January 6, 2000

Pohick Bay

Trip #75/2

5.5 Miles

MAP

Water temp: 50 f

I really like launching from Ft Belvoir. Drive your car right to the water to unload your gear. Paddle around and drive your car back to the beach to load it back up. A cold but windless day. I turned right and started into Accotink Bay, but remembered on my charts this was marked as a restricted area. Before going in too far I paddled to the middle to read the red, black, and white sign. Skeet Range. As wide as this bay is, it is a wonder anyone would ever see the sign. But I choose to play it safe and headed for Pohick Bay instead.

Wide and shallow, by keeping to the right hand side I didn't have too much trouble. But before long I had lost the channel and was looking to get it back as the water was only inches deep. I paddled to the southern side of the bay and again found the channel.

The water was noticeably flowing against me, and I figured it was from the outgoing tide. I paddled up into the creek watching the Osprey and Bald eagles along the northern shore. I even saw a few swans or snow geese from a distance.

As I continued heading west, the current became stronger and I found myself zigzagging around trees. Before long I was having problems making some of the turns and I was afraid if I kept going I might get swept into a strainer. My forward progress was almost nil at this point so I carefully turned around and started zipping along at full speed. A few times I came to a screeching halt in order to scout the strainer and determine the best line through the trees. But in no time I was back in the bay heading back towards the launch site.

I did my best to stay in the channel, but I kept having it disappear. Eventually I gave up and just paddled over the shallow water making my way to the north side.

Back at the launch site I practiced sculling for a few minutes and loaded up the boat.

I was interested in how my current glove setup would work. Two weeks ago I had put on glove liners and rubber paint stripping gloves and pulled my dry suit on over them. They didn't leak a drop and I was happy. Last Tuesday I did the same thing and they leaked a lot into the dry suit. I'm not sure why they leaked, but I was unwilling to compromise the dry suit again. Today I had put the dry suit on first, and then pulled the gloves on over them. It kept the water out of the dry suit, and most of the water out of the gloves. They did get water in though.

After loading up my kayak I waded into the water to see how my hands would feel. Out on the water they felt fine except when paddling into the wind. The water quickly shed from them when lifted out of the water, but the wind chill still caused them to get cold fast in the wind. Now fully submerged in the water, I could feel it trickling into my glove liners. I pumped my fingers into a fist to try and speed up the flushing. My fingers were cold, but still functioning. After a few minutes I drove home.

Nothing so far has felt as good as the completely dry gloves (until they leaked into the dry suit) from a few weeks prior. I think I'm on the verge of buying a pair of dry gloves. They still get cold in the wind, but at any other time they are far superior. Possibly a dry glove with some lightweight pogies for when I face those strong winds.