Birthday Paddling

I always like the idea of doing something outdoors for my birthday. Unfortunately, my birthday falls in late November and so the weather is usually not particularly accommodating for outdoor celebrations - no pool parties for me. Today's outdoor birthday plan was to help our friends at Jack's boathouse move their docks downriver for the winter, then paddle back. The plan to move the docks got postponed, but I suggested going out kayaking this afternoon anyway. It seemed like a grand idea ... until I tasted the weather. It was pretty cold, and quite windy - prediction of gusts up to 30 MPH. I started to back out of the whole kayaking idea, but I couldn't reach my friends by phone or email, so I figured I'd better go down to the launch point and at least tell them I wasn't going. And just in case the weather seemed better than forecast, I figured it would be prudent to bring along the kayak. I tossed the Tempest on the car and off I went.

I arrived at Columbia Island marina to find Dave & Cyndi already getting changed to go out on the water, with their boats offloaded from the car. I expressed my doubts about paddling in today's conditions, but honestly the water didn't look too bad and they twisted my arm a little bit. Sooo ... the kayak came off the car, the winter gear went on and off we went.

As soon as we launched, before we were even out of the marina, we spotted a bald eagle. A cool way to start the trip. It was a pretty nice trip for wildlife. We saw herons, buffleheads, Canada geese, and even some deer on Roosevelt Island. Mind you, this is all within urban Washington, DC.

The wind was kind of fierce as we paddled up river, but the fetch of the Potomac isn't very long, so the waves were never more than a foot - and were in fact much less for most of the trip. It was, however, serious work paddling up into the wind - at least for me. A couple of gusts were strong enough that I could feel my paddle being lifted up - something I hadn't felt even on the windy Galesville trip a few weeks ago. Sustained winds at that speed could have ripped it out of my hands.

We paddled up as far as Three Sisters Islands before turning around. I'm not sure if the wind died off as we paddled back, or whether it was just that you notice the wind less when it's at your back, but it certainly seemed calmer on the way back - and a quicker ride too, having the remaining wind and the current with, rather than against us.

When we got back, Dave and Cyndi had birthday cupcakes for me! The wind made it impossible to light the candle they had brought, but we each quickly downed a cupcake (once we got off the river and got out of our paddling gear, we started to feel cold pretty quickly) and then all headed for home.

The thing that's most unpleasant for me paddling in the winter is cold hands. I have gone through several sets of gloves over the years, but none ever seems warm enough. Today I borrowed a set of pogies (mitten-like things that attach to the paddle). While pogies are not really perfectly suited to the Greenland style paddle, my hands were warm as could be. I may have to get a pair ...

One thing I can't figure out. The temperature was above freezing the whole time we were out. The thermometer in the car read 36 degrees, a value confirmed by the weather report on the radio. So, how is it that the river water froze onto my kayak as soon as I had it out of the water. Strange.