October 24, 1999

Wind, But no Waves

Trip #58

Saturday, 23 Oct, 1999

14 miles

MAP

The last minute plan was to go play in the waves at Sandy Point. Winds were supposed to be out of the northwest, 20-25 MPH. A small craft advisory was in affect. As I crossed over the Potomac (about the half way point of my trip), Joan called to tell me she wouldn't make it, but that Robb Holt would meet me there at the small craft launch site. I got there early as usual and was scouting around looking for any chance of big waves, but the wind was more out of the west - southwest than I expected. The wind was blowing hard, but all the waves were small and choppy.

Robb showed up and suggested we head south to Burley Creek, which is just before the mouth of the Severn River. We loaded up and headed southwest with the wind almost in our face. The Gulfstream performed flawlessly if not downright boring in the high winds.

We stopped for a quick break just before rounding Hacket Point, but were soon underway again. We turned into the first creek but Robb realized before long this was the wrong creek. We explored it for a ways anyway before turning back. I pulled out my GPS but couldn't locate Burley Creek. As we were sitting there and I was looking for the creek, Robb mentioned how steady I was sitting in the chop while he was bouncing around. I'm not sure what caused the extra stability in these conditions; Wider beam? Deeper V hull? Flared sides?

We did finally manage to find Burley road which the creek was just to the south, but we took a little time to explore the creek we were already in. We did finally explore Burley creek though, and after heading out I swung a little wide past Possum point to line me up for a direct wind from the aft to push me back towards Hacket Point. We covered the 1.5 miles back to Hacket in record time and turned northward towards Sandy Point.

And then it started. No matter what skeg setting I used, how much I bounced on one side, how hard I swept on the left, the kayak wanted to turn towards shore. It wasn't impossible to hold on course, but it was more difficult than I expected. I compensated a bit my shifting more paddle onto my left side. Still, there was a lot of sweeping going on.

About halfway up this reach we looked back to see dark clouds and rain coming in. We hightailed it back to the launch site and loaded up, missing the rain.

Trip #59

24 Oct, 1999

13 miles

MAP

We were to meet at 9:00 just south of Colonial Beach, on Gum Bar Point. Of course I showed up early and was beginning to worry I was in the wrong place when Bill Dodge rolled up about 10 minutes to 9:00. Three others quickly appeared but we waited another 45 minutes for two no-shows before Bill called them to find them still at home. With everyone present or accounted for we struck off for Mattox Creek.

There wasn't much wind but we cruised mostly along the shore instead of cutting straight across. We all climbed out on the back side of Paynes Point for a quick break before venturing into Mattox. The creek contains lots of silty mud and little chance to get out, so we soaked up our last bit of unconfined freedom and set off to explore the creek.

The wind varied from being "in our face" to none at all further into the trees. The Gulfstream performed completely as expected with no trace of the hard one sided turns I had experienced at the end of the previous day. I spent a lot of time placing her on edge to make her turn through the twisty creek. I'm still learning how far I can place it on edge. I can submerge the first half inch of the coaming with almost no sculling support. Once I put it up on edge to turn and pulled it up to what I thought was too far. But she didn't go over and spun like a top. I was a bit shocked and didn't want to try it again in the shallow water, but it is on my list of things to explore how far she can be pushed.

There is one, annoying part of this trip. There is a nearby drag strip, and this is the *only* sound you can hear the whole time you are in the creek. If you plan to visit, find out the schedule of the track and avoid when it is in use. At some point the creek narrowed to prevent further passage and I turned on the GPS to measure the distance back to the launch site.

About half way back we stopped at the marina to have lunch and make use of the facilities. A lady helping her husband launch their boat commented to another boatman "Are we crazy for going out on a day like today?" , referring to herself and family.

"Yep" the boatman replied. I couldn't help but wonder that this fellow thought of the five kayakers before him.

We launched again and after rounding Paynes Point we were faced with a strong and gusty headwind. My kayak again started to experience directional problems of a sort. That is, until I think I figured out a work around. I had picked a point on the far shore to steer towards. I found it hard to hold that course, while at the same time trying to stay near the rest of the group. I decided to swing a little wider to get into a little bigger wave action and found the few degrees difference required little corrective strokes. I'm not sure why, but it was almost as if the boat had its own natural heading and if I just ran with it that way for a while, then turned back in a zig-zag fashion, it required much less effort. I'll have to play a little more with this to be sure though.

Back at the launch site I looked a little north and saw the white caps. I was really tempted to head out and play in them, but after this 13 mile trip I wimped out and loaded up and headed home. An overall good trip despite the drag strip. The wind was a good workout, especially the hard pull in the home stretch. It also provided me a few areas to experiment on at the skills workshop on Lake Anna next weekend!