Causeway to Mobile River 2005 II
Sunday, June 12, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
After being cooped up yesterday waiting for Hurricane Arlene which never came, I was ready for a paddle today. And what a day it was! We had absolutely beautiful weather, as the tropical storm blew through and took with it all of the clouds, rain and wind and left us with clear skies, no wind and relatively low humidity. I started out at 5:45 AM at the boat launch on the Causeway near the Interstate bridges crossover. The tide was rising, but with all of the rain yesterday, the river was higher than normal and flowing at a pretty good rate to counter the tide.
This was my first chance to put my new toy, a Garmin Forerunner 201 through its paces on a longer distance, so I will include a few more stats than the many I typically write about. On the way up the Chacaloochee Bay to the Spanish River and my first rest stop, recorded one mile splits of 10:35, 12:23, 11:55, 11:32, 11:03 and made it to the Pontoon Saloon in 1:05:00 for the 5.62 miles. Along the way, the water was flat to just a flutter of chop, with mullet flying and a couple of gators out cruising across in front of me.
I continued north up to the turn on the Mobile River, completing most of the trip against the downriver rain flow. My splits were 12:40 and 4:41 for a total of 1:22:22 over the 7 miles so far. I looked forward to the typically faster trip down the Mobile and wasn't disappointed. On the way to the high bridge, my mile splits were 9:00, 8:29 and 7:52 for 0.84 mi. and a total 1:47:45. I started to get into more activity on the river, especially for a Sunday, as the tugboats were busy working to catch up for what they couldn't do yesterday.
I continued down past the state docks and passed up a tanker which was just coming out of a side channel and following me downriver. He thought I was out a little too much in the middle and gave me a few toots, so I pulled over, but I was moving faster than he was and pulled ahead. As I paddled past the main part of downtown, I usually cut across to the east bank and rest next to the Alabama Shipyards. But, I decided not to cross back in front of the ship following me and stopped along the west bank to let him past. My next mile splits were 9:43, 9:06, 8:43 and 7:04 for 0.81 mi. for a total of 2:22:22.
As I started out again, I noticed another ship following him, but I crossed over between them anyway and had pretty good clearance, so it wasn't a dangerous situation. Heading for the cut east over to Mobile Bay, I spied the Holiday cruise ship waiting to head into port. This was interesting, as it was either due yesterday or Monday. So, I suspect it must have waited out the tropical storm in the Gulf yesterday rather than come on its normal turnaround day. Now I wonder what the next set of passengers did yesterday and whether they got on today or what the new schedule is.
My splits going around to Mobile Bay were 8:23 and 3:40 for 0.34 mi. and as I headed back north to the Causeway bridge were 10:57 and 4:39 for 0.45 mi. I rested in the shade under the Causeway bridge and then made my last push home with a last split of 10:08 for 0.93 mi. and a grand total of 3:00:10 over the total distance of 17.5 miles. It was a great day and a strong paddle, as this was my first long trip using my new wing paddle.
After being cooped up yesterday waiting for Hurricane Arlene which never came, I was ready for a paddle today. And what a day it was! We had absolutely beautiful weather, as the tropical storm blew through and took with it all of the clouds, rain and wind and left us with clear skies, no wind and relatively low humidity. I started out at 5:45 AM at the boat launch on the Causeway near the Interstate bridges crossover. The tide was rising, but with all of the rain yesterday, the river was higher than normal and flowing at a pretty good rate to counter the tide.
This was my first chance to put my new toy, a Garmin Forerunner 201 through its paces on a longer distance, so I will include a few more stats than the many I typically write about. On the way up the Chacaloochee Bay to the Spanish River and my first rest stop, recorded one mile splits of 10:35, 12:23, 11:55, 11:32, 11:03 and made it to the Pontoon Saloon in 1:05:00 for the 5.62 miles. Along the way, the water was flat to just a flutter of chop, with mullet flying and a couple of gators out cruising across in front of me.
I continued north up to the turn on the Mobile River, completing most of the trip against the downriver rain flow. My splits were 12:40 and 4:41 for a total of 1:22:22 over the 7 miles so far. I looked forward to the typically faster trip down the Mobile and wasn't disappointed. On the way to the high bridge, my mile splits were 9:00, 8:29 and 7:52 for 0.84 mi. and a total 1:47:45. I started to get into more activity on the river, especially for a Sunday, as the tugboats were busy working to catch up for what they couldn't do yesterday.
I continued down past the state docks and passed up a tanker which was just coming out of a side channel and following me downriver. He thought I was out a little too much in the middle and gave me a few toots, so I pulled over, but I was moving faster than he was and pulled ahead. As I paddled past the main part of downtown, I usually cut across to the east bank and rest next to the Alabama Shipyards. But, I decided not to cross back in front of the ship following me and stopped along the west bank to let him past. My next mile splits were 9:43, 9:06, 8:43 and 7:04 for 0.81 mi. for a total of 2:22:22.
As I started out again, I noticed another ship following him, but I crossed over between them anyway and had pretty good clearance, so it wasn't a dangerous situation. Heading for the cut east over to Mobile Bay, I spied the Holiday cruise ship waiting to head into port. This was interesting, as it was either due yesterday or Monday. So, I suspect it must have waited out the tropical storm in the Gulf yesterday rather than come on its normal turnaround day. Now I wonder what the next set of passengers did yesterday and whether they got on today or what the new schedule is.
My splits going around to Mobile Bay were 8:23 and 3:40 for 0.34 mi. and as I headed back north to the Causeway bridge were 10:57 and 4:39 for 0.45 mi. I rested in the shade under the Causeway bridge and then made my last push home with a last split of 10:08 for 0.93 mi. and a grand total of 3:00:10 over the total distance of 17.5 miles. It was a great day and a strong paddle, as this was my first long trip using my new wing paddle.
posted by brint @ 8:28 PM
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