This was not a good idea

 Last Friday we decided to do a Moonlight Paddle up in Green Bay.  It was an ambitious 7 mile trip down the Fox River from Depere to the bay.  We launched at 6:30pm and the paddle was anticipated to take about 3 hours, during which time the sun would set and we'd paddle along in the moonlight.  Sounds awesome, right?

Well, we should have initially noticed that there would be problems because the course was shortened due to the "high rollers" at the mouth of the bay.  Why?  The river flows north and there was a stiff wind coming from the north pushing all that water from Green Bay up into the Fox River.  Yeah, I'm a hydrologist I should know something about lake set-up.  Oh well, I'll remember it now.

Initially we didn't have any problems because we started upriver from the Depere lock.  They piled all the paddlers into the lock and closed us in.  This was actually very, very cool, though somewhat anxiety-producing.

Here is Jacob in our kayak at the start.  Note that we are on the left side of the lock and the water level is high.

Here we are with the water level dropped.  We were pulled first backward and then to the right, which if you are trapped in a lock and the water is pulling you in crazy directions, you do feel a bit like you might get sucked down the drain.

Once we were through the lock, we began the long part of the paddle.  As we moved downriver, the wind picked up and so did the waves.  At first, it was great fun.  Jacob loved the waves and "woohoo'ed" every one.  That lasted not too long.  The waves got bigger, the wind stiffer, and then the sun went down and it got colder.

We were not making progress very quickly and if you stopped paddling - you went back upriver.  In addition, the uneven weight distribution in the kayaks meant that if you were not dead-on into the wind, it would pick up the front of the kayak and have you perpendicular to the waves in no time.

So on we went.  I think one of the guides must have been a little concerned about us, because he paddled along for about the last 1/3 of the trip asking frequently how we were doing.  (Incidentally, we were not the farthest group back).  I had to employ an old trick I used when we had long sets in swimming - counting repeatedly to 4 to keep rhythm.

And on we went.  Nearing the final lights of the pull out, we were approached from behind by..... the police.  "You are too far in the middle of the channel, also you aren't supposed to be in kayaks at night, please move to the side."  Yeah - at that point I would have gladly taken "getting pulled over" if it came with a ride to shore.  The problem with moving to the side of the channel was brought up previously - any deviation from straight on into the wind was going to put us cross-wind and that close to the end may flip the whole boat in the waves.  In the dark.

So, finally we made it to the pull out.  Wet, tired, sore, and cold.  Allison's comment: "Mom. Dad. This was Not A Good Idea."