After the fiasco yesterday, I was determined to get out on the water tonight.
I rushed home from work. My heart sunk a little when I saw that the contractor was still at my house but he was just packing up. I told him right away that I was rushing to go paddling - I had a very small window of daylight - he's a pretty focused guy and I knew he's understand. He was awesome and just showed me the stuff he did today - varnished the stairs (don't go there, don't touch that), put up my beautiful new bathroom light fixture - while I ran around finding my gear. We chatted while I tied my board to the roof of the pathfinder.
I got to Jack Darling and it looked pretty good. I thought I might paddle to the club if conditions were right but once I got on the water I realized the chop was a little bigger than it looked from the parking lot. It was a fairly regular roll from the south, probably the smallest chop we'll get on the lake, so at least it was something I could work with. But once I was up on the board, I knew I wouldn't be paddling to the club. I angled out into the waves turned and rolled back in to the beach. I did that a few times until I got my legs under me. Then I worked on rolling back in and then turning back out into the chop. I thought about how if I had someone standing there coaching me, I'd be a lot more aggressive so I just got a lot more aggressive. I paddled out a lot further and on the next one I was watching how the board took the waves - and sliding off the back of most of them. I noted how on the bigger ones the nose of the competitor really submarines, (I'm going to have to get better at running on the board!). On the next loop I caught a couple of waves. The wind was starting to shift and come up a bit as a dark storm cloud moved in from the north. By then I'd been out there for 45' and was getting tired. I did two more runs out & back and then came in.
An older gentleman who had been sitting in the car with his wife in the parking lot the entire time got out while I was loading the board and asked me a few questions, commented on the weather. His wife just stayed in the car reading People magazine. Actually it's surprising the number of people who were just sitting down at the lake in their cars. It was such a pleasant way to spend the evening. At the club I'm always rushing...rig the boat, get on the water, put the boat away, get out of the club before they want to lock it up.
When I was done, I pulled on some warm clothes and walked down to the lake to see how the waves break in that bay. It's well protected from the stronger SW winds by the natural curve and the Petro Canada pier. But along the park there are a number of stone piers that break up the wave pattern. Also some sandbars. I don't think of it as my local beach yet but I know I will soon.