Saturday morning brought an activity I hadn't seen in a while: a group paddle. I was planning to meet Adam Davis like I had many times this year, but this time he recruited several additional people: Kata Dismukes, Ralph Dismukes, and Fancher Smith. Our fivesome paddled from the harbor up to the mouth of the Wolf River and back.
As we made our way up the Mississippi there was a huge barge rig churning upriver, and as it pulled even with us I decided to ferry out and see what kind of surfing I could achieve. The waves were moving quite fast and I was having trouble getting up enough speed to catch anything. Eventually, as I fell back onto the smaller swells, I managed to get a couple of decent rides. Here's a look at the best moment:
For some reason my Go Pro camera didn't record any sound for this footage. Or maybe it got lost when I imported the file into the iMovie application on my laptop... I'm not sure. I've been having all kinds of glitches like that and I guess I need to figure out where the problem is.
Anyway... after that set of hard sprints I had to get back over to the Tennessee bank and then paddle a strong pace to rejoin the group, so I got my workout in for the day. The rest of the session was spent paddling a leisurely pace and enjoying the lovely morning.
I was tired in the boat this morning, and aside from a set of three 8-stroke sprints, I kept the intensity pretty low. There was no motorized traffic out on the river and I paddled a relaxed loop out there.
We're having yet another period of uncharacteristically pleasant weather for August in the Mid South. After that really nice spell we had about ten days ago, I thought for sure the oppressive heat would be back with a vengeance. But for most of this summer we've gotten off pretty easy. I don't understand it, but I'm not complaining. And I'm especially happy for those who lack decent air conditioning or other ways to escape the heat. The usual practice during a major heat wave is for the city to provide some sort of "cooling centers" for such citizens--typically community centers or similar public spaces--but the pandemic presents a challenge because more space is needed for adequate social distancing.
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