While the Miller's Run was placid yesterday, the Mockes thought they had found an alternative. Forecasts were showing a decent south-southwest wind developing by afternoon, so we headed over to the Atlantic side of the Cape Peninsula to paddle from Oudekrall Beach to the Oceana power boat club.
Sadly, when we arrived at Oudekrall the wind was not blowing as advertised. So we had to settle for a tour rather than a downwind run.
It was a pretty fascinating tour, however. For one thing, the scenery was quite impressive. From our putin we could see the "back" side of Table Mountain, and we passed by Lion's Head Peak midway through. Eventually we were paddling by the core city of Cape Town, and our took out with a great view of the "front" side of Table Mountain.
Meanwhile, out on the water the ground swell was as big as I've ever paddled in. Ground swell is not really surfable the same way wind-driven waves are, but Dawid and Jasper coached us in the art of getting as much forward aid as we could out of it.
Today was another day with little wind in the forecast, so we drove down into the Cape Reserve for a paddle around the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape Point. We would put in at Platboom Beach on the Atlantic side, and paddle around to Buffels Bay on the False Bay side.
While this adventure didn't offer the downwind that we all came here for, it was not without its share of excitement. Platboom Beach features some bigger-than-average shore break that's rather imposing for the paddler heading out onto the ocean from there. Dawid and Jasper spend some time observing the incoming waves, determining the frequency and the number of waves in each set, and came up with what seemed like a good plan: Dawid would put on the water with us campers, while Jasper, in radio communication with his brother, would stand up on the beach and tell us when it was a good time to go.
So we were all sitting in our boats looking at the impact zone, waiting for the green light. As an experienced whitewater paddler, I'm less intimidated by paddling into the shore break than some people might be; but seeing as how the Mockes know more about the ocean and its rhythms and behaviors than this lifelong inland-dweller ever will, I wasn't about to second-guess them. And yet, as Dawid, relaying his brother's advice, told us "wait... wait... wait... wait... wait..." I couldn't help getting hot and bothered, as the waves I was seeing in front of me didn't strike me as a big deal. Then, when Dawid finally gave us the go ahead, I found myself paddling into breaking waves that did seem like kind of a big deal. I paddled as hard as I could and managed to punch through them all, but at least one, maybe two of my fellow campers ended up swimming and had to try again.
Later on the Mockes would admit that their launching strategy didn't quite go as planned, but... in the end there was no hard done. Flipping and swimming is part of every paddler's experience.
As we proceeded onward toward the southern terminus of the Cape Peninsula, we found that the ground swell was even bigger than it had been yesterday. It was moving in from the southwest, so we were paddling against it in the early stages. I for one was in awe of its size. It wasn't really difficult to paddle on, but some of the approaching swells were truly impressive. We were bobbing up and down through a range of, I don't know, six vertical feet (a couple of meters)? As we rounded the bottom of the peninsula, we started to get waves rebounding off the rocks, and while it wasn't too scary, it did command my attention as I navigated through it. As we approached the Cape Point lighthouse, I actually found a few surfable runs within the chaos, and that was fun.
The conditions calmed considerably once we were in False Bay. But there were lots and lots of seals swimming around and apparently finding plenty of food. Fortunately I didn't get as well acquainted with one as I did four years ago. We reached Buffels Bay and had drinks and snacks, and then the Mockes declared that we would continue on up the peninsula until we reached Miller's Point, the start of the Miller's Run. This stretch of coastline features some truly lovely geology, including caves and granite boulders.
Like I said, we all came here for the famous downwind awesomeness. But one must be ready to accept that the wind doesn't always blow. Fortunately, the Mockes' bag of tricks includes some pretty neat activities for those no-wind days, and we availed ourselves of that yesterday and today.
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