Voyage #4 -- Spanking at Agate Pass

Voyage #4 was not a success. We were attempting to go from Agate Pass, under the Agate Pass Bridge, to Manzanita Bay, our first point to point attempt. Previously we have embarked and returned at the same spot. We thought we had taken everything into consideration: current, tide, weather. We forgot about the wind, which just might be the most important factor!

Here we are before we started, looking blissfully unaware of the challenge ahead. The water doesn't look to choppy, the wind isn't very strong, we're going with the current as the tide goes in. We're strong, we're smart, we're ready!

Paddling along before the bridge wasn't too difficult. Once we got out into the sun, we were even a little warm. The bridge ahead! We were so excited to go under it!

A beautiful boat, going under the bridge at the same time we were:

And notice the pictures of us kayaking stop. Once we went under the bridge, the wind picked up. The water became rough and choppy and we felt like we were treading water. On the beach next to us was a huge, gnarled tree stump that I kept looking over at to note my progress. I stayed next to it for at least five minutes, going nowhere! Except for "She-Ra" a.k.a. Gretchen. She probably could have made it all the way, but maybe not in the time we had allotted. She got quite a way ahead of us, and when the rest of us were ready to give up, we tried to holler and whistle to try to get her attention, but the wind was so strong she couldn't hear us. Finally she looked back and realized we weren't gaining on her, so she turned around and came back. I think it was hardest on her that we decided to turn back.

I thought going back would be easier, with the wind at our backs, but my "little blue" was a failure. I had a horrible time keeping it under control. The wind was pushing me one way and the current was pushing me the other. I had to fight constantly to keep going straight ahead. No one else had the same problem, at least not to the same extent. Everyone else got way ahead of me. There was no time to rest; if I stopped paddling, I would get turned around or pushed into shore. Brooke thought we had reached our destination and pulled out, only to find that we still had quite a way to go. Gretchen found our starting point first, and went back to help Brooke carry her boat.

Mariann and I kept paddling and finally made it back. Once we got there, I decided to try out Gretchen and Brooke's boats to see if it was my boat or me that was having so much trouble. Fortunately, it was the boat! I was starting to worry that I had a serious kayaking handicap. I had no problems with either of their boats, so sorry "little blue", you're going back to the store!

Here are our abandoned boats, waiting for us to return with our cars that we left down at our "destination".

We might have gotten spanked, but we're not giving up! I'm going to find a better boat and we're going to do some more research. Brooke's going on vacation for a week, so hopefully that will give us some time to get things figured out before our next attempt.