Well, now it is getting down to the pointy end, 10 weeks out, it is time to get out there and be paddling bigger distances. After my non-paddling last week, it was time to ramp it up somewhat and toady, it was 27km.
Once again, winter is not a fun time to get out there, so I picked the day that was least likely to rain – with the downside of some of the biggest tides. I was lucky enough to start out just before low tide – I got the last 15 minutes of the ebb.
Slightly longer at 27km
Basically the tides was similar to a fortnight ago, but the conditions were much better – with the wind being 10-15km/h from the North West.
I headed out of Angus Inlet into Barker Inlet and turned right towards to Port River. Before I reached to river, the tide had turned and I was paddling against the incoming tide.
With only a 10-15km/h wind it made for fairly easy paddling, against the wind and tide until I turned around and headed back up the Port River. Unlike a fortnight ago, I kept going all the way up to Bower Road where the river ends before tuning around and heading back.
Once I turned around at Bower road the wind dropped right off – it was probably on 5km/h at this point. When I turned back out of the Port River into Barker Inlet, it was immediately evident how string the tidal flow was. The plot clearly shows the massive jump in speed as I turned the corner.
Speed Plot – It is fairly obvious where I was paddling with and against the tide.
- Distance 27.0km
- Time: 3:33:22
- Avg Moving Speed: 7.6km/h
- Tide: 0.5 Low / 2.6 High
- NW wind 10-15km/h dropping to 5-10km/h
With a 27km paddle now under my belt, I can really start looking at my Race Plan in the next few weeks. This is around 1/4 of the total distance, and given my pace with the mixed tidal conditions, I am looking at a race time of around the 14 hour mark.
I really did notice today that I was paddling with a lighter paddle – I had no sign of fatigue from holding the paddle for this time – which is a good sign!
What I did notice was that my Energy was rally starting to fade around the 3 hour mark – which means I need to start looking at my addling snacks if I am doing more than about 24km at a time paddling.
Running Total
At the moment, since I have started training specifically for this event, I am now up to 103km. This is around 1/3 of the distance that I need to get under my belt before the event.