Moved to Central Florida

I have a new site started up and running now that we moved to Auburndale, Florida. I am still doing alot of kayaking and kayak racing, just in a different part of the South. If you wish to follow my trips and races in Florida, just click on Kayak Canoe Florida. Since we moved here, I have another toy, a Wilderness Systems Northstar tandem, so Linda and I are now out exploring the rivers and coast in Central Florida. I will most likely no longer post on this site, but keep it semi-active for the present.

Apalachee River to Tensaw River 2006 XXXII

Monday, May 29, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil

We had a great, albeit short, vacation hiking up in the Smokies over the weekend following a day of officiating the NCAA Mideast Regional Track and Field meet in Knoxville. Then it was back to Spanish Fort and another rare chance to get out on the water.

This morning was another very nice day for paddling. I got out a little late at 8:00 AM, so the sun was already rapidly rising and heating up. There was just a slight breeze which barely rippled the water, while the skies were clear with a temperature of 78 degrees. The water level was fairly low and rising.

I greeted a gator who was protecting the little cove where I put in at Riverdocs. He yawned and ducked underwater as I passed him on my way down Pass Picada. The leg down to the Apalachee was 8:42, slower since the tide was rising faster than last week. On the return, I rode the tide back, with mile splits of 8:17, 8:51 and 11:40 after crossing under the Interstate bridges where the tide reverses.

With the sun heating up, I passed three fishing boats who were hanging out in the shade under the bridges. They just shook their heads as I passed them by out in the sun. On the return, I hit 8:33, 11:15 and a total of 59:50. Alas, it will be another two weeks before I get the opportunity to enjoy paddling the bay and delta once again.

Apalachee River to Tensaw River 2006 XXXI

Thursday, May 25, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil

After two and a half weeks off of the water, it was great to get back to the bay and stretch out a little on the water. Conditions were close to perfect at 7:15 AM under partly cloudy skies, 72 degrees, no wind, high tide and still rising.

I was not sure how I would respond after the layoff, so it was best to just go for it as hard as I could. A couple of lazy gators were out to greet me as I started paddling down Pass Picada. There were no changes to speak of, as I paddled past the restaurants, reaching the Apalachee in 8:04.

The return was better with mile splits of 9:09, 9:35 with the rising tide and 10:37 against it. On the return, with hardly a ripple out in the open bay, the splits were 9:25, 10:13 and a total time of 59:18. Ahhh... I miss the water and really look forward to moving the boats to Auburndale, so I can get back to a normal routine.

Bay Minette Creek 6 mi.

Sunday, May 7, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil

I wanted to see how Bay Minette looked after being away for awhile, so I headed for Bromley Creek in the morning. At 8:30 AM, the water level was high and not moving, while the temperature stayed up at 78 degrees, with no wind and clear skies. The mountain laurel ran its course and was no longer in bloom. But, the spatterdock and water lilies were up along the upper end of the creek.

I started out a little slow, but the creek was rising a little, which slowed me a little. My splits on the way downstream were 9:53, 9:44 and 9:52. A few fishing boats were out, which were the only objects to slow me down as they tried to slowly pass me from behind. On the return, I hit 9:30, 9:42 and 10:08. I really like this course and will miss regularly paddling it.

Robinson Bayou - Dog River

Saturday, May 6, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil

This afternoon was club party time at Gary and Avan's beautiful spot on Dog River. Linda and I took the canoe out joining a large group of old friends and new acquaintenances for an easy paddle up into Robinsons Bayou. We paddled up about 1.5 mi., as far as we could go, as the bayou narrowed leading to the DIP bridge. The flowers were bursting out in abundance, as we saw large patches of pickerelweed, as well as acacia, spatterdock and waterlilies.

There were a few pelicans out fishing as we returned, looking for the Organic School's new sailboat out on its maiden voyage. There was very little wind, but George, Gary, Bob and others made valiant efforts to coach the beautiful 16' craft along in the main channel of Dog River. The other new boat of interest was Harriet's pedal boat, as several tried to best her fast 7 mph bursts.

Once everyone had enough fun on the water, we dug into a vast array of potluck to go along with Gary's delicious smoked chicken. All had a great, relaxing time. Hopefully, it will translate into more participation in upcoming group paddles.

Apalachee River to Tensaw River 2006 XXX

Saturday, May 6, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil

It was great to get back and out on the water after two weeks in Orlando with no boats nor access to any water. I arrived at Riverdocs lot at 7:45 AM under partly cloudy skies, 72 degrees, no wind, low water level with the tide rising.

Everything looked to be in place with the same fishermen taking their usual places, the houseboats in the same places and even the shorebirds and gators taking their familiar places.

My times were even similar after the layoff with a 8:17 to the Apalachee turn and mile splits heading west of 8:39, 9:02 and 10:40. On the return, I managed 9:16, 11:17 and a total of 59:39. It was a great morning return to the delta.

BluzCruz in Vicksburg, MS

Saturday, April 22, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil

The weather this morning turned out to be cool and partly cloudy, providing ideal race conditions for a fast trip down the Mississippi River to Vicksburg. Yesterday, on the trip over from Mobile, we drove through a nasty thunderstorm with roughly 40 mph winds for a short time. We hoped the front would clear out by morning and we were not disappointed.

We got up at 6:00 AM to make the 35 minute trip over to Tallulah, LA and north to the put-in by a grain dock on the west side of the river. About 35 boats of various types and sizes carried a like variety of paddlers down the Mississippi on a 22 mile journey to the mouth of the Yazoo River and upriver to the finish. The scenery was a beautiful spring green with corn and other southern crops starting to come up in the rich, black riverbottom soil. We passed several large tugs pushing long triple wide barges fully loaded and riding low in the water.

The race started late at 8:35 AM, with the serious boats up front, including two Thunderbolts, four Seda Gliders, two Epics and two QCC 700's taking the lead. The water level was down about 13' from a year ago, so the fastest current was probably about 4 mph, down from 5 mph at last year's race. This meant it was even more important to find the right line and stick with it to get the fast water.

I felt good from the start and decided, if I could, to hang with Keith, in another Glider, for 3/4 of the race. I knew he was probably the most knowledgeable at reading the Mississippi, so I figured we would not make many mistakes, stay close to the frontrunners and give us a chance at the end. The strategy worked well, as Wim, the frontrunner in a Thunderbolt, put some distance between himself and the next four of us. Keith and I were actually about 100 meters behind another Glider and an Epic, paddling together in 2nd and 3rd.

Once we all got to the grain depot on the right at about five miles above Vicksburg, I decided to split away from Keith and try to chase down the two guys out in front of me. Actually, they did me a favor by hanging along the west bank a little too long, while I moved over to the middle of the river into faster water. Once they figured out I was rapidly gaining on them, they cut sharply over and ended up right in front of me. So, in about 2 miles, I was able to close a 100 meter gap and pull right in behind them.

As we made the turn up the Yazoo and into the current, the other two boats were side by side, which gave me the chance to tuck my nose right in between them and ride their double wake for maybe a half mile. It made all the difference, as I was really able to cut down my breathing and heart rates, paddling with less effort in the "sweet spot". When we got to within 100 meters of the finish line, I pulled around to the right and we all sprinted in side by side, vying for overall spots two through four. I was able to overtake the Epic, but not the other Glider. It was still very satisfying to finish this race only a second behind Richard, who had beaten me soundly in the last two Phatwater races. It was equally exciting to finish ahead of another Glider, an Epic and a Thunderbolt as well as both QCC700's, all of which I would consider faster boats than mine.

The group in front all finished in around 2:15 with the remainder of the competitors finishing in 2:20 - 3:30. I was able to talk a nice contingent of other Mobile paddlers to come over for the race and all performed magnificently, taking away a good percent of the hardware given out later during the awards ceremony. Roland, Juli and the tandem of Dick and Marilyn all took first place awards in their boat categories. We all hung out in Vicksburg for the rest of the day with a nice street fair, Riverfest taking place over the weekend as well.

Results:

1 - 2:14:47 Wim Nouen 21' race - Thunderbolt
2 - 2:17:36 Richard Savoie 19' fast tour - Seda Glider
3 - 2:17:39 Brint Adams 19' fast tour - Seda Glider
4 - 2:18:03 Phil Capel 18' fast tour - Epic Endurance
5 - 2:22:40 Keith Benoist 19' fast tour - Seda Glider
6 - 2:24:58 Andrew Balogh 21' race - Thunderbolt
7 - 2:26:57 Christoper Murphree 18' fast tour - composite
8 - 2:27:13 Don Chesler 19' fast tour - Extreme
9 - 2:27:16 Doug Cousineau - C1 fast - outrigger
10 - 2:28:07 Greg Jacob - 18' fast tour - Epic Endurance
11 - 2:31:30 John McDaniel - 18' fast tour - kevlar
12 - 2:33:22 Roland Bodt - 17' tour2 plastic
13 - 2:34:07 Dave Genzler - 17' tour2 plastic
14 - 2:41:53 Sam McLemore, Mel McFatter - C2 fast tour - kevlar canoe
15 - 2:42:12 Clyde Atkinson 18' fast tour - composite
16 - 2:42:34 Melissa Morrison 19' fast tourF - Seda Glider
17 - 2:42:45 Roger Dunaway 19' tour2 - wood
18 - 2:45:05 Bryan Stephens 18' tour2 - plastic
19 - 2:46:35 Dick Becker, Marilyn Craig 16' touring mix - plastic
20 - 2:48:02 Chuyler Freeman 15' tour1 - plastic
21 - 2:51:08 Alan Katzenmeyer 15' tour1 - plastic
22 - 2:58:10 Wayne Pratt 14' tour1 - plastic
23 - 2:58:11 Heather Zack 17' tour2F - plastic
24 - 2:59:02 Juli Day 14' tour1F - trylon
25 - 3:00:10 John Gorman 12' tour1 - plastic