It's been quite warm this weekend--highs around 90 degrees Fahrenheit--but some less-humid air has moved in and that's brightened my mood. Both yesterday and today there was a refreshing cool breeze blowing from the south.
Yesterday morning I followed a round of the strength routine with a good energetic 70 minutes in the boat. After warming up and doing three 8-stroke sprints in the harbor, I paddled out onto the river and saw a barge rig approaching from the south. I paddled down below the trio of old bridges and back up along the Arkansas bank until the rig had attained to Tom Lee Park, and then I ferried out to try my luck on the waves. The waves were a bit shallow and broad from crest to crest, meaning I had to sprint hard to achieve any kind of surfing action. In the end I got one pretty good ride, and considering the effort required I was satisfied with that.
I went back downtown this morning and did another 70-minute paddle. The wind today was rather strong, but since the air temperature was warm I felt great out there. After warming up and doing another three 8-strokers, I headed out onto the river to find a barge rig screaming downriver. The downstream-moving rigs often don't produce much in the way of surfable waves, but this pilot must have been in a hurry because his engines were going full-throttle and churning up some tall haystacks. Once I got into the midst of it all, it was hard to achieve much surfing because with the south wind blowing against the waves, it was all kind of a sloppy mess in there. I tried my best, getting soaking wet more than anything else, and then peeled off to spend the rest of the session paddling at a medium-hard pace.
The extended forecast is still showing lots of highs in the 90s--as high as 99, even, a week from tomorrow. But at least we got our first hint of fall this weekend. And in fact fall begins tomorrow, so surely there can't be too many oppressively hot days left.
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