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Uh oh! While I was doing this, the wind came up and the waves started to whitecap a little. Abort or proceed? Well with the rock already in the boat, and a skirt on the kayak to keep the water out, I decided to go for it.

I had to paddle to the boat ramp, which was up a canyon between the white and red shorelines in the distance. It was hairy, but fortunately uneventful.

I duct-taped a trash bag over the raft to try keeping water out of it, although it still filled up halfway during the crossing as the tape slowly popped loose. Due to the waves the raft bounced around a lot, jerking on the line. I'd routed and tied it in a way that I hoped I could release it quickly (ditching the rock but saving the kayak) if the raft sank.

Crossing to the far shore, 45 degrees into the wind, took about 30 minutes of hard but delicate paddling. About halfway across I realized, "What if the front tie loop on the raft pops off?" It would deflate instantly sink, well, like a rock! Too late to worry about that, other than trying not to jerk on it too hard.

0712E_WindAndWaves.JPG (290 Kb) (under photos/13/0702-15_BIF_Boulder/)

By Alan Silverstein, ajs@frii.com (page updated Sun Mar 9 14:33:54 MDT 2025)