Skip to main content

Bikur Cholim on the Bay


A couple of days ago I was a recipient of an email from a friend who was organizing a kayak trip out to Thomas Point Lighthouse in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. In and of itself this was nothing unusual, as this particular friend frequently organizes challenging paddles around the Bay. What was different this time, though his email didn't mention it, was that his cancer had returned in a big way. The unmentioned (though known to most of us) motivation for this trip was to provide an opportunity for him to do something he loved while on a break from chemo.

Now, I was doubtful that someone in his condition could do anything like the fourteen miles of open water paddling that this trip would entail. I had no doubt, though, that he wanted his friends' support. This was a prime, if out of the ordinary, chance to perform the mitzvah (moral and spiritual obligation) of Bikur Cholim, or visiting the sick. As one web site describes it:

Bikur cholim is a term encompassing a wide range of activities performed by an individual or a group to provide comfort and support to people who are ill, homebound, isolated and/or otherwise in distress. The Bible tells us that human beings are created in the image of God and instructs us to aspire to be like God by emulating God’s ways. God visits Abraham while he was recuperating after being circumcised (Genesis 17:26-18:1). The Talmud (Biblical Commentary) teaches us that 'As He visited the sick, so shall you visit the sick…' [http://www.bikurcholimcc.org/whatisbc.html]
As it happened, the weather dealt us a challenging time. I awoke this morning to find that a small craft advisory was in effect for the bay due to high winds. Usually I'll cancel my plans in weather like this. This time, however, I loaded the kayak on the car and headed out, figuring that at least we'd all gather together and support our friend - and weather forecasts can turn our to be wrong.

I arrived at about 8:30 AM and from the sheltered vantage point of the put-in at Galesville, MD, conditions didn't seem bad at all - maybe the forecast would turn out to be wrong. Eleven of us showed up, and we decided to make a go of it, figuring we could always detour out of the wind into shelter in one of the rivers along the Chesapeake. We launched a little after 9 AM, heading up North towards Annapolis. Well, as soon as we rounded the corner out of the Galesville cove, the wind hit us full force. Blowing about a steady 25 MPH, with stronger gusts. We turned north as planned, straight into it. I've got to say that while it's difficult, I love paddling into the wind. The feel of the oncoming waves lifting the bow of the kayak and slapping it back down on the trough of the wave is exhilarating. As we struggled upwind it quickly became clear that it would be crazy to even attempt Thomas Point. Our friend quickly became fatigued and turned back, escorted by one of the other paddlers for safety. The remaining nine of us continued our struggle up the bay with a goal of reaching the Rhode River. It's about two miles from the put-in to the mouth of the Rhode, a trip that would take a group no more than 30 minutes on a calm day. Today it took more than twice that long. We turned into the Rhode looking for relief from the weather. Once in the river the waves calmed down, but the wind was even more fierce than on the bay. The river seemed to be channeling the wind right at us. So, after slogging along for maybe another mile we decided to turn back.

Paddling with a strong wind at your back is completely different that paddling into the wind. Gone is the repeated hammering and refreshing spray as you plow through waves. In its place is the weird feeling of being carried along on the waves - kayak surfing. The speed of being propelled by the waves is cool. Unfortunately, with it comes a loss of control - as the waves hit you they try and spin your kayak around, and it's constant work to stay on course. At one point the waves turned me 90 degrees from the direction I wanted to paddle and I struggled to get pointed back the right way. With each stroke I'd turn a little, and with each wave I'd turn back. Finally, I got in a good groove of riding the waves and rocketed back to the launch - I was the first one back.

We all got off the water invigorated from the challenging conditions. The two paddlers who had turned back early were still there, and after packing our gear away we all broke out our food and settled down at some picnic tables. As I mentioned, the launch point is sheltered from the wind, and it had warmed up considerably by the time we got back. We had a pleasant and leisurely lunch, all said warm goodbyes to our host, then headed for home.

Comments

Jesse said…
I had occasion to look at the National Data Buoy Center site today for something related to work (SAIC built the NDBC web site). As my sample data I chose Thomas Point Lighthouse for this date, and found the winds out there peaked at an average of 28 MPH, with gusts up to 33 MPH. Where we were paddling the wind speeds may have been a little lower, but not by much!
November 10, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Apostle Islands: Gordon Lightfoot Warned Us

This entry is part of my write-up of a September 2024 trip to The Apostle Islands. The story begins  here . Thursday 9/5 Thursday morning we drove the roughly 20 minutes to our launch point at Little Sand Bay in The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Upon our arrival we were met by Ranger Angel (it makes sense that the Apostles have a guardian Angel, right?), who directed us as to where to launch, checked our permits, gave us useful information about the weather, and told us how to describe our location ifwe needed to call 911 (!). She also gave us a once-over and declared that we appeared to be "shipshape". It is not her responsibility to evaluate people's ability to paddle in the open waters of Lake Superior, but by her own admission if she detects that people don't have the appropriate skills or preparation, she'll gently steer them to safer courses of action.   Loading the kayaks at Little Sand Bay Many people are familiar with Gordon Lightfoot's song The...
Post a Comment
Read more

Visiting Charles in Upstate New York

Looking back, growing up I was friends with a lot of the weird kids. It makes me think - maybe I was a weird kid too? Let's table that line of thought for now, but along those lines, let me tell you about my friend Charles, who was a textbook example of ADHD before ADHD was even in the textbook.  For the record, ADHD was added to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (DSM) in 1968. Coincidentally, that's the same year Charles and I met, and yes, he's an ADHD dude. A smart kid, he nonetheless never paid attention in class and typically spent class reading a comic book he had hidden inside whatever book we were supposed to be reading - when he even bothered to sit in his seat and pretend to pay attention. During our college years Charles attended something of a party school, where he focused more on party than school. As a live-at-home commuter student, I loved that I could visit Charles and get a taste of the ov...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Guilty Pleasure

I have to admit that I feel guilty doing it. It's just not something that people like me do. In fact, I have spent years looking down on people who do it. I'm talking about powersports. Activities which involve using a motor to have fun. I have always been a people-powered person. On the water I scowl at jet skiers and water ski boats. On the cross-country ski trails I shake my head at people who ruin the pristine winter wilderness with snowmobiles. Being something of a car guy, I go a little easier on the pleasures of motorized vehicles on land. I don't expect car owner to be a super-miler in a Prius, but I also give a pretty wide berth to ATVs and dirt bikes. But now I'm motorcycling. Over the summer I fulfilled a "bucket list" item by learning to ride a motorcycle (Valerie took the class too). For the last month or so I've been tooling around on a borrowed Kawasaki Vulcan cruiser, and I must say I'm enjoying it. Riding a motorcycle is ridiculous...
Post a Comment
Read more