October 29, 2000

The Ride Home

Waking early because I forgot to set my clock back, I headed out to Sandy Point. Rough water practice is my goal. With a small craft advisory in effect for the second day in a row, I was hoping for some large waves to play in. The forecast was for 3 foot waves, 25 knot winds out of the northwest, and lots of sunshine.

As I pack to go I throw a pogie in my bag in case the wind is cold and I stuff a neoprene hood in my paddling jacket in case I end up in the water. Neither would turn out to be needed although the wind blew hard, my hands never felt cold, and the water didn't feel cold yet either.

At the park I'm disappointed to see waves barely reaching 6 inches. I parked at the sailboard launch area and sat. Should I pull the boat off the truck or just go back home? I sat in the truck for an hour trying to make up my mind. With a few whitecaps starting to appear out on the water I decided to paddle out and take a first hand look.

After storing my gear below deck I launch and paddled out with little effort beyond the rock jetties. I paddled out into open water and directly into the wind. The waves never got large - maybe a foot to a foot and a half at their peak. Worse, they were gentle rollers what had a lot of width, making them too shallow of an angle to even surf. They had some wind blown chop mixed in with them, but no longer a challenge. The recent 3 trips to Assateague had greatly increased my rough water paddling skills to far beyond what blew by me today.

Note to self: NW winds at Sandy Point don't give much opportunity to build large waves. Need N or NE winds to make it worth the trip.

After trying to surf a few waves and finding not enough height to make it even mildly interesting, I knew that to paddle today would just be an exercise in pushing through the wind. I quickly covered the 1/2 mile I had paddled into the bay back to the launch site. In a few more minutes I had the boat reloaded on the truck and was heading home.

Its interesting how I turned back last season from Sandy Point because conditions were too rough for my skill level, and today, my solitary trip to the park this season, I find myself leaving because the conditions are too tame. The water, while not as big as some of the conditions I've encountered at Sandy Point, a season ago would have been pushing my upper limits. Today these conditions push my limits for getting out of bed at 6 am.

The trip home had highlights. The wooded land between Annapolis and DC were full of color and I wished I had paddled closer home to see the colors from the water.

Some things I know
Some things I guess

Today I guessed wrong.