Apalachee River to Causeway 2005 XXI
Tuesday, April 12, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
Spring may be just about over in LA. I arrived at my usual starting point on the Causeway at 4:30 PM under clear skies, 80 degrees and a westerly 12 mph wind. There was so much water coming down from the rivers that the bay and Pass Picada were higher than I have ever seen. The old Riverdocs parking lot was flooded with about a foot of water, so there was no visible boat ramp. I parked near the highway and carried my kayak over near the boat ramp and got in while still in the lot.
I guess the tide was supposedly still rising, but you couldn't really tell due to so much water flooding downriver. With the west wind, I flew down Pass Picada on the crest of the wave action, turning at Apalachee River in 6:49. Of course, the return was way different, as I tried to tuck in along the north shoreline to avoid as much of the wave action as possible. But, it was still hard slogging into the wind. Fortunately, my course was directly into the waves, so I did not have to fight them diagonally at least.
With the bay water level so high, I decided to go straight across the lower section of Chacaloochee Bay, instead of cutting south right along the Causeway. Normally, I have to skirt around this very shallow mud flat area. Out in the middle of the bay, the waves were about two feet, but as I go closer to the west side, they subsided considerably, making it easier to get across.
I made the turnaround under the bridges in 34:40 and took a short break in the shade under the Interstate. The return trip was quite a ride as I was able to surf from wave to wave straight all the way back. My overall time was 50:35, so the return split of 15:55 was probably a PR by quite a wide margin. It's all good!
Spring may be just about over in LA. I arrived at my usual starting point on the Causeway at 4:30 PM under clear skies, 80 degrees and a westerly 12 mph wind. There was so much water coming down from the rivers that the bay and Pass Picada were higher than I have ever seen. The old Riverdocs parking lot was flooded with about a foot of water, so there was no visible boat ramp. I parked near the highway and carried my kayak over near the boat ramp and got in while still in the lot.
I guess the tide was supposedly still rising, but you couldn't really tell due to so much water flooding downriver. With the west wind, I flew down Pass Picada on the crest of the wave action, turning at Apalachee River in 6:49. Of course, the return was way different, as I tried to tuck in along the north shoreline to avoid as much of the wave action as possible. But, it was still hard slogging into the wind. Fortunately, my course was directly into the waves, so I did not have to fight them diagonally at least.
With the bay water level so high, I decided to go straight across the lower section of Chacaloochee Bay, instead of cutting south right along the Causeway. Normally, I have to skirt around this very shallow mud flat area. Out in the middle of the bay, the waves were about two feet, but as I go closer to the west side, they subsided considerably, making it easier to get across.
I made the turnaround under the bridges in 34:40 and took a short break in the shade under the Interstate. The return trip was quite a ride as I was able to surf from wave to wave straight all the way back. My overall time was 50:35, so the return split of 15:55 was probably a PR by quite a wide margin. It's all good!
posted by brint @ 7:15 PM
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