African Queen Redux

Yep, positively Bogarted our way through the Alviso Slough and the Guadalupe River yesterday. Eric Norris led a dozen kayaks into the bullrushes. Had to hand pull over a plug of the stuff, sailing under willow trees, kind of strange, but fun. Only 6.25 miles, but slooowwwwwly.

Wespoint Slough - not a slog, but almost a bog

Got around to arranging a meetup for Westpoint Slough in Redwood City last Sunday. 2 other boats, one a tandem with two paddlers, joined me. It was a drop dead gorgeous day out nearly on the Bay.

The slough is somewhat deceptive. Even in such bright clear weather, you see the low scrub shoreline all around you, but can't often see the breaks that indicate the passages until you're almost upon them. The mountain ranges or Bay-side landmarks aren't all that much help in orienting.

As a result I took us down First Slough out of our way, before realizing that I was chasing the elusive "Northwest Passage". We did correct and finally found our way. But I didn't see the turns we were making in relation to the map, as the water was so wide.

Result was that, as my companions were talking about turning back for the day, I thought we had another 4 turns to go and several miles to our destination, Bayfront Park in Menlo Park. Well, I was clearly as wrong as rain! We were in fact at our destination, as confirmed by map, visual and GPS! Boy was I surprised and perplexed. My mistake became evident on the way home.

All in all we all had a great time. When I got home and checked the routing, I realized that the 9 mile jaunt I was anticipating had turned into 11. I'm used to 6 and last time nearby at Corskscrew Slough I did nearly 9. But 11? Well, I was tired!

Still have to try out the Bay itself and work up my skills for more open water in my little boat, Goldie.

Meanwhile, I discovered that I can comfortably move her at nearly 4 m.p.h., which is reasonably fast and very fast for a fat recreational kayak.