A couple of years ago I was out fishing off LJ in my Hobie Revo with 2 other friend that were on a Tarpon 16, and a Scupper Pro.
We were about a mile and a half out fishing a little deeper when the worst Santa Anna I ever saw blew up out of nowhere.
The first thing we notice was all the wind stopped suddenly and then it changed directions to offshore and then we could hear it coming.
- You could see the ripples build over the glass flat water until there were 3 ft. wind waves spaced a few feet apart.
25-30 mph winds no BS. You could barely turn the kayak around without flipping.
As it was all happening I saw 3 lime green rental kayaks blow by me, and past the Children's Pool. My friend on the Scupper Pro made a dash for the kelp and hung onto the stringers until the lifeguards picked him up and towed his kayak into shore. The same happened to the 6 female Tourist.
When I look around to see if anybody else was around I saw this guy on a Yellow Revo Yo- Yoing as if it was just another day. He was using his peddles to stay in place, and the rudder to make adjustments to his position.
(Take a wild guess who this was)
I asked if he was going to head back in and he said "No problem we got the peddles" lmao So we stayed a bit longer (just because we could) and after a short while started to head back to the shores.
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All the awhile I had been watching my friend on the Tarpon 16 try his best to make headway. It was very difficult to watch him struggle, and he was becoming exhausted. He said his hands were numb from the wind splashing water on his hands and blowing away his insulation layer of air.
-So with the helicopter circling above, the SD PD boat, and Lifeguards on boats and jetskis asking - we returned to shore.
- I grabbed the bow handle on his tarpon and towed him in a little ways to give him a rest and allow his hands to recover. Once we got to the reserve buoys he was able to return under his own power.
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I wouldn't recommend that anybody deliberately try this, but we were out there when it happened and made the best of it.
I got a chance to give a real life torture test to my Hobie under the worst condition possible and it passed with flying colors.
"No Problem we got the peddles"