Thursday, October 7th. Off work at 2PM. Go home, change,grab the water bottle from the freezer and top it off, stick the Yakima rack on the truck, toss the boat on the rack. It's the Seda Revenge today. Open top. No rudder, no spray skirt, no pump, no paddle float. Kevlar hull which has little to do with performance and everything to do with lifting it back on the truck when tired. A cheap set of wheels that drop into the hatch so it's only one trip to the water from the truck. 3PM and afloat. Turn right from the Grand St. Launch ramp. Going against the tide, with the breeze. The October sun is low and hot. Sweat under the PFD. Haven't been this way for four days and all sorts of things have changed. Different ships docked here and there, the dredging barge is gone. Three guys in a runabout are having a heck of a time docking at a restaurant on the estuary. It's just past a bridge with lots of tidal eddies. They must be used to lakes. I stick close to the bank ducking the main tidal flow. Passing under three bridges fascinated by the effect of the tide going one way, the breeze the other and the water funneled between the foundations of the bridges. Paddle for 33 minutes and turn around. Returning I'm with the tide and against the breeze in the middle of the estuary. The combination provides an illusion of speed. More sweat on my face than paddle splash. White streaks on my arms from sun dried salt water. Only 25 minutes back, total 58. Not bad for a work day. Home in time to water the yard, shower, eat dinner and make a meeting at 7PM. God gave me salt-water, who needs Prozac? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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