Headed out of Peekskill at a shiny 8:30 AM towards the bridge. I had the tide, current, and mild wind against me, which wasn't that great. Even so, I managed to do about 4.1 mph on a straightaway before I hit the river conditions. That speed was encouraging. It meant I could still do a nice clip (4+) even on this 12'6" board.
The river was pretty wild-looking. We've had some heavy rain the last two days which washed a lot of silt into the river. There was so much it was swirling in the water below me like clouds. It was kind of like paddling on smoke. Even though the Hudson is pretty silty normally (about 28cm turbidity -- yes, I've measured it), this was exceptional. It was nowhere near the cappuccino color of the water I saw after Hurricane Irene, but it was pretty wild.
The trip up the river was pretty slow. On a good day it's just under an hour, although that was timed with my fourteen footer. I got to the little cove at the base of the Bear Mountain in a 1:10, which wasn't great. However, once I headed back down the river after gulping a Hammer Gel, I was clocking speeds over 5 mph. It's funny though that you don't really feel it because when you're going fast with a strong pull, you don't notice it in respect to the water. It's only when you look at the land is it apparent. I did the trip from the Bridge to Fish Island in about twenty minutes, which is amazing time. I pulled into Peekskill with a time of 1:55, which was one of my better times. Not bad. An average speed of 3.7 mph.
A nice way to start the weekend.
