I've got a story for ya.

This February we were about 2.5 miles out whale watching at Still Water Cove in Carmel. The swells were running 9 to 13 feet at about 9 seconds. There was also a little quartering wind chop with some reflections coming from the nearby point that was also quartering. Both were 1-2 feet. I've been in swells of this size lots of times before but not like these. These things were steep ... really steep ... lots of them had a really steep 3 foot high lip at the top. When they reached the boats in front the boats took on that high angle of attack just like you see when going out in big surf. Sometimes when paddling into them they would be seperated by about 6 seconds and you'd get that feeling of being on a roller coaster when you went down into the trough and got lifted up by the next swell. The chop and reflections just added to the tension. These things were impressive and knarly.

Once we reached the 2 mile point some of the swells to our side started spilling and in front of us about 1/2 mile away most of them were spilling. Like Lemings we kept paddling out until someone started getting sea sick and wanted to turn back. I'm thinkin' "Hey, pal ... this totally sucks ... I'm with you ... lets get the hell outa Dodge!"

I'm nuts about surfing swells so that's what I try to do, but these swells just weren't cooperating because the tendancy to broach was too great due to the steepness. The worst part was when they passed under ya the lip would nail ya in the ass and start to whip ya around when combined with the quartering wind chop and reflections. When the lip was right under ya there wasn't much boat left in the water to help resist those forces so ya had to fight to keep from getting spun around.

But so far, so good ... until ... bam, the rug gets pulled out from under me while doing a sweep stroke to resist the twisting. My roll fails ...and I'm swimming 2.5 miles out in 13 foot swells. I thought "Well, at least that part's over with!"

After an assisted rescue and a little pumping I'm good to go. But by this time adrenaline is pouring out of my ears. During the next 1.5 miles I almost go over 3 more times for all the same reasons. I keep telling myself "Ken, get a grip, you've been in these conditions before and you know what to do!" But ... my body was having none of it. When we finally reached calmer water I started to relax. I took off my sunglasses to wipe of all the salt. I blink my eyes. "WTF ... now I get it!" In the capsize I lost the contact lens in my dominant eye. Not only was I paddling back mostly blind, loosing a lens effects your balance!

What an experience!

Ken Blanton