Apalachee River to Causeway 2005 LIV
Thursday, July 28, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
As it turned out, I arrived a little too late, getting on the water at 6:30 PM, to get in a complete workout. The sky was dark with rainclouds, lightening crackling off in the distance, but still a southerly breeze, low water level and falling. I got in quickly to see how far I could get, among five gators hanging out to see what the weather was going to do.
About two minutes into the paddle heading east, the wind completely reversed directions. It started blowing at about 15 mph out of the north, pushing me towards the south shoreline. the temperature dropped about 15 degrees almost immediately, and the lightening starting to close in. I made the turn at the Apalachee in 7:54 and quickly turned around, trying to hug the north shoreline and stay out of the wind. The restaurant patrons looked on in bewilderment, as an idiot paddled past with a downpour just minutes away. When I got up towards the end of Pass Picada and ran out of protection, I made a dash, angling across to the south side, trying to get back to the parking lot before the rain started. I made the return in 8:43 for a total paddle of 16:37.
All of the gators were smarter than I, as none were to be found on the surface. I jumped out of my boat, grabbed my paddle, PFD and watch and ran to the car. I ran back to get my boat, but when I got back to the car, the rain started and it was too windy to try and put the boat on top, so I put it in the tall grass next to the car and jumped in right as the rain hit. I waited the rain and wind out for about 20 minutes, before loading the boat and heading home. It wasn't a total bust, but not what I was hoping for. There is always another day.
As it turned out, I arrived a little too late, getting on the water at 6:30 PM, to get in a complete workout. The sky was dark with rainclouds, lightening crackling off in the distance, but still a southerly breeze, low water level and falling. I got in quickly to see how far I could get, among five gators hanging out to see what the weather was going to do.
About two minutes into the paddle heading east, the wind completely reversed directions. It started blowing at about 15 mph out of the north, pushing me towards the south shoreline. the temperature dropped about 15 degrees almost immediately, and the lightening starting to close in. I made the turn at the Apalachee in 7:54 and quickly turned around, trying to hug the north shoreline and stay out of the wind. The restaurant patrons looked on in bewilderment, as an idiot paddled past with a downpour just minutes away. When I got up towards the end of Pass Picada and ran out of protection, I made a dash, angling across to the south side, trying to get back to the parking lot before the rain started. I made the return in 8:43 for a total paddle of 16:37.
All of the gators were smarter than I, as none were to be found on the surface. I jumped out of my boat, grabbed my paddle, PFD and watch and ran to the car. I ran back to get my boat, but when I got back to the car, the rain started and it was too windy to try and put the boat on top, so I put it in the tall grass next to the car and jumped in right as the rain hit. I waited the rain and wind out for about 20 minutes, before loading the boat and heading home. It wasn't a total bust, but not what I was hoping for. There is always another day.
posted by brint @ 9:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home