Lake Tahoe + Monterey Bay Crossings
Lake Tahoe + Monterey Bay Crossings back-to-back
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Lake Tahoe crossing: Friday, July 3rd, 2020 / 20.33 miles from North Tahoe to South Tahoe, done in 4h03.
Monterey Bay Crossing: Saturday, July 4th, 2020 26.65 miles from Santa Cruz to Monterey Bay, done in 5h47.
Lake Tahoe Crossing.
Took off from the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, in Carnelian Bay. We set off from Waterman’s landing, where Jay Wild has his awesome set up for paddlers: OC1s, Surfskis, OC6s, SUPs, Prone boards…. you name it.
No wind at all when I launched at 5 am. Sunrise was amazing 45 minutes later.
The 4 hours of the crossing went very smoothly, as anticipated.
It was pure meditation to be on this pristine body of water. I enjoyed every second of it.
I think the next step for me on Lake Tahoe would be to take a few days and go around the whole lake, camping along the way. Must me fantastic to stay a few days on this lake!! Let’s do it!!
Monterey Bay Crossing.
Monterey Bay crossing, 26.5 miles, done July 4th, 2020, in 5h46, closing the back-to-back challenge of Take Tahoe + Monterey Bay.
I had wanted to paddle both bodies of water in a single day, but the conditions were not favorable, so I did it one day after the other.
I was joined by my paddling brother Roman Kristl on his OC1. Thanks Dave Loustalot, organizer of the Monterey Bay Crossing - MBX to meet us at the start in Santa Cruz for the latest tips and words of encouragement. Thanks Claire Kristl for driving us to Santa Cruz at 5 am to get us on the line!
We started under the beautiful sun in Santa Cruz harbor, around 6:30 am, but soon headed straight into thick fog that lasted for for 4 hours of our crossing. Luckily we had a GPS with our way point towards Del Monte beach (Kayak shop) so we had no issue whatsoever for navigation. We had another one for back up, as well as a VHF and our cellphones in waterproof bags.
Succeeded in doing a pretty straight line! Pretty proud of that! haha.
The general conditions were very favorable, with low winds most of the way until it got stronger the last hour. Didn't see any whale or dolphins but did see many pelicans and one albatross as well as other species of birds I didn't know.
NOW LISTEN TO THIS!!: The rolling seas (3/4 on our back right) and the lack of visibility made me sea sick!! It started as we moved into the fog, one hour into the crossing. Right in the middle of the crossing, at 2h30 from the start, I vomited my breakfast and started to feel weak. Felt a bit better right after throwing up but never could feel at my best for the rest of the trip. I vomited again 2 hours later, with 1 hour to go. Arghh. Felt terrible and had not expected this to happen.
For the rest of the crossing, I had to keep sipping little amount of electrolyte water as nothing was going down. I was afraid to bunk as I normally never go with an empty stomach more than 45 minutes when I paddle long distances.
Our cruising speed went down from 6 mph to 5 mph because of me, but I kept paddling and we still made quite good progress. I was glad to have Roman by my side, for sure!
It was a great lesson, so made for a great training day. Great reminder that I need to find a solution for my sea sickness as I was also a victim of this for the first 3 days of my first ocean crossing in 2016. I can't afford to feel sick when I'm starting my next ocean crossing in a solo kayak in 2021. Not only is it debilitating, but the risk of dehydration could be severe which would mean having to get rescued. I'll do my homework and make sure I am ready on that end.
