This is the city of Annapolis from the water. As you can tell Annapolis is pretty close to sea level and if water levels rise as expected much of Annapolis will be under water. Annapolis is also where Dave, my kayak designer and builder lives. The last two weekends I stopped by Dave's house to see the SOF he's building for me, but this weekend I decided to give him a break and let him get some work done.

It's been along a long winter of painting, renovating, shopping, decorating ... everything but kayaking. But that is all coming to an end. The kitchen will be finished next week and I arranged for my new furniture to be delivered the following week. I have freshly painted walls, a new kitchen, some new furniture, and a new cover on the floor sofa in my loft which doubles as my home theatre. The house is starting to feel more like ... me. I wanted to be finished by April and I'm really close to meeting my goal. So it's time to switch gears, get the drysuit on, and get back on the water.

Saturday I put-in at Truxton Park on Spa Creek. This is part of my overall summer paddling goals. Among other things I want to kayak in the Blackburn Challenge. Notice I didn't say "compete". This is not a casual or recreational race. It's a long, difficult 24 mile race through open water where the conditions can be very rough. Last year one of my paddling partners tried to convince me that I was up to the challenge. Having only competed in a few 10-12 mile races, I knew I wasn't. But this year I'd like to try it. I have no aspirations of even placing in my class. I just want to finish in a decent time and not swim the Atlantic.



So as preparation I'm plotting a kayaking route that will be about 24-25 miles with wind and waves that's not far from my house as a training run. My intended training route is down Spa Creek into the Severn to the Chesapeake Bay, past Thomas Point then up the South River to my friend Jane's house. Ideally I should just paddle past Jane's house and return to Spa Creek, but realistically I'll probably stop if she's home. The waves on the Bay are quite different from the waves on the ocean. My limited experience with paddling on the ocean leaves me with the impression that they tend to be more uniform in direction. On the Bay the waves seem to come at you from all directions, especially when boat traffic is high in the summer. So I figure if I can make a 24 mile paddle on the Bay I should be able to do a 24 mile paddle on the Atlantic ocean. I'm also planning to get in some ocean paddling time as well. Let the season begin.

-Susanita