Causeway to Mobile River Workout III
Sunday, August 8, 2004 brint.adams@us.army.mil
The weather was great again today, with an early morning temperature of 72 degrees and a nice breeze coming out of the northeast. I started out at first light, around 6:10 AM at the Exxon and headed up into Delvan Bay. High tide was around 6:15, so I got a start without feeling the current effects of a falling tide. With the temperature so agreeable, I made it up to the Pontoon Saloon in 1:05:50 and took my first water break. All of my breaks were alot shorter this trip, due to not having high temps and humidity. I made the turn to Mobile River in 1:22 and stopped again for water at the highrise bridge at 1:52, both of which were faster than last week.
When I first got to Mobile River, I arrived at the same time as a large triple-wide barge, also heading down river. I decided to go out alongside and realized I was ever so slowly pulling ahead of her. When I got to the highrise, I stopped for about 10 minutes and when I was ready to start, the barge was coming up alongside me again. So, I took off and quickly gained the lead again. She followed me all of the way down river and went on straight out into the bay after I turned east into the bay at the mouth of the river. This time down through the docks area, there were alot more ships docked to load/unload and in for repair. There were a couple of real monsters in for repainting. It will really be cool when the cruise ships start to come in to the new terminal in October. Again, there were no Navy vessels in port this weekend.
My next stop was at the turn, where I had my close encounter of the reptillian kind last week. I stopped for water at 2:45, but did not find any gators hanging out this time. The last leg of the trip was the worst, as the wind had picked up, still coming out of the northeast, compounded with a falling tide. So, I sucked it up and headed directly into the wind and against the current, breaking through wave after wave. I didn't arrive at the Causeway bridge until 3:07, so the conditions definately took their toll on my overall trip time. The last short leg back along the interstate bridges was also into the wind and current, so I ended up with a total time of 3:20:16. One good result of the lower temperature, was that I took fewer and shorter breaks and felt alot stronger when I finished.
The weather was great again today, with an early morning temperature of 72 degrees and a nice breeze coming out of the northeast. I started out at first light, around 6:10 AM at the Exxon and headed up into Delvan Bay. High tide was around 6:15, so I got a start without feeling the current effects of a falling tide. With the temperature so agreeable, I made it up to the Pontoon Saloon in 1:05:50 and took my first water break. All of my breaks were alot shorter this trip, due to not having high temps and humidity. I made the turn to Mobile River in 1:22 and stopped again for water at the highrise bridge at 1:52, both of which were faster than last week.
When I first got to Mobile River, I arrived at the same time as a large triple-wide barge, also heading down river. I decided to go out alongside and realized I was ever so slowly pulling ahead of her. When I got to the highrise, I stopped for about 10 minutes and when I was ready to start, the barge was coming up alongside me again. So, I took off and quickly gained the lead again. She followed me all of the way down river and went on straight out into the bay after I turned east into the bay at the mouth of the river. This time down through the docks area, there were alot more ships docked to load/unload and in for repair. There were a couple of real monsters in for repainting. It will really be cool when the cruise ships start to come in to the new terminal in October. Again, there were no Navy vessels in port this weekend.
My next stop was at the turn, where I had my close encounter of the reptillian kind last week. I stopped for water at 2:45, but did not find any gators hanging out this time. The last leg of the trip was the worst, as the wind had picked up, still coming out of the northeast, compounded with a falling tide. So, I sucked it up and headed directly into the wind and against the current, breaking through wave after wave. I didn't arrive at the Causeway bridge until 3:07, so the conditions definately took their toll on my overall trip time. The last short leg back along the interstate bridges was also into the wind and current, so I ended up with a total time of 3:20:16. One good result of the lower temperature, was that I took fewer and shorter breaks and felt alot stronger when I finished.
posted by brint @ 1:57 PM
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