April 24, 1999

Wind, Waves, And Sunken Ships

Trip #15

MAP

A cool breeze, toasty waves, and I'm fine.

Except my right arm is pretty sore.

After a few wrong turns I managed to find the launch site on Quantico. For those who may attempt the same, follow the signs towards the war museum and get on Bauer road until you cross Chopawamsic Creek. It isn't marked but you cross it shortly after going over a bridge that crosses the railroad tracks. After crossing the creek take the first right onto Flemming, and then the first right again onto Elrod road. This looks like a quasi parking lot but go up just a short way and you'll see what appears to be a small confidence course. Continue straight onto the gravel road and you'll soon come to the boat ramp.

The launch went without incident but as I headed towards the Railroad Bridge and the Potomac I noticed the water was swirling quite a bit. The creek is wide and shallow, almost like a bay, until you get to where the boat ramp is and it becomes narrow. This means a pretty good current when the tide is running in or out. At the bridge there were some small standing waves.

Free of the creek I checked the GPS for a bearing to Mallows Bay. The wind was blowing a good 20 knots out of the north so I picked a landmark a little north of the bay to use as a navigation reference. This landmark (a tall tree) is just a little north of Sandy point and allowed me to be at a slight angle to the waves.

This is the biggest set of waves I've been in so far. At mid channel while sitting in the trough the wave crests are about chest high. Every so often a wave breaks on itself and crashes across my spray skirt. This sounds a bit frightening, and may have been if I were in a wide bottom boat like the Gannet I bought last weekend, but the Guillemot slides over these waves with almost no tilting. I concentrate on paddling on the backside of the waves and holding off as the wave picked up the kayak. Timing is everything and the waves have no timing at all, so my strokes are erratic.

After making my way across the 2 miles of open water I decide to land and scout up the shore to see what lies ahead. The surf is rough and after stretching my legs for a moment, I jump back in the kayak and head around Sandy Point. From a distance Mallows Bay appears to have a lot of wooden stumps all through it's interior. On closer inspection, these stumps are timbers of WWI merchant ships that were sunk here long ago. My book tells me there were over 200 ships sunk here. I didn't bother to count, but the obvious outlines at low tide went on almost for a 1/2-mile across the bay.

On the north end of the Bay I parked and walked around the timbers up near the beach. The iron spikes sticking out of the water and sand make this area dangerous if you should smash into them with your boat, or worse, trip and fall on land. The hazards are more obvious at low tide, since a lot of this would be just under the water at high tide.

On the south side of the bay I see what looks like a wooden ship's corpse high out of the water. But as I got closer I saw this was an iron ship that also had been sunk. The top deck of the ship had a staircase leading up to thin air. I paddled around to the south side of the ship to get in the lee so I could eat. An Osprey had built a nest on the bow and wasn't too pleased with me being there. Other birds came and went through the round pipes and openings in the side of the ship. I paddled around to the rear of the ship where the stern used to be, and if not for the big wave action could have probably paddled up onto the ship. Back around the lee side and then back across the bay.

As I made slow progress against the wind heading north, I just couldn't take my eyes off the remains of the ships. Row after row of timbers sticking out of the water in egg shaped patterns everywhere. I finally made it to the south side of Sandy Point and took advantage of the lee shore to get out and walk around a bit. I scouted for quite a bit north while stretching my legs.

Heading back across the Potomac towards Chopawamsic Island the wind is still blowing hard and the waves a little bigger. Some of the larger waves are about at my chin in height when I'm down in the wave trough. I'm heading almost dead into the wind and my bow sometimes slams the water as the wave crest passes under the cockpit. Back at Sandy Point I had pulled out my pogies to keep my hands out of the wind. The going is slow but I just dig in for the long haul. I could have an easier trip if I just headed back to the launch site, but I wanted to complete my original float plan. The Guillemot handles the waves well but I'm real thankful for the rudder today. I'm suddenly aware of a boat cutting across my stern at full speed about 15 yards away. The guy waves as he passes by. Asshole #1 of the season.

At Chopawamsic Island I see houses up on the east side. But I head to the southern part of the island and up the leeward west side. The island is well marked as private property and no trespassing signs are all around. After circumnavigating the island I head south and notice the houses are falling down. One is near the cliff edge of the island.

Pogies weigh a ton when wet. Come to think of it, they weigh quite a bit when dry. Take them off and it's like my paddle suddenly becomes 2 pounds lighter. They also restrict wrist movement. Although at times they are necessary, a lesson to take from this is take them off when not needed.

Back at the entrance to Chopawamsic creek the water is running in fast. Again I cross the standing waves at the bridge and get out at the ramp to stretch my legs. After watching a boat launch I get back in the kayak to go explore the wide far shore of the creek. The wind is more than I want to put up with and the hydrillia is starting to block my path so I turn around and head back to the ramp.

12.24 miles in 4 hours with a good portion paddling into the wind. This has been a good workout and one that has made a substantial extension of my experience level.