Causeway to Mobile River + Apalachee River
Sunday, September 25, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
This weekend is two weeks out from our Phatwater race on the Mississippi River and our last long hard workout before we start to taper. So, Roland and I were not going to let a little Hurricane Rita residual wind and rain stop us from getting in our workout. We met at 6:00 AM at the boat launch area on the Causeway midpoint where the Interstate crosses over. When we arrived before sunrise, the water level was so high, the parking lot was flooded out to the highway. Instead of trying to park in 1-2 feet of water, we parked on a grass area right next to the highway. The wind was still blowing about 25 mph from the south or southeast and waves were crashing over the seawall on the south side of the highway and spraying over the roadway.
We loaded up and set our kayaks in the water in the parking lot on the north side and paddled out from there to the actual bay heading north to the Interstate bridges. We turned east, heading alongside the Causeway and on to Apalachee River, where we turned and came back past our put in. We added this little side trip to get five more miles and another hour to our overall paddle. On the way over, the sun started to rise in front of us over a low cloudbank above Spanish Fort. It was quite impressive and colorful. We were protected somewhat by paddling along the north side of the Causeway, but it was still difficult, as it took us 59:24 to cover the first five miles. Once back, we continued west between the bridges to Delvan Bay and turned north up the Spanish River, our usual course up to the Mobile River.
With the wind directly behind us, we were able to do a little surfing on the way up, allowing us to pick up the pace a bit, arriving at the Pontoon Saloon pier in 1:55:03, our best time yet to that point. The pontoon boat had not returned following Katrina, so we hung out along the shore. We made the turn on the Mobile River in 2:08:09, again a fast time to that point. As it turned out, this was the last of our fast times.
Once we turned south on the Mobile, the usually reliable downriver current did not materialize, as we headed into a stiff 25 mph wind. We tucked in along the east shoreline to try to stay out of the wind as much as possible, but our speed slowed considerably to a 5.2 mph average. There were a few tugboats running around, but not much traffic, so we had the river pretty much to ourselves. Since we were so close to the shore, we were greeted by tugboat and shipyard workers all along the way. They just shook their heads, incredulous we were out fighting the nasty chop in the river. In the lower part of the river south of downtown, where it narrows, we were slowed even more to a 4.2 mph average. A couple of times, we even had to squint through a driving rain for a few minutes. It actually felt good to get cooled off, so I didn’t complain.
After the terribly slow death march on the Mobile River, we finally reached Choctaw Pass and paddled east to Mobile Bay, and back north towards the Causeway bridge alongside the USS Alabama. The chop increased in size to about 3-4 feet, allowing us the chance to surf some more and pick up our speed a little. Since my boat is a little longer than Roland’s, and able to better surf from peak to peak, I picked up the pace a little and arrived at the bridge a few minutes ahead. While waiting for Roland to catch up, I hung out by a crab trap and decided to see if I could pull it up. It was easier than I though, so when it came up to the surface, I found three nice crabs just waiting to get pulled out. I tried to get Roland to reach in and pull them out, but he refused, asking if I expected him to put them in his cockpit. We, of course, left them and finished up the last twelve minutes of the paddle back to the parking lot. The water had receded a little, but we were still able to paddle across the parking lot, almost back to the cars. Our total paddle time was 4:25:12 over the 22.35 mile course with a speed of only 4.8 mph. We worked much harder than that and are as ready as we will ever be. Now, on to our taper down phase and then the big race in two weeks.
This weekend is two weeks out from our Phatwater race on the Mississippi River and our last long hard workout before we start to taper. So, Roland and I were not going to let a little Hurricane Rita residual wind and rain stop us from getting in our workout. We met at 6:00 AM at the boat launch area on the Causeway midpoint where the Interstate crosses over. When we arrived before sunrise, the water level was so high, the parking lot was flooded out to the highway. Instead of trying to park in 1-2 feet of water, we parked on a grass area right next to the highway. The wind was still blowing about 25 mph from the south or southeast and waves were crashing over the seawall on the south side of the highway and spraying over the roadway.
We loaded up and set our kayaks in the water in the parking lot on the north side and paddled out from there to the actual bay heading north to the Interstate bridges. We turned east, heading alongside the Causeway and on to Apalachee River, where we turned and came back past our put in. We added this little side trip to get five more miles and another hour to our overall paddle. On the way over, the sun started to rise in front of us over a low cloudbank above Spanish Fort. It was quite impressive and colorful. We were protected somewhat by paddling along the north side of the Causeway, but it was still difficult, as it took us 59:24 to cover the first five miles. Once back, we continued west between the bridges to Delvan Bay and turned north up the Spanish River, our usual course up to the Mobile River.
With the wind directly behind us, we were able to do a little surfing on the way up, allowing us to pick up the pace a bit, arriving at the Pontoon Saloon pier in 1:55:03, our best time yet to that point. The pontoon boat had not returned following Katrina, so we hung out along the shore. We made the turn on the Mobile River in 2:08:09, again a fast time to that point. As it turned out, this was the last of our fast times.
Once we turned south on the Mobile, the usually reliable downriver current did not materialize, as we headed into a stiff 25 mph wind. We tucked in along the east shoreline to try to stay out of the wind as much as possible, but our speed slowed considerably to a 5.2 mph average. There were a few tugboats running around, but not much traffic, so we had the river pretty much to ourselves. Since we were so close to the shore, we were greeted by tugboat and shipyard workers all along the way. They just shook their heads, incredulous we were out fighting the nasty chop in the river. In the lower part of the river south of downtown, where it narrows, we were slowed even more to a 4.2 mph average. A couple of times, we even had to squint through a driving rain for a few minutes. It actually felt good to get cooled off, so I didn’t complain.
After the terribly slow death march on the Mobile River, we finally reached Choctaw Pass and paddled east to Mobile Bay, and back north towards the Causeway bridge alongside the USS Alabama. The chop increased in size to about 3-4 feet, allowing us the chance to surf some more and pick up our speed a little. Since my boat is a little longer than Roland’s, and able to better surf from peak to peak, I picked up the pace a little and arrived at the bridge a few minutes ahead. While waiting for Roland to catch up, I hung out by a crab trap and decided to see if I could pull it up. It was easier than I though, so when it came up to the surface, I found three nice crabs just waiting to get pulled out. I tried to get Roland to reach in and pull them out, but he refused, asking if I expected him to put them in his cockpit. We, of course, left them and finished up the last twelve minutes of the paddle back to the parking lot. The water had receded a little, but we were still able to paddle across the parking lot, almost back to the cars. Our total paddle time was 4:25:12 over the 22.35 mile course with a speed of only 4.8 mph. We worked much harder than that and are as ready as we will ever be. Now, on to our taper down phase and then the big race in two weeks.
posted by brint @ 5:54 PM
1 Comments:
At 7:13 AM,
Dominic B said…
Helloo mate nice blog
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