sickness?

"Patches use scopalamine which is one of preop meds used in surgery.  It works well for some but occasionally can cause visual hallucinations in susceptible individuals."

Is that a bad thing? 

I find that the vision focus is very effective at reducing the effects of seasickness.  The other day I was fishing in a big swell and began to feel queezy.  I started to paddel in while looking over the horizon at the nice view and the seasickness went away only to return after I stopped paddeling and started fishing again.  I find the same is true on my sailboat.  If I spend any time below I loose sight of the horizon and on it comes.  I find that driving the boat, I almost never get sick.  On the deck, I am sometimes usually in a confused sea and light wind but below it is almost a sure thing.

The best cure for seasickness is the hard ground.

Wow!
Thanks for the detailed info guys and gal(s) !!

Will try some meds next time it looks like the WX will be bad, for sure. I'd only gotten seasick twice before (in many trips on the ocean). Once on an albacore trip out of Monterey (it was the third trip that summer and by far the worst WX -- I remember reeling in 15lb albies while puking over the rail! Still got like 8 that trip.) and the other time was in a 15 ft Whaler off Soldiers Club in huge swell...and I was up drinking all night. That was rough.

I think I will tie my knots before launching for now on. And I will also avoid tying to kelp for too long of a time in mixed swells.

Going somewhere else this wknd though.
(-;

PK

Old post but I was just reliving that painfully-humbling day in my head.
I will never forget that day or the lessons I learned. You were a great friend and maybe the best human being I knew. Thank you for everything, Mahito.
May you Rest in Peace and I'll see you at the big ocean in the sky...I'll bring the bait and something to BBQ.

Mahito passed away yesterday in a tragic dirtbike accident. He was a friend of mine since college days and got me into kayak fishing. I owe him so much. I'm not sure how many here knew him, but if you did then you know how much this sucks and that he will be missed by many.  RIP buddy.