Blog - The Naked Kayaker

Le Catch Bizarre: 4 American girls kayak Les Îles Chausey in Normandy

5/20/2015

It's always been one of my dreams to ride along on a fishing boat and see fish being caught first hand. I just never expected this dream to manifest itself during one of my sea kayaking trips. This weekend it was accidentally realized when we found ourselves on a big fishing boat (sea kayaks on top), plowing through the waves of the English Channel towards Les Iles Chausey - a beautiful archipelago (52 islands at high tide, 365 at low tide) about an hour boat ride from Granville in Normandy.

Day 10: Sunset Paddle with Mt. Baker and a Hike up Mt. Constitution

7/28/2014

A quick nap on the way to Mt. Baker.

Monday morning we “slept in” and made a dinner-breakfast of spaghetti with tomato sauce, supplemented with mushrooms and chard – yum! Sara and I packed up our tents and left camp earlier than the rest of the crew. Everyone else was headed back to Anacortes later that morning, but we were headed to Orcas Island to continue the second half of our San Juan Islands trip. Even after multiple calls to the Southwest Airlines baggage counter (at 3 different airports), there was no indication that Sara’s two checked bags would be delivered, so we headed into Friday Harbor to replace some of the lost items. A 45-minute shopping spree later, Sara was the proud owner of some new chacos, underoos, paddling gloves, and other items. We made the usual stops for water, ice, and coffee before boarding the inter-island ferry.

Day 9: Kayaking with Orcas in Haro Strait!!!

7/27/2014

Another (attempted) early start! At 6:50am (only 20 minutes late) we departed the campsite, made a quick-ish coffee stop in Friday Harbor, and continued to our second San Juan Island kayaking destination: Haro Strait. This strait runs along the west side of San Juan Island and is known as the best location for orca whale sightings. The main public put-in site is at Smallpox Bay in San Juan County Park, which is apparently where a number of Native Americans plunged into the icy cold water to rid themselves of smallpox and instead died of pneumonia...

Out-the-Gate, Finally!

5/21/2014

An Out-the-Gate paddle is a right of passage for sea kayakers in the Bay Area. Not just anyone can paddle out under the Golden Gate Bridge and see the unique view of San Francisco from the other side. Intense currents flow through the gate four times a day: twice into the bay (flood) and twice out of the bay (ebb). These tidally-driven currents can be incredibly fast (over 5 mph - 1 or 2 mph faster than a typical sea kayaker), but luckily they can be planned-for well in advance by looking at local tide tables (http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/curr_pred.html).

Muir Beach to Rodeo Beach and then some...

5/5/2013

Alice demonstrating the signal for "Go!"

I've been a bit scarce over the past six months thanks to a lovely series of exams to become a professional engineer (fingers crossed!). Even before the exams were over, Alice (new paddling friend in the Bay) and I were scheming to do a coastal paddle from Muir Beach to Rodeo Beach (just north of the Golden Gate). Even though we've both done a bit of coastal paddling, we were a bit nervous to head out by ourselves. Alice posted her first trip to the BASK (Bay Area Sea Kayakers) list-serve, and five other expert BASK paddlers joined us (Gordon, Don, Joe, Bert, and Ross). Gordon offered to carpool with me since we were both coming from the East Bay, so I had the exciting experience of getting a ride in his old sand-yellow mercedes station wagon!

Playing in the Surf Zone at Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay

11/4/2012

Feeling somewhat intimidated by the Pacific Ocean, I signed up for a Surf Zone class by California Canoe and Kayak. It's a paddling shop with a number of locations in the Bay Area, including Oakland (about 5 mins from my house) and Half Moon Bay.

I was one of three students in the class. According to the instructor, the surf was perfect for learning. The class was focused on handling your kayak in the surf zone: launching and landing safely, punching through breaking waves to get out past the surf zone, and side surfing to avoid getting flipped when the waves turn you sideways.

Santa Barbara Harbor

6/11/2012

A couple weeks ago my job brought me to Santa Barbara (~ 6 hours south of San Fran) to survey parts of Mission Creek and a beach lagoon. Naturally, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to have my gas mileage reimbursed and bring my kayak along, so I volunteered to drive. Wednesday was the first time I was able to get on the water since we worked a couple 13 hour days on Monday and Tuesday.

Following advice from a local paddler, I started out at Ledbetter Beach, just upcoast of the Santa Barbara Harbor...

Circumnavigating Southport Island in Boothbay, Maine

7/14/2010

Plotting our course by candle light

Now that you're all (the 3 of you who actually read this) probably getting bored of my posts, I've invited a guest blogger! I now present you with Jeff Buchman, kayaking partner for the weekend of 7/9-7/11 on our visit to Boothbay Harbor in Maine...

Saturday morning we awoke to the sound of rain drops on the tent, but it turns out it was only large amounts of fog dripping off of the trees. Since it was predicted to thunderstorm, I was more than willing to deal with heavy fog since last time I checked no one was ever electrocuted by fog. When we arrived at the beach at Gray Homestead Oceanfront Camping (where we were camping), the fog was so thick that we couldn't see Squirrel Island, which is only about 1 mile offshore. As we were launching, the fog began to lift and a little bit of sun shined through the the clouds. The first part of the trip was against the tide toward the open Atlantic Ocean. While paddling against the tide is a bit more challenging, it is somewhat reassuring to know that if something goes wrong you won't be swept into the ocean. The wave height was probably 3-4 feet but...