After launching at Oriental Tusday night, paddling to Beufort and sleeping over, then Wednesday morning continuring to the thorofare and that version of CP2 at around midnight, then camped on one of the beaches along the inlet to CP2. Note that while in the West Bay just before CP2, I saw the military doing some practice tracer firig at some targert not too far away from where I was. I'm glad our soldiers know which target to shoot!
Thursday morning (7 AM) in a dead calm, I started the third leg of the cource back to Oriental. The wind was building at the hours ticked on. My intention was to go through the "Old Canal) at the other end of West Bay and then deal with the Neuse. By the time I was about half way across West Bay, the wind was too much for me to handle (going into it) and I temporarily stopped on e the lee-side of Tump point. I made one more attempt to go out into the wind but quickly made for the lee side of Tump Point again. I decided that since the wind was building for the next couple of days, that even if I could get to the Old Canal, that the Neuse would be quite dangerous. I called Chief and told him I was heading back to CP2 and then may just drop out.
Heading back to CP2 was following seas and I was despertly trying to keep my surf ski (Stellar S18S with open small cockpit area) pointed down wind and not turn sideways under speed. Every so-often a wave would come over my sides and fill my cockput area). Surfskies have a contraption to let water out of the cockput but I was having problems with mine and just glued it shut for the trip. I had a conventional hand-punt (tethered in) to pump out the cockput when needed. I would always end up being sideways to the wind when I pumpted out the cockpit. I could balance this situation while not under speed (as long as the waves were not breaking). Anyway, after pumping out the cockpit, I would get the kayak heading back downwind and build speed. I continued like this switching between heading down-wind underspeed and pumping out the cockpit. I knew that to make the turn between the penisulas for CP2, I would need to do the run downwind as close to the cut as possible and then paddle like mad perpendicular to the wind to make the cut. If anything went wrong, the wind would just blow me out into Core Sound and I would probably die unless I managed to stay up-right all the way to the far shore. I didn't like those odds so I decided instead to slowly make a cut pre-maturely for the penisula for CP2 and more safely beach it on the "wrong side" of the penisula from CP2.
After beaching and checking my GPS, I was about 1.5 to 2 miles (as the crow flies) overland to the "right side" of the penisula near CP2. I decided to just walk if and get my kayak later. I had shore support that could meet me at CP2. I figured I could to the overland 1.5 to 2 miles in about 4 or 5 hours. I was VERY wrong. The penisula was full of briers and brambles all through. I litterally had to struggle for every step forward. I was only able to get about half-way across before night came and was forced to camp without my normal sleep-gear (which I left on the kayak sicne it was too heavy). The briers would pull on all parts of my body and gear and at various times (that first day of hiking and the second) I had zippered pouches opened loosing important gear including the following:
- A 1 liter filled water bottle
- My Spot device
- My suntan lotion
- My laminated maps
- My mosquito netting hat got rips in the neeting
- My $100 sunglases
At one point in the first day of the over-land crossing, I was at a particular hard cluster of brambles that I was strugging to make headway against. It was also getting dark and my headlamp needed new batteries. I decided to just sit down within the bramble cluster and make a bed underneath the brambles. This was probably my lowest point of the trip. I considered activating my locator beaken but had a hard time figuring out how anyone could actually save me considering the terrain. I had ran out of water earlier in the day and was quite dehidrated. I was actually hoping for rain over-night so I could collect some water with my space-blanket (which I was using anyway to stay warn since I was just sleeping on the ground with no sleeping bag or anything. In case it did rain, I had put on my wet-suite (which I did bring for the hike) but it was wet. The moquitos were HORRIBLE. Any exp[osed skin at all was eagerly bitten. At least my wet-suit and boots protected everything except my hnds and head. My ripped mosquito netting hat helped but because of the rips, some managed to get in. I had gloves, but in the dark, I could only find one and had to wrap my other hand in a shirt. Even so, I was fighting off mostitoes most of the night.
The next day, I did feel a bit better (but still very dehydtated) and decided to treck on overland to CP2. It seemed like it was all brambles all across the penisula. I would check my GPS every hour or two and it seemed like my position would not change much (because fighting the brambles was so slow in going). I would get a berring with the GPS of where I needed to go and then rely on my magnetic compass as I advanced since it is so easy to get turned around while deep in that environment. Eventually, I did manage to get to the other side and saw CP2 but it was on the other side of waterway. The only way to get to it was to truge through perhaps a mile of coast-line marsh-grass. That was definitly a job for the wet-suits since that protects you legs. Anyway about an hour and a half of walking through marsh-grass and finally a swim across the narrow bit of water right before the boat-ramp, I finally made it up to that boat-ramp and CP2. I eagerly drank from the hose they had at the lodge.
I got my shore-support to get me and take me back to Beaufort where I've been staying. Next is to retreive my car in Oriental and then figure out a way to retreive my kayal left on the "wrong side" of the peninsula.
It always seems that the DNF situations have the best stories.
