rescuing kayaks

Yesterday afternoon C went up to Tacoma to go kayaking with an old friend…and the weather turned a little crazy, as it is want to do in April in the Puget Sound.? Also, C hasn’t done much kayaking in a long time, so he wasn’t feeling too daring.

So they bailed out on the beach at Point Defiance, dragged the kayaks up a sandy cliff, and then walked to the friend’s truck.

Which was all the way across the park, out across Ruston, and down off of Ruston Way.? (Several miles, for the out-of-state folk.)

He came home wet, tired, cold, and with gnarly blisters on both big toes.? His clothes were full of sand, too.? (Remember, all this was after he & I planted trees in the rain!)? I tossed him in the shower and checked the tide tables, to see when it might be possible for them to walk down to get the kayaks. The next low tide was at 1:30 am, and C managed to persuade his friend that it probably wasn’t a great idea to try then.? “But I have headlamps!”? Yeah.

Next low tide after that was 1:30 this afternoon, which sounded a little less crazy, and worked into N’s family plans for Easter.? I haven’t been to Point Defiance in ages, so it sounded fun to me, too.

Digression…Point Defiance is a hundred-year-old park, a triangle-shaped wedge at the north tip of Tacoma.? It has a zoo, rose garden, pagoda, etc., but the most notable feature is the multi-acre forest with the “Five Mile Drive” winding through it.? I spent many hours of my time in Tacoma out at Point Defiance.

We drove down to the beach about an hour and a half before low tide and walked out until C spotted the place where they had landed the night before.? He scrambled up the sand cliff, while I took photos, and after a bit of panic, found the kayaks.

At which point N and his young son showed up with a paddle.? The guys shoved the kayaks down onto the beach, the three of us grownups carried them down to the water, C clipped them together, and N pushed off, paddling one while towing the other.

C, N jr., and I walked alongside, chatting and picking up tiny white stones.? (An old habit of mine.) I took lots of pictures, some of which are on flickr.? For a while N jr. rode in the following kayak and C & I walked. And the weather was amazing.? Big fluffly clouds in a luminous sky, a light cool wind; at the very end, we had a brief rainstorm…but it was still bright and sunny.? All in all, a lovely outing…and C plans on going to the UPS pool with N to practice kayaking maneuvers tomorrow evening!