February 24, 2002

The Crows

My Thule racks came in over a week ago, and I was antsy to try them out. I strapped the kayak down to the car the night before - one less thing to slow me down in the morning.

The weather has kept me off the water since the first part of the month and a long week at work all added up to the need to get out. As I brushed the half inch of snow that had fallen the night before off my car, the crows felt it their duty to laugh at me. They already knew how my day was going to go.

The forecast today was for 10 MPH winds, but the forecast is always wrong. From my time here in Japan I knew I needed to get on the water as early as possible, because by noon the wind could be howling. With 3 layers under my dry suit, I didn't pause to pay close attention to the wind. If it was blowing at all, it wasn't enough to get my attention, albeit it would have been difficult to notice with all these clothes on. If I could make it to the West side of the lake before the wind picked up, I could enjoy the free ride back to the launch with the wind at my back.

So by 6:20 am I was on the road towards the lake. Before 9/11 the back gate of the base was open and it would have been a quick drive through the base and on to the Japanese park. But now I must drive around the base and commercial airport to get there.

As I pulled into the park I noticed what I had hoped not to see. Whitecaps stretched from shore to shore. It wasn't even 7:00 am yet. The wind would get worse as the sun climbs higher into the sky. I had no choice. Other than for one last look, I didn't linger and turned around to head home. I wanted to paddle, but the cold wind would have worked against me all day. A warm wind would have just been a challenge - a cold wind, with the temps in the high 20's, a losing battle.

On the drive home I began to notice things that would have saved me the drive - every flag was straight out and flapping in the wind. A sure sign I should have stayed home.

As I pulled back into my driveway I was going over in my mind the items I would have to bring back into the house. I pondered for a second why no paddles were on my mental checklist, when I suddenly realized I had forgotten to take them with me.

The crows were right.

Woody