Fairhope Yacht Club to Village Point
Saturday, June 4, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
I met Roland on his home turf at Fairhope Yacht Club at 6:30 AM. It was a beautiful morning, clear, 75 degrees, slight southeasterly breeze, calm to a very slight chop out in the bay, with the tide rising. We looked across the bay and both north and south along the coast and decided to head north towards the upper end of Mobile Bay and the bayway interstate bridges off in the distance. The mullet were jumping and a few fishermen and sailboats were starting out for the day.
Roland was back in his own kayak, while I started out still trying to figure out my new wing paddle. After a short distance, I asked Roland to unstrap my rudder, so I could start using it. That made a big difference, so I could concentrate on form and not worry about direction.
We stopped at the point around Campbell Spring, which was about 3 miles or halfway, taking 35:00. I came in around 30 seconds behind Roland. From there we could see the next point out into the bay just before Village Point. We were getting a little push with the rising tide, as we cruised into our 6 mile turnaround in 1:06, again I was about 30 seconds back. After another short break, we decided to turn around, rather than continue the additional 2 miles up D'Olive Bay to the Interstate Bayway.
I knew it would be a little slower on the return, heading into the current, so I decided to pick up the pace a little. We stopped at the same halfway spot on the return in 1:40, this time coming in together. I checked my watch and we were still a little behind pace for even splits. At some point from there back, my stroke seemed to come together and I was able to maintain form, strength and still pick up the turnover rate. I even pulled a little ahead of Roland near the yacht club and finished maybe 15 seconds ahead in a total even time of 2:12. So, we were able to pick it up on the return south and overcome the tide in the same split time, as we paddled north. All in all, it was a very good 12 mile paddle, which we will probably do again soon.
I met Roland on his home turf at Fairhope Yacht Club at 6:30 AM. It was a beautiful morning, clear, 75 degrees, slight southeasterly breeze, calm to a very slight chop out in the bay, with the tide rising. We looked across the bay and both north and south along the coast and decided to head north towards the upper end of Mobile Bay and the bayway interstate bridges off in the distance. The mullet were jumping and a few fishermen and sailboats were starting out for the day.
Roland was back in his own kayak, while I started out still trying to figure out my new wing paddle. After a short distance, I asked Roland to unstrap my rudder, so I could start using it. That made a big difference, so I could concentrate on form and not worry about direction.
We stopped at the point around Campbell Spring, which was about 3 miles or halfway, taking 35:00. I came in around 30 seconds behind Roland. From there we could see the next point out into the bay just before Village Point. We were getting a little push with the rising tide, as we cruised into our 6 mile turnaround in 1:06, again I was about 30 seconds back. After another short break, we decided to turn around, rather than continue the additional 2 miles up D'Olive Bay to the Interstate Bayway.
I knew it would be a little slower on the return, heading into the current, so I decided to pick up the pace a little. We stopped at the same halfway spot on the return in 1:40, this time coming in together. I checked my watch and we were still a little behind pace for even splits. At some point from there back, my stroke seemed to come together and I was able to maintain form, strength and still pick up the turnover rate. I even pulled a little ahead of Roland near the yacht club and finished maybe 15 seconds ahead in a total even time of 2:12. So, we were able to pick it up on the return south and overcome the tide in the same split time, as we paddled north. All in all, it was a very good 12 mile paddle, which we will probably do again soon.
posted by brint @ 11:31 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home