Monterey Bay has a submarine canyon that reaches depths of several miles in spots. This canyon is home to a huge variety of sea creatures including several that you wouldn't neccesarily want to encounter with nothing but a piece of foam and fibreglass between you and it. This past weekend, a group of athletes left Santa Cruz to paddle 28 miles across the bay and over the canyon to Monterey. One of the paddlers was Gunnar Roll, who along with 2 partners, did the race as a relay and documented their crossing from their chase boat. Conditions ranged from perfect to horrendous. According to Gunnar, the first 15 miles were beautiful. Then a fog bank moved in and the conditions went south. A northwest swell combined with an opposing wind to create washing machine conditions. Water temps were in the low 50's. For the final few miles, the fog lifted and the paddlers got the wind behind their backs, creating some good runners to the finish in Monterey. Congrats to everyone that completed this race!


John Alexiou passing the M1 buoy in over 1000m of water.









Conditions deteriorated quickly as a fog bank moved in.





Hoods were donned to try and and stay warm against the wind and fog.







Out of the fog and into the sun with some runners at their backs for the final push into Monterey.







Job well done.