Start: 7:00 AM- North of St. Simons Island, GA
Finish: 2:45 PM - Ossabaw Island, GA
Time: 7:45
Daily dist: 27 miles
Total dist: x miles
Companions: None
Weather: Clear skies, 80 degrees, west wind 10 mph
Notes: Another chance to run on the outside. I had to drag my boat over shallow water at the start but it was smooth going after that.
The wind was still relatively low and out of the west so I ran the outside coast once again today. Being what I expected to be a 26 mile day I expected to be in camp by 1:30. Somehow something slowed me down (perhaps an off shore current running south) but by 1:00 a check on the map showed that I was an hour behind my normal pace. I was no big deal it just meant a little more time on the water than I had planned. At this point anything eight hours or less is a normal day.
With plans to camp on St. Catherines island I changed my mind when I realized that I’d be in the lee of the island and therefore out of the wind. Normally that is exactly what you’d look for in a camp, however bugs and heat have had me looking for camp sites in the wind so I can get relief from both. The sun has been a significant force to be dealt with lately. With very little cloud cover over the last couple days I’ve started to feel a bit like a raisin on a drying rack. With salt water splashing on my arms the evaporating in the relentless sun the sleeves on my rash guard develop buildups of salt. At times so much salt builds up that my sleeves become somewhat stiff from the accumulated brine. Part of my routine at the end of the day is to rinse my paddling clothes and PFD in the comparatively less salty ocean to get rid of the buildup.