Yesterday, I took the new Perception Acadia out for its Maiden Voyage. I was pretty satisfied with the test run but had hoped for some bigger water to see how it would react. Today I got my wish.
The past few days have been pretty cold and windy and the coming Super Bowl Sunday weekend are forecasted for heavy rains. This morning wasn't too bad so I decided to grab some paddling time before the window closed.
I launched from Long Point on the Indian River in the central part of the Florida east coast with Sebastian Inlet, a couple of miles down stream, the destination. Big black clouds hovered overhead but I didn't think they would dump on me. The forecasted storm was coming in from the west but the wind was blowing from the southeast at about 10 knots. That I didn't understand.
I got down to Sebastian Inlet through some 1 foot chop. The wind seemed to be blowing about 15 knots at the inlet. I sat there for a minute trying to determine a current but couldn't. The wind was the dominant factor. The 'plan' was to paddle out the inlet against the wind and then let it blow me back in.
Sebastian Inlet is a narrow, 50-75 yard wide, passage from the Indian River to the Atlantic. It's the only access to the ocean for 50 miles or so in either direction. Jetties, with fishing piers, project out into the ocean for about 75 yards or so. Surfers usually congregate on either side of the inlet.
There are no buoys in the inlet, just day markers, and with the chop caused by the wind, I couldn't see any eddies around them. So off I go, heading towards the SR A1A bridge that crosses the inlet. A couple dozen brown pelicans just sat on shore and watched me go by, probably wondering what's this guy up to?
I saw some breakers way up ahead but assumed they were out past the jetties or were crashing into the sides of the jetties. As I passed under the A1A bridge I saw some 1.5 waves directly in front of me. Cool, just what I wanted and paddled into them. The Acadia took them very nicely as I steered directly into them.
Then the waves were 2 feet high. Well, OK and the Acadia took them very nicely too. Then they were 2.5 feet. Hmmm, as the Acadia went over them too. Then the waves were 3 feet high and very steep and coming every 3-4 seconds. Uh oh, as I slowed forward progress and let the Acadia just ride up on the waves.
Then 2.5 foot refracted waves bouncing back off the jetties hit me from the side. Oh sh**! The Acadia is 27.5 inches wide so, other than some of the refracted waves engulfing the boat, it hardly wobbled. If I had been in the Looksha IV my cheek muscles would have been working overtime to maintain balance.
It was a pretty wild ride though and I was starting to feel like the Urban Cowboy rocking up and down and from side to side. The incoming waves were very steep and coming very fast, the refracted waves, less so.
This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I had wished for some bigger water. At this point I wasn't really paddling anymore, more like aiming the bow first into an incoming wave and then swinging it around to meet one of the refracted waves. After 30-60 seconds or so (an eternity) I saw a break in the waves and managed to turn around very easily. Again, the longer Looksha would have been much harder to turn quickly.
When I looked up at the bridge, it was 50 yards beyond where I expected it to be. It kinda looked like maybe the tide wasn't coming in after all because something (the current) had pushed me out very fast to meet those ever increasing waves.
After taking just a couple of strokes, I found myself surfing down the face of the steep, 3 foot incoming waves while keeping a close eye on the waves coming at my beam. Surfing was the only way I could make any forward progress. In the troughs between waves and when there was a break in the waves, the outgoing current prevented me from advancing on my own.
Because the waves were coming in so fast, I found myself surfing almost continuously and the incoming waves got me over the outgoing current until I got near the bridge again. There I saw a very large eddy behind one of the bridge trestles. Was that there when I went out? If it had been (and I saw it), I might have had a clue.
The closer I got to the bridge, the smaller the waves became again. Soon they were pretty much gone and I had to fight the current on my own, it may have been down to 2.5-3.0 knots at this point but petered out as I got inland of the bridge.
All in all, an interesting morning. I couldn't have asked much more of the boat and its capabilities will probably exceed my skill level. I didn't think to use the rudder for additional control, which is just as well because it was still fastened securely with its bungie.
As I was paddling out of the calm water part of the inlet, a couple ofl 20-25 foot power boats went up to the bridge, took a look and turned around and came back. I did warn one boat with a load of children and the guy indicated he had no intention of going out past the bridge. I watched him anyway until he turned back.
As far as the inlet, strong wind and tides moving in opposite directions do cause a lot of wave action. I had been told a couple of times this inlet can be very dangerous and people (surfers, kayakers, boaters? I dunno) die in it every year. I could see how easily that could happen to someone who lost their boat and wasn't wearing a PFD. I could just picture someone without a PFD being pushed and smashed around by those incoming and refracted waves. It wouldn't take long for hypothermia and exhaustion to set in. I can't imagine being able to make any kind of progress towards shore in those conditions. Someone else told me the currents in the inlet get up to 18 knots. I find that a little hard to believe though.
For me, I think it would be a great place to have fun, if there were a few experienced people around to help if you got into serious trouble. Just to get out there and bang around with those waves. I'd love to try self rescues or assisted rescues or the ever popular, everybody in the water rescue, in those conditions. It would certainly add a little spice to your life. As it was, the smart thing was to get these old bones out of harms way.
Thinking back on things, I realize how responsive the Acadia was to wave pressures. Whereas the Looksha IV could take a hit and remain on course, the Acadia might make a quarter or half turn from the same hit. I'll have to keep that in mind for future adventures.
01-30-00 (Postscript):
I dunno about down south but up north we have a saying that cotton kills. It can also make you very sick. Yesterday was one of the few times I've not worn a synthetic T-shirt while paddling.
The first refracted wave that hit me caught my attention because it seemed pretty cold as it went up under my armpit. I didn't think too much about it then but did feel a little chilled as I paddled an hour or so back to the put in with a 10 knot beam wind blowing. The temperature was in the 60's.
Because the cotton does nothing to preserve heat, I guess I was chilled more than I thought. That night I woke up with a sore throat and when I came back from a paddle the next day, I had a good cold and a minor fever. These are the first signs of illness I've had in a couple of years and that includes camping out every night in all kinds of weather for most of the past 7 months.
I guess being in Florida and the warm winter and the sun and all, lulled me into a false sense of complacency. Hopefully this is another lesson learned.