Causeway to Mobile River Workout V
Sunday, September 19, 2004 brint.adams@us.army.mil
Obviously, Hurricane Ivan took precedence over anything else last week, as we prepared our house for the storm on Tuesday and left for Atlanta on Wednesday. Upon our return yesterday, we put our house and yard back in order, as we were spared the major damage that some incurred. The power was back on when we got back, so we felt very lucky.
I thought for awhile that it would not be appropriate to go kayaking today, but since we already had a full tank of gas from before the storm and I was only driving about 8 miles total, I decided to go ahead.
I arrived at the Exxon parking lot at 6:30 AM, and found it covered with dried mud from when it was flooded over last week. The station was still boarded up and the restaurants along the Causeway were trying to clean up and re-open as soon as they could.
The temperature was an excellent 63 degrees with about a 10 mph wind out of the north and a falling tide. I knew the first part of the paddle would be slow and hard, as I turned up into Delvan Bay. I just hunkered down and headed straight into the wind and current at a strong pace. The low temperature helped, as I didn't get overheated right away. There were several Osprey hanging around their same dead trees, so at least some things had not changed. When I reached my first checkpoint at the Pontoon Saloon, I was amazed to see it completely gone. I don't know if the storm blew it apart or away or if someone unhooked it and pulled it to a safer location. My split time was 1:11:30, so the wind and current definately had an effect.
I continued on to the electrical towers at the mouth of the Mobile River. Along the way, there were several trees out in the middle of Spanish River, blown into different locations from where they were before the storm. My split time was 1:28:50.
The good thing about a falling tide is upon reaching the Mobile River, you know the pace will more than double. There were several tug boats out moving in both directions, but none were pushing barges while I passed. My next split at the high bridge was an eye-popping 1:50:21, which already put me back on schedule for a possible 3:00 paddle. I tried to stop for a minute, but the current was pushing me so hard, I just took a quick drink and got back into my rhythm.
Before I knew it, I was already down to the cruise line terminal and Alabama Shipyard. My split there was equally fast at 2:16:59 and again I was unable to find a place to get out of the current. I took another quick drink and got going right away again. This non-stop training will be good for the upcoming Mississippi race, where I will not want to stop to rest anyway.
Once I got around the bend at the bottom of the Mobile River and headed east to the Bay, I knew it would be back to slugging it out again. I was not disappointed as I did not have a chance to stop again due to the strong current. Unfortunately, this last leg was all uphill. Once I passed the Causeway, the water from there to the Interstate bridges was very shallow, exposing a couple dozen derelict crab traps I had not seen before. I tried to skirt around them, but still got into some pretty shallow water which slowed me down a little more. I tried to pick up the pace again, once under the Interstate bridges and sprinted the rest of the way back to the parking lot. My total time came in at 3:03:02, which I thought was pretty good considering the current I had to deal with. The temperature when I finished was a considerably warmer 78 degrees.
Obviously, Hurricane Ivan took precedence over anything else last week, as we prepared our house for the storm on Tuesday and left for Atlanta on Wednesday. Upon our return yesterday, we put our house and yard back in order, as we were spared the major damage that some incurred. The power was back on when we got back, so we felt very lucky.
I thought for awhile that it would not be appropriate to go kayaking today, but since we already had a full tank of gas from before the storm and I was only driving about 8 miles total, I decided to go ahead.
I arrived at the Exxon parking lot at 6:30 AM, and found it covered with dried mud from when it was flooded over last week. The station was still boarded up and the restaurants along the Causeway were trying to clean up and re-open as soon as they could.
The temperature was an excellent 63 degrees with about a 10 mph wind out of the north and a falling tide. I knew the first part of the paddle would be slow and hard, as I turned up into Delvan Bay. I just hunkered down and headed straight into the wind and current at a strong pace. The low temperature helped, as I didn't get overheated right away. There were several Osprey hanging around their same dead trees, so at least some things had not changed. When I reached my first checkpoint at the Pontoon Saloon, I was amazed to see it completely gone. I don't know if the storm blew it apart or away or if someone unhooked it and pulled it to a safer location. My split time was 1:11:30, so the wind and current definately had an effect.
I continued on to the electrical towers at the mouth of the Mobile River. Along the way, there were several trees out in the middle of Spanish River, blown into different locations from where they were before the storm. My split time was 1:28:50.
The good thing about a falling tide is upon reaching the Mobile River, you know the pace will more than double. There were several tug boats out moving in both directions, but none were pushing barges while I passed. My next split at the high bridge was an eye-popping 1:50:21, which already put me back on schedule for a possible 3:00 paddle. I tried to stop for a minute, but the current was pushing me so hard, I just took a quick drink and got back into my rhythm.
Before I knew it, I was already down to the cruise line terminal and Alabama Shipyard. My split there was equally fast at 2:16:59 and again I was unable to find a place to get out of the current. I took another quick drink and got going right away again. This non-stop training will be good for the upcoming Mississippi race, where I will not want to stop to rest anyway.
Once I got around the bend at the bottom of the Mobile River and headed east to the Bay, I knew it would be back to slugging it out again. I was not disappointed as I did not have a chance to stop again due to the strong current. Unfortunately, this last leg was all uphill. Once I passed the Causeway, the water from there to the Interstate bridges was very shallow, exposing a couple dozen derelict crab traps I had not seen before. I tried to skirt around them, but still got into some pretty shallow water which slowed me down a little more. I tried to pick up the pace again, once under the Interstate bridges and sprinted the rest of the way back to the parking lot. My total time came in at 3:03:02, which I thought was pretty good considering the current I had to deal with. The temperature when I finished was a considerably warmer 78 degrees.
posted by brint @ 5:54 PM
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