Shelter in Place Videos

These are crazy, uncertain times.  I feel very fortunate to have a comfortable home, agreeable partner for sheltering in place, lots of projects, and lots of good books to read.  What has been difficult for me is the economic uncertainty and not being able to play outside (hike, bike, kayak, camp).

If I wear a mask can I go surfing? Please, pretty please!!!

Who is that masked woman?
Cate surfing the Dagger Stratos 14.5 sea kayak on the Mendocino Coast of California

All beaches, trails, and parks are closed in Mendocino County, and Mendocino County's SIP orders state that you cannot drive to exercise.  As an avid mountain biker, trail runner, hiker, surfer, and kayaker this is extremely challenging especially in stressful times.  One positive is that I have gotten back into doing weight and flexibility training.  

With extra time at home, I have been working on some new videos.  My current video goal is to tell a story.  I have a couple of instructional and how to videos planned as well.  My story telling videos will have 2 versions.  The Hot Lap version will be 1 minute videos designed for those without a lot of time or attention span.  The second version will be the full edit and is likely to be between 2.5 and 5 minutes.  My videos will all be posted on Liquid Fusion Kayaking's YouTube Channel.  

Please subscribe to Liquid Fusion Kayaking's YouTube Channel.  This way you can be notified of new videos.  It also helps me stay motivated to produce more content.  To subscribe, here is a link.  Click on the subscribe button.

My latest videos are from a little shelter in place adventure that Jeff and I had last week.  It is called the Shelter in Place Triathlon.  We walk/hiked from our house, swam across the Noyo River, and sea kayaked out into the ocean.  There are 2 versions of the video - a fast and fun 1 minute and a fun commentary filled 5 minute video.  

Shelter in Place Triathlon - 1 Minute Edit

Shelter in Place Triathlon - 5 Minute Edit with Commentary

Please watch and comment on the videos.  I'd also love to hear any feedback or suggestions that you have for my videos.  In particular, do you like the one minute edits or longer edits or both?

Be well and be kind,

Cate

PS If you haven't heard - The California Watersport Collective is offering a series of online coaching webinars with an all star cast of kayak instructors and a huge range of topics.  I will be presenting Whitewater of the Sea on May 6.   Check out the line up of webinars - CWWC Online Coaching

Crabby Kayakers

Winter is probably my favorite season on the Mendocino Coast.  I love the excitement of winter storms - big waves, dramatic skies, and rain.  It is fun to watch the weather forecasts and to go out on storm watching missions.  Often our storm watching missions evolve into wave watching missions both on and off the water.

Hail or High Water! The USCG training our of Noyo Harbor in stormy conditions that included hail, high winds, and huge surf.

Playing in big seas in our whitewater kayaks on the Mendocino Coast of California.

Winter is also Dungeness Crab season. This weekend kicks off Mendocino County's Crab Feast.

Kayak Fishing for Dungeness Crab - aka crabbing.

Last week, ABC 7 Bay Area Life aired a special feature on Crab Feast Mendocino.  They interviewed Jeff and I and shared a little bit about Liquid Fusion Kayaking in the feature.



This weekend's weather forecast is looking pretty wet.  Grab your rain coat and do some storm watching and then feast on Dungeness Crab.

Storm watching from Fort Bragg's Noyo Headlands Park.

Woman on Water

Blog posts regularly run through my head.  Someday, I hope to get more of them written and posted but the reality is that being on the water is way more fun than being on the computer.  This summer, my hours on the water are many and quite varied.

Kayaking and playing in ocean rock gardens on the Mendocino Coast.
Photo by Jeff Laxier

It is a challenge to be competent at multiple disciplines of kayaking.  I don't profess to be the best at any of them.  I don't compete but love being on the water, challenging myself, building others' skills, and introducing kayaking and the outdoors to those who might not be inclined toward the outdoors.  There is really something magical about that first kayak experience, first wave surfed, first pour over ridden, or first rapid run.  I get to relive these experiences again and again through teaching, guiding, and coaching Liquid Fusion Kayaking's tours and classes.

Here are some personal highlights of the summer of 2016 in Sea, River, Surf - via - Liquid Fusion Kayaking.

Guiding dry and mild nature history tours on Fort Bragg's Noyo River.

Guiding a Sunset Bird Paddle - sharing the birds and magic of kayaking on the Noyo River.
Photo by Jeff Laxier

Family kayaking fun on the Mendocino Coast
Photo by Cate Hawthorne

The ocean continues to feed my body and soul - Swooshing along with the pulse of the sea, surfing, rock gardening, and catching dinner.

Rock Gardening fun at Nick's Nightmare on the Mendocino Coast.
Photo by Jeff Laxier

Oh - what a feeling - Carving on a wave in my hp surf kayak.
Photo by Jeff Laxier

Of course, I have to wash the salt off from time to time with some whitewater river kayaking.  This summer, we made it to the Stoneycreek and the Youghiogheny Rivers in Pennsylvania but also the Trinity River and Cache Creek in California.  I have to admit that I have gotten the whitewater bug back again after our California dry spell.  Getting to do some summer whitewater has helped too.  Boating in trunks and a rash guard or shorty top is a novelty to me.

Whitewater river kayaking on the Trinity River
Photo by Jeff Laxier

Kayaking through Hellhole on the Trinity River
Photo by Jeff Laxier

A super huge thank you to Jeff Laxier - founder/owner/partner of Liquid Fusion Kayaking and my kayak coach and partner in life, my family, my brothers and sisters in the Tsunami Rangers, my Mendo-Sonoma Foul Weather Friends, Immersion Research, Adventure Technology, Dagger Kayaks, Jackson Kayak, Maui Jim, HuppyBar, and the students and coaches and industry reps who have encouraged me in my pursuits as a woman on water.

Waves Wildlife and Wonder of Mendocino County Video

Jeff and I are just back from an awesome trip to Oregon.  Here's a little recap of our adventures at the Lumpy Waters Symposium in Pacific City, Oregon.  One of the reasons that we love going to Lumpy Waters is because it is predominately kayakers from Oregon and Washington.  Being among a different community of paddlers, we get to hear about different places in the Pacific Northwest..  When we share that we are from Northern California, we get either the "ouuuu - we want to come see you" or a blank look and then an acknowledgement of being near San Francisco.

This year, we stepped up to the plate and volunteered to do a presentation at the symposium on Mendocino County, California.  Neither of us like to talk in front of big groups so we opted to go the video route.  A video is a labor of love.  Countless hours go into brainstorming, collecting footage, editing, and finding the right music.  This video is a little bit longer than I like, but I think it is my best video so far.

Carve out 11 minutes of your day and let me share the Waves, Wildlife, and Wonder of Mendocino County, California with you (please turn the sound on your speakers or put your headphones on).

I hope that you enjoy the video.  If you do, please share it.

New Liquid Fusion Kayaking Videos!

Unfortunately part of being successful in the kayak industry these days is self promotion.  Some are of course better at it than others - that subtle dance of showing off knowledge and skills while being modest.  In our electronic world, videos have become a means of showing off one's stuff as well as sharing one's adventures.  I am a little bit camera shy, but enjoy taking photos and shooting video.  The problem is that I need a deadline to get my butt out of my surf boat or off my mountain bike and onto the computer to create and publish a video.

Last week, Jeff and I were invited to teach and present at The Headwaters Kayak Shop and Headwaters Adventure Company's Albion Bash.  We decided to do a presentation on our adventures in the Lost Coast.  Instead of talking about it, we chose to show who we are and what our adventures have entailed.

Here's a little promotional video for Liquid Fusion Kayaking (which is Jeff and I).

Presenting on the Lost Coast was challenging because it is an area that is quite remote, exposed, and subject to extreme conditions.  Our goal with the video was to share the beauty and wonder of the area, our adventures there both by land and by sea, the challenges of paddling the area, and give an idea of the skills necessary.  Also sharing the fact that there are many days when the Lost Coast is not paddleable.  Take a look at our video and let me know what you think.

Liquid Fusion Kayaking Presents:  The Lost Coast - Adventures by Land and By Sea.

A huge thanks to our friends who have shared these adventures with us.  May there be many more!!!

Creatures in the Sea

This week the fishing was a bit slow.  My goal was a Mendocino Kayak Fishing Trifecta - abalone, dungeness crabs, and rock cod.  The bite was really slow and I didn't catch any fish this week.  I was successful in getting 3 abalone (on Tuesday before the season closed for the month of July) and getting dungeness crabs.  But this week's catch wasn't so much about the food as it was the beauty and wonder of the sea.

On Friday, my friend and I were fishing in our kayaks along the coast on the outside of a large rocky reef.  The mulitlayered sky was breathtakingly beautiful and the early morning water was like glass.  We jigged in awe and wonder as the glassy swells rolled beneath our boats and the sunshine streamed through the layers of clouds.  Several large flocks of brown pelicans skimmed by us.  The bite was slow, but we contently fished and immersed ourselves in the beauty around us.

The fog began to roll in and then there was a large but gentle whooooosh . . . about 40 feet from us a cloud of water vapor spouted up from the water followed by a dark arching back.  As gracefully as it appeared, it slipped beneath the water again.  Moments later, whooosh it it spouted and appeared again right in front of us and then again as it made its way along the rocks heading north.  It made our morning seem even more divine.

Then our morning got more interesting.  The bite continued to be slow and my friend landed a nice lingcod but my stringer was empty.  We decided to call it a day and pull the crab pots and head in.  One the crab pots held a surprise.

We had some dungeness crabs but also the gnarliest looking crab we had ever seen.

Pudget Sound King Crab?

So far my research indicates that it is a type of box crab known as a Puget Sound King Crab.  They are not common and extremely uncommon to get in a crab pot.  What a treat to get to see.  We took some photos and returned it to the sea.

Gail poses with our interesting catch.

What a cool day to be out on the sea - Maybe not the best for feeding the body but definitely lots of food for the soul.

Grocery Shopping in the Sea

Last year, I got my first taste of kayak fishing and have to admit that I am hooked (hopefully not literally).

My first black cod caught on a handline.

Now is the season for almost everything - dungeness crabs, abalone, salmon, rock fish, and sea vegetables.  Slowly but surely, I am acquiring the necessary tackle and skills for getting dinner at sea.  Every day this week, I have caught or gathered food from the ocean.  

My first lingcod - 28 inches.

7 years ago, I got my first abalone.  Jeff came home from work and was treated to pan friend abalone.  Since then, he has become quite the abalone diver, and we have expanded our repertoire of cooking methods and recipes.  I haven't dove the past several years because we both don't need to and Jeff is all about the "hot lap" (timed trip from the house to the ocean and back with abs).  I am all about !@#$'s n giggles diving.  I like to take my time and swim around and sight see.

An advantage of spending so much time kayaking in the rock gardens of the Mendocino Coast is that I have lots of opportunity to scope out my fishing, diving, and harvesting spots.  Over the past month, I have been seeing a ton of abalone and did my first solo abalone hunt this week.  It has been fun to fish and dive with friends, but I enjoyed the independence of my solo mission.  Jeff was pretty stoked when I came home with 3 nice sized abalone and a couple of dungeness crabs.

Kayaking to a favorite abalone spot.

On our plate this week has been fish.  We have caught greenling, black cod, and ling cod.  I understand how people become enthralled with fishing.  Fish are fascinating.  I love how they move in the water and am learning to identify the different types and what each type eats.  Fishing is definitely a challenge - figuring out the right place to be but also what type of bait or lures to use and how to effectively use the lures/bait.  A homemade handline has been my primary fishing tool.  I like the simplicity of it both for use and for transport.

Using a handline to fish for bottom fish.

I get so exited when I feel the tug on my line (have to admit I was a bit nervous when I hooked my first lingcod - it was a large fiesty fish with big teeth).  Reeling it in is like opening a present.  Even though you might have an idea of what is on the line, you don't know until you pull it in.  This week, Jeff caught a black cod and as he pulled it in a ling cod grabbed on to it and he landed both.  Yesterday, I pulled in 2 black cod on the same cast.

Jeff with a fish-on!

Pulling crab pots can be exciting too.  Not just in the excitement of seeing what is in the pot but the excitement of pulling up a heavy pot from a kayak in choppy ocean conditions.  Of course one could go crabbing on calm days or in calm bays or estuaries, but Jeff likes to simulate the television show deadliest catch.  This week we were surprised with an abalone in our crab pot (of course neither one of us had our abalone card and tags with us).

You never know what you might find in your crab pot.

With lots of fish in the fridge and freezer, today's mission was to get some sea vegetables.  One of my favorite gathering spots can also be a good surf spot.  I have been enjoying my Jackson Kayak Karma RG for fishing and rock gardening, but it was really nice to be in my super light, responsive surf kayak.  A session of tasty waves was followed by gathering some salty green goodness.

Gathering kelp in my hp surf kayak.

I also have to admit that we will be having beef for dinner tonight but will have some tasty sea cheetos and abalone ceviche as orderbs.  

Abalone Ceviche!!!