Downbreezing With the Kid

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

So I took out on the Hudson today. My son Gabriel and I did a 1 1/2 mile down river but upwind run to a creek I wanted to check out. The wind was starting to push a little hard in our faces. Out in the middle of the channel I was seeing whitecaps, but we were hugging the shore and getting a little more shelter. We were both on Amundsons, me on a 12'6" and him on a 2008 vintage 11'3".

It was a bit of a push for the kid upwind, and we rested at the entrance to the creek. Afterwards he wanted to turn back, which we did, avoiding the incredible growth of water chestnuts along the creek bank. I wanted to push a little into the channel, hoping my son had the skills to keep the board stable and ride the wind a little.

He had the skills. I showed him how to paddle just enough to keep his nose pointed in the right direction and to catch the little swells coming from behind. After a few minutes, he got it! He was getting some mini-runs and started whooping it up. “Dad, this is really fun!”

“That's why I do this.” We had a great time riding the swells back. They were pretty small — maybe a foot — but we were having a blast. It was nice not to have to worry about him in the slightly adverse conditions and to just to have fun. Yeah he fell, but so what. He got back up and kept going.

We're heading to Cape Cod soon (Watch it!) and I told him, “You're ready for the waves!”

[coldsup]

ace!