Putting Kayak in Huntington Harbor
 

Hi everyone,

OK, so I got my Hobie Outfitter (tandem) last week and I went out with my wife to Avila Bay. Beautiful weather and the beach access is Kayak friendly. You can drive your truck onto a load/unload area and you are less than 30 feet from the water, with minimal to no surf. When you kayak to the wharf, you can go underneath and the restaurant has plexiglass bottoms over the tables; you can see the customers and they can see you waving back, it's cool. I saw another yakker coming in with a nice lingcod he caught with a friend near the lighthouse.

My question is minimal to no surf access (since I'm still a newbie). I know about the Alamitos Bay access near Naples, is there a similar area in Huntington Harbor? I'd like to take my wife onto H. Harbor and tour around abit (before I try open water). Any suggestions? Thanks.

Also, I've found the Mirage drive system works well. The mechanism is a little stiff, which I attributa to being new. I'm gonna decrease to tension on the chains (just a smidge) and see if that helps.

Thanks,

Paul I.

Re: Putting Kayak in Huntington Harbor
 

Paul,

There are a few areas to put in for HH:

Sunset Beach off of PCH next to the Malibu Kayak Shop

PCH/Warner - Next to the Firestation on Warner (just inland from PCH - at the flashing Firestation stop light) there is a public boat launch ramp. You need to pay for meter parking to launch here.

Countess and Edinger Ave- There is a park/parking lot here and you have 2 options to lanuch. One right next to the parking lot, which can be somewhat muddy at lower tides. The second is a sandy beach on the backside of the park there (Mothers Beach). Take Edinger towards Sunset Aquatic park and just before the bridge that goes over the Edinger channel (into HH), turn left on Countess. Go up a bit and you'll see the park, parking and launch areas.

Note: you cannot gain access to the open ocean thru HH in a yak. You cannot go under the PCH bridge to the ocean side of the harbor as that area is closed to non-motorized craft (PWC as well) and is patrolled by our friends in the Navy. If you enter the closed area, a friendly group of folks with big machine guns will escort you back into the harbor :D

Hope this helps

Ed

Re: Putting Kayak in Huntington Harbor
 

Paul,
Welcome to the boards :hello Ed hit the strong points of HH and kayaks and there are plenty of waterways to cruise in. If you want to try Newport/Balboa, launching right behind Paddle Power Kayaks on 15th street is a very easy launch and a small mothers beach arrangement. Parking is by meters, but there are half a dozen free stalls right at the end of the street in front of the launch you may use if you get there early enough. It is a short sandy beach, and Paddle Power uses it for their rentals and lessons. Hope this helps,
PerryC. :coffee

Re: Putting Kayak in Huntington Harbor
 

Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure to keep those friendly folks with the big machine guns a wide berth and not exit to open waters there in HH. I am trying to get comfortable with my outfitter and my wife used to being in the yak.

I relaxed the tension on the cables and used some triflow lubricant on the mechanicals of the mirage system; the friction dropped alot and moves like butter now. I can't wait to get this back in the water and try it out.

Paul I.:brews

Re: Putting Kayak in Huntington Harbor
 

Make sure you don't loosen the mirage drive pedals up to much, you can skip a tooth on the sprocket.

Take it easy!

Aaron