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The Event Report for Dick Ryon's Pismo and Morro 2004 Valentine's and President's Day Trip
By: Dean McCully

This is a PRELIMINARY report. I'll write more when I have more time... Dean
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2/14/04 Saturday (Valentine's Day).

Well, I was a bit skeptical as I drove "Bantha", my monster van, down 101 toward Pismo. This WAS Dick Ryon's first trip, after all. What if he botched something? What if somebody got injured? What if the campground was full or reservations got screwed up or or or. A million things could go wrong on a trip like this. Was Dick up for it???

Turned out that he was. And then some!

I planned to wake up at 6am on Saturday and drive to Pismo from my home in San Jose. But when that alarm clock went off at 6am, I threw it across the room and slept another hour. I rolled out of bed at 7am, sluggish from restless sleep, and stumbled out to the van to load boats. I had to get 2 big 2-person SOTs off the top of my van, and I had to load 2 ocean long-boats onto the van.

3 hours later, I pulled into Avila Hot Springs Campground. Nobody was around, so I had plenty of time to set up my keg and get it on ice before the horde returned. I headed to Avila Beach and arrived just in time to see kayakers beginning their landing procedures after a long day of paddling.

The wind had picked up something fierce, and kayakers were struggling to get back to shore. Everybody had been paddling with the wind in the morning, so they were fighting gale-force gusts on the way back. Apparently, no beach further up the trip was landable, so everybody had no choice but to return all the way to Avila beach. Gail struggled most of all on the way because because she was in her short, wide, river kayak. Short, wide boats do not make for easy paddling in high winds and big water. But she made it back with energy to spare.

Saturday night, we held a world-class potluck in the Avila Hot Spring's Campground. 30+ people brought an enormous amount of food. Joe, as usual, made a gourmet sausage dish. A delicious smoked turkey was devoured by hungry kayakers. The desert table brimmed with delicacies. And, of course, the chilled beer keg (and about 20 bottles of various flavors of wine) provided entertainment.

We fell into bed on Saturday night, exhausted from a long day.

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2/15/04 Sunday

We woke up around 8am-ish for a 9am beach launch. Paddling Morro Bay. We went out around the Rock and back, from the harbor just south of the Natural History Museum.

The water was big, and the tide was extremely low around 1pm-ish. Surfing was great, though we had to watch out for rocks. Andrea was in the front of my 2-person yellow SOT, and I was in the back. I talked her into going out the harbor mouth and around the Morro rock. She was understandably reticent at first, especially as we watched Bob go out the mouth and disappear behind 10+ foot walls of water. But the swells were long-period swells and the water was extremely paddle-able, especially in my very stable 2-person sit-on-top. Andrea turned out to be an expert paddler and was a treat to paddle with. She has an intuitive feel for the hydrodynamics of boats that only come with years of being around watercraft. I look forward to paddling with her again some time!

We hauled out for lunch on the beach. Not being particularly hungry, I and several others continued surfing and practicing beach launches and landings. I took my 2-person boat out alone, into the surf. I paddled from the back seat, and surfed for 1/2 hour or more. Then I landed and took some shots of other kayakers surfing.

We paddled back in the afternoon to a mucky low-tide landing. About 50 feet from shore, we bottomed out on a sand-and-muck bar. I stepped out of the boat, leaning on the boat to avoid sinking into the muck, and pushed us out of the sand-and-muck bar. Wouldn't you know it: the channel opens up sharply and, while pushing the boat, I stepped off the submerged cliff, lost my balance, and wound up falling off the submerged cliff into the depths of the mucky channel. Yuk, that mucky slough water was foul to swim in! I nearly overturned the boat as I tried to swim back in, but quick-thinking Andrea paddled backwards and pushed me back into the shallows. From the shallows, covered in muck and slime and gosh-knows-what from the slough, I stood up and got back into the boat. I wouldn't recommend walking on water in Morro slough, especially near the channel!

After landing and loading our boats, Dick, Maryly, and I paid a quick visit to the Morro Bay Natural History Museum. I HIGHLY recommend checking out the museum's awesome collection of stuffed birds and fantastic exhibits. It's a kid's dream to be able to pet stuffed birds, run around, and play with the awesome interactive exhibits.

Sunday was Dick's birthday, so a bunch of us took him to a restaurant at the end of the pier in Avila. Most of the tables had glass and mirrored boxes in the middle of the table, so we were able to look down into the water below the wharf. Yum!

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2/16/04 Monday (President's Day)

We woke early in anticipation of Richard Beard's world famous nut-and-blueberry pancakes. True to form, Richard had been awake for HOURS before anyone else woke up, and had made several pots of coffee, and gallons of heavenly-light pancake batter. We pigged out for an hour or more, while we shot the bull about plans for the day. Everybody was heading home on this President's Day.

Herb and Andrea, Mel and Deirdre, and I drove to San Simeon to watch the elephant seals. The 4 of them went on, but I took a tour of Hearst Castle. I saw Susan St Clair and her sister Laura at the castle, though we couldn't go on the same tour.

I got home around 10pm, exhausted from a long and energetic weekend. Flopping into bed, I fell to sleep with visions of surfing Morro Bay dancing around in my head.

Dick, thanks for a SPECTACULAR trip! You're definitely the catch-of-the-year for WSK and BASK!

Dean McCully

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Note: This event report does not necessarily reflect the opinions of EyeYak or any owners or subsidiaries. EyeYak is not related to any other club, organization, company, or anything anybody on this planet has ever heard of. And that's the truth. Your mileage may vary. Have a nice day.

Dean brought his beer keg and built a shrine to protect the suds from evil spirits. 4 paddles kept the beer spirits away, and various manner of stuffed critters kept guard.	A Horned Hat perches at the pinacle of the paddle pyramid.	Who's afraid of sharks? Not me, certainly, even though one bit my paddle.
Mister Ele Phant, world class kayaking elephant, shows off his helmet,duct tape, tow rope, and jelly bellys at his trunk.	Heh, it's Valentine's Day, you know. Sunday, Feb 14, 2004. So, we offered some sweets in the form of "Belly Flops" to Ele Phant to keep him happy. These slightly irregular jelly beans come from the Jelly Belly plant.	The dreaded WSK paddle of doom came along as a warning to behave in the water.
Avila beach. After I set up the beer keg and got it on ice, I drove 5 miles to Avila beach. Kayakers were just starting to land, so my photo-op timing was perfect. Mel walks the beach. Any landing you can walk away from is a GOOD landing!	The famous Red Folboat sits on shore, waiting for Peter to return.	Avila beach wasn't exactly crowded, and was a great launch site.
Boats litter the beach.	People litter the beach.	Mel does his sea-monster imitation.
Paddle, paddle, paddle! Maryly catches Andrea during a perfect landing.	Maryly and Andrea glare at the Paparazi.	Herb tugs his boat onto the beach. That's quite a drag to get to the parking lot
Andrea does stretches for her back when she gets out of her boat. Her back is acting up a bit.	Gail got caught in the wind in a river boat. Paddling was uphill for a LONG ways in the strong headwinds!	Herb, looks out to sea.
Richard focuses like a laser beam as he lines up for landing.	Richard sidles in for a perfect landing.	Richard sails his boat to shore.
No problem. Out of the boat, and on to the next venture.	Richard snags Gail as she heads in.	Oooh,watchout for that surge!
Gail surfs it on home for a perfect landing.	Maryly samples her "muscle relaxant." She carries it with her wherever she goes.	Olde Port Beach Launching Access at Avila is the place to go.
Dick Ryon, trip commadore, unpacks some grub.	Janice waiting for dinner.	Brian hangs out in camp while anticipating Saturday's potluck.
Corona? Who bought CORONA! Well, iced down it ain't that bad.	Andrea mugs for the camera. She was my front seater on my 2-person SOT in Morro Bay on Sunday.	Richard Beard considers kissing somebody.
Bob looks on in anticipation of desert. Bob, where's Becky?	June's sister, Glenda, at night.	Dick and Melissa sit, chawing the fat, at the potluck.
Maryly ponders.	Partiers.	Yoshiko checks out Dean's kelp pickles.
Russ ponders.	Sunday. Feb 15, 2004. I'm following Bob's SUV to Morro Bay. We take the inland route instead of Hwy 1. Tis a nice drive thru farmland.	The boats line up at the launch point.
The launch. The water was GONE by the time we came back and we had a 50 foot walk thru the muck. A fisherman's boot was embedded in the low muck,maybe as a warning not to step out of our boats?	Say, "Hi Mom!" Everybody waves.	Annnnnddddd..... They're off!
The only shot I have of Dick paddling his hand-built wooden boat.	What? Me worry? Steve.	No worries in a watertight boat like this!
The fog is burning off. No, rolling in. No, burning off. No, rolling in.	Wow, what a boat! Excellent shark repellant, no doubt.	A Pod of kayakers trying to escape the outrushing tidal current. June hauls in her red Coaster.
June looking athletic in her Coaster.	June causes yet another traffic jam.	Onward they paddle.
Traffic jam. You can't get away from 'em.	Gail in the green boat. No wind today, eh Gail?	Heh, move it or lose it, Buster.
Check out the tidal action. It's low tide as we paddled out of the slough. We barely made it out before the water completely disappeared.	Intrepid paddlers heading out of the mucky slough.	Heh, outta my way.
Onward and outward. The line of kayakers is getting longer as more and more kayakers pass us and head out of the muck. The tidal current going out to sea is enormously fast at this point, so we're getting a free ride on the tide.	It's good to know that the Coast Guard is there for us.	When you're in the back seat of a 2 person sit-on-top (like I was), the view doesn't change much. The back of Andrea's head looked pretty much the same the whole trip.
Heading out for some surfing in Morro Bay.	Brian hangs out. We're far beyond the breakwater, and far beyond the rock by now. Surge is coming up, but it's not bad yet.	Out to sea, he heads.
Thru the channel. The tide is amazingly low at this point. There's plenty of water for kayaks, but the bigger boats are stranded inland or out to see until the tide comes back up in a couple of hours.	Maryly signals for assistance on the beach. What she's looking for is a Sherpa.	Paddle Up = Come Get me, right? Maryly waits for her Sherpa. And waits and waits and waits!
Maryly mugs for the camera, right before heading out.	Out she goes, to certain doom. Or not.	Maryly teaches us how to surf. What you don't see is the spectacular crash-and-burn a few minutes later.
What in the heck? A Black Hole Grabs Maryly. Or is it a Kayak-Birthing Maw Directly From Middle Earth. (Well, ok, this is a Photoshop distortion of a great surfing shot of Maryly coming in on the waves.)	Check out the low tide in front of the rock. A surfer was actually walking 1/2 way across the channel.	Deirdre points to one of the zillions of starfish that have been stranded by low tide.
Kayaking Wild Men heading for their boats.	Heh, isn't that a RIVER kayak? What's HE doing out here?	Deirdre shows off her award-winning smile.
Heh,what are you doing over there, Joe? Watering the Crabs?	Richard and Janice walk the beach after lunch.	That's one big sea lion hanging out next to the fishing boats.
Andrea anticipates our chances of being attacked by the Lion.	This dude came paddling up with a homemade sail on his plastic SOT.	Morro Rock is one of the "7 Sisters", large rocks up and down the coast.
The sun sets over Morro.	Heh, what do you know? The Morro Smokestacks were built in 1955. Can you imagine if somebody tried to build such a monstrosity now?	The Museum of Natural History in Morro is a great place to check out stuffed animals, birds, etc.
Heh, it's Dick Ryon's birthday! We bought him a cake in the restaurant on the pier Avila.	Maryly eats Dick's cake. Yum!	Mel in the restaurant. Mel seems to have a ferocious streak about him.
Laura, Susan's sister, and Maryly in Richard Beard's bed.	Deirdre eats an orange....	Richard Beard makes his world famous nut-and-blueberry pancakes on President's Day Morning. YUM!
Maryly tries to ram the camera-man with a horned helmet. What a wild woman, huh?	Awww, they're kissing! Well, actually, they're fighting!	Check out these Elephant Seals littering the San Simeon beach. These are mostly youngsters. But, gadzooks, these "youngsters" weigh 300-400 pounds!!!!
Awwww, they're hugging. Um, crushing, is more like it.	How about rolling practice in THIS pool! This is the pool at Hearst Castle. What a place,especially in the rain!