My Arluk III in February Seas

by Gail E. Ferris

Sunday February 16th. I had some spare time in the Old Lyme area of 
Connecticut launching from the Four Mile River state boat launching ramp 
I found myself engaged in a wonderful paddle just down the road on the 
Sound in what was forecast as 10 - 20 knots in my Arluk III.  As I was 
making my passage into the Sound from under the railroad bridge I had 
taken my video camera out of it's water proof bag and had it lying on my 
legs just under my spray skirt because I was hoping that there might be 
some interesting shots of migratory ducks available as there had been 
the previous day in Stony Creek.  The 10 - 20 knots turned out to be 15 
- 20 knots and then mostly 20 knots with some higher gusts.  It was the 
first time in a long time that I really have had my Arluk out in good 
open water seas.  In Stony Creek we do not get the intermixture of every 
seventh wave being a large wave typical of open water paddling 
conditions and this was just a delight.  The waves were mostly two feet 
with some higher ones where the water was restricted by narrows and the 
waves would break where it shoaled up coming into the harbor.  With my 
camera on my legs I did not want to risk a spill but I figured that I 
could tough it out in the waves simply because these waves did not look 
that bad.  The waves got bigger as I paddled out around the points to 
the west and around the rocks they would occasionally leap up. This was 
going into them, now the real fun, going down wind. Here I was not too 
interested in hysterical surfing.  Now I began to wish that I had put my 
camera away.  I found it interesting to see what my eighteen foot long 
boat would do.  That hull length of eighteen feet is nice for spanning 
the waves such that it did not get up and charge out of control down the 
wave faces unless I drove it.  The feeling of what the subconscious 
moves my body was doing to interact with what my boat was doing in the 
following seas is a most interesting study.  The boat would pitch down 
wave for a moment leaning on it's elliptical cross sectioned hull to a 
point where it would feel heeled too far and the boat would heel toward 
the on coming wave.  My body would just compensate for the heeling 
action with the flexibility of my lower back and pelvis. Only once did I 
feel the boat slew violently sideways as a wave slammed into the stern 
section.  

I delighted with paddling in day light, because so much of the time I 
paddle at night, because it showed me how unimportant visual cues are 
for paddling with the exception of a horizon line for vertical 
orientation.  If I had watched each wave come at me and had then planned 
each move I would have been a much stiffer less seaworthy paddler 
because each move would have been a calculated anticipatory reaction not 
a direct reaction to what was actually affecting the boat at that 
moment.  My Arluk felt as though it was at it's best in that wave 
configuration and I am going to spend some specific paddling practice 
time there when there is a westerly because I need that sort of practice 
and it is delightful to feel what the Arluk was designed for and does 
best in open water.

When I finally put stowed my camera in it's dry bag I felt much relieved 
and played until the increasing wind tired me.  On the way back I shot 
myself on a wave right under the railroad bridge up stream with a good 
tidal current coming down at me.  I was delighted at this little master 
piece of paddling strategy. I was coming in and saw this fast current 
coming at me from under the railroad bridge and decided that I had 
better put on some speed to make it up stream.  The next thing I knew I 
found myself flying along crossing the eddy line like it wasn't there 
and racing against the current under the bridge as though it wasn't 
there because I was being carried up stream on a wave.  That was fun.


Gail E. Ferris, 1 Bowhay Hill, Stony Creek, CT 06405. (203)481-4539