Noobs at Pacific City

Sunday, May 27th, my buddy Bittelsmon and I decided to give Pacific City a try. I was itching to get the first salt on my boat, and Bittelsmon was itching to catch fish. He had fished Depoe Bay and Cascade Head and had been skunked both times. Magic Seaweed was forecasting 3’ swells @ 8 sec period, with 9 mph winds out of the south at noon, which was also low tide. The wind was supposed to drop through the afternoon.

We pulled into PC at about 10:00 and the skies were gray and the water pretty choppy looking. There was a Subaru with a yellow OK on it parked on the beach, so we pulled up alongside. The OK owner (I’ll call him M since I don’t know if wants to be identified) indicated he thought the conditions were not great but doable, and the forecast was for it to improve. Bittelsmon and I debated awhile on whether we should go to Depoe Bay, as the surf looked a little nasty, even though it wasn’t particularly big. M said he fished here a lot and it was usually productive. While we were talking, another rig drove up with a green tandem Cobra on top. Turned out it was a couple who planned on some free diving. They had never dove PC, so M gave us all some instruction on how to fish and dive it. Bittelsmon and I said, “What the hell, we came to fish”, so the show was on.

While we were getting our act together, M says “adios” (after dropping a hit of Dramamine, I noticed) and shot on down to the beach and out through the surf in no time. Then Cobra couple made it on down into the surf, and I watched as the woman got up front, paddle poised, while the man held it steady, waiting to jump in. The woman started paddling, holding position, and just as he was about to make the leap, in comes a foamer that shot that Cobra backwards at about warp 9. The woman did a great job of holding it straight though, and didn’t huli. By then, Bittelsmon and I were ready and made our way down to the surf. I don’t have a marine VHF yet, but Bittelsmon does. I figured he could radio for help if I needed it. He had a pair of walkie-talkies, and he gave me one.

We both made our way out into the surf, and I waded out to waist deep, while Bittelsmon hung out a little shallower. I put in my Turbo drive, got my paddle in my hand, watched for a break. Bittelsmon looks like he’s going to wait for me to get out first, but he has the patience of a gnat in heat and takes off. I wait for the break I want and jump in the Hobie. Two strokes forward – here comes a wave – bow lifts, slides sideways off the face, portside gunwale comes up and I’m taking a cold bath. Did I mention that I am in a Hobie Oasis, which is a tandem? Even with some seawater ballast in an old gas can up front, I am stern heavy, and the waves are going to have their way with my bow.

I lose only a bottle of Cherry Coke, my fish bat, my ball cap, and my dignity, which all float up on the beach – well my dignity doesn’t, but the rest does. I’m thinking, “Wow, I made it only six feet into my first surf launch – this is not what I was hoping for”. A couple of bystanders pick up my flotsam and return it to me. A photographer with a tripod set up on the water’s edge swings his focus over my way. I figure maybe a change in strategy will help. I know – I’ll take a page out of Jammer’s book and use the Mirage drive to just power it on out. Out waist deep again, wait for a break, jump in, feet on pedals damn one pedal is backwards stroke it hard crap going sideways I forgot the rudder pull rudder handle bow up sideways and I’m bathing again. This time, the kayak rolls all the way over on the top of me, and I’m on my hands and knees in the middle of a washing machine with the lid closed. I do my best grizzly bear imitation and rear up and throw the Oasis off to the side. A Helpful Bystander comes out to help me with my kayak. Just as I yell to her to NOT get between the yak and the beach, a wave lifts it up into HB’s gut and almost knocks her off her feet. “Oh” she says, “you were telling me not to do that, weren’t you?”

I’m a bit deflated now. This time I lost my six year old glasses – good thing I left the recent prescription pair in the truck. I notice the photographer probably caught a good shot of that huli, and most of the bystanders are turning their heads when I look their way, politely not laughing in my face. Bittelsmon is floating just beyond the breakers. I pull the Hobie up on the beach and pull out the walkie-talkie to tell him to go on out without me. Bittelsmon notices me talking into the walkie-talkie, reaches into his hatch to pull his walkie-talkie out. While he is fiddle-farting around doing that, he is drifting back into the surf zone. 10 seconds later I’m looking at the bottom of his hull.

Bittelsmon doesn’t fare as well in his yard sale. He busted his new Visipole Carbon, lost a net and I found his walkie-talkie rolling around on the bottom in 2 feet of water. He tells me he was trying to get his hatch closed and looking at a big wave when he hulied. He got the hatch closed in time, thankfully, but we are both re-thinking this whole thing. I figure the only way I’m getting through the surf is to re-rig and pedal from the front seat. The balance is much better that way. I will lose the use of my FF, but that is about it. I re-rig so I’m up front now. By now it’s about 12:00. Bittelsmon and I wade out again. I take my time checking out the sets coming in; Bittelsmon comes over and gives me some advice, and impatiently (did I tell you that he has the patience of a gnat in heat?) jumps in his yak. Seconds later I see him doing warp 9 in reverse, just like female half of Cobra couple earlier. But now is the break I’m waiting for, so I jump in (that effing Mirage drive is a PITA when you’re not using it) and paddle for all I’m worth. 60 seconds later I’m clear of the surf, and the effing Mirage drive is now brilliant again.

I pedal out a ways, and I see that Bittelsmon has made it out too. I am generally keeping my bow directly into the swells. They look more like 4 feet than the predicted 3 feet, and there are a lot of wind waves on top of that swell. The wind is coming out of the south, and I notice that I am drifting a little close to Cape Kiwanda. I turn straight upwind, get some distance from the Cape, and then point out toward the Rock. Bittelsmon is a ways behind, so when I am about half way between the Cape and the Rock, I start rigging up. By the time I finish, Bittelsmon has caught up and passed me. The wind has blown me out even with the Cape. Dang. I am glad I have a Hobie, because I make time pretty well considering the wind, and catch up with Bittelsmon before he reaches the lee of the Rock. M and Cobra couple are there in the lee. M had suggested drifting between the buoy and the rock, but that’s not going to happen in this wind. We’re going to stay in the lee of the Rock.

At this point, the story becomes just another fish story. Bittelsmon bags his first kayak fish, a 28” linger – he was stoked. His stern was no more than 3 feet off the Rock when he hooked up. He was in no mood for battling the wind, and didn’t venture out of the lee again. (He doesn’t really like paddling and is almost finished with an electric drive for his Tarpon.) I bag my first ever cabezon, it’s 21”. Bittelsmon bags a real nice China rocker, and releases an undersize cabbie. I don’t have a lip gripper, and my Boomerang pliers aren’t a good substitute. Lip gripper is on the “must have” list now. Fortunately, Bittelsmon has a gaff that he loans me for my fish. He doesn’t have a bonker, so I whack his fish for him. That 28” ling would’ve been a handful if it hadn’t gotten bonked.

We fish for about three hours; M and Cobra couple leave about an hour after we show up. Cobra couple didn’t score – I think there were after only lings. M didn’t venture close enough to have any conversation. I hope we didn’t drive him off.

Now for the ride in. With the waves at our back, we cover the distance to the beach quickly. I have been thinking that now I am going to have the opposite problem – being in the front is going to be a liability going in. I decide to go in backwards. I flatten my fins a ways out and pull the rudder. I immediately – and I mean immediately – get swung around backwards. Yep, backwards it is going to have to be. But I’m too far out right now. I put the rudder back down and return to pedaling. Bittelsmon inadvertently runs it right up into some kids playing in the surf and almost mows one over. He bails in chest deep water, but he’s on the beach right-side up. Now my turn. The waves are pushing me at a good clip now, so I make a last minute change in plans. If Craig can ride his yak in without a paddle, maybe I can too. I pedal like a bat out of hell – COOL, I surf two small waves successfully, but all of a sudden, the backwash from the beach stops me dead in the water. If I was smart, I would have jumped out, it was probably only waist deep. But I’m not smart, and stick with the boat. I hear foaming behind me, the stern lifts, and I do the INSAYN bow dive. I can see it all in slow motion now - I was nice and straight, and the bow plowed straight in. As soon as I saw the bow go under, I knew it was over. I began the bail early, and the huli was unimpressive.

I had so much fun out at the Rock, the birds were squawking and the sea was a deep emerald green. Although I was a little apprehensive when we started back, by the time I was in the surf zone I was pretty relaxed. I was laughing when I hulied the landing. It was a fantastic experience overall. We had a bunch of gawkers come up and ask questions about kayaks and what species of fish we caught, etc. An ODFW biologist came up and took measurements – he was very pleasant, and gave us some fish ID cards and tips on ID’ing fish. It took us quite awhile to clear the beach.

Lessons I learned:

Period is as important as swell height in forecasts. The surf was steeper than I expected.

Wind is important too. We didn’t have more than we could handle, but it was significant.

Have a VHF radio. Once I got out there, I realized Bittelsmon was rarely within shouting distance. (He is a lot harder of hearing than he will admit.) Wind makes it hard to hear too, and swells will hide an upside down kayak very easily. I was a lot more alone than I thought I would be.

Secure your gear. I did a pretty good job. I brought several cords and bungies, which helped.

I need lip grippers, and a game clip. Threading my cabbie on a cord wasn’t easy.

An ATV whip flag is very durable. Mine didn’t break off, unlike the Bittelsmon’s Visipole, and my flag is much higher. (It turned out Bittelsmon was able to repair his Visipole. It is an inch shorter now.)

Fishing PC is a blast – those who haven’t fished the open ocean in a kayak really should give it a try.

This turned out to be way more than I intended, but I got carried away once I started. Please feel free to critique or otherwise give advice. A large part of this forum is learning from one another.

Great cherry popp'n story there Sherm. 

And fish to boot! 

Sure makes me want to try a surf launch. Think that I will stay at Depoe Bay for the time being. Actually, it sounds like fun.

Wobbler

Nice story. I like how you incorporated many of the NWKA characters into it.

I applaud your effort and for sharing with us your tale. It was funny, but only because you guys ended up safe on the beach without injury. I have yet to tackle my first surf launch out of PC in my Hobie Outback, but I'm pretty sure I'll have similar results.
And congrats on the fish!
Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In my experience,  the launch is the easy part unless you forget to deploy the rudder (been there done that X 2 this year). The landing is the part that gets my adrenaline pumping.

Listening to you guys talk about PC makes me almost want to spend the 107 bux for an oregon license.

You can get the one day for about $13. 

Sherm,

Cudos for documenting the adventure with such clarity and humor. I think I'll practice without any gear about a dozen launches and landings before I attempt to head out fully loaded.

Wonder if I stripped off the amas from the TI if it would still be too much to single hand. It's probably time for a Revo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome story.  Glad you got into some fish and had a blast on the water.... 

     That has to be one of the best write-ups in recent history.
   Glad that everything turned out ok,not too many things lost,no injuries,and fish caught and kept.
   Dignity will return after a while.When you do get your launch and landing down-------you'll want to do it again and again.
   Thanks for sharing with us all.

Sherm,
Thanks for the great story ....got my morning chuckle.  Glad you were able to persevere and have fun. 

Glad to hear everything worked out and you both made it back to shore safely!

This time, the kayak rolls all the way over on the top of me, and I’m on my hands and knees in the middle of a washing machine with the lid closed. I do my best grizzly bear imitation and rear up and throw the Oasis off to the side. A Helpful Bystander comes out to help me with my kayak. Just as I yell to her to NOT get between the yak and the beach, a wave lifts it up into HB’s gut and almost knocks her off her feet. “Oh” she says, “you were telling me not to do that, weren’t you?”

You can probably see now why I like using a helmet in the surf.    If you haven't been in that sort of situation before it's hard to understand just how much force that big piece of plastic + gear can create when it is picked up by a wave. 

Great first salt report, Sherm!  You raise many more important points that people on this forum can learn from.  Thanks for sharing!

It's good to see that some things don't change. Be willing to 1) take reasonable chances with reasonable precautions, 2) have a buddy with you and 3) be willing to have your butt handed to you once in a while in full view of the general public.    They already think most of us are crazy so there's no reason to dispell any rumors.

Jay

It's good to see that some things don't change. Be willing to 1) take reasonable chances with reasonable precautions, 2) have a buddy with you and 3) be willing to have your butt handed to you once in a while in full view of the general public.    They already think most of us are crazy so there's no reason to dispell any rumors.

Jay

OMG!  Jay?  You're alive!!!!

Sherm, nice write-up.  Don't worry, it gets easier the more you do it.  Way to score on your 1st salt though!

-Spot-