Maiden Voyages of the VBK His and Hers

Today was the maiden voyages of the VBK (Virginia Beach Kayak) His and VBK Hers (see pics). Gail's idea so we didn't get them confused. Each is set up for a specific Captain. (HaHa)

The VBK HIS.....
and the VBK HERS.....
We decided to launch at Horn Point, the same place we launched when we went on the Back Bay tour. There is a sandbar offshore where we wanted to practice getting back into the kayak from the water without being in really deep water. (More on that to follow)

This is the route we followed, 6.63 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Not bad for beginners.



Our route lead across North Bay into Hell's Point Creek. After following that for a short distance, we paddled up a branch heading toward Sandbridge Road. The creek started getting clogged with weeds (see pictures below), so we turned around and headed back toward the Back Bay. When we launched there was a pretty stiff breeze blowing and the bay was pretty rough. Back in the creek it was better. However, in some sections we were going cross wind and experienced a phenonom called "wind cocking". Basically what happens is that the bow continues to move straight ahead and it holds its direction due to the friction with the water. The stern is releasing from that friction, so the wind tends to swing the stern around, and it is quite a battle to keep going straight. Gail had a worse time of it than I did, and a couple of times was so frustrated that I thought she was going to throw her paddle. (Temper, temper)

As we came into the bay, Gail noticed a structure out in the middle and we decided to paddle out for a look. There was a pretty good wind chop on the water and paddling out was pretty strenuous, but we made it. The real fun was heading back to the launch site. As I said, there was a pretty good wind chop, with some of the swells running about 12 inches. Me, being somewhat over confident and a little cocky, decided to ride the swell. Why not, can't be much different than surfing. WRONG!!!! Between the wind, the swell, and my inexperience, I got sideways and got pitched into the water faster than you could blink an eye. It probably would have been funny as hell except for the fact that I had Gail's camera strapped to my life vest. Her first words were "My camera!" so I scrambled to try to keep it out of the water. No such luck. Fortunately her camera takes the same memory card as mine, so the few pictures we took were safe and could be downloaded. Her camera still isn't working. We'll see if a few days of drying out will help.

After that, we did stop over the sandbar and did some practice reentries. It was so rough by that time, we called it a day and headed home. Although being somewhat beat down, we had a great time and are already planning on scoping out some other launch sites. I can't wait to go again.

Me in Hell's Point Creek.....
Gail further up the creek.....
Some of the weeds we ran into before we turned around.....
Paddling up Hell's Point Creek.....
My Captain workin' the water.....
Structure mentioned above.....
Gail plowing through the swell.....
See the chop, be the chop......
Brief rest stop at the structure.....

The next major adventure will be to load them up with our fishing gear and see how that goes. I imagine it will be quite fun. A good sized fish could give you a wild ride. One thing I learned today, we will have to get some lanyards to clip to any equipment we carry just in case I get dumped again.

Some features of our "fishing" kayaks. Center rod holder..... Two rear rod holders and dry storage......
Stern "wet" storage/cargo area.....
Bow dry storage compartment.....