Who wants to come to bean hollow? (photos)

I just got back some photos from an old waterproof camera.  Here's right after landing.  Hey wait - my kayak!


Thought he was going to in a minute here...   


Didn't your mother teach you to point straight into the wave? 


Practice makes perfect! 


Sometimes practice doesn't help! 

Someone with a salmon


Uh oh...


Lings in the mist...


Same day, 2 lings on one drop (a third ling followed them up trying to steal my tinsel jig!


Wish I could do that here.


This guy was hiding under a ledge 35' down at black rock, maui.  He was safe from 100 other tourists, but not me.

Great pics!  The Beanhollow ones remind me of how our group got pounded a few years ago...

Yeah, that day the swell forecast was 10-12' and the wind waves were 2-4'.  That made 10-16' combined seas. 

great pics on bean hollow - you should post that on the So Cal boards - see if they would launch in conditions like that 

Nice pics Josh. I didn't know threre were turtles at Bean Hollow 

you should post that on the So Cal boards - see if they would launch in conditions like that

Oh no! That's too scary. We SoCals would never ever launch in that. Our fishfinders might get wet, and our tankwells fill up with sand. Besides, just think what it would do to our perfect Hollywood hair. 

Sheesh.

The water doesn't always gently kiss our southern shores. We've got it easier than you hardy NorCal types, but there are a few breaks that can be wicked big. I wish there was a close-up on that last shot - shoulda held off tripping the shutter for just a moment to catch the aftermath. Gotta love the combo plunge and surge that it looks like you have at Bean Hollow. I bet its very difficult to time a launch so you get out clean. That outgoing surge lines you up for the next breaker. 

At one point about 1/2 second later the kayak was completely vertical with only about a foot of boat on the stern in the water at the top of the wave.   He was flipped vertically and landed upside-down in front of the wave.  Fortunately this was only practice.  Note he was pretty much right between the pinchers that form the hollow - usually that's a safe area.

In normal conditions this beach has a short, violent break.  It's fairly easy to time the waves and paddle out without having to go through one (on the edges of the hollow).  The surge does suck you out into the next wave if you don't hop off at the right point and drag the kayak for all you're worth.  The number one rule of the hollow is to launch and land only at the corners - never in the middle.  The parking lot is in the middle and it's tempting to be lazy and try to land right by the stairs - coming in you can't see that the waves are 4' tall until it's too late.