May 7, 1999

Paddling Skills

Trip #19

My 3 day weekend plans to go out of town was suddenly changed, so rather than waste a beautiful Friday I headed for Bull Run Marina. I went downstream this time, towards the Occoquan River. The water was flat and no wind, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to practice without the rudder.

I noticed the Geese had hatched. Made a mental note to tell Katie about them.

The kayak has a narrow range on which it will track straight. If it gets just a tiny bit to the left or right of that range, it will start turning hard. I also found the Guillemot had a much higher speed when "in the zone" which started to bleed off rapidly if she drifted out of the zone and started to turn.

Nothing major to report this trip. I found I quickly got back into being able to use the kayak without the rudder with just a little care in not allowing the kayak to swing too far left or right. This was a lot of work though, so after only about 2 1/2 miles I turned around and headed back.

I did pass another lone kayak heading out as I headed in. Last year I fished this area a lot, and saw only 1 kayak all year. This year I've seen about a dozen already....