SUP Storm

Since I was off the water all last week, I wanted to get as much time on the water this weekend as I could.  I've been tracking the weather for today to hope that I could find a window of decent weather.  Before I went to bed it looked like if I got on the water at 6:30 am that I could spend several hours.  When my my alarm went off at 5:30 am -- it was raining, so I went back to sleep.

I woke up at 8 am and made breakfast and started checking the weather again.  It looked like it might rain about 11:30 am and it wouldn't be "bad."  The Austin weather person did say that you shouldn't go on the water (or you should get off the water) when you hear thunder -- not wait for the lighting.

It always takes me longer to get out of my house than I want it to.  I was at the dock and on the water at 10:30 am.  Right as I put my board in the water, I heard thunder.  It didn't look too bad and my hope was that the storm would go by us.

So I headed out to Redbud Isle (usually a 30 minute paddle).  The wind was calm and the water was flat and lovely.  It was a little dark, which was nice.  There were a fair number of people on the water.  A woman in a kayak said that she hoped the storms would miss us as she paddled by.

As I got closer to Redbud Isle, a few drops of rain started to fall and then the wind started to pick up.  And then the wind started to BLOW and the lightening and thunder started.  I got on my knees and paddled to the isle, got under a tree and held onto the tree roots so I didn't drift.

The first 15 minutes were kind of fun.  The rain was gentle under the tree and it seemed like an adventure that would hopefully end soon. It was amazing to watch the sheets of rain go across the water.  At 45 minutes I was starting to get really cold.  I was over it and the lightening was still happening pretty often.  It didn't feel like I had a lot of options to get to a dry place.

About 10 minutes later the lightening was slowing down.  I realized that I cold and that my hands were numb.  The wind was strong and I realized that it would be at my back.  I decided to risk it and get back to the dock.  So I paddled as hard as I could and got back to the dock in about 20 minutes.

The amazing sight on the way back to the dock were the Great Blue Herons that were flying and playing in the wind.

I was grateful to have a towel and a dry shirt in my car.  I got home and had soup and tea.