4 hrs multi-sport (Tour de Edisto)

The Workout:
4 hrs total
Mtn Biking
Running w/ pack
Canoe carry and paddle

Saturday AM I got in a killer AR style workout. It turns out that Brooks had all the equipment I'd ever need on hand.

I threw on my headlamp, set out at 5am on a mountain bike and rode the 3 miles into town. From there, I circumnavigated the town of Edisto for another 8 miles, locked the bike up at the State Park and did an out and back run of 20 minutes on the beach. Next I headed back inland and rode 5 miles of sandy flat single track on forested hiking trails out to one of the oldest and largest oyster shell mound sites in the state. I had planned to run more here but when I stopped I was annihilated by a swarm of mosquitoes. RUN AWAY!

I got back to Brooks's parent's house right at the 2 hr mark, quickly lashed a life jacket and bail bucket to the back of my pack, hoisted a 16' canoe up onto my shoulders, picked up a paddle with my foot and trekked/jogged the 1/2 mile to the boat dock. The dock sits along a tidewater canal that is about a mile as a fish swims from the ocean inlet. The night before, I looked up the tide schedule and timed my arrival to the water an hour and a half before high tide. This accomplished three things. 1) there was plenty of water to not worry about getting stuck on sand bars in the small canal 2) The water flow wouldn't be too much to paddle against on the way out to the ocean and 3) it was just enough to give me a boost on my way back to the dock from the ocean.

Once on the water, it definitely took me 10-15 minutes to get back into the swing of paddling a canoe solo. It just felt awkward at first but eventually I got settled into a rhythm of 10 strokes on one side and 10 on the other. My plan was to paddle the canoe out into the open ocean a ways and head down along the beach before turning around to get in a good hour on the water. The ocean inlet was about 40 yards wide at its mouth and there were 3-4 foot waves breaking on the beach on each side and traveling down the middle into the canal eventually to peter out after 100 yards or so. Beyond the breakers, the ocean was rolling but looked manageable so I decided to go for it.

There were a half dozen surfers sitting on the water waiting for a good set. As the waves approached, the front of my boat would ride right up over them no problem. The further out the inlet mouth I got, the bigger the waves became. I paddled hard to keep up my speed as I rode up the face of each wave. It was exhilarating right up until I spotted a set of 6 footers on the horizon. I looked back over my shoulder and sized up the task of getting from the ocean back into the inlet. This is when I had my "Tom Hanks Castaway Moment". With no flotation to speak of in the canoe, if I gained too much water, I didn't know if I'd be able to keep the canoe straight and therefor upright while surfing it back in. Not having enough time to turn around before the first of these larger waves got to me, I dug in and hauled it up the face. It broke a good 6 inches over the front of the canoe, totally drenching me and depositing about an inch of water in the boat. I knew I was in trouble and immediately went into emergency overdrive. As soon as I crested this wave, I started throwing wide forward sweep strokes as hard as I could to try and get turned around before the next wave. This wasn't working that well so I switched to reverse sweep strokes on the other side. Throwing everything into it I had, I finished the 180 degree turn just in time for my stern to start riding up the face of the next wave. This is where the ish got crazy. The wave picked me up and started surfing me forward as it broke. The canoe had a 1" keel along its bottom to help it track straight. As I picked up speed and that keel started digging into the front of the trough the wave I was turned completely sideways in front of a 2' wall of churning water. As the keel under the boat dug in to the green water below perpendicularly to my direction of travel, it made the boat want to roll sideways and over. What happened next wasn't pretty but saved my butt. I threw myself forward and lay on the high side (wave side) gunwale and held a low brace with my paddle. I was carried like this for ~30 yards. When that wave petered out, I jumped back into the seat, straightened the canoe and paddled hard back towards the mouth of the inlet. The next wave caught me and performed a similar action. I was now up to about 2 inches of water in the canoe. By the time the third wave caught me I had managed to surf/paddle far enough into the inlet that it carried me over and deposited me onto the right hand beach. I jumped out, dragged the boat up a little ways and emptied the water. I sat there for a few minutes catching my breath and just fully appreciating how lucky I had been. I would have been fine if I'd flipped but I have no idea how hard it would be to get a capsized canoe out of the ocean. As I pondered, I barely noticed the highly amused surfers and beach combers who watched the whole thing.

After emptying the sea water out of my pack, I dragged the boat down the inlet shore to the calmer waters of the canal and headed back to the dock fairly uneventfully. Fortunately, I had the foresight to put most of my extra clothing, batteries, cell phone and other miscellaneous supplies in zip lock freezer and sandwich bags. After 8 minutes transitioning at the dock back into dry clothing and shoes I had been moving for a total of 3 hours. I loaded up my pack with everything except the bucket and ran around the community for another 50 minutes weaving in and out palm trees and marsh. With 10 minutes left to go I arrived back at the boat and began the carry back to the house. I reached the 4 hr mark just as I set down the canoe on the side of the driveway.

I walked into a house full of people ready to go play at the beach so I quickly cleaned up and we headed out for a day of fun playing in the ocean and in the sand. I was able to maintain a decent amount of energy until just after dinner when I finally succumbed to a nap on a comfy couch. It was a day I will remember for a long time.