Editor’s Note: This article about the 1994 race was written by Paul McHugh, a frequent competitor in the Tsunami event. Here’s his bio: Paul McHugh has been a paddlin’ fool for nearly five decades now, and counting. He’s also been an outdoor sports/environment/resource/
Kayakers Rave About Half Moon Bay
San Francisco Chronicle – Outdoors, Thursday May 5, 1994
by Paul McHugh
A red-bearded man in a wetsuit wades into the surf at Miramar to do “katas” (an exercise of martial arts forms) knee-deep in curling foam. Afterwards, he bows to the sea, as to a respected duelist. Then kayaker Eric Soares ends his preparations for a race by diving into the tumbling brine.
Such an act, encompassing prospects for both peace and violence, fully returns the sea’s embrace at Half Moon Bay.
This location is an emerging mecca for kayakers. Outdoor photographer Michael Powers, 53, founded the Miramar Beach Kayak Club 10 years ago to take advantage of the possibilities. The Tsunami Rangers, a group notorious for adventurous voyages, brought its open-ocean race here three years ago. And California Canoe & Kayak (CC&K), California’s largest chain of paddle sport stores, celebrates opening a new branch at the nearby Princeton Yacht Club on Saturday.
“This place must be one of the world’s best for kayaks,” says Soares, 40, a founder of the Tsunami Rangers. “It’s got calm, sheltered waters at Princeton so beginners can learn their strokes, and a small wave break by the jetty to learn surfing. It’s got rock gardens at Pillar Point, and — if you’re brave — the hugest break on our coast, the Maverick wave, right outside.
“Right here, you can do it all. Also, you may get it all done unto you.” Soares, an economics professor at Cal State Hayward by weekday and a maniacal sea kayaker on weekends, knows his topic. In last year’s open sea race, he and John Dixon got heaved by a rogue wave onto the race’s furthest mark, an exposed outcrop called Flat Rock. The impact shattered their Tsunami X-2 tandem kayak. They swam a mile to reach shore and safety.
Rocky Waters
But last Sunday, they were ready for another go. This time, Soares’ partner was John Lull, manager of the new CC&K outpost. Lull, 43, a former federal geologist, has the basic skinny on the bay as a resource. “Half Moon Bay, from Pillar Point to Miramonte, is 5 miles long, 1.5 miles wide and about 50 feet deep. Pillar Point Reef, which makes the northern arm, is a mile of exposed rocks, and two more miles of it running south below water.”
Across this basic scene blew winds of 15-20 knots, and an eight-foot northwest swell which bashed the barrier reef every eight seconds. In short, while the jetty-protected harbor remained calm, the open sea this day broadcasted “Experts Only!” Some twenty experts had gathered to try their luck in the Annual Tsunami Rangers Extreme Conditions Sea Kayak Race. Beginners, wondering what extremities of the sport looked like, could only conclude they looked rather goofy.
One group, Team Rhino, composed of three men in a triple-cockpit sea kayak, marked the solemn occasion by gluing rubber rhino horns to their helmets. At the start, three red flares were blasted into the sky, a wide array of kayak types were dragged off Miramar Beach, and paddle blades whipped the sea to froth.
Colleen Dulin, 21, in her first open sea race, said at the outset that she expected “carnage.” That vision was fulfilled at the reef. Eric Schaller, 40, an expert diver paddling a plastic, open cockpit Scupper, ran into a big set of waves and capsized. Dulin and her paddling partner Steve Lannoy, 39, went to his rescue, effectively bailing out of the rest of the race.
Strong Swell
Meanwhile, other boats either lanced through the reef break or teased their way out around the huge Maverick wave, which was “going off” with 15-foot faces. Then, straight into the blast of the northwest wind, the watercraft stroked for Flat Rock, which was spouting high, white geysers from the hammering swell.
Here the team of Nigel Robson, 33, and Tim Sullivan, 48, had their X-2 tandem boat raised, rolled and roughly dropped by a giant breaker. They clambered back aboard, but the sea reprised its mugging of their team at the Pillar Point Reef. Robson wisely decided to opt for a ten-minute breather on the beach.
Yet, overall, the carnage was incomplete. Those lucky and skilled enough to elude all hazards ruddered eastward to close the loop, then spanked their craft toward the barn. The final move required surfing in to land at Miramar Beach. First arrival — with a time of one hour and 30 minutes over the eight-mile course — was the team of John Dixon and Russ Pritchett. Next came Ed King and Ken King, hauling their new Necky Nootka tandem out of the surf. Third went to Lull and Soares. Team Rhino, formed by Powers, Bob Stender and a visiting journalist, bagged fourth by arriving four minutes behind the first boat.
Deliciously Delirious
Slim, dark needles of returning kayaks were scattered all across the hammered silver sheet of Half Moon Bay. Returnees, high on endorphins from exertion and the joy of survival, caroused and whooped on the strand while drums beat and bells gonged. Eric Soares and Team Rhino waded back into the water to float their tired, overheated bodies for a spell, rocked in the swell. In the artificial blubber of black neoprene wetsuits, they looked like amphibians, contemplating a return to the realm of their ancestors.
Offshore, migrating Gray whales swam past Pillar Point, the local James Fitzgerald Marine Preserve, and on to the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Porpoises frolicked in near-shore waters, and harbor seals poked their heads out of the sea to goggle at passing kayakers.
Thanks again, Paul, for your awesome coverage of the race of 1994! The Sea Gypsy Race was hitting its stride at the new Miramar location. Next week we’ll cover the 1995 happening, when the Tsunami event celebrated its 10th anniversary. We hope you’re enjoying The History of the Tsunami Ranger Sea Kayak Race! For more race stories, check out the side bar in the column to the right. Thanks and happy paddling!
A wild witty and wonderfully written account of the race and the contestants. Fun to read and remember.