Tale of Woe

[dgoff]

Today my son and I decided to try Leo, one of my favorites. Surfline.com predicted "flat" surf and little wind, so much for predictions. . . . . We almost went to the stairs but I was feeling lazy so we paid our King's Ransom to park in the north lot. The surf was probably pushing 3' to 4' pretty close to shore and short periods, but since getting your money back is impossible, we decided to give it a go.

It's been quite awhile since I launched into good sized surf and my son has only surf launched once before. I was doing the Dad thing and explaining the sets, when to launch and how. I finally decided my time had come and off I went, jumped in, paddled like hell and suddenly, out of the depths of nowhere, I was facing a breaking 4ish footer. No problem I tell myself, a good demonstration for the kid. I tried to power through it but it smacked me in the chest and knocked me back and sideways just enough for the next one to roll the yak and give me a good toss. Huge ego damage but nothing else except 4 tons of sand in yak. Son was kind and didn't rub it in too bad. Okay, good time for the next life lesson, get back on the horse. Grabbed the handle, turned the yak around and the perfect hole appears, jumped in and paddled out gracefully.

Then I turn around to see if Tim was following. I see his yak upside down and him running around the foam picking up chit. I must be a good example because he did exactly what I did,  except.......He didn't tie anything down! He's using my old Hobie Outback and I had added a rope and tie down to the peddle drive just so I would never lose it during those less than perfect landings. Well....Neptune extracted his toll, fins gone.

We stomped around in the surf and had a half dozen kids with boogie boards stomp around also, no luck. A couple of divers also helped us look under the water, but again, no luck. Waited for low tide, still no luck. So, if you are ever fishing at Leo, just off of tower 5 and get your line snagged, think of us.

Lesson learned, let the newbie go first and personally check out their yak before launch.

Expensive day on the water, does anyone know if it's possible to purchase used Mirage Drives?

Dennis   

[Fuzz]

Sorry to hear about the loss, Leo turned on me last week too, I got lucky with my timing on the way out.  However, while out there I broke my paddle and the surf got gigantic.  I barely made it in and had to jump off my kayak about 10' from shore to keep from being pummeled by the next wave.  When I did I thought the water was about knee deep, but it turned out to be over my head.  I lost my yak, it got pushed to shore, then started going back out.  Thank God a life Guard was waiting for me.  He saw me trying to come in with a broken paddle and knew the big waves would likely get the better of me.  I earned a lot of respect for life guards, like a true hero, he fought 5--6 foot breaks, massive current and debris in the water to rescue my yak (I really didn't care if he came in after me, just get my yak!!!!).  David Hasselhoff ain't got nothing on him!!!  Plus he is a spear fisherman and said that they have been slaying the WSB at the Deep Hole (as of last Wednesday-Thursday, sorry for the late post, just got on the Forum).  So long story longer, I can understand how fast North Leo can turn on you. But hey, you don't have to drag your soaked yak very far to get it to your car!

Also, I saw a used Mirage drive on Craigslist a few weeks back.  The guy said it had been sitting in his garage because he didn't like it, hence did not used it. So there is always a chance one might pop up.  You can try posting a wanted ad on CL in OC/Ventura/SB/Inland/LA/San Diego and see if anyone bites, just use lots of keywords that will get anyone who might have a Mirage Drive laying about to increase the odds of them coming across your ad.  Good luck!  Even without the drive, you got a great kayak! 



-Colin