[ceruleandrms]

Same thing happened to me at Topanga State Beach last month. Not as dramatic as your situation but scary just the same. I launched fairly easy (by myself) and paddled over in front of Wiley's bait shop to fish the kelp in about 40 ft of water. My buddy was shore fishing and I figured I'll catch some fish and maybe encourage him to invest in a kayak. I've only been kayak fishing for a few months and was completely over confident to a point of being reckless. The swells were amazingly stupid and between them was the only time I could see him and the beach but I figured it wasnt a problem. Caught a nice calico and hooked it to my clip. Wind picked up big-time and I never really noticed cuz I was too busy fishing. Got done fishing and like an idiot I went to hold up my fish and try to show it to my buddy who was onshore, knowing he couldnt see it cuz I was too far out but to "cherish" my feel-good moment. The timing was perfect. Right when I grabbed my clip and unhooked it the wind and the swell had great timing and all I knew was I went head first over the side. I remember my leash around my leg and the panic that sped thru me. So many things went thru my mind so fast I honestly dont know how I managed to get the leash off, flip my yak over and get back in it. I was about a half mile from the launch point so I b-lined it to the beach where my friend was and didnt care how I made it out of the water as long as I did. My buddy called me an idiot and said the swells were so big, he saw me on it between one, lost sight and between the next one all he could see was the bottom of my Tarpon. My gear loss was minimum and my kayak took a beating from hitting the rocks on shore but that situation I was in made me realize that (1) I'm pretty insignificant in the ocean and (2) mother nature will have her way with you if you dont respect her. That fear is always with me now and it helps me to put my safety before anything while I'm out there. Lesson learned the hard way.