Velella - 41 Lefties, 1 Righty

Cannon Beach, Oregon, 3/15/2016, 2:00 PM: I counted 41 lefty velella before I saw a righty. Velella covered the beach in countless numbers today. Indigo streaks stained the sand for the entire length of the 4 miles of beach I ran, and the fragrantly decaying organisms formed a greasy paste that created a slipping hazard.
Velella have been washing up for a about a week or so. They are smaller than they have been in past years. Most of them are just a few millimeters long--too tiny to see their sails with the naked eye. I only counted the handedness of specimens that were large enough for me to clearly see their sails.
There were a few bull kelp on the beach, and some of them had their holdfasts still attached. It is not unusual to see bull kelp on the beach this time of year but rarely do I see intact holdfasts.