Tipped Over By A Kayak!

Our double seated kayak

There was a moment that was surreal in my life. Surreal, meaning, I was in one place then in another without even knowing it. Like in a dream when you visit places you may have in your life, but it is befuddled in your dreams, leaving you thinking as you wake up, where was I?

Sitting on top of a kayak, we were paddling, trying to get back to shore, then the next moment, we were in the water. How did we land in the water without us jumping off the kayak?

The water got REALLY wavy from the wind. Hard to paddle over!!

One thing I am learning is to read and understand the weather. It is sometimes difficult because weather can be unpredictable. Especially if you are traveling and do not understand the weather in the place you are visiting. Cody, Wyoming is a gorgeous town to visit and play in. We work camped in this delightful town and found a small lake, Beck Lake, that was recommended by some of the people we worked with. Check out this LINK for more information about WORK CAMPING!

We picked one of our days off from working at the camp ground to rent a kayak from a local tourist business as we wanted to see if water play activities was in our future. It was a double seated kayak where you sit on top rather than have your legs trapped underneath, at least that was my thinking. John sat in the back and I in the front. He is much stronger than me so it made sense for him to sit in the back.

Very funny to see a kayak board sticking out! Just a bit big for my rig. :)

It was gorgeous summer day in June when we attempted to try this kayak out. It did not fit well in my Ford Bronco, as you can see in the photo and is quite laughable to see it stick way out from the back end. Luckily, we did not have far to go. Once we got to the lake, we huffed and puffed as we carried the kayak down, and again, not too far. But, boy, was it HEAVY!! Think real hard if you want to rent a kayak, unless you have plenty of strong people to carry it!

Dear hubby getting things ready to launch.

It was early afternoon by the time we got everything set in the water, sat in the kayak and paddled off. Beck Lake is a small, man-made lake in the heart of Cody. A popular place for the locals and even us visitors. What shall we be called, south birds? Since we are from Arizona it is south of Wyoming. We have snowbirds in the winter cause a lot of the people that visit are from snowy areas. How about HOTBIRDS or SUMMERBIRDS?

Anyway, the wind picked up, an enemy for us water boaters, especially something lightweight like a kayak or paddleboard. Even though this kayak was heavy, it is considered light compared to a real boat. John is paddling very fast and it is hard to keep up with him! Have you ever tried to do something with someone that exact same way and could not keep up? That was me! I gave up for a moment as I could NOT keep up with his paddling, plus he was getting me wet from moving us in the water. Brrrr!!!

We kept getting blown in directions that we did not want to go to, like along the shore. It had many reeds and we did not want to get caught into them. Who knows what kind of bugs may hide in those! After looking at the beautiful scenery around us as we tired our poor arms out from paddling, we decided to go back toward our vehicle. It was time to go. But the wind wanted to leave a calling card for us.

Me in the front!

One minute we were paddling and the next minute we were in the water! I do not remember being tossed upside down. The kayak was above us. Remember how I said it was heavy? Indeed, it was over us with all its weight upon us, but for John. If he was not there I probably would have swam under and around the kayak as I could not lift it. He was lifting it up over our heads, where our heads were just above the water.

IT WAS SCARY!

Getting tossed in a pool, like when a parent throws a child into the pool and swimming to the steps is one thing, but when you are in a lake that is unfamiliar, it is a different situation. I think we lost some stuff, like our water bottles, but I was still wearing my phone, meaning, I have a plastic cell phone cover I wear around my neck when I go into the water. I like to take photos of wherever I travel, including into the water.

Another good thing it was a shallow lake. I could reach the bottom! So we “carried” the kayak toward the shore. No damage done to it, thank goodness. Maybe my pride or maybe I was embarrassed. We were close to a major road in Cody where everyone could see where we were at. I wonder how silly we looked as we were getting tossed into the lake. Definitely a social media video!

This is what I learned about wind on the water. It stinks. Not literally, but figurately. We should have paddled AGAINST the waves, not alongside of them. That was our downfall. When you paddle against the waves, you are going over them where they feel like you are driving over a speed bump. It keeps you in the water. You will feel like you are crashing over the waves, but it may save you from doing a flip like we did.

Looking back at it now I can say that I am grateful to be here, that no damage was done, especially to us, we were safe and we learned a valuable lesson: do not paddle in the wind. I know it is hard to plan a day to go on a lake or river with a kayak or a paddleboard and find out it is windy. Even a slight breeze could be a slight challenge, but would be doable for a day of paddling. Sometimes we cannot predict if the wind will be fierce or not. Weather is always changing, not predictable, even with looking at weather apps. You never know!

What would you do if you were on the water and the wind picked up? Share with us in the comments below!