The temperature made it all the way up to 27C this past Sunday and that could only mean one thing: Paddle board. I dug it out and I pumped it up and off onto Chesteremere Lake I went. Which was great. Mostly.
It was just a tad windy. When I say “tad windy” I mean you needed to paddle a foot to move an inch. At one point the wind was so strong there were whitecaps on the water and I legit got flipped into the lake by one while turning. It’s not often I find myself on a lake that outdoes the shallow rapids in the Bow River.
I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts so the water was damn cold, but I knew I could get back on my board quickly if I ditched and I wasn’t concerned. I was right about that. I forgot about basic physics and remembered shortly after clambering back on the board that a gale force wind is DAMN COLD when you’re soaking wet. The saving grace was it dried me off fairly quickly leaving only the odd crusty (Chestermere, right?).
I had the GPS logging feature enabled on my OM-System Tough TG-7 and it produced what could be my wonkiest GPS track yet. To be honest, I wasn’t trying for any great distance on Sunday, I just needed the feel of being on water again. I made the decision to stick close to the shore and my launch point in case the wind got worse and I needed to ditch my board on the shore and walk back to my truck with it.
When I did get back to the shore, there was a four year old playing on the launch who would not move as I’m shouting at him to get out of my way. The wind was driving me in and I had no way to stop myself at this point. Of course the little twerp didn’t move and I hit him, knocking him onto some grass meaning bruised feelings only. A shouting match ensued with the even dumber parent of the dumb kid. I explained the situation and apologized politely but it was not enough.
Some peace officers who I learned are often present at that spot these days thanks to geopolitical tensions between the two dominant ethnic groups populating that area (my nickname for it is Little Pakistan) defused the situation. They told the parent to do his job and not let his kid play where everyone is going on and coming off the water, especially in a high wind. They also waited with me until he left as he looked like he wanted to take a swing at me. So that was fun.
All in all not a bad day, but not a great day. I didn’t get shivved by a parent or drown, so I guess it was an okay-ish start to the 2025 paddle boarding season.
The sole photograph is from my OM-System Tough TG-7 watersports camera that I miraculously didn’t lose in the lake when I got ditched.
