Although the forecast was for light winds and clear skies the group at the launch sight stared out to sea at a fog bank reducing visibility to less than 100 meters but we knew from experience it would lift soon. And it did - by the time we were ready to go the fog been reduced to cloud and the wind had picked up to around 25kph. We headed through the gap in the surf where the fishing boats launch and paddled directly out to sea for nearly a kilometer before turning right so as to avoid the large breaks at the reef off The Kom. We then paddled a direct line toward Hout Bay, into the wind but with the swell behind, aiming for Chapman's Peak and its famous drive.
This route is more than a kilometre off shore and around an hour and a half later we stopped just below the imposing cliffs below the Hout Bay Lookout Point, opened our snacks and rocked in the choppy clapotis bouncing off the cliffs.
Turning with the wind at our backs we caught some reasonably good surfing on the wind waves back to Kommetjie to search for that thin channel that can take you back to the launch site and avoid the surf break.
Group dynamics:
14 paddlers -
9 men, 5 women.
1 surfski, 2 plastics and 11 composite kayaks made up of:
7 Epics 16 or 18 footers, 2 skuas, 2 greenland style
Click on a picture to see the larger version.
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