Paddlers in South Orange County

Hi,

I'm moving to South Orange County and I wonder if anybody paddles around Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente.

Thanks.

Slightly north to central OC coast and you will find some paddlers @ Newport Beach. Many paddle out of the NAC (Newport aquatic center) and some (inc. myself) launch from the Coast Guard Beach just inside the Harbour. Once outside the jetties if I see a couple paddlers on skis than it is a "busy" surfski day ! Motor Boat traffic can put up some annoying chop on the weekends usually worse @ mid -day.Great stretch of coast and if you are willing to paddle off shore and pay attention to forecast/conditions we actually get some fun downwinding now and again.

Slightly north to central OC coast and you will find some paddlers @ Newport Beach. Many paddle out of the NAC (Newport aquatic center) and some (inc. myself) launch from the Coast Guard Beach just inside the Harbour. Once outside the jetties if I see a couple paddlers on skis than it is a "busy" surfski day ! Motor Boat traffic can put up some annoying chop on the weekends usually worse @ mid -day.Great stretch of coast and if you are willing to paddle off shore and pay attention to forecast/conditions we actually get some fun downwinding now and again.

Lots of paddlers in Dana Point. Saturday and Sunday around 7-8 AM.

great, I'll go check it out thanks

where do you guys launch your surfskis ?

surfskiviking wrote:

Lots of paddlers in Dana Point. Saturday and Sunday around 7-8 AM.

The paddlers in Dana Point normally launch at Baby Beach in Dana Harbor. The set workout times are Tue/Thur at 0600, and these workouts usually a little over an hour so people can get to work. Sat is normally 0700 and Sunday is normally 0800 and these workouts are longer, sometimes a lot longer. For the Sat workout plan on getting there a little before 7 as parking is tight due to several activities going on at the same time.

thank you for your answer, I went today (Friday morning) for a spin at "Baby Beach", lots of standing paddlers there, did not see anybody with surfski, they probably come as you said early morning.
Nice spot to paddle, just need to be careful at the speedboat traffic, probably even worse on the week end
Thanks again

Most of the paddlers are in San Francisco for US surfski champs tomorrow. Anothe option is tues/thurs evenings around 6pm you can chase dana outrigger teams. Call Patrick/ DeAnne hemmins in newport(oceanpaddlesports.com)as they paddle alot in groups. Call Chris Barlow SDCKT.org if in san diego as we surfski and k1. Barry

I'm fairly new to surf ski having just migrated from sea kayaking. I lurked around this forum and others for a while to help me decide, then jumped in and got a V8 - although with my technique it performs more like a straight six - get it ?

I most often paddle out of Dana Point Harbor on Sunday mornings. I go even on awful days, I'll just do the ~2mile laps around the island - lame but good for fitness and stroke technique. I'm really not a friendly guy before 8am, so I show up a bit later than some, I think.

To make it easier for other skiers to find each other, I started a free meet-up group: www.meetup.com/Dana-Point-Surf-Ski-Club . It's free to join and anyone can post events (at least until we are overwhelmed by spam). I picked up the dues, and will probably get my company to sponsor some events, so consider this my thank you for this forum and other resources. Please join and post when you plan to paddle out of any SoCal harbor.

I'm hoping to meet some of you in Dana Point soon!