Paddleboards, high winds and low water.Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 by MC |
Not me or Dan, but that might be Wojcik on the Bouy. (from Joe Bark’s site)
On Sunday, I went paddling for the first time this year.
Unseasonably warm and sunny, I met Dan Murray around 10:30 and after catching up on travel plans and Hockey scores, we stepped outside our vehicles to gear up. Though the weather was fine, the wind was howling from the west and straight down the river we were about to jump in to. The draining full moon tide was being helped along by an offshore gale making sections of the normally docile Manasquan look like class 3 rapids.
For those that don’t know, paddleboards are long and light. It’s actually quite amazing the first time you pick one up. An 18 footer probably weighs less than 15 pounds. Their size coupled with light weight, makes them very hard to handle between rooftop carrier and the water, especially in high winds. We got mine off the roof and to safety without a hitch, but Danny’s board was not so lucky. The rear strap was undone, and I thought I had the tail. Dan was at the nose undoing the front strap when a solid 40 mph gust came through, the nose lifted, and fell again, I grabbed the tail harder, then all hell broke loose and all 18 feet of paddleboard broke free from our grasps and ended up bouncing between our trucks like a ping-pong ball. I arrested the bounces in seconds but the damage was done. In addition to several scrapes and gouges there was one 4 inch long, 2 inch wide hole through the epoxy shell on the starboard rail. Foam exposed. Some would call it a gaping hole. Shit, I would.
Well a man’s character can be measured in many ways. In my humble opinion true character can be seen during times of crisis and “massive dingage”. After assessing the damage to his board, Dan said something like “It’d rather have this this ding in my board than look at it sitting outside my house and saying…”I could’ve gone paddling today”"…another glance at the damage, then… “you got any duct tape?”
Admirable reaction.
T Fahy once said “If it can’t be fixed with duct tape, it can’t be fixed.”
We patched the hole, and got the boards in the water as quickly as we could so as not to accrue any more damage. What a relief. Now the real task was at hand. At the side of the river, near a particularly narrow part of the channel securing water bottles and mentally preparing, we could feel the pull of the eddy, an indication of the strength of the current. Optimistically, we jumped on our boards and began to stroke, HARD. Through the train bridge, and around the docks, the tide was moving! At one point, I shouted to Dan “are we moving?” “I think so” he replied, but neither of us was sure. It was slow going even at a sprint pace. Eventually we broke free of the funnel in the narrow channel and the current lessened, but the wind became more of a factor. 40 painful minutes later, through chop and slop, we arrived at “Treasure Island”. We had a had a few long swigs of water and headed back, now with the wind and current to our tails.
The paddle back was less eventful but still a challenge as the following wind and swell made it hard to keep a straight course. About an hour after our departure, we negotiated the final obstacle and arrived at our vehicles. There, we carefully loaded up and went our separate ways, stoked to be paddling so early in the season.
The river is really nice this time of year, and the lack of boat traffic makes for a less stressful workout. We never saw another vessel the entire time we were on the water.
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