Jacob and left the Antelope Island marina at 12:45pm for Fremont Island. The wind was coming in very strong. Once we got out of the marina the waves were about 2-3 feet high. The kayak was loaded down with about 150 pounds worth of camping equipment. We were heading right into the waves and every time Jacob went over the top of a wave he would come crashing down into the next one sending water over the top.
It was crazy. After about an hour of this I asked him if he was OK and I could tell he was not happy. He said "I guess". We kept going for another 25 minutes. I looked at the GPS and we were at 2.35 miles. According to the GPS we were going too far west. I asked Jacob again, are we OK? He said he didn't think so. He was exhausted paddling into that. I told myself, this isn't the Channel. I can touch the boat, how about I try relieving Jacob. So I had just enough room to fit the very bow the boat. I was able to get up on top, but we were taking on water. It was just too much weight with all our equipment and both Jacob and myself, so I had to jump off or the boat would sink (even with the self bailing holes).
At that point I decided we weren't going to make it. If I had a huge boat and didn't have to rely on Jacob I could have made it. But I was so worried about that kid and the distance we had remaining that we turned around and headed back. The waves were pushing us this time towards Antelope which was nice. But once we got close, instead of arriving at the Marina, we were at Egg Island.
The waves and current was really pushing us west! I swam due east for a good while and when we arrived the GPS showed us going in a big circle with the total distance being 3.84 miles.
I had already paid for a night on Fremont, as well as Antelope (in order to park my van overnight). So I went home and fetched the family for an overnight camp on Antelope. Holy bugs! We got eaten alive, even thought we were all smothered in bug spray. Kind of a miserable day.
3.84 miles total
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