My Kayak Capsized!

 On my latest kayaking adventure, I visited  a small beach in Ventura, near the harbor.  As I drove in, I spotted a few people loading their kayaks onto their cars.  I decided to park there and explore a new location.  

I had spent the morning bicycling along the beach bike path, watching the surfers, and wading in the water.  The waves were strong, and the undertow current was intense.  I normally go to the beach earlier in the morning, but had decided to wait for the fog to burn off, and the sun to appear.  I had an uneasy feeling about going kayaking, but decided to push through the resistance.  Before leaving, I had loaded up all of the equipment in my car.  I chided myself for not trying something new.

Getting out into the water  was slightly challenging, because the inlet had some small waves near the shore.  I paddled hard through them, and quickly made it to the deeper water, which seemed much calmer.  I was concerned about the wind, though.  I stayed in the view of people on the  beach, just in case.  After a short journey, I decided to head back to shore.  My plan was to ride a small wave in, and jump out of the kayak.

All was going well, but when my kayak hit the sand, the wave knocked it. It flipped the kayak upside down as I was getting out; it was such a shock.  I quickly grabbed the kayak and pulled it onto the sand.  It was filling with water, and getting heavy.  I reached for my paddle, as well, grabbing one in each hand.  The kayak felt weighted down because of the sand and water inside of it.  Luckily, I had inflated my float bags and placed them in the stern and bow of the boat before leaving.  They take up space and keep the kayak afloat.

I ran back into the water and saw  all of my things floating away from me: my dry bag, my white, wide brimmed vintage sun hat, my rubber gardening shoes with the pink tulips on them, I even spotted  my cane!  I snatched up everything as quickly as I could.  Thank goodness for the dry bag.  It was securely fastened, floating, and worked perfectly.  Inside of it was my pouch, which had my keys, my identification, vaccination card, and phone.  Phew!  I was missing one shoe, which I never found.  I felt very guilty about that black piece of rubber floating around in the ocean with the sea lions, whales and dolphins.  

To be continued...

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