Kelp and Pt. Conception

I think I've been awake since at least 3:30 listening to the pounding surf. It's not particularly large, but it breaks fairly close to shore so it sounds seriously dramatic. I left Port San Luis a little later than I should have yesterday. It was easy to do, everyone was so friendly and it was nice and warm in the coffee shop. It was nice to hang out inside out of the damp fog.Once in the boat it was a fog-locked paddle for the first 40 miles. The last ten, after I rounded the point to get here, was in the sun, but of course, close to Point Conception, that meant tons of wind. It came from every direction. I tried to snuggle in to shore in order to a avoid blowing around the point prematurely, but going was slow. Once I got out of the north wind there was south wind and then east wind to contend with. It seemed the wind couldn't make up it's mind which way it wanted to blow.That was not the only challenge. The wonderful, healthy beds of kelp added a an interesting dimension to the challenge. The easy part is paddling around and through the kelp, especially if you are going with the current and wind. Forget paddling trough kelp if the wind is in your face, though! The kelp will go in the direction of the wind, so going against a wind means certain rudder ensnarement. Fortunately I could avoid the kelp when the wind was in my face and pick my way slowly through it to clear water when I had to.Coming in on seaweed and kelp, though, seriously sucks. The surf was manageable, but the break jamming effect of kelp stuck on a long rudder was not. June came out in the water and I let the boat huli (flip) to avoid dragging kelp-which would be like trying to paddle with an anchor, not something you want to do, especially in the shore break!So leaving today will be a major hurdle.  Broken pieces of kelp and the breakers will seriously make getting out as tough as rounding Point Conception. If the rudder gets jammed with kelp on my way out it will slow me down considerably and I won't be able to get out of the breaking waves. I'll be anchored in the most dangerous part to be. Once I'm out then I have to navigate the kelp beds which go way out and around the point. Then there's the point and the wind. Well, one good thing to hope for-kelp doesn't grow where the water is really rough, so hopefully giant mixed swells won't be a huge aspect of rounding this bend. But you never know....Let's just hope I can bust out of the shorebreak! Once I get out and round Pt. Conception it'll be an Eastward paddle. There will be lots of current because of the Channel Islands, which are a few miles offshore, but close enough to create a bottleneck for racing currents. If the west wind is still blowing I'll have it at my back and hopefully some protection from the north and any potential south wind.Woo boy. This one's gonna be a toughee!!