Think about February and all kinds of interesting things come to mind: Groundhog Day. Valentines Day. President's Day. John's Birthday. Charles Dickens Day. Kayaking Day typically isn't one of them, not even as global warming tries to make February the new June in the Mid-Atlantic. However, Marshall Woodruff organizes four or five paddles each year around Eastern Neck Island near Rock Hall on Maryland's Eastern Shore and he doesn't let vagaries like rain. sleet, snow, wind, frigid water, or upside down spray skirts deter him from his appointed trips 'round the Island. So, Saturday February 2nd was designated EN-1-08 in Marshall-ese.
Global Warming and The Coming Ice Age duked it out the week before but the day of the paddle the score was GW 1, TCIA 0: forecast was for a high of 52, winds 10-15 kts out of the west, dropping to 5kts out of the south by the end of the day. Water temperatures were a tad chilly - 38 degrees! When I left my house the air temperature was 30 degrees and their was a skim of ice in spots and a slight overcast - I wasn't so sure about the 52 degree part anymore. In the interest of reducing our carbon footprint and fighting GW, I picked up Annette at the Baltimore Annapolis Rail Trail parking lot at Rt 2/450 and Rt. 50. We made the obligatory female passenger restroom stop at the nearby WaWa, where I picked up one of my favorite WaWa pretzels in a bag to augment the trail mix and grapes I'd brought for lunch. Marshall had orignally talked about launching from the put in behind Holly's Restaurant on Kent Island. That would have saved about 50 miles of driving but requires about a 2 mile open crossing to Eastern Neck. Given the water temperature, Marshall made safe decision and kept the start at Bogle's Wharf on the Island, so we just waved at Holly's as we drove by.
Annette doesn't have her own kayak yet and was borrowing Marshall's fold-up/pop-up kayak that Marshall was carrying for her, so we chatted about kayaks and racing and the state of the world as we drove the remaining 60 miles to Eastern Neck. As we crossed over the Bay Bridge, it looked like perfect conditions for paddling - just a slight chop on the Bay, skies clearing, great visibility. Marshall had originally talked about starting from the launch area behind
We reached Bogle's Wharf at about 0900 and everyone began the laborious process of putting on underlayers, dry suits, gloves, hats/hoods/skullies, etc. and waddling over to the kayaks. We headed out at about 10 am but Marshall had some sprayskirt problems and had to go back and switch to an old skirt that appeared to have been gnawed on by muskrats or otters - or maybe Punxatawney Phil. There was a bit of a breeze and some chop as we started south down the Chester River. There were a total of 10 paddlers - Team Yellow Kayak duked it out with Team Blue as the most popular, with Red slightly behind.
As we paddled the kayakers spread out and periodically we would stop and regroup and through out the day this lead to an odd trend of many periods of everyone sitting around in their kayaks with their paddles out of the water looking at each other. I enjoy both leisurely paddling and high speed paddling but I do prefer paddling over floating. But we always started moving forward again, and at about the 5 mile mark we stopped for lunch on a beach behind some rip-rap. Behind the beach was a pond where a few hundred geese had hunkered down and they took off with much flapping and honking as we landed. They left behind a few eagles and a few swans that we ogled as we ate lunch and chatted away. The overcast was starting to burn off and it was turning into a beautiful day on the water.
I was wearing some lightweight thermal pants and a Under Armor compression top under my drysuit, along with a fleece skullcap. That all felt about right but my hands were feeling the effect of the 38 degree water. I had started out wearing my SealSkinz gloves, which were watertight enough but not warm enough. I was also carrying some Warmers gloves - those over the SealSkinz turned out to do the trick, once I figured out not to cinch down the wrist strap on the Warmers and actually let some blood flow to my hands. The Sealskinz had been fine on the 40+ degree water on the Potomac but I should get some heavier duty gloves in the future.
The wind died down while we were on the beach and when we made the turn around the island to be on the open Bay, the water got calmer and calmer - the opposite of what usually happens. From there we paddled pretty steadily until we went under the bridge, where we had another spell of floating until the group will drove the paddles to start moving again. We got back to the launch point and about 2:15pm and began the laborious process of taking off underlayers, dry suits, gloves, hats/hoods/skullies, etc. It reminds me of watching your kids come back in from playing out in the snow...
I had to get back by 5pm so I didn't join everyone for coffee in Rock Hall and Annette carpooled back with Todd. On the way back, the bank thermometer in Rock Hall said 48 degrees, so it never quite broke the 50 dgree mark. As usual with Marshall's trips, a good time was had by all and I really appreciate the opportunity to be out on the water with a fun group in February.
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