How to Celebrate a Birthday!!! – Catalina Crossing
Celebrating my 43rd birthday was a culmination of all the things that I cherish in my life! Traveling with my family, spending time with friends, fellow Rotarians and general do-gooders, taking on outlandish adventures, and raising funds and awareness for charity. July 21st wasn’t just a birthday for me, but a tribute to so much that I value in this world.
The planning for this day started almost a year ago when I came up with the idea to go over the two waterways that I had previously swam across. The first was the Strait of Juan de Fuca last month, which in my mind I still nervously laugh about as “too many stories for one adventure.” That just left this adventure to knock out on our summer trip.
This year leading up to this event was a series of new experiences including purchasing a used kayak from my friend Kyle, figuring out a vehicle to transport the kayak which I ended up purchasing an old truck off my good friend Michael Lewis, and putting a rack on it to strap the kayaks to. Half a dozen trips into the water on the kayak, a few training sessions with the local clubs and we were all set to go.
On July 17th our family flew into San Francisco taking a break from our National Parks trip and drove to Los Angeles to prepare for the kayak adventure. We stayed a few days with our friends Nick and Marilynn Lerum.The kids got to connect with their two daughters as we settled in and made plans. On Friday night we headed down to my friend Parker Cohn’s house in Encinitas and had the fortune of Parker moving houses this month and had an entire house to ourselves just off the beach. We spent Saturday working out final details which included Parker securing two kayaks for James Ferro, he and I, ensuring that Dave Sundius had his kayak, and that our guide Jim Baxley who was driving down 3 kayaks for myself, him, and Gareth Evans made the journey.
The road trip for Jim did not go as planned and was the first major hiccup of the expedition. On Friday afternoon in Woodburn, Oregon his truck randomly turned off and wouldn’t start back up. This forced him to rent a U-Haul on Saturday after all efforts to fix the truck failed and then drive straight through the day and arrive at the boat in San Pedro at about 1:30am where he was able to get about 3 hours of shuteye before the adventure. Many prayer chains and check-in’s along the way but thankfully Jim found a way.
On Sunday I set my alarm for 3:10am and went through my normal pre-race routine which is pretty much no routine except take it one step at a time. I put on the coffee, took a quick shower, put on my watch, laid out my food, and loaded up the items we needed into the car. Gareth arrived at 3:40am right on schedule and I pulled around the Atlas and one at a time loaded Hudson and Kalea in their PJ’s. We hit the road at 3:50am and were right on schedule for a 5:15am arrival at the boat. As I made my way to the group I could see the messages start pinging on my dash of the car. The first was Jim letting us all know he got to the boat and had just got up. The next was Dave Sundius who was all set to go. I arrived at the Cabrillo Yacht Club at 5:15 and said hello to Peter Smyth and Jorge Rose, then quickly tracked down James Ferro and Parker Cohn. We had all made it and were good to go, coming from all different locations and arriving precisely when we intended to.
We spend the next hour loading up the kayaks and putting our food and gear on the boat while greeting so many old and new friends. The boat had about 30 passengers for the trip to Catalina and back including our hosts Dave “the engineer” and Nancy “Mrs. Hospitality” Voss. Jenna Bruce, President of the D5280 fighting human trafficking club, also joined along with Dan Stevenson who spent much of his professional life as a lawyer fighting human trafficking cases. We also had over a dozen members of the newly established Marina del Rey Rotary Club and a few members from my Rotary club from LA, Playa Venice Rotary. After a safety briefing from Dave at the dock we were on our way just after 6am for the two-hour journey to Catalina Island.
Dave had checked ahead of time and we were allowed to dock at Two Harbors on the main dock which gave us the opportunity to take off the kayaks and start the kayak directly from the beach. Jim realized how tired and run down he was from the last three days of travel and wasn’t feeling great. He decided to bow out of the kayak portion and do support from the Captain’s deck up with Dave. After a meeting with all the kayakers going over the plan for the day we were on our way. The big known variables we were keeping an eye on was for my kayak the rudder pin had come out during the transport from Washington so we had to tape my rudder in a non-usable position, and then Dave Sundius had a sit-on top kayak which has a notable slower pace than the ocean kayaks that you climb into.
The Kayak Start
We went over our boats one last time and paddled into a line and started the journey just after 9:10am. For the first few miles it was smooth and steady. James Frawley and Joerg Rose were on the dingy doing close support and the “mothership” was zigzagging through the waterways. The currents whip around a bit as you get outside of the island but for the most part the water was decent, with minimal wind or obstacles. A few miles in we realized that Dave was going to have trouble keeping up. We had started out at a moderately fast pace and the yellow plastic kayaks just don’t move in the water the same way. It’s like plowing through instead of gliding. Dave was towed up by the boat ahead of us and we continued a few more miles and then took our first break at 4 miles for 2-5 minutes grouping up, drinking water, having a bit of snack and celebrating that we had been able to keep each mile between 15 – 18 minutes.
Just after mile 5 Dave decided to call it a day, as the effort he was having to put in to stay even remotely close to us didn’t make a lot of sense and being towed repeatedly isn’t exactly the most enjoyable way to spend the afternoon, especially when you have a yacht you can jump on board and spend the afternoon in luxury and quality conversation. The conversations between the four of us left paddling included amazement for how fast we were going and that we were actually on pace for our projection, almost constant uncomfortableness with the swells and the occasional wake that would roll through our area, and the joy of sharing this journey with friends. I have to admit that I probably swore in my head more times on this journey than I do on average in a month. Half a dozen times as I was kayaking you would get picked up by a slow roller right as a cross wake would swing through and your kayak does this weird little tilt where it feels like you get sucked back and down. My anxiety level would go from a 4-5 all the way to an 8-9 and I would have to talk myself back down to a calm state. For me, the ocean tends to be overly unnerving. If I was trail running my stress level would be almost non existent most of the time and in the 1-3 range. When things go sideways on the trails I rarely get about an alert level 4, and yet on the water that is as low as my stress level goes. Very different experience to say the least.
The next two pushes went the same. The four of us paddled together staying within 100 yards of each other and hitting fifteen minutes per mile (on my Coros Vertix watch set to hike) and then during our few minute rest that mile would clock in close to 18 minutes. There were a few bait balls of fish that jumped on the surface which indicated either some dolphin or a whale chasing them. We didn’t see anything, but it sounds like it was a group of dolphins based on what the support boat said. There were a great deal of small jellyfish in the water, but as I mentioned my stress level was pretty constant so I kept my eye on whatever sail boat we had keyed in on for our direction or the kayaker in front of me. The mothership also made the routine of going ahead of us once an hour and being directly on the heading we were going to aim for which was another nice check in with the routine.
12-Miles In
At the 12-mile mark we grouped up and had some additional food and electrolytes and checked in with each other. All four of us left on the water seemed to be holding it together well and at just over 3 hours we were over halfway across! Having the support of James Frowley and Joerg Rose from the dingy was invaluable. Having two supporters with such good attitudes and enjoying the day just added to the positive experience. That mile was the only one recorded over 20 minutes coming in at 25 minutes. As we left James must have had a surge of energy because he was off and running and the rest of us struggled to keep up. We clocked three miles averaging just over 13 minutes before he slowed down and reigned it in. It was such a joy to have the banter between Gareth, James, Parker and me. The positive vibes and can-do attitude of everyone in the group was contagious and hard not to smile through most of the experience even as the rollers shifted us back and forth.
After our next break at sixteen miles the shoreline was in sight, and we started making our plans for arrival. We did one more four-mile push and then did our final gathering at twenty miles to refuel and made the final push to the beach on the opposite side of the Cabrillo Yacht Club.
Last Three Miles
The last 3 miles to me was the most technical of the whole endeavor. As we approached shore the wind picked up just a little, we turned directions to make our way up the coastline to the beach, and the water pushed the kayaks more than the rest of the journey. My lack of having a rudder kicked in and I found myself doing three long strokes on the left side and then a back stroke on the right to keep my kayak in the right position and then a few standard strokes before having to do another correction on my course. The big thing for me in situations like this is to take a deep breath, soak in the experience and remind myself that I’m doing fine. I am out here with an incredible group of people both in the kayakers, the supporters on the boat and the people waiting for the afterparty celebration. Also being a part of something bigger than myself, the fundraiser for the local groups fighting human trafficking, the extended Rotary community, and the kayaking community.
After six hours on the water we were at the shoreline and grouped together about 100 yards off. Gareth and Jamie had paddled ahead about a quarter mile from Parker and myself and had some time to talk about the beach approach and how it probably wasn’t a good idea to go onto shore given the waves. I listened to Gareth and then within seconds responded, yeah I’m going to shore. I started paddling and thankfully Parker was stubborn enough to follow me so that I wasn’t the only one being pummeled in the waves as I made my way to shore. Sure enough we both flipped our kayaks in the waves and embraced each other on shore smiling ear to ear like we had just finished an epic adventure!
We spend the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get off the beach and back to the boat… During my roll getting on shore my “floatable” radio came off and was nowhere to be seen. We were able to call the boat from Parker’s phone and made our plan to navigate back out. We first attempted to lay on the kayaks and paddle but that didn’t work because the wind pushed us too quickly to the breaker rocks and back into shore. We took the time to dump as much water as possible out and then walked our kayaks down the sand to the far side of the beach in front of the lifeguard station. I went out to some swimmers and asked if that could help stabilize the kayaks after we got through the breakers which they agreed. I told Parker the plan and he looked at me with those eyes just coming out of a 1000 yard stare shaking like a leaf and responded with, “I’m pretty exhausted and I don’t know if I have the energy to do it.” I responded with the biggest potential lie of the day, “you’ll be fine, this is gonna work great.” I quickly positioned his kayak and we got it out past the breakers and miraculously Parker jumped in and was on his way back to the mothership. I didn’t take anytime to celebrate but instead went straight for my kayak. I worked my way past the breakers and my new friend helped me get into the kayak. My first attempt I almost flipped it and abandoned the attempt going fully over the kayak and into the water to prevent filling it with water.
The second attempt went better and I was on my way. The next large swell hit me but I was able to go over it and had about 1/3 of my kayak full of water. With a big grin and a lot of hope that I could navigate the last section and a couple hundred yards back to the yacht I was on my way. With each large swell coming in I was grateful that it stayed just under the lip of the kayak and I was able to continue slowly towards the boat.
As I arrived at the mothership, the Rotarians on board and my other friends and family sang happy birthday as I eased my way to the back of the boat and off the kayak. It was such an incredible welcome and a joy to not be completely tore up after an event!
We loaded up and made the short ride to the marina where other Rotarians, friends, and the team from 1736 Family Crisis Center awaited our arrival. So thankful for Ron & Sheila Troupe for their continued support and fundraising efforts as they celebrate the 19th Annual Troupe Family Fundraiser for 1736, Cozette Vergari with District 5280, and Jenna Bruce from D5280 Fighting Human Trafficking Club!
It was a joy to come back to this crossing that I took on in 2020 as a part of the Uberman triathlon event with a swim and have a much more enjoyable experience on a kayak. It was even more meaningful having my friends along with me on the water, and my family and Rotary community on the support boat and at the finish. Looking forward to taking the rest of the summer pretty easy and then gearing up for whatever is next in 2025!