Survived the West Coast
As we mentioned in the last report, Renata was very close to San
Francisco. A couple of days later she arrived in San Francisco twice. She
enjoyed seeing the Golden Gate Bridges so she decided to paddle across the
bay twice. 7 weeks and almost 1700 kilometres later yet another milestone
were passed.
After a great time in San Francisco, with good food, friends and rest,
Renata continued to paddle closer to the southern parts of California. The
weather was clear and sunny, and the wind conditions were perfect, so she
made good progress. Nice company made it even better. The weather changes
and after these good days, when she was close to Monterey, she realized
that she needed to get of the water fast. The swells were around 8 feet,
steep and breaking in the open Ocean. At the Marina in Monterey she met
Geoff, who runs a kayak company. Not only did he help her to store the
kayak and find a place to stay, he did also help her with a local sponsor
for a Beacon. A Beacon is a transmitter that she can activate in case of
an emergency to send a signal to the Coastguard.
Back on the sea again she saw her first Orca! But it is one thing
viewing it from a tourist boat compare to seeing them just a few meters
away in a tiny kayak. She was a bit nervous when she saw it jumping almost
5 times out of the water and splashing down creating huge cascade of water
over and over again.
So far on the journey she has been able to find State Beaches to camp
on, but it is getting more and more difficult when she is getting closer
to Los Angeles. She has been worried about the large city, but it
disappeared as soon as she made her first stop in Marina Del Ray and got
in touch with the great family that she met in Brooking at the camp site a
while ago.
After 77 days and
2600 kilometres Renata arrived to San Diego. She survived the West Coast.
With a big smile on her face she entered the calm water going thru the
jetties at Mission Bay and letting the tide carry her the last mile.
The last days have been busy with media in San Diego, but now it is
time for the transition between paddling and biking. She will be biking
the whole way down to Brownsville in Texas before she enters the salt
water aging.
SportsGearGuide.com - Patrik Nilsson
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