My story post 11, the day we sailed to Kings Harbor.

It was the last Saturday of surf lessons at the Santa Monica YMCA. The surf class went on safari to Manhattan Beach. There was a good swell running and I think about the only person to actually surf was the instructor. The surf was a bit to treacherous for all us beginners. But the fun was to begin later.

After the class my friend Bob (the guy I took surf lessons with) and I were picked up and taken to Marina del Ray to a mutual friends parents sail boat for an afternoon sail to Long Beach. At least that was the plan.

We motored out of the marina and into the great Pacific only to be greeted by a dead calm. There was absolutely no wind. Hoping we would eventually see some wind as the day progressed we continued to motor along the coast, it was the only way to actually move the boat.

I can remember going really slow, and seeing some pretty good size swells rising and dropping as we slowly moved alone. But, at some point the motor decided to give out so there we sat with no wind and no motor bobbing around those swells in the ocean. And the day was not getting any shorter.

Now the plan was to sail around Palos Verdes and into Long Beach but after a couple hours we had not sailed very far. As the sun set the one thing that I remember being really magnificent was the fluorescent water from the rudder of the boat. We would move the rudder back and forth to try and get the boat to move a little and the turbulence from the movement would light up the water. At one point some seals came along to interact with the rudder movement and the fluorescent water that flowed off of there circling in and under the boat was really something to see.

It was decided that there was no way we would make it to Long Beach. The sail was planned to take place all during day light and it was now a fair time past sunset. So we changed course and headed to Kings Harbor in the dark.

Navigating into Kings Harbor was spooky to say the least. Very little wind to go on, total darkness, hearing the buoy bell and the crashing waves on the breakwater, remember there was a good sized swell running. I was happy to see the dock.

After a day of feeling the power of strong surf and seeing how large the ocean can begin to look from a boat. At 14, I gained a new understanding of what surfing and the ocean meant that day.

D.R.