July 11, 1999

The longest day

Trip #34 and #35

23.4 miles

17 hours on road/water

MAP

On the road by 6:30 am on my way to Galesville after stopping by the bank and to get gas. At Galesville I unloaded my kayak and took out my new Greenland paddle. The new paddle has a blade 5 1/4 inches across! It looks too big, and weighs a lot, but I wanted to try it before making the determination to cut it down. I rolled with it a few times and paddled around the marina. The blade would be too much for any distance, but wow what speed!

I paddled back to shore to retrieve my smaller Greenland and wait for Joan, which wasn't long. We unloaded Joan's boat and headed out. We bypassed Tenthouse and Cox creeks, but Joan suggested we explore Popham creek, which we did. The jellyfish were thick today and I was reluctant to roll. It was hot and I was concerned we might need to cut today's paddle short because of the heat.

Next we explored the next bay over near Forest Point. The jellies were so thick here that every other paddle stroke hit one. Back out into the West River and around Cheston Point. At Sand Point we took a short break to stretch before heading across to explore Cadle Creek. From there we decided to head to Flat Island for lunch. As we were crossing, 2 kayaks launched from Carrs Warf so we head off to meet them. After finding out their kayaks were barely a month old we passed some CPA info to them so they could check it out.

We continued on to the island and ate lunch. Since the jellies had thinned out quite a bit in this area I took a few minutes to try an offside and screw roll, both without any success. I also swam in my new PFD to see if it would ride up on me. Back in our boats we entered Sellman creek. It became strange back in this area, but I couldn't figure out why. The powerboats were nowhere to bee seen and their sounds kept getting further away. Near the back of the creek it began to rain. Gently at first but it began to pour a little harder as we started to make our way back to the launch site. As we got near Flat Island we saw the new kayakers and decided to check up on them to make sure everything was ok before passing on. We beached and the rain became heavier as we chatted a few minutes with the young couple wondering out loud about the rain. They seemed to calm down a bit when I told them the rain would beat the water flat. They headed out and we launch right behind them. The rain started pouring hard enough we worried about visibility and turned on our lights even though the boats had all left earlier when the sounds died away. The rain was short lived and the rest of the trip uneventful.

We passed 6 or 7 small sail boats racing around some imaginary points on the water. A 14.1 mile trip back to the launch site. We still had a little time to kill so we added another 2.5 miles paddling south of Galesville into Smith creek. Joan's mom was waiting as we loaded up our boats and I headed towards home as they headed off to eat.

MAP

In the back of my mind I had thought about a night paddle from Belle Haven to watch the fireworks display at Jones Point. This was a fireworks celebration to commemorate 250 years of existence for the city of Alexandria Virginia. I couldn't resist so after stopping to eat dinner I headed over to Belle Haven marina and launched for the second time today.

It was still pretty early, so I paddled down and around Dyke Marsh for a bit and then headed back to the marina. I was tired and it was still a while before dark so I just hung out chatting with people as they stopped by. A young couple with a brand new fiberglass kayak and a rented SOT chatted a bit before heading off towards Dyke Marsh. Many people wanted to know about my kayak and after a while I was talked out and thought it would be less effort just to get back on the water...

This time I headed down to Jones Point. As I was getting close, the Coast Guard was herding the boats away to a safe distance. I paddled up near shore and took up safe position out of range of the little brats skipping rocks at my kayak from shore. It wasn't long before Judy and Roy from Atlantic Kayak came around the point with 14 or 15 kayaks in scattered formation. After chatting with Judy and Roy for a few minutes they headed back underneath the George Washington Parkway. I continued to hold station as it continued to get darker.

Just before dark the Carp began to wave their tails in the air and Judy's crew came back a few minutes before the fireworks began. What a show! Words cannot describe how awesome this looked bobbing along gently on the water. Just before dark a long escort of Police boats and the fireworks barge came from upriver. The wind was blowing towards the fireworks barge so I continually back paddled to hold my position. When the show started the reflection off the water and the fireworks almost directly above was simply incredible. Add in the little lights on the 50 or so boats and the 20 or so kayaks, and the light show on the water was remarkable. I wish everyone could have been there to see it.

After the show I headed back to the marina. This time I cut straight through the floating grass mounds to avoid all the boats now at anchor in the river. This was no easy task, as I had to extend my paddle stroke to well behind the cockpit so I could pull the paddle straight out of the grass. Once I hit some sort of large animal (fish) with my paddle, which created a huge splash and a startled paddler. The couple I met at the marina were right behind me and the woman had the same thing happen to her I think since a few minutes later I heard a splash, her scream, and then "That scared the SH*T out of me!"

Loading the kayak back on my car proved to be a big challenge. Folks had parked their cars so tightly at the launch site that I had to get someone to help me lift my kayak over one of them so I could carry it down to my truck. What fun tonight has been. Add another 6.8 miles to the day's paddle. By the time I got home it was 17 hours since I had left and had journeyed 23.4 miles on the water. A long day indeed.