What’s a little storm among friends?

As the team was setting up for the evening, I informed them of impending storms brewing. Preparing for the 3rd Coast Epic Kayak journey, they were aware this could happen, probably would happen more than once and did, in fact, happen. They set up their tents, secured their boats and put on their rain covers. Then, they put up additional guide (guy??) wires to assist with the high winds that were already swirling and had been all day. I had given them the projected timeline, 1:00 am-3:00 am, based on weather reports.

Storms hit at 1:00 am, bringing with it the anticipated high winds, West said it was brutal. They were pounded from 1:00 am-5:00 am. Branndon’s tent started blowing and collapsed. He went knocking on Jeff’s door. Well, Jeff welcomed him in, of course. He’s a nice guy. Unfortunately, Jeff’s tent is a 1-man tent so they were pretty snug, if you catch my drift. Branndon ended up leaving Jeff’s tent and headed to Jimmy’s. He stayed with Jimmy the rest of the morning. At this point, Jeff’s rain fly was pretty much non-existent. He was living his best life in his 1-man tent without a rain cover. He decided to go knock on West’s door. West said Jeff was a welcomed sight because he was holding his tent down by holding on to the poles and with his body. Jeff assisted and they made it through the rest of the night.

Once the wind died down and the rain stopped, they stepped out of their tents to assess the damage. Jeff and Branndon’s tents are done for. They probably would not survive another night like they had. The other two tents made by North Face, survived great. In fact, these two tents are the exact tents West & Jeff used on the Amazon River Expedition 8 (eight) years ago.

The team has decided to paddle to Rockport, regroup, get re-supplied, spend the night (because they did not sleep, at all, last night). Taylar Bargo will be delivering those supplies to the team today. They will head out in the morning, hopefully after the next round of storms blow across.

They never said this would be easy.

Jimmy Harvey & West Hansen setting up camp ahead of storms in Port Aransas. Photo: Jeff Wueste
Branndon Bargo had to throw his kayak on top of his tent to prevent it from blowing away. Photo: Taylar Bargo
Camp the morning after severe storms in Port Aransas. Photo: West Hansen
Branndon Bargo’s tent the morning after storms in Port Aransas. Photo: Branndon Bargo

Start typing and press Enter to search