Daily stats Start: 7:15 AM- New Port Richy Finish: 3:15 PM - St. Petersburg Time: 8:00 Daily dist: 32 miles Total dist: 1800 miles Companions: None Weather: NE 7 mph Notes: A nice tailwind and warm enough to take my jacket off. Re-entered the Intracoastal, nice to have a sheltered water option again. Today was a great day of paddling. The wind was a pleasant 7 mph tail wind from the northeast that made the eight hours of paddling go by nicely. It’s a good thing too because with all the trip planning and corresponding I’ve been doing around this trip lately I haven’t had much sleep over the previous couple of nights. I was a bit sleepy to say the least. Not physically tired at all just ready for a nap all day. The sleepy feeling could be coming from a bit of lack of mental stimulation too. I’m softening to the idea of paddling with an I-pod and some music. At first I said I wanted to be able to hear animal noises and waves and such. But after 1800 miles of paddling I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t miss too much by wearing some ear phones. I’d probably keep the radio turned off for the first couple hours when I could enjoy the morning calm and the peaceful silence that comes with that. But later in the day, when I’ve exhausted my own mind games to keep myself busy, it’d be nice to have some sort of distraction. Beyond that, as people suggested before, earphones and music would block out the constant blowing sounds of the wind the next time I’m beating against a crossing or head wind.  Just a draw bridge but also the point where I re-entered the Intracoastal and sheltered water options Today actually brought with it a change of scenery by way of a huge dose of civilization that was a distraction of it’s own. Because the water is so shallow along the coast, and I’ve had to paddle so far off shore to move efficiently, the shore line has been nothing more than a featureless green band separating the water from the sky. All I’ve had to focus on was the water around me, a few random birds, an occasional dolphin, and any slight variation in the coast line ahead. As I entered the Stillwater/St Petersburg area today I suddenly had buildings, bridges, cars, docks, boats, and everything else you’d find in a city. It was all candy for my eyes and mind. Add the fact that as I passed under the first drawbridge I officially re-entered the Intracoastal Waterway and had substantial land on both sides of me which meant calm water so I could relax and even more for my senses and mind to play with. It was a welcome change and the day went by quickly because of it. Because the weather was finally nice there were also a lot of recreational boaters out today. Without exaggeration I believe I saw more non-commercial boats in use today than I have in the rest of the trip combined. It meant I had to watch out for the increased traffic, but the friendly waves I got from passing boaters was worth it. I can understand why so many people were boating today. It was a nice day, sure, but this area is also a very nice place to see by boat, especially a kayak. Calm clear blue water, big fancy houses to look at, even dolphins playing in the bay. What I really found intriguing were the spoil islands to be found along the dredged out Intracoastal Waterway. Spoil island is a terrible descriptor for what are really beautiful little islands with white sand beaches and shade trees. There are dozens of these islands spaced out along the channel as it winds its way through the interlinked bays that make up the Intracoastal. All day long I kept imagining myself putting my kayak in at a boat launch and paddling a short mile or two to take a nice long nap on a nice little island I’d have all to myself. Lord knows if any of the locals do that but I know I would… at least I would have today being so sleepy and all… How much fun would it be also to do a simple overnight trip on one of those islands too. Your own private island surrounded by glowing city lights. Pretty cool. There aren’t a lot of places that have places like that - where else can you get away from it all while you’re in the middle of it all.  It's all mangroves now - a quiet spot in the middle of town Napping was not in the plan for today however. I wanted to crank out at least thirty miles before I called my friend Russell to come and pick me up. Russell Farrow is the owner of Sweetwater Kayaks located here in St. Petersburg. He is the first person in this entire trip that I already really knew before he picked me up. I’d met Russell when he came out to San Diego to coach at the Southwest Kayak Symposium. Russell is a great kayak coach and paddler, accomplished musician, and all round nice guy. I owe him a lot for taking time out of his busy schedule to pick me up. With his Sweetwater Kayak symposium only a couple short weeks away I know he doesn’t have a lot of time to be entertaining numbskulls like me. I had made plans to paddle a few miles past my normal eight hour goal but as the clock struck 3:00 I came upon a Mc Donalds (full of juicy hamburgers) located right across the street from a very easy take out. So right at the eight hour mark of 3:15 my bow hit the beach and I quickly changed clothes and emptied my boat so I could sneak over and get a bight to eat before Russell came to pick me up. Based on the labels on the wrappers, the two hamburgers and two cheeseburgers I washed down with a coke put about 1200 calories back into my tank. It was a good start. From the take out Russell took me back to his shop to show me around and pick up some of the gear that had mailed in for me. My 20 degree sleeping bag to replace the 0 degree bag I’ve been sweating in lately, a skeg wire to replace the one that got bent in the houseboat incident, some food from home, and a mail drop (bills of course). Russell’s shop is an intimate little building bursting from the seams with everything you need to get out on the water, most importantly the knowledge and training that Russell can provide. It’s a true paddling shop run by people who are passionate for the sport. As it should be.  Russell outside of his Sweetwater Kayaks Store Later we went home and I once again embarrassed myself by eating three times more than a person my size should. Having done more than a few long trips himself, Russell understood my bottomless stomach and smiled wide when I went for my fourth serving of pasta. CommentsDave F 02/10/2010 10:48:34 am Jake-Might get some books on tape for your Ipod. Good way to do double duty by while covering ground. Start with Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea. Then maybe Two Years Before the Mast. Moby Dick and so on. 02/10/2010 1:33:58 pm @ Dave F. 02/10/2010 10:24:20 pm Looks like the vertically stored kayaks at Sweetwater line up with the stars, sun, and moon to help determine the best time to launch a kayak. Portage Dug 02/11/2010 3:29:20 pm Jake, Leave a Reply | Best of the Blog
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