Today I got out on the water for the first time with the intent of putting some miles under the boat. So far I’ve been pretty relaxed when on the water, which is alright in itself, but it’s game time. I need to start pushing myself as much as possible as often as possible to get into shape for this trip. And today was day 1 of that.

Daily Stats
Start: 12:00 PM – Paynetown Boat Ramp
Finish 3:45 PM – Paynetown Boat Ramp
Time: 3:45 hours
Daily dist: 10 miles
Total dist: 10 miles
Companions: None
Weather: Started with cross/headwinds 15/20 mph, 40 degrees and cloudy, ended almost no wind, 50 degrees and sunny
Notes: Yee ha!

The water was awful choppy when I first got on the lake–choppy for my current level of experience anyway. It was the highest I’d seen waves on Lake Monroe thus far, with swells getting up to probably 1 foot high. The first half of the trip towards Fairfax SRA really kicked my ass. I had cross/headwinds the first 5 miles of approx 15/20 mph and I was getting pretty wet–and that water was coooold. After reaching Fairfax I stopped and ate some gorp and rested for a bit. I’d brought a book to read, but couldn’t switch into that mindset. After about a half hour of chilling the weather started to clear and I got back in the kayak. It was a totally different trip back. Sunny and calm–not much for waves either.

I learned more than any other day on the water yet and really started to get an inkling of an idea of what time/distance I can make on standing water. I’m pretty tired, but resting well after a good days work.