Trip Report of Jackson Park Paddle, Wednesday, May 7

My wife Beverly and I left Jackson Park Inner Harbor at about 6:30 pm.  We met Steve Gross and Rob Coleman on the lake outside the harbor mouth.  They had arrived early, paddled to the 55th St. promontory, stopped at the 56th St. beach and paddled back to Jackson Park.

The lake was calm, but after some discussion, we decided the sky looked too ominous to paddle to the 68th St Crib.  Instead we paddled south along the shoreline to the South Shore Cultural Center Beach, stopped, and visited the nature walk.

Upon returning to the boats, the sky looked like the storm was moving south.  As we started back north for the harbor, a mile away, the wind switched to the northeast increased rapidly, and then it started to rain.  We paired off (Steve and Rob, Beverly and I) and paddled furiously for the next half hour back to the harbor against winds that very quickly built to about 25 mph and waves to 2 and 3 ft.

We were paddling north-northwest with the wind blowing from the north-northeast blowing us toward the rocky shore.  Each of us compensated in their own way, Beverly with her rudder, Rob paddling well offshore, Steve paddling hard inshore, and me by extending my Greenland Paddle to the shore side.

Beverly, Steve and Rob all had dry tops/suits and were relatively comfortable.  I, on the other hand was wearing a wet suit top and became chilled after returning to the harbor and no longer paddling hard.  By the time I got in dry clothes from the car, I was cold and shivering.   

Two lessons to be learned from the evening: 1) Storms are closer than they appear and come on quickly and violently 2) A wet suit will drain off body heat when paddling in the rain.

Jim Des Jardins