Friday, March 27, 2009

one girl and a rope

We went on to daylight saving time this morning, so one hour less sleep and up real early to go paddling. The weather report said that there was going to be a strong southerly wind later, and so we went north on our morning paddle. Going out south would have meant coming back with wind behind us, but for some reason we went north. Small waves made the launch interesting and all the way to Jasser there was no wind at all, three of us decided to carry on to Pigeon Island, another 15 to 20 min in good conditions. Just as we were beginning to head home the wind came up as predicted, and it got stronger by the minute. The seas also rose up and soon we found ourselves fighting 20k winds and largish waves breaking and splashing all around us. Progress was slow to say the least and if you got turned around it was not so easy to correct your course. We had no alternative but to slog it out, I dont know how slow we were paddling but at one stage I felt like I was paddling hard and staying in the same position. We were making headway, albeit very slowly and at one stage I decided to tow Zohar , just to make direction control easier and to prevent a downward spiral if anything should go wrong. She didn`t like my decision at all but later on agreed and in the end I think it was the right decision. Sometimes as the responsible adult on the water you have to make decisions that not everybody agrees with, but better to err on the side of prudence than to end up in trouble What usually takes about 80 min on a calm day took us almost double today and when we got back all we wanted to do was eat.
Lessons learnt:
Respect the weather report and plan your trip so that the wind helps you return. Carry a cell phone.
Everyone should have a tow rope.
When conditions change for the worse stay together and decide how to continue and when to tow before getting into difficulties.
You need to experience difficulties in order to become a better paddler.
Always remember to have some fun and look on the bright side.

5 comments:

Silbs said...

Exactly so.

karel said...

Steve remember the sea will always win.We hadded south yesterday morning and it was much easier getting back.

Zohar Navon said...

Steve. All the way back I had my own war. with the rough sea, with the wind and to be honest- with other things that were on my mind. It only made it more difficult, to say the least. And all that time I cursed the sea, I cursed god and so many other things... I was so drained out that at one point I started to repet to myself Jeff's mantra- don't be a victim... And all that time I looked at you and saw you paddling, easily and comfortably...I don't know how on earth you have managed to photogragh but looking at the photos it doesn't look as bad as it was. It was an important lesson of many things. For me the lesson was- one war at a time. Letting the shits float in a situation like this only makes you weaker. Thanks for being there

Unknown said...

Your`e welcome, all in all it was a great experience

derrick said...

just happy to hear you all made it back in no worse for wear.