Re: [Paddlewise] How Windy Was It (Really)?

At 10:46 AM 10/15/98 -0400, Dan McCarty wrote:
><<<<
>Several postings in the last couple weeks have included claims of
>paddling home "...10 miles against a 20 knot head wind ..." or similar.
>(At least one of these was made by a paddler soloing a canoe!)  I wonder
>about those 20 knot head winds.  Was it really that windy?  Here are the
>reasons for my skepticism.

One windy day a group of stubborn paddlers from Bay Area Sea Kayakers
paddled the 6 miles of Estero Americano into  what I estimated to be a 20
knot wind to the ocean. There were stonger gusts, and occasionally we were
protected from the wind by the bends in the estero. We would paddle hard for
about 15 minutes then run into a bank and jab our paddles into the mud  to
anchor the kayaks against the wind, and pant and laugh about how crazy we
were. Then we would continue, knowing that at any time it would be very easy
to turn back. At one point I thought it was nuts to paddle when it looked
like I could more easily walk the bank. I think I was befuddled by the
effort. So I put one foot out of the kayak to attempt to stand on the mud
bank and sank up to my knee. Then the kayak started blowing backwards and I
was almost split in two.  I managed to pull my leg back into the boat. Then
I retrieved my bootie from the sucking mud hole. Turns out even paddling
against the wind was easier than walking, which was impossible.  I don't
know how long the trip to the ocean took, but we rested a lot, and laughed a
lot. When we finally got to the beach at the mouth it was windy and cold but
we cooked a fish (store bought) on a fire, drank hot tea, jumped around to
keep warm and then paddled back.  The 6 winding miles to the cars was a lot
easier.

Barbara
Richmond, California
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