Sunday Morning: Wing vs. Greenland

A bald eagle watches over Fletcher's Cove

Deer graze near Fletcher's Cove

Another Sunday morning paddle using the wing on the way up and the Greenland paddle on the way back. My trip was from Columbia Island to Fletcher's Cove, about 9 1/4 miles round trip. I wasn't running a GPS but from my timing and distance estimates on Google maps it appears I made about 4.9 MPH with the wing (upriver, but into the wind - both very small influences) and 4 MPH with the GP. That's a significant difference, enough to cut 10 minutes off of my upriver trip vs. my downriver trip. My speed on the return trip was has a little more uncertainty in it (it might be more like 4.1 MPH) as I stopped at one point to photograph some nature. I couldn't resist pulling out the camera - I had deer grazing to the left of me on the DC side and a bald eagle up in a tree on my right on the Virginia shore (excuse the crummy iPhone photos). You might say that even my pictures are "wing" vs. "green land" :)

A nice morning outing - on the water before 7, off before 10. That's whatcha gotta do to beat the heat in mid-summer in DC.

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