Spill in the surf

[ebogdanski]

At the Outer Banks (Corolla) Thurs thru Sun and tried my luck in the surf on Friday morning. The idea was to go out, catch a small fish for bait and slow troll for kings.
I launched in the surf at Oak Island last summer twice without any trouble, except when my wife called 911.
Got to the water about 5:45 am and there was a bit of wind and the surf was higher than the day before. Launched into some rollers and immediately was soaked. OK water/air combination not too bad. Leashed the paddle, and tied myself to the yak just in case.
Retrieved the rods from the front hatch and started casting a Hopkins spoon for blues. Second cast I caught a nice 10 inch blue, So far so good. Put in on a king 3 hook rig and let it out.
At this point I realized I was a looong way from the beach. The wind was blowing pretty hard towards the ocean. I started paddling back, trolling, and realized this was not all that much fun. Got in a bit closer to the beach and noticed all the dolphins....
Not wanting to hook one I kept out a ways and of course kept being blown out to sea. While out there noticed a beach patrol pickup stopped about where I had launched. It left after about 15 minutes, I guessed they were discussing the fool in the kayak.
After about 2 hrs the bait was dead, I was getting tired and decided to call it quits. I came in closer to the beach and the dolphins, started stowing my rods and making sure all gear was attached and the paddle and I were NOT attached, just in case.
The surf looked a little rougher coming in. I tried to ride the wave in by leaning into it like I had done before. Unfortunately the wave broke and the angle changed and whatever, and I was rolled in.
I got up I retrieved the paddle and tried to turn the yak, which is much harder when there is a milk crate hanging upside down with gear in in. The whole thing was made a little more interesting by the guy with his grandkid who had fishing lines in the water and told me to "watch their lines"!
An older lady came over and asked if I was ok and needed help. She had been talking to the beach patrol about me earlier. She told me I must have a lot of endurance to paddle that long. I told my wife she was only concerned because women live longer than men and she wanted to ensure another old man was around a bit longer.
I never really felt in danger while on the water as I had my cell phone, a whistle, air horn, and large distress flag. I was as prepared as I could be coming into the surf and lost nothing in the spill. Oh and my life vest was on the entire time.
Thanks for reading!