In several weeks I'll be heading out on a little summer vacation. This one won't be quite as ambitious as recent summer vacations: I'll be gone for just a couple of weeks, and I won't be going as far away as I did in recent summers (New England in '23, and the Pacific Northwest in four of the five summers before that). But with any luck, I'll have some interesting experiences. My general destination is the Great Lakes. I'll start out in Michigan, then head up into Ontario and along the north shore of Lake Superior, round the western end of Superior in Minnesota and Wisconsin, then return south. The trip will of course include plenty of paddling, including a race on June 22 at Suttons Bay, Michigan.
So, that's something to look forward to. But until then I've got a lot to deal with in my non-athletic life, including projects in the workshop and a new tenant moving into my rental property. And there's also the rudder line situation that's caused me so much grief: I would really like to have that V10L surfski back in working order so I can take it on the trip.
Meanwhile, I carry on with the athletic stuff. On Friday I did my usual 90ish-minute bike ride out to Shelby Farms and back. It was a good day for riding: while there were thunderstorms moving around the Mid South, here in Memphis the conditions were dry with a pleasant breeze. Memorial Day weekend is of course the unofficial start of summer, and it's feeling pretty summery, with Fahrenheit temperatures in the mid to high 80s.
The rain was still missing us yesterday morning, and we had sunny skies and a lovely south breeze. I paddled for 80 minutes, going down below the Harahan and Frisco and Memphis-Arkansas bridges, up along the Arkansas bank, and up above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge before returning to the harbor. The south breeze kept me cool as long as I paddled into it, but it was quite warm whenever I was paddling north with the wind at my back, a reminder that more oppressively hot days lie ahead this summer. I also realized I was feeling pretty tired about 50 minutes in. There was no barge traffic or bumpy conditions of any kind, so the session started to feel like a grind in the late going.
I spent yesterday afternoon making another attempt to string a new rudder line on the starboard side of my V10L surfski. And again, I failed. I fear the damage to the tubing might be worse than I'd thought. At this time I have cut only a small (4-inch diameter) hole in the back deck and I'm hoping to achieve my repairs without making it any bigger, but it's forcing me to work blind most of the time and I still can't tell exactly what the situation is deep in the boat's bowels.
It's all very frustrating, but I think that's all the more reason to keep up a robust athletic routine so I can say I did at least one good thing each day. This morning's paddling session turned out to be an especially good thing. When I left the house in the middle of town there was a breeze blowing, but it seemed mild and I didn't give it any thought. But as I drove over the harbor on the A.W. Willis Bridge, things looked quite lively out on the Mississippi. Down on the dock it was clear we had some strong wind: one of the houseboat owners has a big blue flag for his preferred presidential candidate on display, and it was flapping as majestically as could be.
I paddled against the wind to the harbor's mouth and found some legitimate downwind conditions out on the river--again, not Miller's Run or Columbia Gorge caliber, but definitely workable. I left the harbor and headed downriver a ways, thinking I would ride the conditions back north. Once I was in the middle of the river I found myself in one of those "washing machines," with waves moving seemingly every which way, and I admit I was feeling timid and tense. I flailed around out there for maybe ten minutes, and then paddled back toward the harbor's mouth because a barge rig was coming down the river and I wanted to give it plenty of room to move by. Once it was clear I decided to paddle upriver a bit, along the southern reach of Mud Island. I ferried out into the main channel and found myself looking at some of the nicest downwind conditions I've ever seen on the Mississippi. Here the runs were more organized, and I was able to relax and apply what I've learned about downwind paddling in the last few years. I've annotated this map to show what was going on this morning:
I spent a nice long while reading the conditions, sprinting to catch runs, and linking one run to another. It was just what the doctor ordered to blow off the steam I'd built up fussing with rudder lines and other nuisances of life. All told I was in the boat 80 minutes this morning, and it set the tone for me to get some good stuff done back here at home this afternoon.
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