Back on the Water

I'm still getting over my summer cold, after a couple of weeks it was diagnosed as RAD (reactive airway disease), an asthma like condition. A quick business/vacation trip to Denver last weekend with it's high altitude likely didn't help. I'll probably be coughing for another couple of weeks. Getting old really sucks.

This weekend I finally felt well enough to get back on the lake. Kristen (KiwiBird), Dee, and I planned an early Sunday morning paddle. I'd been so long without exercise that I decided to go out Saturday morning for a short paddle just to see if I could. Nothing to worry about. Saturday was absolutely beautiful and I met up with Valerie on the beach and we visited and had a great paddle for a couple of hours, and even spotted quite a few large Bald Head Eagles.

Sunday morning I arrived at the lake to thunder and rain. Dee was a no show (she likely checked the weather radar before leaving her house), and Kristen and I decided to ignore it, feeling pretty sure the storm was well to our South, and rain wouldn't stop us.

The afternoon before, Paul had helped me drill those first holes into my new kayak to set up my Pacific Action Sail for our paddle. I also took out the original back band and added this new seat back in my Explorer. I absolutely love it. No sailing today tough, the day continued to be drizzly and overcast with no real wind to speak of.

Halfway back we visited for a few minutes with a large group of paddling friends from the local paddling Meetup Club. They were paddling a 15 miler, training for their annual marathon paddle (26.2 miles) on Falls Lake, September 13. Another reason I needed to get back paddling, I'm planning on joining them for this marathon, and have a reputation to maintain.

In the end, Kristen and I actually finished 15 miles, starting at 8am and finishing up about 11:30am, and made plans to do the Suwanee River Challenge on October 11th (if there is enough water in the River). This annual challenge is a 52 mile race from Fargo, Georgia to White Springs, Florida, and includes Big Shoals, the only class 3 rapid in Florida. This will be a revisit for me, as I paddled this section during my WaterTribe Ultimate Challenge, the 1200 mile circumnavigation around Florida race in 2006.

Unfortunately neither of us remembered to bring a camera today, so no pics to go with this posting.