Catalina Paddle Adventure

I recently had an amazing adventure to Catalina Island for a Standup Paddleboard race called the Catalina Challenge.  I had been training really hard for the event as I would be paddling solo 39.8 miles from Avalon, Catalina to Dana Point, California. After putting in a lot of miles in training, studying and practicing my hydration and nutrition for the race,  I couldn’t wait to be out in the Santa Catalina Channel making those preparations a reality.  On our flight from Portland to Orange County I opened the Alaska Airlines magazine and there was an article about Santa Catalina, it was a sign that something very special was awaiting there.

We arrived at the John Wayne, Orange County airport Friday morning and we were greeted by an old friend, one I hadn’t seen in years and one that made this whole trip happen for me.  He agreed to use his 50 foot sailboat, Metaphor, and to be our Captain for the event. We knew we were about to embark on a very memorable trip.  We headed to Long Beach where the boat was moored and the captain put his deck hands, which would be us, to work getting the boat ready for a 3 night 4 day adventure.  As my dad said, “we were headed out sailing on a beautiful sailboat, like the lifestyles of the rich and famous.”  We just needed Robin Leach aboard to narrate.

We loaded our boat up with lots of yummy food and beverages from Trader Joes and awaited the arrival of the fleet of Naish boards that was about to show up.  We carefully strapped down the boards along the side and in the back of the boat.  Had I not been aboard the boat I would have been extremely jealous, it definitely looked like the boat to be on!  How did I get so lucky?  Here I was in the warm sun of So Cal, on a gorgeous 50 foot sailboat loaded with Kaenon sunglasses and Naish boards.  How could that not be fun!  Not to mention, the crew aboard the boat.  The boat owner, Chris Wyman the Sports Marketing Director for Kaenon, Matt Willett a sales rep for Naish, my husband John and myself.  Everyone aboard is passionate about the water and adventure and now we were off to create our own.   As we left Long Beach another sailboat and mooring neighbor of the Metaphor followed us out of the harbor.  We were in our own regatta with a little friendly racing with the other boat.  They were wishing me good luck for my 39.8 mile paddle on Sunday and sending me a cheers as we sailed off towards Catalina.  The song “26 Miles to Catalina,” which my parents and their friends had been singing to me for weeks was playing in my head. “Twenty-six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is a-waitin for me, Santa Catalina the island of romance.” I had a surreal moment as I looked at the boat and the crew aboard and everything we had done to prepare, knowing they were all there for me. It was humbling and unreal that this was really happening!

As we approached the harbor in Avalon, Catalina, we were led by dolphins playing at the bow of the boat. We took turns standing at the bow of the boat watching the dolphins cruising along with us and I couldn’t resist the chance to yell, “I am the king of the world.”  As we were pulling into the beautiful serene harbor at sunset we were all in awe.  I felt like I was in a little Mediterranean seaside village.  We were led by the harbor master to our spot for the next two nights. It was breathtaking to be there and look at the town of Avalon from a beautiful sailboat. We barbecued steak and salmon, made a salad and some fresh veggies and opened some good vino.  We definitely weren’t roughing it.  It is tight quarters in a sailboat though and Chris said, “if you feel like you are in the way, you are, always on a boat.”  We all became good at negotiating our way around each other and after awhile bumping into each other did not take an apology but was just the norm.”

The next morning we awoke to clear blue skies and the water was summoning us to come and paddle.  It was fun to wake up and see the other boats that had arrived with SUPs and outriggers telling us they were here for the race, as well.  We were busy unstrapping our fleet of boards for a demo that would be on the beach in Avalon.  It was rewarding to watch new people stand up paddling for their first time while watching the big smile across their faces.  By late afternoon most of the paddlers had arrived to Catalina and there were lots of SUP’s weaving in and out of the moored boats and in and out of the harbor.  I was busy testing the 17′ Naish Glide that I would be using the next morning and practicing the steering system on it.  In the end, we fixed the fin and took off the steering as it would be one less thing I would have to worry about in my long journey the next day.  The forecast was for calm and light wind conditions and so I wouldn’t need the steering.

We attended the racers meeting where my nerves usually start and I get real quiet.  However, for this race I was quite calm because I knew in this solo paddle and all day journey it was about making it there.  It was about finishing the journey that I had been preparing for and thinking about for months.  After the meeting the lighting was incredible so we spent some time paddling around and getting some cool photos.  We paddled back to our boat to prepare for the next morning.  We made another nice meal, this time some pasta to load up on some carbs.

Race day, the journey becomes reality.  The start of the race was at 8 AM in Lovers Cove, just around the corner from the harbor.  I was the only solo person lined up for the long day ahead, the rest were relay teams.  The other solo girl left at 6 AM in the morning because she was doing it for a cause and they wanted to keep the spotlight on her.  So, no worries, I lined up with the rest of the paddlers and was happy to get going.  As the horn went off the adrenaline started but I knew I needed to pace myself.  I would be paddling all day without ever sitting down or getting off the board.  It couldn’t have been a nicer day.  We could see the mainland the whole trip.  ”Land Ho!” A little wind at our backs would have been helpful but no wind was better than a side wind.

After about 3 hours into the paddle and feeling strong, I was looking ahead and saw something, definitely a fin, but hopefully the fin of a whale.  I pointed ahead with my paddle to my boat and to my relief saw the back come up proving it was a whale.  I assumed it had continued on its path but next thing I knew it popped up right next to me.  Wow!  I was shocked, amazed, scared, awestruck, nervous, and everything else you can imagine.  The boat was super excited as they weren’t quite aware as I was, at how huge it seemed when it was close enough to touch with your paddle and almost double the size of my 17′ board. It stayed with us for about 2 hours and was playing all around.  It would be next to me, under me, as it would go under me it would turn on it’s back and look up at me.  It would be in front of me so that I would have to stop paddling as to not ride onto its back.  It would go under the boat and around the back and then come up next to me again.  It continued this pattern.  Was he using us as his pod?  We thought it was a baby humpback and were worried that it had lost its Mom. Were we protecting it? Was it protecting me?  All of those thoughts running rampant.  One thing I knew was this was not normal.  An experience that gives me goosebumps as I write this.  It was so much bigger than just a whale escort it was like it was someone that I knew.  Someone from my past, was it my grandma, my sons hero Steve Irwin, which my son told me when he was 3 that when Steve died ” it was ok because now he was living in the ocean with everything he loved. ”  It was someone,  it was there to help me make this journey.  The other solo female paddler who was paddling to raise money for breast cancer was also accompanied by a whale.  We were the only 2 women to ever do this solo paddle and my Mom is a breast cancer survivor.  We were the only two people in this race that the whale escorted, the whale escorted us both for about 2 hours.  There must be some higher purpose here…some meaning to this. Pretty amazing when you think about the whole scenario.

After the two hour amazing whale distraction, I still had about 4 hours to go.  I was looking for my next distraction and thats when I saw something far off in the distance.  I could see something, a bunch of them speeding towards us for miles and miles.  As they got closer it was a pack of jet skis that were in a race from Dana Point to Catalina.  They were loud and flying by at about 50 mph.  I felt like I was in the movie “Waterworld”.  The  evil pirates “The smokers” on their jet skis, coming to attack, when you have been paddling for 5 hours a lot of ideas come to your head.  Not a life changing moment like the whale but a distraction, none the less.  After they were gone I started asking the boat if they could see any outriggers, because they started 2 hours after us.  I couldn’t wait for them to show up and be another distraction, I also knew that they would cheer me on as they passed by.  Eventually they started arriving and it was nice to feel like I wasn’t the only one out there.  We were following a rhumb line on the boats navigation system. A rhumb line, is a path of a ship that maintains a fixed compass direction.  They had the boat set on auto-pilot and all I had to do is stay with the boat.  I was paddling between four and four and a half knots, during the paddle, except when the whale was with me, it actually slowed me down. Finally I could see the red buoy that I would be taking a left shoulder turn at to make my final leg of the journey.  The wind was up and blowing from my left side, now windy and choppy.  I took the left shoulder turn around the red buoy with 3 seals judging me, and yelled at my boat, “really!” After 39 miles I had to paddle straight into the wind and I was trying to make it there by 5 pm. But, of course I was going to make it!  I paddled into Baby Beach in Dana Point with my boat honking and people cheering.  I had made it, in 9:01:10!

Stepping off the board and on to the sand was the most painful part. Overall,  I actually felt pretty good.  I didn’t have any signs of dehydration which I was most worried about.  My arms in the deltoids were sore and tired and my knees were aching from having a slight bend in them for 9 hours.  The most painful part were my feet.  My feet had been asleep for hours and now walking on them with the blood pouring back felt like pins and needles and like my feet were going to explode.  But, the feeling of accomplishment was a great cure for any pain.  I sat down for about 10 minutes, used the bathroom, said hi to a few people and then we paddled back to the boat so that we could motor up to Laguna Beach where we were anchoring for the night.  Another nice dinner on the boat with a spectacular view of Laguna Beach,  knowing that I had completed what I had come to do, life was good!

I was worried about waking up the next morning thinking that I would be a mess.  I was expecting that I wouldn’t be able to move my arms.  I was pleasantly surprised that when I woke up I felt really good.   It was another gorgeous morning now anchored off Laguna Beach.  The guys aboard were on a mission to find some surf on our trip back to Long Beach.  They were like kids in a candy shop planning where we might surf.  We hopped off the boat with the race boards and demo boards that were on board and paddled to the beach where we met up with Tommy Donnelly who is owner of the new Stand Up Paddle Company located right there in Laguna Beach. We traded him our boards for some stand up surf boards for the day.  The guys at the Stand Up Paddle Co. were amazed that I was out paddling after reminding me that I had just paddled 40 miles and pointed at Catalina Island way off in the distance.  We paddled back to the boat and we were off in search of waves.  We motored up the coast looking for surf and ended up at Bolsa Chica in North Huntington Beach.  The guys finally had gotten to surf and were feeling fulfilled which made me really happy after everything they had done for me. As we pulled back to the Metaphor’s mooring spot in Long Beach it felt really good to know how successful our voyage had been.  We did what we had come to do. We did it with style and had the time of our life.

We found out after the trip and some whale experts looking at the photos that it was an adult Minke whale that had been following me.  It isn’t super common to see these whales in this area and especially to have this kind of encounter with them.  I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to have had this experience.  It will be a life long memory and reminder to me that there are things bigger out there watching out for us.  A reminder to take care of our planet and the amazing creatures that rely on us to not destroy their natural habitats.  I am going to end now like Robin Leach by saying, “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.”  That was what this trip was like.

Watch the video of my Minke whale experience – MINKE WHALE