Flying along, 15 mile crossing within the day feels normal now
August 26, Day 74
Feeling strong mentally and physcially. Damien brought me back to the beach and I was off again is what started out as very calm seas, which was such a blessing. I think it has been nearly a month of paddling days since I had a flat sea, so it was a nice treat. The wind was behind me and will be for still the next week or so, which only reafirms the decision to come to the east coast and use the wind (thanks Steve). Came along to Annalong harbor, which had quite a British feel to it (sorry, just noticing as a foreigner) but maybe that was due to the Union Jack flag more so. Lovely spot. I was about to cross over to St. Johns point where the bumble bee lighthouse is and as I was starting to cross, I'm looking across and thinking, well I can't really see the lighthouse at the moment, but it will appear. After continuing to try and spot it, I see it, way in the distance and thought - oh. It was a bit farther than I thought, about 15 miles and it's a good thing I peed on shore because the steap, choppy wind waves probably wouldnt have let me do the paddle float brace to allow me to open my dry suit on the water.
I usually have to mentally prepare myself well for longer crossings, because if you set yourself up by expecting it to be long, and having the only out being miles off shore, I find I can sustain myself better. If I set myself up thinking that it will be long, I'll have to pace myself, have snacks close, and not to get bored, then I can do it just fine. Otherwise I start counting the miles and thinking - I just wish I was there already. And then for hours you're justing wishing it was over, which is hard on the motivation. I started this way because I wasn't all that excited about it, and was not feeling great about a fourth of the way in. Then theres the thing that cures all for me - music. I put on my playlist from the fall working in Washington state and all was well. I sing loudly on the water, it brings me a lot of joy, passes the time, and motivates me. I was just thinking again how cool it is to be out here. I've had one purpose now for 74 days, and I'm still going strong. I learn so much about percieved resiliance and how much I can push myself to do.
After the 15 miles I stopped for a snack and a wee and wanted to keep pushing to the other side of Strandford Lough so I did a bit more to reach 28 miles - my longest day. It's just hard for me to do that many day after day, and especially while camping, it just takes a fair amount of energy. So Will collected me and we together lifted the boat over a fence of a guy he knew so it would be in a safe spot for the night and maybe day tomorrow, looking at the weather again. He brought me to his house and his wife had made a lovely cauliflower and bacon mac and cheese. It's such a blessing to sleep in a real bed after long sprinkling rain and cold days like this.
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