It’s raining this morning, but by the time I’ve finished breakfast, the rain has stopped, so I decide to go for a paddle.

There are patches of blue sky to the north, which is encouraging.  However, there is a pretty good swell running.  I can’t figure that out, since there isn’t any wind.  So, I set out for the head of Illahae Inlet, where I want to check the eagle nests I found there last year.

Along the way I found a small creek I hadn’t noticed last year, which isn’t surprising given the fact that it’s just barely a trickle.   It’s probably just a seasonal creek.

I found the eagle nests, but no eagles.  Bummer.  About this time, the wind started building, so I turned around and headed back.  In the blink of an eye, the wind came up to 25 knots, gusting to 30 knots.  Suddenly, there were whitecaps everywhere.  I headed for the west shore, hoping to get smoother water, but the smooth water was gone.  Then the rain came, and it poured.  I was hoping that once the rain started, that the wind might back off a little, thinking that the wind was just pre-frontal wind.  But, no such luck.  The wind, if anything, got stronger, and the seas got uglier.  I started wondering if I should just look for somewhere to beach my kayak and wait for the wind to die down.  But then I thought about bears.   I kept paddling.  

I started focusing on short-term goals, making the next point, or the next fallen tree, because it seemed like I wasn’t making any headway.  But once I focused on making short distances, I could see that I was slowly making my way back to the boat.

When I finally made the last point and could see the boat, the wind died to about 10 knots, and the rain had lightened.    I was going to make it.  

Al made an outstanding dinner, and we taste-tested the Pinot Noir against the Gundlach Bundschu.  We still prefer the Gundlach Bundschu, but the Pinot Noir wasn’t bad.