Breton Bay: Saturday morning’s alright (for paddling)

Don’t give us none of your aggravation
We had it with your discipline
Saturday night’s alright for fighting
Get a little action in

Sir Elton John’s ode to boozing and brawling – “Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting)” – could have served as the theme song for the Leonardtown Wharf when it was released in 1973. My parents used to go dancing at the old wharf bar, now burned and razed, before I came along. And before it was known for bands and beer, the wharf served as one of St. Mary’s County’s major economic hubs, facilitating the transaction of seafood and tobacco on Breton Bay.

However, these days, the area is more for pleasure boaters and paddlers. And boy was there a lot of the latter on Saturday morning.

The Southern Maryland Paddlers group pulled out of the park at the end of Camp Calvert Road and meandered west toward McIntosh Creek and the Port of Leonardtown Winery. I accompanied them for the first leg, coasting past the redeveloped Wharf park along the way. We met Patuxent Adventure Center’s standup paddleboarding class, a trio of kayakers and a group of ladies using their paddleboards as diving platforms. The bay was positively swarming with brightly colored plastic watercraft.

The Ocean Kayak Scrambler is a wet ride

She’s a bit sloppy.

After a winter of working on my severely used Ocean Kayak Scrambler, I finally put in the water Sunday, and, boy, was my butt wet.

“You got any scupper plugs for this?” Lulu asked casually as I pushed the faded yellow plastic barge into a slightly choppy Breton Bay.

I scoffed. Then I put my not insignificant weight on the boat, and water came flooding up into the seat pan. Thank God for swimming trunks.

The Scrambler is a fiercely stable, highly maneuverable, and surprisingly fast-ish chunk of playground plastic. She can even hold a decent line, at least until the wind kicks up. She doesn’t yield to chop, like our Old Town boats, and she doesn’t slice through it like our Eddyline Skylarks. She kinda just batters and blunders through it, splashing like an ecstatic toddler in the surf. This thing was made for beach play and diving, not for cruising. It’s a great toy, as the kids out at St. Mary’s College can tell you.

Momma like!

So yeah, it needs plugs, and it also needs a seat. The bucket shape of the seat pan tilts you into a leaned back position. Without a seat to support my back, my quads had to work overtime to keep me upright.

Lulu took a turn on the boat and felt right at home from her younger days of Patuxent River adventuring. “Add scupper plugs and a seat, and she’s mine.”