May 31, 1999

The 200th mile

Trip #23 and #24

May 30, 1999

MAP

I was close to nailing a roll. Or at least I kept telling myself this. So I got up Sunday morning to go find it. Much to my surprise Bill Dodge was in the process of unloading his boat. He told me that Dick Rock and Mark Taylor were on their way and asked if I wanted to tag along. I gratefully accepted and before long we were on our way around Mason Neck. Our destination was a little marshy area southwest of hallowing point. Once there we found that we couldn't make much progress into the marsh because it was choked pretty tightly with vegetation.

During our lunch break I took the opportunity to try a few rolls. I rolled up each time, but again only by using the river bottom for assistance. Since I was wearing my wetsuit, I really enjoyed the cooling off. The wind was almost nil, and I stopped several times to drink water and dip my hat in the water and pour over me. About the last mile or so Bill asked how I was doing, since I'm sure he could tell I was pretty warm.

I was dressed for what I came out to do, which was rolling practice, but I was really unprepared for the change in plan, which was the paddle around a good chunk of Mason Neck and back. In hindsight I should have declined Bill's offer, or thought ahead to have lighter clothing to wear. (I did take off my wetsuit top at the beginning of the paddle, but had nothing else to change into on the bottom)

Over this brisk paddle we seemed to average about 3MPH on the return trip. Much slower than I anticipated, so I think I may have calculated it incorrectly. Bill and Dick estimated we traveled 11-12 miles using some formula, which corresponds to the track log I took on the return trip with the GPS. Trip distance - 11.7 miles

May 31, 1999

MAP

My daughter wanted to go look for eagles, and I wanted to teach her how to get back in her kayak in deep water. We got to Mason Neck and headed towards Kane Creek. After spying on a few Ospreys, she became more interested in getting wet. We left the creek and headed south of the launch site.

About 1/4 of the way there, the wind was blowing a little and the 8-year-old was complaining about holding the kayak into the wind. Her lightweight and the high bow of the Gannet makes it easy to blow around so I hooked up the tow belt and towed her.

Once we found a place to practice, we beached my kayak and waded into chest deep water on her. I told her how to inflate the paddlefloat and install it on the paddle and attach the paddle to her rear deck. Getting in was a struggle for her because of the distance from the water to the high profile Gannet, but she did really great. Each time we went into a little deeper water until she was floating freely and had a little more difficult time getting in, but she managed.

After a few more entries I went in and got my kayak. We managed, but found it difficult for assisted rescues with her between the 2 kayaks. We were in calm water, but I felt this was much too dangerous for her to be between the two kayaks. We quickly tried another approach where she would be on the "outside" and I would lean across her boat to steady it while she climbed in. This worked great, but by far the quickest way was for me to lean across her boat and at the same time use one hand to help her up and over into the kayak. Actually because of her small size you could actually say I mostly picked her up and set her into the cockpit.

After we were confident in her getting back in, and she wanted to explore the shells on the beach, we went in and I brought the Gannet out myself. Since I'd been unsuccessful at rolling the Guillemot, I wanted to see if I could do it in the Gannet. The answer was no, but I did learn something I *should* have known. On the 3rd attempt to roll I had to wet exit. I did a paddlefloat reentry and suddenly realized how low in the water the kayak was. The Gannet has no bulkheads or flotation. The kayak was *very* close to sinking, and any lean at all caused more water to pour in over the coaming.

Back on shore I pulled out a floatation set I keep in case I blow out a bulkhead or poke a hole in the hull for the Guillemot, and inflated it in the Gannet. It didn't fit well but I at least felt a little safer for her paddle back to the launch site. Something else I need to buy.

Back at the launch we saw a couple of German speaking folks trying to assemble a couple of foldable kayaks and not having good luck. I would learn a little later this day that a minor milestone was reached: My 200th mile in a kayak.