We paddled out to the mouth and found a moving tide but no waves. We rounded the knubble to play around our favorite rocks but there was little swell. Jon saw some birds working and offered to catch me a fish. He had one hooked before I knew it. Unfortunately it was a small (but delicious looking) stripper.
So we headed to Horseneck hoping that the waves we could see on the beach might be surfable. We tried but they were marginal at best. Eric and I we lagging about 200 yards to the west and talking when suddenly we heard a loud bang. Looking over we could see Jon, Cat and Rich in close proximity. But really, there was no surf to speak of. As we lazily approached we heard Tim saying “We’re all going to beach over there where the break is smaller”. Then Cat was saying “It’s filling up with water”. She loosened her spray skirt, which seemed silly to me until I saw the CD sized hole in her boat.
It didn’t take us long to figure out that Jon had surfed into her. It was difficult not to start teasing Jon. This was his second spearing in less than 12 months. But I also knew he would feel like a heel. And then we realized that Cat’s thigh was right where the hole was. She had to have taken a pretty good hit.
Before I go on I need to mention that if you find yourself surfing towards someone the best thing to do is tip yourself over. You’ll lose most of your momentum instantly. These sea kayaks are long and heavy. Maneuvering them out of trouble is nearly impossible.
Once on the beach we could see the extent of damage to Cat’s boat. Besides for the hole there was an 18 inch split in one direction and a 4 inch mix of fractures in the other. The damage showed one of the negatives of the Trylon or Carbonite material. It is a very tough material. But once exceeded, unlike fiberglass, there is no weave to contain the damage.
Most of us ate lunch, Jon headed out to get ice, but Cat was determined to field repair her boat. She whipped out her Gorilla Tape and quick curing epoxy and deftly contained any further propagation of the cracks while sealing the hole from both sides. I have no doubt that the boat could have easily made the return trip. But there was also a welt forming on Cat’s thigh. The men decided that it was sure to be tender and bracing with the thighs in the boat might be painful. Cat was not quick to relent but that 1000 yards we saved by moving the put in meant that the cars were less than ½ mile away by land. Jon brought his car as close as he could to the beach and the rest of us helped carry the boat and gear to it.
With the excitement past we headed back out for the return trip. The wind had moved a bit to the east and with the lower tide there was some breaking going on over the sand bar. We played there for a few minutes but no organized waves were forming. I’ve been trying to develop a combat roll so I tried to roll but was unsuccessful. Eric quickly rescued me and we paddled on.
We started passing the mouth of the river against the beach side. But I was closest to the Knubble and could see some rip happening. I started heading in that direction without agreement from the group. This was bad form but Eric didn’t hesitate to join me. Sure enough the river was hopping. We all made a few passes. With each pass the excitement went down a bit but the anticipation that my luck would run out increased. Where I focused on the excitement of surfing and burying my bow in the waves, Tim practiced moving his boat at all different angles to the current. There was a lot of variation in the standing waves. Visually, sometimes it looked like it was flattening out but it never seemed to disappoint.
After about a half hour of that we headed back. At the put in Eric and I did a few rolls. Although not combat rolls I tried to make them as smooth as possible.
There was one other thing that happened this day. The Russian guy was also an ultra-marathoner. After lunch he headed out paddling solo from Horseneck beach, around Sakonnet Point, up to OSA in Bristol. Why do I mention this? Because at 5pm as we were sitting at Coastal Coffee Roasters in Tiverton by Stone Bridge we saw him paddle by!!!! Rich tried to flag him down but of course he didn’t see. We were happy to see he was safe and probably had enough time to make it to Bristol.
10/15 Westport, air 65-70. Water 63, Winds NE <10
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