Jorge, the Optimist
Monday, Martin, April, and I decided to go out on a beautiful sunset paddle. We paddled through the Caballos surf break and enjoyed a few waves before heading out to the open ocean for a point to point downwind. I noticed the sun was setting faster than anticipated. But, I thought since we are fast paddlers, we would still make it on time. We headed past the reef to the buoy to line up a straight shot downwind towards the condado lagoon.
As we enjoyed each glide the sun continued to drop to the horizon, but I was still optimistic that we were going to make it before nightfall. Once it was completely dark, I remember how peaceful it was using the reflection of the hotel lights to catch waves. When it came time to approach the shore, I got caught up in a rogue set of head high waves in the reef pass… I needed to go for a swim anyway. Once back in the Condado lagoon, we had a brisk upwind paddle back to the car where my wife greeted us with a smile, not worried about us at all.
April, the Pessimist
The start of our paddle was beautiful: a setting sun and gorgeous clear water made for the perfect backdrop as we enjoyed a few shoulder high waves in Caballos before heading out to the buoy and starting our downwind run. It was about this time when Jorge told us where on the shore to aim as we paddled. I remember thinking that it looked awfully far away, and there was no way… maybe we could paddle fast and make it, but I sincerely doubted it. There was no turning back now, we set our course for a tall blue lighted hotel and started catchimg bumps.
About 20 minutes into the paddle, only a sliver of sun peaked out above the ocean. It was at this time that I realized there was no freaking way we were going to make it out before pitch-black dark. I started paddling faster, and the shadows on the water at dusk made it easier to read the water… for a while. As it grew darker and darker I started having difficulty seeing the water and my paddling companions. The large rocks and reef to our left also became difficult to see and the wind direction kept pushing us in closer. Once it was pitch black I was a little frustrated to say the least. We stayed closer together for safety, even then, all I could see was the hotel lights on shore and the red light on Martin’s GoPro… my lifelines.
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We kept pushing forward until it was time to go through a break in the reef. It was exactly at this time that I sensed a large wave coming over my right shoulder. I quickly padded back out as the wave broke and took down Jorge. Thank goodness we all had leashes, because losing a board at this point would not be a good option. Martin had already made it inside, and I waited till what I thought was the end of the set before trying to paddle in. The white wash was easy to see and hear and made it possible to stay in the right spot and safely and dryly navigate the channel. Once on the inside, we regrouped and paddled into the lagoon. Martin and Jorge asked if I was “okay” to which I didn’t have a quick reply. Of course I was “okay” I just wasn’t very happy. When we got back to the car, Jorge’s wife was very worried, and I’m shocked she hadn’t called the coast Guard yet…
Martin, the Realist
We went out from a beach point right in front of the sunset. We thought, “Hey it’s gonna be a nice sunset downwind paddling!” The wind and swell were actually perfectly aligned which made it a really good run. For this run, you can go either inside or outside the reef; the outside part is more fun because after getting through the reef waves, the ocean swells make for more glides. We just got a little optimistic about our capacity to reach the end of the run in time because the sun set down faster than we paddled. I guess when you aim to reach the speed of light on a paddleboard, it always ends up different than what you would think.
On the last part of the run it was basically completely dark. We were on boards hundreds of feet away from the shore and going around reefbreaks with 4- to 5-foot waves breaking. The good thing is that the lights from the buildings were still making the bumps visible which was good for us to keep on enjoying the downwind despite the fact it was night time. The real trick was to find the channel in the darkness because were not really up for a night time Pacific Paddle Games training in 4- to 5-foot onshore waves breaking on shallow reef at that moment.
Luckily Jorge had done this run probably more times than anybody on the island so he could tell us where to pull in to reach the coast. At that point the safest thing to do was to stay close to each other and make it all together, which is what we were finally able to do after an hour of night time paddleboarding. Despite the dangerous side of this, it has been a rad experience that I never did before and made us realize once again that basic safety gear (leash, flashlight) can be vital in these kind of conditions.
