Epic Up-winder

[bourdfisher]

Monday,Jan,23rd.Went for a SUP fish at day break .Had a nice tailwind that took me from the boathouse at Pavones to the Nicaragua Rocks where a nasty current and chop greeted me. I spun a u turn and started heading back to calmer waters. I snagged a few good size Sierra Mackerel,and the wind started picking up. It was a beautiful offshore headwind making for an epic up-winder. Heading around Piña Pt.,the wind and current had me stroking full speed where my progress was about 100 yards in 20 min. I shifted gears,kicked in the Tahitian strokes,and my mind wandered back to a previous epic upwind session that took place on Wednesday the 21st of September.

It had rained hard all Tuesday night and was still coming down at 6:30 am on Wed morning. I walked down to the beach at Playa Sombreros looking to see if I was going to be able to paddle back home to Pavones  before noon .I found turtle tracks leading up to the mangrove trees,and followed them up,where I found Mamma turtle covering her nest,then watched her return to the water. A 4-6 foot swell was breaking over the outside reef and closing the channel. I looked sketchy for getting out with my fishing basket,and overnight gear. I had made the 9.5 mile paddle over in 2.5 hours,so I figured I should be able to make it back in ,the worst case scenario,in 4 hours. It looked like the weather was clearing,and a favorable side off-shore wind was blowing. I decided to head out at 9am.As I got to the outside reef passage I began to wonder if I was going to be denied passage. Over head waves were  closing out the channel,and there wasn't much of a break between sets. I waited for a few sets to break ,then I charged for the outside ,only to be greeted by another set. I made it over the first few waves ,but got caught inside .As the wave broke in front of me ,I walked back to the tail ,pushed the nose up and shot the board over the top. Luckily,the basket held,and I was able to get back on quickly and make it out. Once outside  the reef,it was smooth sailing .I had left a few hours earlier than originally planned ,so I decided to do a little fishing on the way back,There were some good current lines with lots of debris,so I was hoping to get into some Dorados. About an hour out I was tired of snagging debris and decided to give up fishing and just stroke on Back. A pod or Humpback wales were running parallel with me about 500 yards out. It looked like a group of about 4 or 5  adults with calves. It was an awesome sight to see these huge creatures, the size of a greyhound bus,jumping out of the water. Then I noticed they had changed course and were heading toward me. It is amazing how fast they travel. I was excited that I was going to get to see them up closer. I started getting nervous when the lead whale was about 50yards away and coming right at me. As he went down I thought ,Hope you dont hit me. Next thing I saw was his head 5 feet away coming straight up at me. I leaped forward and as the head clipped my shoulder, I slid down the side of the whale and felt myself getting pulled down. I looked up,grabbing my leash I saw several small calves swim over me. I had managed to hang on to my paddle and as I got back up on my board I saw the big whale that had hit me circling back. I started sprinting away and didn't look back,hoping for the best. About 10 min later, I looked at my watch. It was 10:30.I figured to be about half way across the bay by now,did some dead reckoning ,accounting for wind,tides and currents  ,and  realized that I had just survived being hit by a whale the size of a bus. The wind had switched and I started heading up wind at about a 45 deg. angle. Two hours later ,the wind had picked up and 3-4 foot chop was slapping at me. I checked my landmarks and It seemed as though I hadn't gone anywhere,I was still in the middle of the freekin Bay. Great, what else can happen now?Thus began my epic up-winder. After 3 hours of sprinting  since the whale episode I was starting to get a little crazy. A madman yelling at the sea ,cursing the wind and chop,desperately wanting to see land get closer. I could now see the Coastguard boat anchored off Pavones,but it seemed as though the harder I stroked ,I wasn't gaining any headway. It took me another 2 hours of manic paddling before I reached the Coastguard boat and grabbed on for a rest----It had been one hell of a 6.5 hours.

Well,today's little up-winder ended in only 3 hours,and at least it was rewarded by 3 kilos of fish filets,and no close encounters with large creatures. 

[lucabrasi]

No camera? That Mirage drive you want to put on a board would have been handy.
Sounds like a day you won't forget soon.

[ozroc78]

Going to be going to Nicaragua soon wanted to know if you new of any nice calm spots to cruise around.

[headmount]

Better you than me.  Epic and up winder always sound like an oxymoron unless you're one of those Rocky Balboa types.  We have to do about .5 mile into a quartering wind at the end of our 10 mile downwind course.  That's plenty for me.   Anyway what you did builds character.

[PonoBill]

Oh, great, just what I needed to feed my whale phobia. Everyone is scared of sharks, but they don't bother me nearly as much as the prospect of getting turned into a thin paste on top of my board by a blundering 40 ton missile.

[Neki]

Holy whale turds!  Just think if you were in a yak, you probably wouldnt have had time to bail. Definetly not in a sit in yak. Thats the perks of SUPin .Were nimble on our feet when need be.

[PilonSUP]

Wow...bourdfisher,welcome to the forum!!