Ever try crossing from Santa Catalina to Dana Point on a stand-up paddleboard? Don’t, unless you are with a pro. I ran into Terri Plunkett in Two Harbors on the western side of the island in mid-April. She and her team were preparing to do a relay-style 40-mile crossing.
“I have done countless SUP events around the world but, hands-down, this was the most challenging event I ever participated in,” Terri emailed me afterward.
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Anthony Vela, a former L.A. County lifeguard, stand-up paddling coach and competitor, organized the event. Vela and his company, Performance Paddling, train intermediate and advanced paddlers. Sixteen students, ages 32 to 73, participated in the crossing. Anthony chatted with me about the logistics of open-water stand-up paddling. Here’s an edited version of our conversation.
Palos Verdes Conservancy receives grant to weed out invaders
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by Louise Olfarnes
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy recently received a $55,000 Biodiversity Conservation Grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF). The money will go toward the conservancy’s multiyear restoration project to restore 13 acres at Abalone Cove Reserve. This project’s goal is to provide habitat for rare wildlife, increase the numbers of rare plant species and decrease erosion and sediment movement along the bluffs. And it will engage the community in the stewardship of this precious coastal area.
The Abalone Cove Restoration Project began two years ago. The Coastal Conservancy and Natural Resources Conservation Service has provided over $360,000 in funding. California Water Service and Southern California Edison have provided additional gifts. The Conservancy still seeks to raise the final $100,000 from the community to complete funding for the
A South Bay lifeguard earned the Governorâs Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor award for a risky rescue in a deep-water cave off Palos Verdesâ rocky coast.
Nick Macko, an Ocean Lifeguard Specialist with the Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguards, was given the honor on Monday, Jan. 25, during a virtual ceremony with Governor Gavin Newsom.
It was the third award Macko has received for the rescue, following the California Surf Lifesaving Association Medal of Valor and the United States Lifesaving Association Medal of Valor awards last year. It s only the second received by the department, the first awarded to Pat O Neil for a swift water rescue in Malibu Canyon in 2018.
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Big Sur is fed up with selfie tourism. Here s its new plan to transform travel in the region
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Ask anyone who lives in Big Sur about the changes the region has seen in the past five years and they’ll tell you horror stories about photo-obsessed “selfie tourists” clogging Highway 1 at Bixby Creek Bridge parking in the narrow roadway, causing hours-long traffic delays and dangerously posing for pictures on the landmark bridge.
“It’s a goat rodeo,” says Butch Kronlund, executive director of the Community Association of Big Sur especially on holiday weekends, he says. A resident of the famously beautiful region for 31 years, he’s witnessed an alarming regression in visitor behavior since the advent of camera phones and Instagram.