and next, Tybee Island

I arrived in Tybee Island, GA, after visiting Southport and Fish briefly. With an empty kayak trailer in tow, new venture beckons.

Here lies the beginnings of my new business, Capital City Kayak. But first, I made a little side jaunt to go paddle and camp with Ed Rackley. He paddled a black decked carbon/Kevlar Romany Classic, a near twin to my own carbon-Kevlar quill-decked Romany Surf.

I needed a little shake down paddle, with a fully loaded boat. I packed stuff I did not need simply to mimic a week-long expedition load. We launched from Tybee out of Alley 3.

We played in the Triangle with Ben, an NDK sponsored paddler, before turning south with our laden boats.

We ended up having to "ninja camp" after conditions on the ocean worsened steadily into the evening. Eventually blown off the water, we landed on a barrier island off the Georgia coast and set up camp as an incredible full harvest moon rose up. We knew we were not supposed to camp there but we really did not have a choice. If we had continued there was a distinct possibility we would have needed the Coast Guard later that night. Weather, cannot control the weather.

We  flipped the boats over and slipped them into a gully. Neither of us slept well in the clammy heat, as the winds died around midnight.

We  were rewarded with this, though.

At dawn the water and wind had much calmed. We had breakfast, coffee, broke camp, and made for Little Tybee.

We surfed some break we found in the mouth of Jack's cut. Eventually making our way against the tide back to Alley 3. I volunteered to walk the mile or so back to Dale's house and return with a car. So tired, I slept that night with nary a roll-over.