Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board

far from alone, from technique bb

Posted By: Mark Brodesser
Date: Thursday, 9 March 2000, at 1:44 p.m.

Rain! Yea that's a great time too! Lightning, however, is not in my book
> of good times either.

You get a moment like that and you're
> hooked!

Rain and snow can be great from the snug security of kayak, but I like the stars too. One of my most memorable paddles was on a clear night, riding the tide back out of Mad River Slough. The stars were reflecting off the water and if I gave just a teeny litle stroke my bow wake would cause a ripple without breaking the surface. Visually, as I looked at the reflection of the stars, it looked like my Kayak was leaving a little wake through the heavens. I was out solo, so I just drifted along for hours... I know, I know,... it's a little "spacey" but it was the kind of deep peaceful moment that most paddlers can fathom.

In December, on the full moon I was out with two other paddlers on Big lagoon. The wind was up, and we powered into it at full speed for three miles. Paddling with the kind of full strength abandon that heading straight into the swells will permit. Three madmen all hyped up on adrenaline and competition! After a little "get out an wander about", (what the Canadian voyagers would call a pipe), we got back in & surfed the increasing wind driven swells back to the put in. It was the kind of workout where you really push it and never feel tired.

But it was on Novembers' Full Moon that I nearly soiled my wetsuit. My friend Jeff and I decided to put in near the mouth of the Mad River and go check it out, as it had migrated approx. two miles from it's previous location. It was almost low tide and we figured we would float down, then back up. The Mad R. was at a pretty low flow and right after we put in, not 100 yards from the car, we could hear an approaching roar. We were looking downstream and we could just make out an approaching white line stretching from bank to bank, about 40 yards across. In the dunes at night it's real tough to judge scale, so I couldn't tell if it was 2' or 20' tall. My mind is racing, I'm thinking tsunami?, have we wandered into the mouth, what the #$%&. It appeared to be moveing wicked fast, so all I could do was turn the bow at it and brace, well....

Imagine my relief when as I braced, my paddle blade touched bottom, I was only in about 8 inches of water.. and the approaching wave, which was indeed a tidal bore, was all of 1 foot high, it only seemed to be closing quickly, because it was not 20' high and two hundred yards away, it was only 1 foot high and much closer. It was loud because "the wave" was pulling all the way from the bottom as the flow in the river reversed. We spent the next few hours messing about, talking mostly, drifting upstream at a time when most of the nation is fast asleep. & people think I sleep in because I'm lazy, which I am, but thats not why I get up late. markB

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