[Paddlewise] Again with the tankers!

Went out fossil hunting on the Savannah again Saturday.  The  
container ship New York Express expressed its displeasure with me  
being next to the channel.  Two other container ships had gone down  
river while I was digging with no ill effects for me. But those ships  
were empty and rode high in the water.  The New York Express was full  
and low.  She passed me just as I had gotten back into my kayak and  
was cruising about 25 feet from shore well outside the channel.

I heard a sudden rushing sound and turned to see a five foot wall of  
muddy water slamming into the bank where I had been about a minute  
earlier.  I leaned hard to turn away from what looked like a tidal  
bore gone crazy.  Surfing, jinking and bracing over that mess was  
exciting yet it was spooky to think I could have just as easily still  
been on the bank with my head down concentrating on my digging.  If I  
had been hit by that succession of waves I am not too sure I would  
have survived. My boat and all my gear would certainly have been lost.

The locals tend to give me a second look when I kayak alone because I  
always wear my composite helmet.  I have my reasons and those reasons  
were all waiting for me when I got home.


Jim et al
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