April 20, 2005

Unfelt Winds

One interesting observation we had from our trip today was at one point we had a good 5+ mph wind blowing on us. Very warm. But the wind had NO affect on the water. It stayed glassy and perfectly flat. We speculated it might be a down draft but I don't know this to be a fact.

Anyone ever experience something like that?

By flat I mean it was FLAT; not even ripples. There were interesting patterns on the water that were very very slight - like a feather drawing on the surface tension of the water, but no ripples what so ever.

I know this area very well - fresh water but with a 1.5 foot tidal range - no springs - the bay is just over a mile across and cuts back about a mile from the river. Very shallow - maybe 7 feet deep in the deepest areas and only 3-4 feet deep in most others. As we were paddling across the bay we could see waves/ripples out on the river but the majority of the bay was flat. Almost no current - just that caused by the tidal difference across the bay.

I've been paddling now for over 6 years and never seen anything like it.

Woody