Long distance paddlling?

[Biggrizzly]

Has anyone done long distance paddling? Like across the bay and back or down the bay a for many miles to go camping? I just thought it might be cool to do a bay crossing and back but I don't know exactly what that would take physically or even how much time. I've done it a bunch going 60 knots in a 50' Sunseeker but not in a yak powered by short fat guy!

I'd like to hear from some of the explorers in the group.

[kuljc]

I have a friend that did this. He doesn't know the details because another guy planned it. But he said it took forever! Something like 4-5 hours one way. But that was because they didn't have GPS and ended up going diagonal. He also got really burned because he didn't use sun block. I figure if you got GPS and sun block, it would be fun. I still want to try it out.

[ictalurus]

The Bay is pretty narrow in some places, like at the Bay Bridge and just north of the Patuxent River, so going across and back is definitely possible in a day. I've done some 8-9 mile float trips and had some 10+ mile outings, but those were spent trolling in circles. For some reason crossing the Bay is more intimidating to me than covering long distances while staying 1-2 miles away from shore. I've seen lots of calm summer days where it would be doable.

One thing that concerns me about crossing the Bay is dealing with commercial shipping traffic. Those big ships are faster than they look (at least the ones I've been close to in a small boat in Virginia), and the horizon is only about about 3 miles away (I think), so a ship on the horizon can be on you in short order. Kayak Kevin did it, but I'm not sure if the video talks about his strategy or not.

Cove Point to Cattail is about 5.5 miles, which would be about a 2hr paddle, or so, under ideal circumstances. Chesapeake Beach to Tilghman Island is about 10 miles. I think Joe (Comeonfish) launched from somewhere around Chesapeake Beach to fish Stone Rock by the Choptank River, but I can't remember if he sailed part of the way. He is super-fit, though, (like ex-SEAL fit) unlike mere mortals such as myself.

I guess you could start by seeing how long you can continuously paddle in different conditions to get a feel for your range. Most of my trips are around 5 miles total with lots of stopping to fish, and I don't feel too tired afterward. My trip on Saturday in Herring Bay was 5.5, but some of that was drifting with the wind. When I start getting close to 10 miles of continuous trolling, the effects are more noticeable the next day.

[ictalurus]

I probably should've mentioned that you should be intimately familiar with your yak's performance beforehand. Take your yak out (empty) somewhere protected and relatively shallow, and lean over until it flips. My Tarpon, Manta Ray, and Revo could be leaned over until the gunwale is almost completely submerged before they flipped, but then it's like a knife-edged one way trip. It's very surprising. I fell out of my Outback before it flipped. Once you're comfortable with how far you can lean and getting back into the yak, take it out in rough water. The harbor side of Solomons is perfect for this because any wind strong enough to generate 2ft or bigger waves will blow you back toward shallow water and shore. See how your yak handles going into the waves, traveling with a following sea, and turning in the troughs. Once you get used to that, try maneuvering with half a paddle. Then throw something that floats overboard and try to retrieve it. As much as I disliked the Manta Ray for it's (or my) inability to track, it was a blast for messing around in rough water, surfing big waves and wakes, etc., and I could control it easily with half a paddle by paddling canoe style. After doing all that, I'm pretty confident in my yak handling abilities, and that practice came in handy when I found myself in some big waves unexpectedly on a couple occasions. Just a tip, if the waves are too big to turn around in safely, keep your bow pointed into them and let the wind push you back toward (hopefully) shore. I turned around in some big waves out at PLO one time and had a much more stressful trip back to shore than if I had just ridden the waves until they passed. Hind sight is 20/20 9 times out of 10.

[john from md]

There is a group called (I think) Chesapeake Bay Kayakers that take tours all over the bay. I don't think I would want to do that in a fishing yak as they don't paddle as easily as say a 15 foot Perception. I suggest that you contact Annapolis Canoe and Kayak. They will be able to give you all sorts of good info.

[Biggrizzly]

There is a group called (I think) Chesapeake Bay Kayakers that take tours all over the bay. I don't think I would want to do that in a fishing yak as they don't paddle as easily as say a 15 foot Perception. I suggest that you contact Annapolis Canoe and Kayak. They will be able to give you all sorts of good info.

Yeah, I was just in there a few days ago talking with the folks there. I also looked at a few of those fancy fast Kayaks... wow. I have a long way to go anyhow before I could do that; meaning fitness and such. It is just something that really looks like a lot of fun and piques my interest. When I was a teenager my parents just about forced swim team on my sister and I. In the evening after swim team practice, a couple of the swim coaches did kayak rolling lessons with those of us that were interested. It was a blast and I only got to do it in the pool because I didn't own a kayak of my own, but after several weeks of doing it I picked it up pretty good. I'm not sure if I could do that again in my present conditioning -... or non-conditioning! LOL but it would be a nice goal to achieve.

[Southerly]

for years i would take kayak touring trips, no fishing. i used a very nice book from HTO that described Md/Del rivers; their put-ins, trip length/time, scenery quality, hazards, etc. personally, i find the rivers to be a lot more scenic than open bay and there's a lot to be learned from them. i probly will camp from yak in the next few years but not so far.

my yak was not an optimized touring kayak but it didn't bother me because i didn't have anything to compare it to and wasn't trying to 'keep up' with anybody. but wherever you're touring, if you can get the wind and current on your back, it's a lot more enjoyable and easy to cover miles.