for those of you on the CPA list, just pitch this, as you've seen it. this is real life folks, examples of paddlers who did the right things, and a hindsight glance at what could have been done better. i have edited out the last names, as i don't know which of these folks are on this list... mark #------canoeist[at]netbox[dot]com-------------------------------------- mark zen o, o__ o_/| o_. po box 474 </ [\/ [\_| [\_\ ft. lupton, co 80621-0474 (`-/-------/----') (`----|-------\-') #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~ http://www.diac.com/~zen/cpr [Colorado Paddlers' Resource] http://www.diac.com/~zen/rmskc [Rocky Mtn Sea Kayak Club] http://www.diac.com/~zen/rmcc [Rocky Mtn Canoe Club Trip Page] http://www.diac.com/~zen/mark [personal] -- Fortune: I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it. -- Mae West --- Yield to Temptation ... it may not pass your way again. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ Subject: [CPAKayaker] Trip Rpt: Surfin' Kent Island Author: owner-CPAKayaker_at_lists.shire.net at INTERNET Date: 3/31/98 8:53 AM This past Saturday, I met Mike, Vince and Al at Hemingway's, located at the foot of the Bay Bridge on the Western shore of Kent Island. The plan was to do some surfing and maybe paddle down to Bloody Pt. That morning I woke up with an awful headache, and I feebly tried to bag the trip with an early call to Vince, but Vince had already gone. I didn't look forward to going out due to the forecast of 20-30kt winds out of the SW, and 2-3' waves. The only good news was that the air temp would be in the 80's. I reluctantly packed up the boat and was planning to go by the launch, say hello, somehow gracefully bow out, and go do a nice sedate paddle in more protected waters. Well, don't you know, they talked me into going out with them, but with the understanding that I'd hang as long as I could and if I started feeling bad or if it got ugly, I'd turn back. We headed south, right into the teeth of the wind. It was tough going, but after 20 minutes, I forgot about my headache. I got into a nice rhythm and my stroke felt smooth and strong. It took us about 1.5 hrs to punch our way 5 miles into the wind. I was about a hundred yards ahead and I stopped at Kentmoor Beach. Al landed next and I told him that I had had enough and I was going to head back to the put-in. Bloody Pt was still another 5 miles South and dead into the wind. Vince wanted to go on, but after some deliberation we decided we'd all head back. To make the return trip more interesting though, we decided to paddle out into the bay about a half mile and then turn down wind and ride the wind waves back to Hemingway's. It got plenty interesting on the return trip. The wind felt like it had picked up and we were moving extremely fast as we surfed back North. I was in front, and was getting some really long and sometimes scary rides. The waves were very close together and sometimes my bow would bury itself in the leading wave all the way up to my compass mount. The boat just got sucked along until I leaned back and lifted the bow out of the water. I suddenly heard a muffled shout from behind. I looked over my shoulder, and could see Mike turning around. Somebody was out of their boat. It was very hard turning my Nordkapp back into the wind, and when I was beam to the wind and waves, I came very close to capsizing. The offside low brace I had been practicing at the pool this winter came in real handy, and I was finally able to swing my bow around into the wind. As I was paddling back to the group, I could see Al getting back into his boat with Vince assisting in the rescue. Mike got there next and rafted up to help stablize Vince while Al pumped out. I didn't want to get in the way, so I just back paddled and stood by in case anymore help was needed. I was worried about Al because he was dressed only in a short neoprene wetsuit, and for some reason, his roll failed and he had to swim. I offered him some dry polypro but he said the water wasn't cold and he was fine, so we took off again. This time keeping a close watch on each other. When we got to the bulkhead of Mantapeake Terminal, the water was dimpled with the whitecaps of colliding waves. Of course the rest of the guys headed straight for the wall so they could play in the confused water. I paddled far enough into it until I felt like I was trapped in the wash cycle of a Maytag. That was enough for me. I again turned beam to the wind and had to use quick short strokes to paddle out and around the terminal. I noticed Mike had made the same decision about the exact same time. (He said later he was afraid of the wind driving him into the wall.) I was glad he was with me because the water was really squirrely and we had to go way out and then around to get past all the fishing lines coming off the end of the wall. (My biggest fear of the day was capsizing and then becoming entangled in all that fishing line.) We made it around pretty quick because of the wind, and then we hid on the lee side of the terminal to rest and rehydrate. Vince and Al were right behind us, but choose to go under the fishing lines. Al said he got his paddle wrapped in some of the line but managed to get untangled without capsizing and more inportantly, without getting a bucket full of bait thrown at him. Surfing the rest of the way back to Hemingway's was mercifully uneventful. Mike choose a line further out in the bay to take full advantage of the wind, with Vince shadowing him for safety. Al and I hugged the shore where there was plenty of wind and wave action for my fatigued body. Finally Vince grouped us up at the edge of the Pier One channel, where we crossed en masse, and then landed at the beach at Hemingway's. Nick Deale, MD VCP Nordkapp Yellow on White ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 10:40:31 -0500 From: MICHAEL Reply-To: cpakayaker_at_lists.shire.net To: " - (052)CPAKayaker(a)lists.shire.net" <CPAKayaker_at_lists.shire.net> Subject: [CPAKayaker] Trip Rpt: Surfin' Kent Island Nick, Thanks for writing up the trip. Your re-creation of it got to my adrenal glands almost as much as the original event did. My lessons learned included the following: 1. Expecting to encounter only the forecast 15-20 knot winds, we didn't establish clear leadership and group organization before departing. From long-established habit, we formed shifting pairings on the water, and that is how Vince came to Al's rescue right away. At the time, Nick and I, surfing ahead about 75 yards, were initially unaware of Al's plight. But we hadn't adequately organized ourselves for the 25-30 knot conditions which we encountered. If we were doing it again, I'd pair up, with the clear understanding that each pair stay within vocal communicating distance, which in those conditions was only a few boatlengths, with both pairs remaining within loud voice hailing distance, or not more than 50-75 yards. Also, it's advisable to test voice and whistle signalling distances in actual conditions. At one point, Vince tried unsuccessfully to get Nick's attention with a whistle when Nick was about 150 yards upwind. 2. Al, who regularly paddles in big whitewater and has as close to a "bombproof" roll as any of us does, reported that he made about 5 failed attempts to roll before exiting his boat, and that, on reflection, he realized that all attempts were on his "strong" side, which was downwind, so the wind pushed him back over each time. When the wind is blowing that hard, the wind dictates that the roll attempt be on the upwind side -- a good reason to practice "off side" rolls. I would add that an upwind roll can be "too" successful in that the wind will tend to continue the rolling motion and push the paddler over again on the downwind side. So it's important to finish the roll in a high brace or scull upwind. 3. I learned from Al the advantage of staying within a boat length of shore when driving directly into a strong wind. Even though the wind was blowing straight up the Bay so the land offered no obvious windbreak, Al hugged the shoreline from the beginning, and found the diminished winds he was expecting. Swinging wide into the Bay to enjoy the full water-in-the-face experience, I had to struggle much harder to keep pace, until I got smart and began to follow Al. 4. Vince's rescue of Al, although successful, wasn't pretty. Vince grabbed Al's boat BEHIND the cockpit, which forced Al to pull himself up over the foredeck, from which position his successful reentry was a tribute to his athleticism and flexibility. The experience underlined for me the need to practice rescue techniques regularly, as skills can become rusty over a winter (sorry, Rusty). Also, we were lucky that there wasn't much water in Al's cockpit, so he was able to pump it out in a couple of minutes. If we had has to dump water from the cockpit before Al could reenter, he would have been in 47 degree water for another 2-3 minutes at least. Even though Al has a strong internal furnace, that might have severely tested his short sleeve-to-mid thigh neoprene. Mike yellow over white Pintail, Feathercraft Khatsalano on order ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CPAKayaker is brought to you by the Chesapeake Paddlers Association, furthering the sport of kayaking in the Chesapeake Bay area. 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