Weather Network said that the wind in Chestermere, AB, was 15 kph gusting to 30 kph. My anemometer said it was more like 30 kph gusting to 50 kph. That’s a lot. I know I’m skilled enough to handle that kind of chop on the water, but that is not the issue.
The issue is my being born with a congenital heart defect that leaves me with substantially less circulation than the average bear. I wasn’t sure if I could sustain the level of effort needed to paddle for kilometers against a brisk wind. Worse, I was alone as no one else in my home felt like hitting the water with me this evening. I might have chanced it if I had someone to get help if I maxed myself out, but it was simply a bad idea for me to push it on my own. I turned around and headed home.
Mother Nature was kind enough to offer me a consolation prize an hour later. I haven’t had my drone up much this summer because there is either smoke, there is wind, or there are no clouds in the sky at all. Often it is all three. That means there has been a real dearth of sunset shots off of the ponds across from my home this year. Well, I got an understated sunset tonight and it felt good.
Not as good as shooting a sunset from open water, but you can’t have everything.
The waterfront image was captured using my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra mobile phone. The sunset image was captured using a DJI Mini 3 photography drone.
