In the Ocean Again

Well it is back into the ocean again. Today was my first ocean paddle in a long time. Launched out of Deep Cove and headed south towards Cates park.

The water was flat and I was in my Current Designs Extreme sea kayak. Of course it was raining. Being in Vancouver what else would you expect. ;-)

Cruised past Grey Rocks and headed to Cates, this is were the water started to increase in size. It was coming at me on the beam side. As I rounded the corner at the light house the waves now had white caps and my speed went up 2 kms without having to do anything.

Yeehaa full on surfing in my Extreme. It is a heavy boat at 56 Lbs. So surfing it is no easy task, you need some good size waves. Well off I went towards the Second Narrows bridge. The wind was really blowing and I knew this was going to be a great ride. That is until I had to turn around and come back.

I managed to ride for about 4 kms, all the way to the Federal Fisheries buildings, in an area that is known to be very shallow. It was high tide, so I wasn't too concerned until I looked down and no problem seeing the bottom just below my boat. Being in the shallow just made the waves get bigger, so I decided that is was time to turn around and go back.

Turning around was fun. With the waves hitting me from all directions, and the bow flying into the air off of just about every wave. Once I got turned around my decision to go for a long wave riding session was going to bite me in the butt. Man what a slog paddle going back. The wind was blowing straight at me, almost stopping in my tracks.

From there on, all the way back past the lighthouse was just plain mind over water. Head down and grunt it out the whole way. As I got closer to the lighthouse, I decided to stop at the fishing wharf at Cates Park, for a bit of a rest, and to eat something. The wharf was blocking the waves, so I stop for about 3 to 4 mins. The guys fishing there thought I was nuts for paddling in this stuff. (I was starting to think the same thing myself)

Well off I went again, heading straight at the lighthouse. Just as I was getting to the corner, there was someone paddling a canoe with a kayak paddle, and only wearing a nylon track suit and a garbage bag in front of me. I could not believe my eyes. This guy was nuts. The whole time I thought I think I am going to have to do a rescue soon.

When I got beside him we said hi, and I kept going, just shaking my head. I was listening for a splash, and a "Help", but it did not happen. Now the waves were on my beam again and my kayak was rocking big time. I managed to scoot around the next corner and into the bay between Cates and Grey Rocks.

From there I cruised under and the wharfs all the way to Grey Rocks. I stopped for a quick bite before moving on. I was expecting some wave action bouncing off of the wall, but when I got there it was flat. As I was cruising along the wall looking at the homes I wished I lived in, I bumped into Chris and Gary. They were heading out to go paddling the same route that I did. So we chatted for a couple and then headed our separate ways.

As I headed into Deep Cove, I was thinking to myself that this was a good paddle. 15 Kms, and some wave riding, with some hard work thrown in.

When I got home, I did one hour of Ice Skating to help loosen up my legs.
They got a little cramped while paddling.