Week 4 - Wednesday

Since I didn't get out on the water at all Week 3 of the season I was itching for a ride, so Wednesday I left work at 3pm, went home to get all my stuff together then headed straight for Birdseye Dock.  I got there about 4:20, and after loading up my gear and connecting my speaker to my phone I paddled out into the river.  I was surprised by how few people were out there - it was one of the hottest days of the year so far, but I guess most people were still stuck at work.  I headed upstream while I could, as high tide was at 4:59 and soon after the water would come rushing back out of the river.

Paddling up the river, I saw a couple large water rats sitting along the shore together, one holding a small fish in its mouth.  I thought about stopping to try to take a picture, but they were not easily visible so I continued my upstream paddle.  I was trying to make it to the Washington Bridge before the current got too strong to continue.

I made it to the last marsh entrance closest to Rivercliff before the tide began to withdraw from the river at a meaningful speed.  It was also at this point I began to tire, so I knelt down and paddled faster but much more softly, allowing me to rest my arms while continuing to move forward.  After a few minutes kneeling my arms were rested well enough, so I stood back up and continued my paddle towards the bridge, slowly making progress towards my goal.

After finally making it to the bridge I paddled around one of the pilings and headed back downriver, enjoying the aid provided by the very fast outgoing tide.  I knelt down again, snapping some pictures of the Rivercliff Landing as I floated by with my music cranking.

The rest of the paddle back to Birdseye was uneventful, other than the fact that there wasn't a single moving boat in sight my whole way.  I snapped a picture of the empty river in both directions, but pictures don't do it justice so I only included one below.

I got back to Birdseye and sported a smile my whole ride home - getting out on the river sure beats staying at work!

-TreeburnerCT

Week 2

Surprised but excited that the water was already so warm, I was happy to head back out.  Unfortunately the weather forecast for the week did not look so great for Friday (my paid day off during the summer), and Saturday I would have to work our booth at Stratford Day.  Fortunately Wednesday was nice, so I took the day off as comp time for Saturday.

I got to Birdseye Dock around 1pm and it was beautiful.  I unloaded my board and walked down to the water, which was about two hours from high tide, so I didn't have to walk through the muck or duck crap to reach the water.  I stretched at the edge of the water then carried my board over before loading up on sunblock.  As I paddled out into the river I stood up and took my first look through the water, and was pleasantly surprised to find there wasn't a single jellyfish visible, red or otherwise.  After waiting for some boats to pass I headed across the river towards the marsh.  I tried to go in the first entrance upstream, but unfortunately winter and spring weather had dammed that path since last year.  I headed farther upstream, my music cranking from my waterproof speaker, and soon reached a more significant entrance to the marsh (although not the main channel through it).

I paddled into the marsh, sending ducks flying as I passed the first corner.  I stuck to a familiar path, taking left after left until I ended up in a nice calm pond in the center of the marsh.  I could see a few turtles checking me out from various spots across the calm water, poking their heads up above the surface of the water.  I paused the music and sparked up, enjoying the calm water and not having to paddle every few seconds to keep myself in position like my first paddle of the year.

After finishing I started paddling back out, again scaring some ducks who had settled in my path out.  After a few rights I saw some kayakers approaching in the distance.  They quickly neared, and I saw it was an older gentleman and his very cute daughter of probably 20 or so.  They asked me if they could get to the main channel of the marsh through this path, and while I advised them there was a path through one way or another, it had been a year since I had found it and their 14-foot kayaks were unlikely to be able to turn around at the dead ends in their attempts to find it.  I gave them directions to the pond I had used, knowing they could easily turn around there.    We departed company, and I turned my music back on as I continued my paddle back out to the river.

I headed back downstream, paddling up the middle channel of anchored boats from the Yacht Club.  I slowly approached Birdseye Dock, arriving just as the anchored boats began to turn with the changing tide.

Couldn't have asked for a nicer day on the water.  It would be nice if I could go out again Friday, but I wasn't getting my hopes up.
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Friday came with strong winds, making it too dangerous to go out on my SUP.  Saturday I did Stratford Day with our agency Access Independence (formerly Disability Resource Center of Fairfield County), and by 5pm when it ended I was wiped.  Fortunately Sunday brought nice weather, so I was able to go out again, launching at Birdseye around noon and heading upstream then into the main channel of the marsh.

Sunday's paddle was rather uneventful, other than having to head back to the dock to grab some bottled water from the food truck after my Camelbak bottle abandoned me overboard.  I didn't even see it go, so having only one bottle of water left I was forced to head back to the dock, fortunately only 10 minutes away at that point.

The only other thing worth mentioning is the very strong upstream current that made my paddle back from the marsh to Birdseye an arduous task.  I stopped at a small beach along the marsh briefly to change my music specifically for the hard paddle, throwing together a quick playlist of faster-paced music by Offspring, As I Lay Dying, Suicide Machines and NOFX.  That made my strenous paddle against the current a little easier, and I finally reached Birdseye after almost an hour of paddling (a paddle that takes like 15 minutes in calm water).

Unfortunately week 3 was a week of thunderstorms and strong wind, so tune in soon for updates on my week 4 paddles including pictures, which I will make sure to include from now on (per request)!

About Me (Responses to Readers' Questions)

I've gotten a few emails asking me different questions about myself, so I figured others may have some of the same questions so I'm going to answer them here.  Since I'm doing this as a narrative, just for reference some of the questions I've gotten are:

How old are you?

What do you do for a living?

What else do you do for fun?  Are you into any other sports?

What kind of car do you transport your board with?

My name is Joe, I'm 31 years old and from Stratford, CT.  I work at a nonprofit in Stratford that serves people with disabilities of all types and ages.  I've always loved the water; when I was younger we owned a boat which I loved to tube or kneeboard off the back of.  I've always loved swimming, fishing, and anything else having to do with the water, so last year when I had the opportunity to try my cousin's standup paddleboard it was love at first paddle!

I've always been the adventureous type - when I was younger I was an avid freestyle BMXer and snowboarder, as well as doing some skateboarding and inline skating.  As I got older I became more concerned about getting hurt, so a car replaced my bike and I started spending more time smoking weed and less time riding my bike or board.  Fortunately my first stint in college brought me up to Vermont, so while I got away from BMX I had snowboarding readily available (my campus had it's own ski-lift!)

After high school my original field of study was E-Commerce (internet business and web/graphic design) which I studied for two years at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT.  I didn't finish my degree, but instead came back to Connecticut and went through a period of working dead-end jobs and drug addiction.

Nov. 2, 2006 I got clean off heroin with the help of suboxone and marijuana, and have been clean since.  After working for three years in a newspaper factory, third shift, I went back to school at Housatonic Community College where I studied Human Services, with a plan to get into either substance abuse treatment or disabilities.

My second internship brought me to the Disability Resource Center, and after exhausting my 180 hours required as an intern I was offered a part-time position as Youth Transition Advocate.  That was fun, working with kids with intellectual disabilities on independent and pre-vocational skills, and my successful development of the program led to another position working with Social Security on a vocational program called Ticket to Work.

After half a year of those positions I was offered a promotion to Assistant to the Director, moving me to the administrative side of the agency.  After our Executive Director retired I was quickly promoted to Operations Director by our new Executive Director, effectively making me second-in-command at our agency.

In addition to my love of SUP I also have some other unique interests.  I have a pair of jumping stilts which I like to walk around my block on when it's not too hot.  I'm also a huge fan of target shooting, so weather permitting I like to spend a few minutes after dinner each night shooting targets in my backyard with my airgun.  I'm also a big fan of knife throwing, and also target shoot with a bow.  Other than those I also like hiking in Roosevelt or Sleeping Giant, I play a little golf, and enjoy swimming and playing volleyball.

The only question I haven't covered is about my car.  I drive a 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid, and I carry my SUP with a soft rack since my car is a lease.  For anyone considering getting a hybrid I would highly recommend the Camry hybrid as it doesn't have the boring hatchback look that most hybrids do, and it's very quick for a four-cylinder so you can't go wrong.  The combination of the gas engine and electric motor make it great on gas mileage, and although hybrid technology is not at the point of being cost-efficient as far as savings on gas, by supporting the developing technology you are encouraging car companies to continue to develop the technology and help us overcome our dependence on fossil fuels.

Any other questions feel free to ask, and thanks for reading!

-TreeburnerCT

2014 Season Begins!

Hello all!  Sorry I disappeared at the end of last season, but when the weather got too cold there was nothing new to post so I moved onto other things.  However, with the long-awaited warm weather this SUP season has finally begun!

Sunday, June 1 was a beautiful day, so there was no way I was missing out on a day on the water.  I loaded my board on top of my car and my new Ke Nalu paddle (picked up a factory 2nd blade which saved me some good money) in my car and headed for Caswell Cove in Milford.  My last launch of last year was at Caswell, and it was a nice change of pace from launching at Birdseye.

When I got to Milford the marina was very busy, and there were two guys launching jetskis forcing me to wait a few minutes to launch.  After stretching, putting on some sunblock and connecting my waterproof speaker to my phone I hit the water.  I was slightly concerned because the wind was blowing constantly, but stepping into the water I was pleasantly surprised to find it a comfortable cool, probably around 65-70 degrees, not icy feeling at all.  As I headed out of the manmade cove some guys fishing from shore brought in a large bluefish.

I paddled out into the river, checking both ways before heading across and slightly upstream with the current, enjoying the added push provided by my upgraded paddle.  I reached the other side and headed around an island that divides the river, planning to head downstream against the current around the island then ride the current back to the cove.  Even though it was only 2 hours from high tide the current was strong, making my paddle more difficult than expected.  By the time I was a third of the way through the island I was winded and my arms were exhausted, but any time I tried to take a break I would lose all my progress as the tide brought me back upstream.  I focused on the music and the pleasant view rather than the burning in my arms, and after some painfully-slow progress I finally reached the tip of the island, which fortunately featured some small marsh channels that allowed me to rest for a few minutes and burn one, only having to paddle lightly every 30 seconds or so to keep myself from drifting backwards.

It was at this time I noticed all the red jellyfish!  I had seen a couple during my strenous paddle downstream which I found strange since they usually come with the warmer water, but in the slow-moving water of the marsh there were thousands of them!  I had to be careful not to scoop water onto my board for fear of bringing a red jelly into contact with my feet!  After burning one and having some water I headed out a channel on the other side, enjoying the easy ride with the current pushing me.  I gave my new paddle a bit of a speed test and really dug in as I crossed, hitting a new top speed for my board (not that that's saying much!)

I enjoyed my music as I cruised back to the cove, but turned it off as I paddled back into the cove past the fishermen, not wanting to scare the fish away.  I went all the way around the protected cove, checking out the egrets hanging out on a sunken log in the middle of the cove.  Finally I floated back to the ramp, easily taking my board out without even getting my suit wet.  Overall a great day and a great start to the 2014 season!

-TreeburnerCT