Just One Nice Paddle
and One Stupid Decision

There was a westerly (off shore) wind yesterday, I had the afternoon free (school's on break) and I took myself for a paddle. Such a wind usually means calm seas, so I headed to the outer harbor where the water is confined and produces some nice calapotis waves.It was good paddling and it was a chance to practice strokes in a 1+ foot chop. Being a work day, I saw precious few other boats including a Coast Guard vessel coming in from an exercise. I returned to shore and, when I stepped out of the boat, realized I had just gotten away with doing something dumb.

When the wind blows toward Michigan, the warm top water goes with it. When I stepped out of the boat and into the water, I could not believe how cold it felt...and that was in the near shore shallows. I suddenly realized that I was dressed only in paddling shorts and a thin, long-sleeved base layer. Had I gone over and blown away from shore, I damn well could have gotten hypothermic before making it back to land. At the end of the day, it still always comes down to basics.

Paddle safe...
DS