May 8, 2005

Playing in the wind

When I got to the park a couple was shoving off in two Old Town Dirigo kayaks. With no spray skirts and little skills I kept my eye on them as they paddled away. I was a bit nervous because the wind was blowing a good bit and these two stayed pointed in to the wind and waves. I was worried if they took off in the direction they were pointed they would be heading out across this open bay and the forecast was for strengthening winds. The return trip would be tough.

John headed off around the point while I went and parked my car. I passed a group going out on a park tour as I walked back to the water to decide what I wanted to do. The earlier couple were slowly making their way down to Kanes Creek, paddling out a bit from shore and letting the wind blow them back. I too headed off for Kanes.

In minutes I passed the Dirigos and asked if they were ok. They said they were so I paddled on down to Kanes, but I couldn't bring myself to paddle in to the creek knowing how over their head they really were.

Now, to look at this honestly, this water is very shallow. If they had fallen out they would be wet and cold, but would only need to stand up to get back to shore. But I paddled out from the mouth of the creek and into the teeth of the wind.

After paddling out a bit I turned and surfed the waves back into the creek. The Sirocco loves to broach so I played with edging it hard to keep it on track. I did this a dozen or so times when the park tour (2 canoes and a double kayak) came by, followed shortly by the Dirigos. As they wondered in to calmer water I paddled back to the park. I let the waves slap me around on the side and sculled a few times down to the water just for fun while leaning in to the waves.

As I turned toward the launch I could see people on shore. One looked a bit like Mike Aronoff but I wasn't positive as I tried to catch a couple of choppy waves in to the shore. When I got close enough I could tell it was Mike I reached over to raise my skeg and lost my focus for a moment.

It only took a moment. I knew I was going over, and in shallow water. I tucked forward to set up and hoped I didn't bang my head on the bottom, but I had plenty of room. I rolled back up to big smiles from the shore. Certainly if no one had been there I would have landed without incident.

On shore a fella was putting together a Pak-Boat. I've seen him launch from here before, but conditions had been going down hill since I had launched an hour and a half earlier. It would be interesting to watch.

The two Dirigos came back, actually looking a bit more in control. As the Pak-boat launched the canoes and park kayak returned. I took a few pictures of the Pak-boat launching. The water was 60 degrees, the wind 12-25 with gusts to 30.

After everyone cleared out I pulled my boat back in to the water till I was a little over waist deep. I re-enter and roll and paddle the kayak to shore full of water. Enough play for the day.

Pictures

I actually regretted not staying longer. In my dry suit the water was very comfortable and I should have used the opportunity to bounce around a bit more in the wind. Oh well, there will be more chances in the future.