September 12, 1999

A Naked Man & No Trespassing

Trip #49

11 Sep, 1999

A Naked Man

13.2 miles

MAP

Having spent some time in the Gulfstream, it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed to go paddle the Guillemot. It should be here in 2-3 weeks, and I'm already thinking about where I'll take it first.

But in the meantime, I decided to start this morning from Quantico. The forecast was 10-15 MPH and there is a good fetch of water in this area of the river to the north and south, so maybe I could play in some waves. It's dead calm about 7:30 this morning and I had looked at possibly going to Goose Bay. I'm not sure why it is called a bay, since there isn't even an indentation here. Maybe it was a bay at one time, but all the map shows now is a small stream which I hope to explore.

I head north a bit along the west shore for a while trying to decide when I want to cut across the mile and a half of open water. My destination is to the East, into the sun. I decide to keep heading north in hopes the sun will rise a bit beyond eye level before I start across.

Just north of Chapawamsic Island I spot something that looks like a house out on the water. In the low sun I can't tell for sure so I decide to investigate. It takes me on a course a little north of Goose Bay. As I near the "house" I see it is a barge anchored off shore. After paddling around the barge I head towards shore and find two more barges tied off to two steel piers. They appear to be getting ready to load these barges with sand. The two steel piers look to me like someone drove two barges ashore, sunk them and filled around the end on shore with dirt.

I've been paying more attention to my body rotation today. I'm searching for that "groove" I've had only twice before in which I just *know* everything is working as it should. Today I would not find it again, but I did notice my cruising speed is higher. Because of several stops along the way I won't be able to determine my average speed, but I felt as though it was in excess of 4 MPH.

I eventually get to the creek at Goose Bay. The creek enters the river at an extreme angle which hides it's entrance to all except those passing it at close range. I twist and wind myself back into the bay(?), but my way is soon blocked by a combination of thick green slime and a brown substance that looks like oil. Not wanting a permanent scum line on my kayak I turn around and head back out.

Back in the river I head south again until passing Sandy Point. The remains of a sunken wooden ship clue me in that I'm getting close to Mallows Bay, so I turn to head back across the river. I can see a beach on the far shore a little south of where I had planned to cross, so I decided to check it out.

The beach appeared to be used by crabbers, as there was a large pile of crab pots stacked on the shore. I turn north now and study the shore line. There are several sandy and rock cliffs in this area that look interesting to me.

Around Clifton Point I pass the stern of a boat anchored about 100 feet from shore. As I pass I look over and see a lone naked man rubbing himself down with suntan oil. At least, I assume it was some sort of suntan lotion. He seems unconcerned that I am there, and I turn my head back to study the shoreline some more. Good thing one of the kids is not with me today.

I head on back to Chapawamsic Creek and begin to load up my kayak. A young boy shows some interest and begins to ask a lot of questions. I answer and he mentions there were about 30 kayaks out on the river in a big group. I then notice that Atlantic Kayak's van is parked up from the ramp with a kayak trailer on the back. There doesn't appear to be 30 kayaks 8^) missing from the trailer. I'd later learn this was a Mallows Bay tour.

Trip #50

12 Sep, 1999

No Trespassing

10.5 miles

MAP

My 50th trip in a kayak occurred a few days after my 38th birthday. Today I'm feeling quite old as I unload the kayak at Mason Neck State park. A couple guiding a canoe trip asks if I'm headed to Kanes Creek, but I'm not. I think I'll head around "the neck" to a marshy area I went with Bill Dodge to one day. My real goal today is to again work on my body rotation while paddling. Normally, I only pay attention to how I paddle when I'm tired, but I'm finding that my level of exercise increases if I twist my upper body all the time.

I also want to practice my roll and a few other things, but that will wait until I return. It's too early and the sun has not yet risen high enough to eliminate all of the shade so I want to make as much progress while I can.

I follow the shore closely on the way out. The GPS indicates I'm running between 4 and 5 MPH. High for me, but I think I won't be able to keep it going at this pace for long. It's calm and the only ripples are the occasional bass boats dashing about.

Somehow I manage to keep up this pace for quite a while. I can feel my shoulder telling me to back off a bit, but I hang in there to see if it gets any worse. I arrive at the little creek on the far side and find a sign has been planted dead center of the mouth of the creek that states "Government Property - No Trespassing".

Argh! All this way to find I've been banned from entering! I think about beaching to stretch my legs, but all the signs for the wildlife sanctuary remind me that I have to stay away. So I head back, again focusing on my paddling.

Back near the park there is an unnamed point of land sticking out into the bay. A small jetty of rocks also sticks out a little further. The water is shallow through here and as the big boats go by they create some good size waves to play in as they roll across the shallow bottom. I decide to try and surf a few and as a good size wave comes up it throws me sideways and I see my entire bow up to my compass get sucked under water. I'm near capsize but a low brace keeps me upright. My brace was on the wrong side and I'm lucky my blade didn't catch and flip me over.

Enough fun. I paddle back to the put in and grab a snack. I shut off the GPS to preserve my track so I can calculate my distance and average speed when I return home. Without a landing this should give me a good idea of how well I did for the day.

I paddle back out from shore until my paddle no longer sticks in the mud when I poke it down. I try a pawlatta and then several rolls without the paddle extended. I miss about 30% of the time, but the pawlatta is faithful 100% of the time.

I've been reading the Sea Kayaking book written by Derek Hutchinson. In there he describes a low brace turn (low telemark turn) that I've seen several people do, but I never could figure it out myself. But after reading Derek's description my first attempt is successful in turning me 90 degrees. I try several more on each side and manage to stay upright in all but one.

I head in towards shore and execute one last low brace turn to bring me parallel to the shore line. My average speed for the trip today turns out to be a whopping 4.68 MPH! Much higher than anything else I've managed and over 10.5 miles to boot. I'm really happy with it, but my shoulder feels it just a tad. I may have to back off a little and just keep inching up the bar to get as high as I can without damaging my shoulder.