The wind was up, the chop was plaffing against the boards' noses so loud you could hear your fellow paddler coming up behind you.
But not Diana. She was using a Kayak paddle and sitting on her board and silently covering great distances in a single stroke.
---
Oy! Woke up with a cold, a streaming nose, and suddenly the trip to the Peconic was looking even less likely than it did last week. Worked Saturday. Tired. Now what? Gordo's Birthday, that's what so, whatever he wants, will probably be the word, within reason, of course.
Paddleboarding and bike riding, both, were Gordo's wish for today's activities.
A few friends had already gracefully bowed out of the long trek to the end of the Island (back to school matters to handle); no one was moving fast in the house, and I was "down for the count" — going through kleenex like a bag of M&M's.
ZICAM MAGIC
But, thanks maybe to the Zicam cold relief spray, I was only out of major commission for a few hours today. ( Well at least until tomorrow.) That stuff is magic.
We'd hoped to SUP or sail Napeague or Peconic Bay with a larger group. But with just two of us left in — Gordo and me — I figured we'd stay closer to home — Heckscher or the local bay.
Still bogged down by the sniffles, sneezes and stupor at 2 pm, I was not moving very quickly in the heat and humidity after walking the dog. I took a cup of tea to shake the doldrums, but not enough to ride the hills. Bagged the bike ride for the second week in a row :( :( The mechanical monsters would have "what to say" later.
... But make it a good one.
And that we did. Some folk don't like paddling in wind and chop, and I wasn't sure whether I did, either — that much.
But we were there and paddle we were going to do. It didn't look that bad.
Wind and chop, is a balance and endurance challenge, you don't get as far, or get there very straight, but there's a lot of satisfaction in making good headway ... and there's a smooth off-wind glide-ride back as part of your reward.
So off we paddled into the teeth of the breeze. Two strokes left, two strokes right, maybe three at a time if you had some speed going. A lapse in concentration was rewarded with a cool dunk in the murky brown waters. Or two, or three. Hope those fish are clean.
TUTTLE THIS
The board takes a Tuttle box fin (confounded system if ever there was one), and to avoid gnarling up my main light wind planing fin, I decided to swap in a thin-chord 9" high wind Tuttle high-wind wave job.
The wind blew us left or right with every other stroke. I guess the fin doesn't track too well. But it goes good enough. The harder you paddle the straighter you track. Upwind I stopped for a break to let Gordo catch up. He was paddling carefully not to fall and lose his glasses. So as not to drift back, I hung on to the oxidized metal chain of a large mooring buoy and waited a few minutes for G. Gazing upwind I saw a windsurfer was scooting by, high in the bay, south by the Leeds pond end.
Gordo was concerned he'd fall and lose his prescription sunglasses, despite the WileyX retainer I'd pulled of my other ESS Crossbow frames and put on his.
My Liberty prescriptions retainers held well despite a couple of falls. Gordo paddled up and I asked him if he wanted to continue or go back to the beach. He was up for more paddle-schlogging and I was glad he wanted to continue. These were going to be a hard-won feet and inches. Body was barking hard, but it was a good woof.
REVERB
Next, we struck west toward Plum Point but the chop got out of hand, and for no apparent reason. Took me a little while to figure out. Reverb waves form the marina was backing into the wind chop and tripping them up into a moving mogul field. We decided to double back to Tom's Point. Gordy was determined to make landfall there, as we had the other week ... careful not to jag into any old iron posts, rocks and pilings.
Diana materialized out of the fleet. She was flying — using a kayak paddle sit-down style — on her 9'5" Fanatic AllWave, and headed to Plum Point. Our trip back across the bay, in the other direction, to Tom's Point was a fine cross-wind paddle. After short break, it was back on the boards. Gordo took his first dip. Paddled too hard one side and lost his balance. Cool-off time for him, too: It was about 78 and humid anyway.
But once back aboard, he cruised the downwind leg like dolphin. 8 minutes.
Not bad after our 50 minutes outbound zig-zag. What a difference a direction makes.
LZ
From a quarter mile out I saw a familiar shape — Rich's van. He was rigging up light wind windsurfing gear as we hit the landing zone, and he was about to go look for Diana. By the time we finished shooting the breeze, she rounded the Marina just a few minutes after we made beachfall.
Nothing like a Sunday afternoon paddle, especially if you have to work Labor Day ... We'll have a good vibe going tomorrow for sure. Maybe some sore muscles.
BIKEVENGEANCE
back in the garage, however, the bikes however, feeling neglected, did not share the groove, and ripped me a nice new chainring tattoo on my left calf, as I loaded the boards back in their racks. Yowzer! that stings! Good to have a pack of Wet Ones handy — the packet says they kill 99% of bacteria. If the sting is any gauge, they must. Better pay the bikes a visit next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment