A Gift to Mother Ocean

SHORT VERSION:

Went out with Joe bloodbath and it was pretty surgy and we didn't find any huge fish but each shot enough for dinner. Could have blasted limits of chunky schooling blues and small legal lings but decided to let em be and just take what we needed.

LONG VERSION:

Picke Joe up at 545 and headed down to the Plan A launch site. Too rough and windy (and forecast was for it to get rougher and windier) so headed across town to the Plan B site.

Tide was CRAZY high and there was NO beach and water was all the way to the bottom of the staircase. The way this stair case curves sharply at the bottom it would have been impossible to launch right there. While standing on stairs and checking it out a big wave came and crashed at base of stairs and soaked me. F that, on to Plan C.

Plan C  launch site looked doable (to me  ), but if swell got any bigger (like it was meant to) chances of getting pummelled on way in were high. So off to Plan D.

Plan D looked fine except for the super high tide causing the waves to be up and onto the concrete stairs leading down to beach.

I have launched off the stairs here though in plenty worse conditions so I wasn't skeered. 

Set up yak on stairs and told Joe to park car since I was ready first and to meet me out OTW.

Was in a hurry to get out and waves weren't real bad here so even though I stowed all my guns and fins and weightbelt inside the yak, I just set up my iPhone (I use it as a GPS) on my RAM mount on one of the rails on my center hatch of my Kraken cuz really didn't think I would have any problems on launch...

http://www.rammount.com/products/xgrip/phone

Pulled yak down to bottom step of stairs and decided to look over yak one more time before launching out.

Turned around and out of nowhere a wave crashes on the step and knocks me off my feet and throws me and my yak into the water! 

Go to stand up and jump back in, but tide is so high that my feet don't touch bottom and right when I go to jump back in yak another wave knocks me and the yak back and over into the boulder field back between the concrete stairs and the pier legs.

Cover my head with one hand while holding the paddle in the other and ride out the washing machine.

Once I stop getting tossed around I pop up, jump in yak and get the heck outta there!

Realize right away that my phone is gone. GGRRR!!!!

 

But...as much as it sucks I figure I am really lucky not to have gotten my head smacked on a rock or the stairs or pier legs, and that all the rest of my gear was stowed safe inside the Kraken, so decide to just keep paddling out and make the most of the day.

Go to a general area where I have had fun and luck before and start exploring the great structure. Ton of blues and small Lings out but not much else that I can find.

Take one chunky Blue, one 26 inch male Ling and a nice 20 inch Cab before heading back to yak and meeting up with Joe.

Paddle out to another spot we know offshore aways (found it just by visual clues like landmarks and kelp beds even without GPS) and the viz is really nice so spend some time diving down to 50+ feet hoping to find a nice Ling or Sheep or Verm.

No luck on any of these but did pop a nice fat Olive!

My new Pathos Laser Open Pro 75 performed really well and I was stoked on all four shots that I took, and so far am really enjoying using it!

 

Back at shore spent time looking in surf for phone but no sign of it. 

Oh well...mother ocean gives me plenty so figure it's only fair that she collects every now and again.

 

Always fun to get out and spend time and dive with Joe and still brought home plenty of fish...fed 8 people last night just on fish tacos from the small Ling and half the Cab and still have the Blue and Olive for later this week.

Sorry no pics, but here's a mini vid:

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Trust me, you don't need no stinking cell phone. 
OK, maybe YOU do.
Sorry about the financial ding. Hope you had all the #'s backed up somewhere.
Great character for not letting all that ruin your adventure.

Glad to hear no dings to your your physical person, bummer about phone.  Heading out and let Joe park the car.....classic  .  Has anyone ever beat you to water at launch ????  Cool vid, nice shootn'. Would like to hear more about your Pathos 75 and how it compares the RA 70.   

We made the most of a surgy day for sure! When I went to launch I found Jim's anchor line wrapped around pier legs.... so it took me a bit longer to paddle 1 1/2 miles to meet up with Jim

Sorry to hear about your i-phone.  Thanks for the report and video Jim.

Bummer, man!  I'm glad you didn't get hurt or smash a hole in your yak along with the lost electronics.  Be safe, buddy!   

Not a gift. She stole it.  That's a lot of plans to find one that eventually got you out.  Where's the video of the entry.  I know your camera was on. 

Thanks guys!

DG, no vid of launch. Had goPro stowed.

Trust me, if I had thought it was gonna be an exciting launch I would have taken my time more and had the GoPro rolling.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Sorry you lost your phone man. I had my boy down there this weekend, and while we really wanted to get in, the ultra high tides in the morning and the big surge in PG made conditions not so good. We got on the Yak, did some fishin, so we got our therapy. Great vid BTW!

Thanks Quinn!

Took a couple screen shots off the vid and posted it up on my JK blog as well...screenshots are fun! 

http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2015/01/22/a-gift-to-mother-ocean/

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I am sure you will love your new phone afterward  . Great video as always.

Great video. And a good read. Bummer about the phone. But looked like a great trip anyway.

Great video.