Hey all, I have an odd "phenomenon" I'm curious about. Last week I was on one of my lunch-time paddles in the Mississippi. On this particular paddle, I headed to to an area that can get a little rough. The river is at its narrowest, both sides are bounded by walls and barges line it on both sides. To compound things, it is right beneath a line of bluffs to wind is funneled down onto the river. The wind was gusting and the barges were running the day I was paddling, I was headed downstream and ended up pretty wet from smashing through the waves (.5'-2'). Once I turned around things got a little strange. The wind was blowing pretty briskly, heading back up stream I was being blown, had following seas and was going upstream. What was strange was the way the water felt. It was like I was paddling in foam or surf spray. I felt almost no resistance from the water. I think it had to do with both the waves and the fact that with the wind I was really flying (it felt like it was at least 9mph), but it did not feel good. I felt extremely unstable. It didn't help that I kept surfing down these little standing waves and broaching. I normally don't mind this, but I think that due to the "odd water feeling" (and possibly that I would often broach towards a parked barge) I felt very uncomfortable. Those of you who paddle in current and tidal races have probably dealt with this. Anyone experienced this? What is the best line of defense here? I had my rudder up. Would a rudder/skeg help in a situation like this? I plan on heading back to that stretch next time the wind is blowing hard to try and figure some things out, but any tips would be nice. -Patrick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
What is the water quality of the Mississippi? Is it safe to swim in? cu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Kinda hard to swim but you can walk on it..........bob klemick Bob Denton wrote: > What is the water quality of the Mississippi? Is it safe to swim in? > > cu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Since I spend quite a bit of time on the Mighty Mississip, I am very curious as well. The water quality has improved drastically -- dozens of species of fish now populate my stretch of river. There is still overflow and processing that goes on. One of the major pollution sources is agricultural run-off along the Minnesota River whose confluence with the Miss. is a few miles west of here. I am going to look into this one and will post a report on the list. -Patrick >Kinda hard to swim but you can walk on it..........bob klemick > >Bob Denton wrote: > >> What is the water quality of the Mississippi? Is it safe to swim in? >> > > cu >> *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 11:21 AM 9/6/2000 -0500, Patrick Maun wrote: What was strange was the way the water felt. It was like I was paddling in foam or surf spray. I felt almost no resistance from the water. I think it had to do with both the waves and the fact that with the wind I was really flying (it felt like it was at least 9mph), but it did not feel good. I felt extremely unstable. Ah yes, I have felt the same thing. I believe that it is a result of the stern lifting out of the water some. It feels like you are suddenly moving on all axis at the same time. Forward movement with your stern making a slight circle motion around your longitudinal axis. I have also felt the Squirrelly feeling in following seas. Putting my rudder down seemed to help some. I once paddled ten miles in one hour and twenty minutes without hardly taking a stroke or so it seemed. Following seas and a 15 knot tail wind made up where my paddling power left off. Fred California Kayaker *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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