[Paddlewise] A Morning Off

PW -

I worked most of the day Sunday, and worked late on Monday, so my boss let me have Tuesday morning off.  I sent a note out to the local kayak club asking for others to join me but got no takers.  They missed a fine morning off.

I got to the ramp in Alviso (CA) at 8:00 and found the ramp has deteriorated and is barely usable.  It is clogged with thick layers of mud and ten foot tall reeds.  The kayak dock is sagging and twisted, partially submerged.  I launched at 8:20 and took the next ten minutes to fight my way out to the main channel, about 100 yards.  The reeds have grown in so thickly that every yard of progress was a struggle.  I was covered in dirt, pollen and green slime by the time I reached Alviso Slough.  It was worth it.

Although the flood tide was still coming in, I headed out toward the Bay.  On the outbound leg, I saw two tremendous blue herons. The first took flight when I was at a good distance, but landed on the left bank ahead of me and watched me go by rather closely.  I think he wanted a better look at the wood kayak with a wooden canoe paddle strapped on the back deck, or perhaps the funny guy in the Tilly hat covered in gunk from the reeds.  A large variety of egrets lined the bank and foraged in the water nearby, snowy egrets, great egrets, and little lesser egrets all in a short stretch of river.  On the outbound leg there are few signs of civilization:  A single electical pole, two abandoned-looking boats that are lived on full time, and a little fence with a painted warning "LEVEE CLOSED" in block letters.

Nearing the Bay, on my left hundreds or possibly thousands of gulls were circling something I couldn't see in the wildlife preserve between the Guadalupe Slough and Alviso Slough.  Some avocets and what I think are oystercatchers were walking the mud where Alviso Slough slips into Coyote Creek.  Large numbers of both dotted the bank and mud flats.

It took only 1 hour 10 minutes to reach the powerline towers that mark the beginning of the Bay, 4.0 NM.  I turned left towards marker "20" in the distance, a bit over a mile away but plainly visible.  On the way, I saw in the distance what could have been a kayak with a person bobbing nearby, so I diverted that direction.  The "kayak" was a spar from a wreck in the area, with seagulls as its only crew now.  The spars and ribs from this 50+ footer are now spread over more than 100 yards.  A few years ago the hulls was intact, but some tough-looking guys had taken up residence on the hulk and last year it burned.

At this point I made my mistake for the day.  I had intended to go from the area of the wreck to the mouth of the nearby Guadalupe Slough.  (I had my GPS with me but I was only using it as a speedometer.)  I trusted my eyes more than my chart and headed off the wrong direction.  Realizing my blunder about 10 minutes later, I slowly spun the boat toward several landmarks, and found the bearing to marker 20 at 345 degrees magnetic.  Oops.  That number should have never been higher than 290; I was 1/2 mile past my turn.  Wow.  What I was paddling toward was the wrong creek mouth; looking back at the intended target, it had been there all along but I had been looking at bits of shipwreck.

On the way back, as I neared the mouth of Guadalupe Slough, I began to see good numbers of sharks.  These are "smoothhound" or "sand" sharks common to the southern part of the Bay.  They generally reach about 3 feet and most of these were a bit smaller than that by my estimation.  Still, that distinctive dorsal fin cutting the water left and right is creepy.  At one point I dipped my paddle in and hit something firmer than water -- yup, I had hit a shark with my paddle.  Nearing Coyote Creek again, the sharks were absent, until just one surfaced ahead of me, larger than any of the others.  It was the last one I saw.  I guessed it at nearly 4 feet.

At this point I saw the only other boat on the water for the entire day, a small aluminum fishing boat zipping my way.  Turning from Coyote Creek to Alviso Slough, I had to pay attention to keep well away from the mud flats.  For some reason this always proves harder on the homeward leg.  The tide was topping out at this point, so I had pretty slack water for the first portion of the anchor leg.

The birds were even more plentiful this direction than earlier in the day.  As the ebb tide began to work against me, a slight tailwind of perhaps 4-6 kt appeared on my behalf, putting a little action on the water.  It took only 1 hour and 1 minute to make the 4.0 NM return leg.  With the water higher than on my launch, it was actually harder to get through the reeds to the dock.  I had to get out my knife and hack my way free several times.  Reeds grabbed at my rudder (folded up on the after deck) and I had to back up a couple of times.  I stowed the kayak paddle and used the canoe paddle, which works a lot better in really tight spots.  Relief -- I reached the dock at 11:50.

One more mistake -- I should have put a towel or old blanket in the car to save the leather seats.  Oh well.  Put the boat on top of the Yukon, pack the reed-gunk-covered gear back in the car, and home for a shower.  Work till 9 PM but it was worth it.  Thought I left my good knife on the dock but I found it among my gear this morning.

10.6 NM, 3-1/2 hours including 20 minutes of struggling through reeds.  I had a great morning.

jerry.
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