Trent River Paddle
My [Bob Laney] special lady friend Janet’s Wilderness Systems Tsunami 135, for some unknown reason, got a tiny hole knocked in the hull. I hired my good friend and kayak restoration expert Bill Webb to repair it. When the repair was done, there remained the problem of me in Wilmington getting the boat from Bill in New Bern, two hours driving time away.
Bill suggested we meet on March 19, which turned out to be a warm, sunny and windless day, at the Pollocksville NC Wildlife Resources Commission boat launch ramp on the Trent River. As happens about one time out of a thousand uses, my iPhone GPS went haywire. At the appointed meeting time, I was beside a blueberry farm on the other side of New Bern. I got Bill on the phone, who talked me through the route to back track and come to Pollocksville. On the way there, I had the bright ideal to switch from Apple maps to Google maps, which took me straight to Bill waiting patiently in the picnic shelter at the WRC ramp.
So, we paddled up stream on the Trent River. This trip was my first time there. It is near where Bill and Marla live, so he has been here many times. He had most of the river features memorized. He pointed out things like the fence at the beginning of the Marine Corps helicopter practice landing range; and the picnic shelters at the Marines recreational area.
We are both planning to go on the March 29 Twin Rivers Paddle Club trip [lead by Bill and my friend Justin Cavanaugh] for 10 miles on the Black River and through the Three Sisters Swamp. I have not paddled that many miles for many years, and then only in a canoe. I have not been more than 5 miles in a kayak. So, as a practice session for me, Bill lead our route today up-river against the current, then down-river with the current, and back to the put-in for our take-out. We went 6.5 miles. It took about 3 hours, and we averaged 2.7 miles per hour.
We shared right much conversation about kayaking equipment, paddling techniques, self-rescue, joint rescue, paddles, repairs, safety equipment, VHF radios and so forth. I enjoyed the trip, and the 6.5 miles was not a problem. At the end, I felt fine. I believe that I can handle 10 miles on March 29, especially since the current will always be in our favor, without a problem.
‘The picture of a restaurant is where I had lunch at local diner with wonderful home style comfort food. I had meat loaf, rice with gravy, broccoli, banana pudding and sweet iced tea.
