On Friday, June 20- I planned a solo trip in Ocean City, MD. Knowing the limitations of my "recreational" kayak (Dirigo), I know that open water and surf were off limits for me. So, I needed to find a place where I could comfortably paddle, yet push my experience a little. I looked at a couple of launch locations and trips - one was from the public boat ramp at Fisherman's Marina and going south into Sinepuxent Bay. The other was using the Gum Point Landing public boat ramp and exploring Turville Creek.
I chose to paddle Sinepuxent Bay because it's different water than I would normally get to explore. Plus, checking the weather predictions gave me winds out of the south - meaning, I would be paddling into the wind and would have it at my back on the return. The forecast called for 5-10 knot winds which is more than I've ever dealt with. Most of the time, I've paddled when there is no wind.
Because I was going solo and this whole area was bigger water than I've done previously - I was fairly nervous and spent a good bit of time planning the trip. I'll blog separately about my pre-trip planning. The short of it- I used online maps & charts, the weather report, an atlas and left a detailed float plan.
My launch was a family affair - my wife, my daughter, my mom and her boyfriend were all there. It was nice having someone help get the boat off of the SUV and help carry it to the boat ramp. Being as courteous as I could be, we parked off to the side of the ramps, packed the boat and only tied up the boat ramp for the time it took me to sit down and secure my sprayskirt. To save time, I would have done my sprayskirt out of the way of the ramp and on the water- but with the comically large Dirigo cockpit, it's a two person affair. Fortunately, with a noon launch, the boat ramps were pretty empty.
After a quick photo, I was off. I immediately crossed to the south-side of the marina and paddled along side of the large boats. I'm sure that I was quite the curious site to the people sitting on the decks at the restaurants. I got a couple of waves from workers on the docked boats. I rounded the last boat and hugged the other side of the boat dock and stayed close to shore. This is the back of the Ocean City inlet and apparently is one of the places where you fish when you take a trip on the Happy Hooker. This area was fairly congested with fishing boats - I did the best I could to steer clear of them. I do think that I'm good luck - I saw quite a few fish caught whilst passing the boats. To all of you, you're welcome.
I didn't take notice to the buoy that tells boats that they are no longer in a No Wake Zone but the power boaters sure saw it- the water went from quite calm to rolling boat wakes. For the first boat wakes, I turned the bow into the wave. It was probably a slight overreaction, as none of the boat wakes were particularly troublesome. I can say that riding some of the boat wakes and feeling the boost in speed as I rode on top of the wake was pretty intoxicating. I can definitely understand how someone can get hooked on speed.
I paddled pretty leisurely, checking out the coastline, the boats and the jet skiers as I passed them. Across the channel, I had a nice view of Assateague Island and was able to see the horses. I passed the Castaway campground which had a nice little beach. I thought about stopping there for a lunch stop, but I figured it was privately owned and didn't want to be chased out (and in turn, giving kayakers a bad name). I should e-mail them, I wonder if they would have cared. Just out from the campground & beach was a sandbar that people were walking through, trying to catch things. At one point, I heard someone yell that they caught a starfish; my good luck vibes came through again.
I continued past the campground and I could tell that the tide had changed on me. My progress slowed and after paddling for about an hour and 45 minutes or so, I decided that I'd gone far enough. I made it to Buoy 11A near Snug Harbor Rd. As environmentally friendly as I could, I parked myself at a little island and rested for a bit. I drank some water, checked my charts and relaxed for a bit.
My ride back was nice. The tide had definitely turned and I was able to enjoy an almost free ride back. My only issue was that my boat continually wanted to turn into the current. Being lazy and not worrying about the loss of forward momentum, I used stern rudders to point me back on course. There was one point where the boat wakes seemed to stand still and formed a wall of small standing waves. Punching through them let me make believe that I was almost surfing.
Once back in the marina, I crossed the marina to the north side - obeying the rules: watch for traffic, cross in a straight line and do it as quickly as possible. The trip ended with me back at the boat ramp. While I waited for my wife to come pick me up, I got to watch the power boater antics at the boat ramps. It is amazing at how long they take to launch and/or get off of the water. They were really slow!
Next time, I might brave my way across the channel and dink down the Assateague side- those beaches sure looked nice!
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