Century Club: Suzanne Fryberger

Temperature in the mid-30's, wind NW 5-10

There's still a lot of ice on the roads, so Dobbs and I stayed close to home and launched our kayaks from the beach at Red Point.  We paddled south along the Elk Neck shoreline, studying the cliffs.  Not only are they fascinating from a geologic perspective, but the colors are stunning - burnt orange sand, clays in salmon pink, creamy white, and dusky purple, and moss a minty tint of green.  The dusting of snow accentuated the details of the terrain.

Just before sunset, we turned back toward home, figuring the air temperature would drop pretty quickly once the sun dipped below the horizon.  We paddled northwest - out around Red #4, gasped at the strong ebbing current, and then northeast to land at our beach.

34 degrees, wind NE 5-10

Cold outside, but snuggly in kayak.  Paddled 20 minutes west toward the Flats and then back, at the end of a long day working in Middle River and then delivering sails to Annapolis.  Hazy, so only a couple stars visible through the mist.

Dobbs and I launched The Pea Green Boat at the Havre de Grace City Marina ($10) with the intention of sailing to the Sand Island and back, but a Small Craft Advisory altered our plan - too windy!  We tried sailing under reefed main, but our reefing system needs to have reefing ties added to it.  Without them, much of the reefed portion of the sail is still able to catch wind like a low-slung spinnaker (ever heard of a blooper?).  Sailing felt plain dangerous, and when the water and air temperature are both 40-50 degrees is no time to try risky things. 

Instead, refusing defeat, we doused the sail and rowed along the Havre de Grace waterfront north to the bridge piling ruins.  For the ride back, we hoisted just the tiny jib and did really well.  Pea Green moved steadily along, and our confidence increased.  We zipped out around a moored rock barge before heading into the marina.  We had fun! 

Dobbs and I kayaked off Red Point Beach at sunset.  Where to go?  As former racers, we have a deep seated need to round something before turning back.  This summer, the Coast Guard re-marked and re-numbered the Northeast River channel (OUR channel) and took away Green Can #5, our precious local marker - the one we'd circled in Sunfish and kayaks, and watched bobbing in gales and back-dropped by sunsets, and even trapped to stillness in ice.  We admit it - it wasn't marking anything relative to a channel anymore - the channel had long since shifted, but STILL.  To the south of Red Point Beach, they swapped Red Nun #4 for a fixed, lighted red.  We'd been intentionally denying its existence, mourning the loss of Green #5.  Today, our racer instincts forced us to round Red #4 and officially welcome it into the family before returning to the beach.