Through the Maveriks waves

At 8:30 Chris Manchester with his huge Dodge truck pick me up in front of the gate of the Redwood residence. He is the owner with Doug of the Half Moon Bay Kayak co. Their base is located right into the harbour of Half Moon Bay, at the southernmost part of the village.

The day is beautiful, with no clouds of fog. Chris give me the basic equipment, included a helmet, and guide me out of the harbour and through the remarkable waves just behind the famous surf spot called Maverik. One of this 2 meters rollers strike me on the way out and I’m very surprised by the power of this waves!

Keeping clear from Maverik we paddle for about 8 km, pretty far from the coast to avoid the surfing zone. Than we approach the cliff in a place called Table Rock for the presence of a flat rock right at the sea level and about one mile from the beach. The huge rollers of the Pacific Ocean are bended around this rock and crush over it. Chris explain me how to overcome the first line of rollers and we reach a very large soup zone behind Table Rock. Than we paddle forward looking for a suitable place to paddle back to the open sea, avoiding to be crushed on the second line of the surf. The head of the kelp algae rise out from a 10 meter deep sea floor while we manage to paddle our way back to the harbour. The waves from north west and the ebbing tide help us.
On the Maverik’s waves we meet a surfer and Chris suggest him to try at Table Rock (here some surfers have a speed boat that drag them right over the wave). Than we paddle across the narrow passage between the mushroom rock and the rollers over the reef to land on the beach on the north side of the harbour, in order to portage the kayaks quickly into the harbour.

Thank you Chris for the beautiful paddling day, my first one in 2009!

Doug and Chris in front of HMB Kayak Co.