Sunday, November 23, 2008

Marnie's Dad came to visit us and I planned some fun activities for them, one of which was ocean kayaking. We went down to Leo Carillo, a beach down the PCH from where we live. It's a great beach with kelp beds for snorkeling and protected rocky coves and such. Dad and Judy took the kayak out together after some instruction by me. My instructions for returning to shore were essentially this:

1) Do not try to ride a wave in. It will flip you.
2) approach the beach and wait just beyond where the waves are crashing
3a) as soon as the last large wave of a set passes under you paddle furiously to the beach. This should allow enough time to get to the beach and get out of the kayak before the next wave comes.
-OR-
3b) Get out of the kayak, hold on the the back of it and push it into the shore from behind.

Additional intructions- you will get wet and should take your glasses off.

So, they started paddling back in and I say to Marnie, "Oh here they come. Get the camera and film this. This could be good." I edited the video (shown below) for brevity, but this is the dialogue that was caught on the original:
  • Marnie- “Here come dad and Judy.”
  • Stephan- “I predict… I predict catastrophe, potentially lost glasses.”
  • Marnie- “Is dad wearing his glasses still?”
  • Stephan- “Yeah I’m afraid so. Hey Jake will you hold Ginger? I’m going to be at the ready here.”
  • Marnie- “Man that was a big wave!”
  • Stephan- “WAIT!”
  • Marnie- “Stephan you can’t stop their momentum now, they’re coming in.”
  • Stephan- “Here we go this is it!”
  • Judy- “Aaaahhhhhhh.”
  • Marnie- “Oh no! We got it on camera.”
  • Jake- “Oh lost glasses, oh gosh.”
  • Dad- “I lost my glasses!”
  • Marnie- “Oh no.”


So. There you have it. Unfortunately we never found Dad's glasses and Judy dislocated her thumb (I did find Judy's sunglasses). They spent the rest of the day at the hospital getting Judy's thumb fixed and getting Dad some new glasses.

I think it's pretty funny given the irony surrounding the whole event. I can't believe we got it on video. There's just no good way to say this, but, man did I call it or what.

10 comments:

Julie said...

The movie started out so perfect. Beautiful day, gorgeous crystal blue water, even the first wave that passes by I'm thinking, "Good job. That doesn't look too bad...(CRASH, SPLASH!)." Sorry but I couldn't help laughing sooo hard. Then I had to watch it again because it just seemed too unbelievable. The funniest part for me was when Judy screams, "Ah", but it is like before the wave is even upon them. She knew something bad was coming. I've crashed in a kayak so I know how scary it is but that is why watching this was even more hilarious to me because I'm sure somewhere on the beach when I came shooting out of water like a bullet gasping for breath (like Marnie's dad), somebody saw me and found humor in it. Hopefully at least--then I won't feel so bad for laughing so hard.

I'd be so mad if I lost my glasses and somebody's else's stupid sunglasses were found instead.

Amy said...

That was awesome.

Paul W. Nash said...

To me, it looks like they didn't quite understand what paddle "furiously" meant...

Kat and Steve said...

Is that bad if I think that's kinda funny? Crazy that you have it on camera. Bummer about the glasses and the thumb, though.

Greg said...

You realize, of course, (lost glasses and bum thumb aside) that if these were your own kids you would've given them a time out? Or at the very least a solid "I told you so" or even "You got what you deserved" for being disobedient?

Parents.

I guess that makes it kinda obvious that I (like most everybody else who watched) would rather laugh at, then share sympathy with, these unfortunate jokers. Funny is funny, no excuse - and this was funny.

Grant and Stacy said...

Great story! "I told you so" is definitely in order.

Ann-Marie said...

Stephan you should have asked them to do it again, so they learn the correct way of doing things! Ha!

enemyemily said...

Excellent. I showed my whole family.

Carlie said...

Mom told me about this. I thought, perhaps it was an exaggeration ( what? Mom exaggerate!?!) alas, it was true. It's kind of sad to laugh at someone else's tragedy...but I did. It was hard not to. I bet that water wasn't exactly warm either. Again, tragic.

djomitch said...

marnie! i love your blog although i confess that i rarely get a chance to check it out. anyway, awesome posts/memories! miss ya.