Only Roger Lamb, Konstantin Gortinsky and I were able to make it to this Tuesday evening ocean paddle. We re-traced our steps from the last time, launching at Goat Rock and heading towards Russian Gulch. We went through the wonderful arch south of Russian Gulch which comes out behind "Konstantin's Crack of Doom", a narrow slot between two rocks. Konstantin was unable to resist paddling through it again.
Konstantin has recently acquired a used fiberglass kayak, a Sportee by Northwest Kayaks. On a recent trip he tried out my coaster and fell in love with it. He wanted to get a similar boat but despaired of ever finding a used one that he could afford. I told him about John Reed's Sportee which was damaged on a BASK trip years ago. I had talked to John years after the event and he had not gotten around to fixing it yet. He said that he didn't like the way the boat handled and jokingly offered to give it to me if I was willing to fix it. I called John and verified that it was still broken and put John and Konstantin in touch with each other. Konstantin was able to buy the broken kayak for a song and then spent some time lovingly repairing it. This Tuesday evening paddle was the first time he had it out in the ocean.
So Konstantin was going through the crack of doom in a "new" boat which is shorter and wider than his old one. Of course the tide was in a different phase and the swell was a different height than the last time he successfully went through this crack. We're not quite sure which of these differences caused him trouble, but as Konstantin came out of the crack the nose of his boat dove into the suck-hole and stopped. His boat rolled over and he set up to roll the boat back upright. This being a new boat he had been having trouble rolling it and often had to try several times. There was no time for this as the next wave arrived and the upside down boat was sucked back between the rocks. Hanging upside down in the crack with no room to maneuver Konstantin was forced to exit his kayak.
When the crack spit him and his boat back out separately, I paddled over and offered to tow him out to sea to gain some time to get back in. I hooked on my tow line and started paddling. Roger came along side and helped Konstantin pump out most of the water and get back inside. Konstantin says this is the first time he has ever been out of a kayak on the ocean. We continued paddling to Russian Gulch and returned back to Goat Rock without trying any more risky stunts on this day.