Day 4 Atlantic City to Longport

Coldest water and most blustery conditions to date and yet some great photo ops.

The weather started out nice. I dressed without neoprene and with a heavy coat of sunscreen. The thermos of hot tea I left in the car. We put in on the other side of the wind farm and soon had the casinos of Atlantic City off our bow.

Starting at a leisurely pace, we noticed many photo ops. There was a school of young shrimp making its way along the bulkhead between the wall and the pilings. Wait till you see the video that I post soon! You can see their little legs swimming at a sonic pace and sometimes a spooked one darts off the screen. John caught one in his hand.

Soon after there was a solo jelly fish. He was alive and making his way north. Travelling along the bulkhead he was getting jostled quite a bit. This photo doesn't do his orange color justice. The structure is the bottom of my boat and the red is the line from my boat to the camera's underwater housing.

On the Inside Thorofare and the West Canal there were at least a dozen rowing crews practicing. Stopping for lunch at at the west tip of the Canal we sat with a rotation of 3 crew members from Holy Spirit High School. Their boys 8 team was doing "Seat Racing" - rotating 9 total rowers on each pass of a 1450m stretch to determine the final team. Each rower that sat out got out in his bare feet and helped launch the boat. Then he sat on shore, still barefoot, in a short sleeved shirt in the wind. We sat with dry suits on and before heading out I added another top of smartwool and a neoprene hood. The wind had been piercing right through my ears. Adding the hood was good timing.

Just after the lunch spot, heading along Beach Thoro we paddled into a heavy wind and it only got worse. We paddled the eastern shore and under every dock possible with exception of having to paddle around the low tide mud flat east of day mark G 223. We left the ICW when we paddled under the fixed bridge and headed south briefly to a beach takeout. That paddle was head in to a strong, constant wind and by that time the skies were overcast and the sun setting.

The security guard at the marina where we were allowed to park earlier for the take out at the beach wouldn't let us paddle within its water break but did let me use the restroom to get untangled. He agreed with us that the wind was probably double what the internet reported.

No rest after the takeout. Comedian Billy Elmer who friends and I had met a year or two before in Princeton had a 9pm show at the Borgata and we raced off to hit the showers. The economy must be bad as my hotel room at the Tropicana was $65 tax included! We just missed his show but he sat with us while we got a slice. He's there through Sunday.