You never think it will happen to you. . . - Day 1 Before Lunch
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We met early Saturday morning to pull the class together and go over the days expectations. We headed out to Hobuck beach to find a suitable launch site. Our first stop had some larger waves so we opted as a group to continue south around the corner and launch out of a river mouth as the waves there were smaller and more manageable. Once on the beach we all started talking about underwater topography and how this was affecting the waves as they broke over the bar. The waves here were considerably smaller and cleaner than at the beach and a safer line could be picked fro getting out. Nonetheless, the incident at Netarts Bay was mentioned a few times. Leon sent out Shawna to catch and hold us beyond the breaks and we spaced our selves out to cross the bar one at a time. We all made it out across the bar with out any problems. The series was pushing 3’ maybe 4’ and timed correctly you could get through with two footers. NO incident yet. . .
We did a fun and informative Navigation and Group control drill to get us down to Anderson Pt. Along the way we used Line of Positions to verify our speed and location. We used the C.L.A.P. (Communication, Line of Sight, Avoidance and Position of Maximum Usefulness) principle to lead the group.
We stopped along the way and rode the swellevator along a rock wall trying to maintain a single position and then all of sudden out of NO WHERE, Leon falls out his boat and panicked letting go of his boat and paddle!!! It must have been a rogue wave. We had to get him away from the wall and reunite him with his boat. Once together we realize that he has dislocated his shoulder. We were able to get him out of the water using the scoop method and rafted him with another paddler. We set up for a tow to the nearest beach so we could further assess his injuries. Only problem is all the nearby beaches had surf! I was sent ahead of the group to scout the beaches and find the most suitable to land on. I found a beach nestled in the corner which had the least amount of rocks and the smallest surf. I landed and signaled for the group to meet up with me. The rafted folks were towed using an inline tow and we placed a second tower off the stern to act as a drogue once we got near the beach to keep the raft from surfing into the tower. Once we safely landed on the beach Leon miraculously became healed and we enjoyed a quick lunch on the beach. NO real incident yet. . .