On Friday, September 22, Susan and I circumnavigated Kent Island. This was a 35 mile paddle, which is by far the longest distance I have ever kayaked in one day. According to my GPS we kept an average pace of 4.2 mph and we took only two real breaks. On the first leg down the west side of the island we encountered brutal head winds which slowed the pace down to three mph only to be rewarded later when we passed Kent Point and the winds turned in our favor sending us surfing towards Parsons Island, at one point reaching a top speed of 7.9 mph. By the end of the day I was exhausted and sore all over, but I was ecstatic over our accomplishment. To see the complete photo album click here.

All summer I had been participating in the Kent Island Practice Paddles (KIPP) that Marshall Woodruff had organized as a CPA paddle series. The culmination of the practice paddles was to be a circumnavigation of Kent Island. And both Susan and I were signed up to do the final circumnavigation with the group. But a few days before the scheduled trip I started monitoring the forecast. Saturday was looking bleak. At one point the forecast was for 3-4 ft waves and 20 knot winds. I really didn't think the group would be doing the circumnavigation on Saturday under those conditions. And my schedule for the next month was booked, which meant if Marshall rescheduled the circumnavigation I would miss it.

But the forecast for Friday was good. The winds were forecast to be calm Thursday night coming from the northeast. On Friday the winds were expected to shift to the south in the afternoon and peak at 10 knots. Wave height prediction was one foot. High tide for Love Point, the farthest point north on the island, was at 6:53. Sunrise would be at 6:56. Low tide for Kent Point was estimated at around 11:30. I figured the winds would still be calm Friday morning which would allow us to ride the tide down from Love Point to Kent Point. And hopefully the southerly winds would not kick in until we were launched from Kent Point. If we left Kent Point at low tide, we could then ride the tide back up to Love Point with the wind at our backs. I emailed the proposed itinerary, tide data and weather forecast information to Susan with the note that I was planning to do it on Friday regardless of her decision. She agreed and proposed we meet at Love Point at 6:30 am.



The launch site Marshall had found for Love Point was some sort of fishing boat launch within what looked like a construction site. There were heavy cranes on land and old rusted boats resting in the waters. Kind of a graveyard for old ships. There was a small gravely area about three feet down from the parking lot where you could lower a kayak into the dirty, litter strewn water. It wasn't the ideal launch site but most of the land on Kent Island is privately owned and we were grateful that Marshall had found this one.

When I arrived at Love Point Susan was already there having left Philly around 4 am for the two hour drive to Kent Island. I didn't want to miss the sunrise so I quickly grabbed my camera and ran over to where the fishermen were loading up their boats. They were surprised to see me and asked if everything was ok. I told them we were launching our kayaks to circumnavigate the island and was greeted by a round of hoots and hollers. Yo baby ... they were impressed. I took a few shots of the sunrise and the fishermen promised to look out for us on the Bay.

We started to unload our boats and gear when I noticed Susan was wearing a really loud kayak shirt. Hot pink and neon orange. And her boat is purple. When embarking on a serious kayaking expedition it's important that you trust your partner completely. I trusted Susan as a kayaker but I was having serious doubts about her color coordination skills. Not wanting to offend her I commented that her kayak top was very "interesting."

"Oh, it gets worse," she said. "I have shorts to match. I want to make sure I'm seen on the water." Then she showed me her flares. I felt better. She chose the top for safety.

I also brought more safety equipment than I normally bring. I had a first aid kit and tow rope in addition to my paddle float and marine radio. Jokingly I showed Susan the tow rope and told her it was to tow her if she couldn't make it. She laughed. We were both intent on completing the journey. The only reason for a tow would be if one of us had a serious injury like a dislocated shoulder.



By 7:30 we were in the water and paddling out among the graveyard of ships. The sun had risen and was casting a soft glow over the water. There was the slightest breeze coming from the east and the water was calm. I took a few parting shots of the launch site and the shoreline and we settled into a comfortable pace. There was no reason to push it. We had 35 miles to go. Susan said she wanted to keep an average pace of four mph. It was about six miles from Love Point to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. For those first six miles we averaged 4.6 mph.



And Susan at the Bay Bridge ...



We passed Hemingway's restaurant, another launch site that Marshall had found. It brought back memories of previous KIPP trips. Doing the practice paddles around various parts of the island really helped. Passing the various landmarks was like passing old friends. It was comforting.

The next four miles were relatively calm although the wind was picking up. We passed by a beach I remembered from the first KIPP paddle. But we didn't stop. One important thing about the KIPP paddles is that it taught us where the take-out points would be. There aren't many on Kent Island. Much of the shoreline is lined with boulders to prevent erosion. And the few beaches that exist are on private property. We could probably beach there in an emergency but we certainly didn't want to picnic on someone's land.

About four miles from the Bay bridge the sky turned dark and the winds started to pick up. And the winds had shifted to the south which meant we were paddling into head winds. There was a triangular shaped storm cloud directly overhead. The scheduled lunch stop at Kent Point was six miles away and I needed a pee break. We passed a jetty which led into a marina next to a restaurant. Next to the jetty was a small beach. Susan motioned for me to head to the beach. As soon as we landed I saw the sign. "No kayak launching." But it didn't say no peeing. We decided to make this a quick one purpose stop.



Launching back into the Bay we found the conditions were continuing to deteriorate. The winds picked up rapidly. The storm cloud hovered right overhead. The only thing worse would have been if it had broke lose on us. But it was just us against the wind for the next six miles until we reached Kent Point. I was constantly monitoring our speed on the GPS. At times we dropped down to three mph. I had set my GPS to stop collecting speed data when we dropped below three mph under the assumption that if we were moving less than three mph we must have stopped paddling. Even when we're stopped, liked for a water break, we're still moving due to current and wind and I didn't want that calculated in with the paddling data. So every time we dipped below three mph the GPS calculated that distance as "Rest time." All total we ended up with over a mile paddling in "Rest time."

It was a slow paddle to the Point and we pretty much stopped the casual chatter we had kept up for the first ten miles of the trip. Up ahead was a strip of land that stood like a teaser before us. It looked like the point was right ahead when in reality our stop on Kent Point was another mile past. I remembered this from the previous paddles but still I kept thinking that once we made it to the land in the distance we would be there.

Marshall had made arrangements with a homeowner around Kent Point for the KIPP group to use his boat launch and yard as a kayak lunch stop. We had stopped there for lunch on two of my KIPP paddles. It was a large parcel of land with an older, smaller house set back from the beach. Getting access to this one stopping point was a major factor in making the circumnavigation possible. As we came around the Point our direction changed from due south to almost due east. That put the wind to our side and the waves cresting on the beam. But just knowing that lunch was but a mile away gave me a second wind and our average speed inched up from 3.4 mph to 3.8 mph.



It was around noon when we finally reached the lunch spot around Kent Point. Susan called her friend Anne who was to meet us at Kent Narrows to let her know our progress. Anne also provides ground support for the KIPP paddles. The storm cloud that had dogged us for the last six miles was out of sight and the sky that was left was clear and blue. While I'm paddling I tend to heat up but after we landed the combination of wet clothes and wind gave me the chills. I put on a paddling top for warmth and beached on the pier with my PBJ's. I had brought four PBJ's for lunch. I'm not much of a cook and certainly not a gourmet paddler. When I told Susan the night before what I was packing for lunch she just laughed. She had just finished making her four PBJ's for the trip as well. So it was PBJ's and gatoraid.

We probably stayed at Kent Point longer than we should have. But the total distance from Love Point was a little over 16 miles which is longer than most of the kayak races I've done. According to my GPS and heart rate monitor I had settled into an aerobic pace of about 130 bpm for most of the paddle. I wasn't tired but I needed a break. And the next leg of the paddle would be without breaks. It was an eight mile open water crossing to Parson's Island.

When we launched from Kent Point the winds were still blowing strong, much stronger than the 10 knots that had been forecasted. And the tide was coming in which made launching even more difficult. Susan went first. I tried to position her kayak as far from the pier as I could when she pushed off but the force of the tide and wind pushed her into the pier. For several tense moments she was pinned next to the pier. I watched as she slowly inched her kayak backwards along the pilings of the pier until she was out in open water again. I did a better job of launching my own kayak and managed to avoid the pier on the way out.



The direction from Kent Point to Parson's Island is northeast. The winds were coming from the south and the tide was coming in. We attached our spray skirts and started paddling our normal pace. Then Susan caught a wave and like a bullet she was off. Then I took off. Without any effort we were surfing. It was great. I kept watching the GPS and calling out the speeds. The Mirage is not a racing kayak and neither is Susan's Solstice. But at one point I had us clocked at 7.9 mph. I'm not sure how high the waves were but Susan said when I went down in the trough she could barely see my hat. At their peak we guessed they were three feet. But for most of the trip the waves were probably around two feet.

We decided not to stop at Parson's Island like we had on previous KIPP trips. This shaved off at least a 1/4 mile maybe more. So we headed for the strip of land opposite Parson's. For most of the trip we paddled side by side but for the trip to Parson's this set us on widely different courses. Small variations in direction can add up over time and we were both paddling in a zone. Sometimes she would be way off in the distance by the time I realized she was not paddling in the same direction. So we changed strategy and she let me lead while she followed behind.

I had set my GPS to beep everytime we passed a mile. When we had just passed mile 24, Susan yelled over, "We just did The Blackburn Challenge." The Blackburn is a 24 mile open water race in Massachusetts that we both have plans to do next year. My goal is to not come in dead last. Susan says there's a certain pride in coming in last.

I glanced down at my GPS. "Well, our time sucked. We've been out here over five hours," I said.

"The rules say we have to finish in less than six hours. We made it," she said.

"Ok. Then who won. Me or you."

"You. I think you were in front," she said with a grin on her face. This is a joke. Susan would never let me beat her across the finish line in the Blackburn. She would always try to sprint at the end.

We passed by Parson's and headed toward the strip of land just opposite the island. There were houses set back far into shore but the land next to the water was marsh land and covered with tall grasses. It was at least four miles to our next scheduled stop at Kent Narrows and we both had to pee. Bad. Susan motioned for me to follow her into the marsh. We checked to make sure the ground was firm enough to stand on and we made one more quick "one purpose" stop.

The direction from Parson's to Kent Narrows is almost due North and I was hoping for a significant increase in speed because we'd have the wind at our backs and the tiding coming in. I had set my GPS to record data in one mile laps. Averaging the lap data I come up with an average speed of 4.6 mph. I know my paddle stroke was starting to falter due to fatigue. So maybe we were getting a push from the tide. The biggest push came when we entered the Kent Narrow Channel. I could also see the bridge which was our next stopping point so I got a huge increase in motivation. I clocked us going through the channel at 6.4 mph. We coasted into the take-out right after the bridge.



The take-out at Kent Narrows is a boat launch and public park. We beached our kayaks to the side so as not to interfere with the boats launching and returning and waited for Anne. We didn't have to wait long. She had been looking out for us along the bridge and as soon as she saw us coming down the channel she drove to the boat launch. It was really good to see her smiling face.

She gave us both a hug and congratulated us on our accomplishment. I downed some gatoraid but I was too tired to eat. Susan ate another of her gourmet PBJ's. Anne directed us in some stretching exercises in the sun. I could have stayed there all afternoon, but it was Susan who reminded me that we had five more miles to go.



We launched again and I got a final photo of Susan under the Kent Narrows Bridge showing five fingers ... for five more miles. We exited the channel soon and then we were back out in the open water. The direction from Kent Narrows to Love point is northwest. I don't remember much about the water conditions only that it wasn't glass and the waves were not coming from the rear as I had hoped. Our average speed hovered around 3.9 mph. Susan said she wanted us to keep a pace of at least four mph, but that was the best we could do.



At one point Susan said she saw her car at the take-out. I knew this wasn't possible because the parking lot is shielded from view by old rusty ships resting in the water. I told her she was hallucinating. So I told her I could see my warm comfy bed waiting for me at home. She said she could see the bottle of gin in her van and the bottle of ibuprofen that went along with it. I said I could see a cup of cocoa waiting for me in the loft where I would curl up and watch a movie ... we kept this up for a while and it was quite entertaining. Then the take-out did come closer into view and my pace started to pick up. Susan, who likes to paddle at the same pace regardless, stayed behind.



I got to the graveyard of ships and made the last turn past an old crusty vessel into the marina that served as our beach. Anne saw me first and blew her blow horn. I looked behind and saw Susan's paddle blade. Then as I paddled into the marina I glanced behind again and didn't see her. I yelled to Anne to look out for her. I was afraid she was lost or worse exhausted. So Anne ran to the end of the dock area and yelled back that she saw her coming. When she paddled up to the take-out she had an evil grin on her face.

"I was trying to sneak around the side and surprise you. But there is no side entrance," she said. Ahhh. She was trying to beat me to the finish line ... again!

We got to the end and there was no ceremony, no ribbons or hardware. Only Anne beaming at us and telling us how proud she was that we made it. We accomplished our goal. We circumnavigated Kent Island.

And it was a very, very good day!

-Susanita