Becalmed leeshores

I’ve been feeling a little bored at Laurel Lake the last time I went out.   Looking over the map, there aren’t too many areas I haven’t hit, and well, yeah; you seen that rock formation once, you’ve seen it a hundred times, right?

So I went and checked out a site that I was looking at on Maps,,,,   Out past B’s place, but not horribly so,,,   Open lake, Cumberland Lake, not a tributary.  

And I didn’t go paddling.

The water level is so far down, the boat ramp was 400′ long.   Its so far down, the wind barely hits the water with all the high cliffs that surround that area.   Standing on the floating dock at the end of the ramp, looking back at the parking area, I was looking UP probably 40′,,, the ‘high tide’ marks were around 25′ up the banks. (in the vid, there is an F350 and boat trailer at the top of the ramp to give you some perspective.)

And that water was GLASS,,,  sigh

And when departing, I stopped at the the Park we camp at and checked it out, just for comparison.   You can almost walk across the bay right now.

So I went to a place suggested by B and, being a reservoir, should have better levels (Cumberland is a power generation lake, so the levels will flucuate according to use and rain, and we haven’t had a lot of rain this year, but use is still UP,,,)

Same issue of becalmed waters,,,,  

The Doldrums of winter paddling on inland lakes,,,  Flat water paddling only tests my anxiety levels, not much of my skills.   (I don’t understand it, but flat water makes me nervous as all get out.)   and with tables being so down, drowned trees become an issue.   I found several on Friday when at the local reservoir,,, cutting along at a goodly clip with a sudden stop and high centered on an old tree trunk: hard to see if they are just below the surface  Great way to capsize, or even pumch a hole in your hull. I did neither,,,, but thats a chance thing, and why take the chance, right?

At least if there are waves, you get clues there are obstructions below the surface.   A set will take on a warped appearance as they work around whats ‘down below’, or waves hunch up higher away from shore then settle back down (sea mount or hidden shoals) but when its glass, sun glare hides things until you are right on top of them.

I likes the waves,,,,   wanna play more in them and keep building my skills, but, its winter, boat traffic is down and that effects the waves I do get (fetch, so must be windy days), and weather makes getting on water difficult at times: like the once I went and found an inch of ice on the ramp,,, no route to the water that wasn’t vertical or encased in ice like glass.   And as I found today, if the wind is way up above the water,,,,, 

Gonna have to accept my fate that I am going to be a foul weather paddler, that solo will be the norm, and there may cases of ‘ain’t paddlin’ alone in that!”   My 100 miles a month may have been too optimistic,,,   BUT, I haven’t given in yet.  Today, after I get my chores out of the way, I intend on going back ot the local lake and doing a lap or two: Straight up the middle, hey diddle diddle,,,  gotta avoid the dead trees thing,,,   I may not like flat water, but I am getting better about it,,, and I DO need to get over this anxiety of it. (thinking about it, I have progressed: when I first started paddling, frog ripples freaked me out and flat was ‘cool’. now I am on the otherside of of that circle. I dunno,,, I’m wyrd,,,)