Garrapata 7/28

Headed to Garrapata this morning with my co-worker Ryan (a Dan-like NCKA lurker)  and his buddy Jay.  Got a late start on the water at 8:45am.  Launch was more exciting than our last visit to Garrapata, as the swells were a bit larger this time around.  I started the day wet thanks to an unfriendly breaker that splashed me good as I was climbing into the yak, but it wasn't too bad though...we all made it out on the first attempt.

What is it with Garrapata, anyhow?  The conditions looked pretty good from the cliff, but as soon as we got our feet wet the wind started howling.    Same thing happened last time also.

Fishing was pretty slow, with everyone catching little rockies but nothing with the "woo-hoo!" factor.  Jay hooked something big 2-3 times but ended up losing every fish as they ran circles around the kelp.  Ryan caught an underling and assorted rockies.  I did the same, with 8-9 blues, olives and a fat gopher, all of which were sent back in hopes of the "big one" I was gonna catch.    After a while though I decided to keep a 17" olive "just in case" so I had something for dinner.  About 30 minutes before heading in I added a fat 17" red to the clip, and that was it for the day.

By the time we headed in the wind was really kickin' and the swells, much to our dismay, had gotten larger...not smaller as we'd hoped.  Ryan headed in earlier than Jay and me and apparently had a rough landing.  Jay scooted in easily enough, timing the breaks just right.  I was doing okay until a last-second breaker picked up my fat Hobie and deposited us not-so-gracefully onto the rocks (sideways is not how you want to land at Garrapata)    I managed to stay upright though so all was well.

As Etienne mentioned in his report, he stopped by as we were packing up after seeing the NCKA logo on my truck.  Apparently we should have gone to Andrew Molera this morning!    Still, it beat the snot out of working.

Pics later...