I uploaded a short clip from my sink on August 27. See the previous blog entry for more details.

You can find the sister clip in my clip store. If you value the clips hosted on this web-site, please support us by purchasing one or more of our clips. Clips4sale now has a preview function, so you can see a short preview of each clip. I’d also like to extend my deepest gratitude to those of you who have been long time supporters of Mudlover.com. There are a handful of people who have made this web-site possible, through their continued support.

Given that the wind has been the more significant factor affecting the tide levels in the estuary this year, I decided to try mudding again today, even though the astronomical tide level wasn’t optimal. There was little or no wind this morning at low tide, and what little wind there was, was coming from a favorable direction. As it turned out, the tide got pretty low, and stayed low long enough for me to wear myself out.

I shot video before I got to the mud, and continued shooting while I was slogging my way through the soft mud. The boat makes an excellent platform for the video camera, so this video is shot from my boat’s point of view. The boat follows me as I slog through the mud, wearing only a pair of tight blue jeans. Eventually, I attempt to slog through a spot that proves impassible. I am caught in subsurface quicksand and sucked to my death. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

After finishing my little drama, I did some acrobatics in the mud before I put away the camera and entertained myself in the bottomless mud until the tide started coming back in. I made a terrible mess of my boat and my gear. Before returning to the car, I swam in the creek and washed everything as well as I could. Once I arrived home, I had to hose the salt water off of everything and scrub my boat vigorously with a scrubber and detergent.

It’s getting late, now. I’ve had a full day. I got an early start, took to the mud before lunch, and went back to work after I got home and took care of my gear. I’m going to wrap this up. In the next couple of days, I’ll upload a new video to my clip store, and I’ll put some outtakes on the web-site. I’d sure love to hear from some of you, when you find the time. Let me know what you think of my recent videos.

The astronomical tides were about as good as they get in August, but a wind out of the South kept the tide from going out as much as I had hoped it would, and the window of opportunity for sinking was pretty short.

I had been watching the tide charts for weeks, and my expectations were high. I packed my breathing tube and my lead weight for some deep mud exploration. When I got to the creek, it didn’t look good, but I was determined to take advantage of whatever mud I could find. Since I arrived before the tide finished going out, I had lots of time to set up a camera and work out the details of my weighted sink. I tied my ankles together and attached the 34 pound lead weight somewhere where I would notice it, pulling me down. I put my breathing hose nearby and swung my ass, and the weight, out into the mud. As gravity would have it, the weight eventually pulled me under the mud, where I had to breath through a hose, as I descended deeper into the cool blackness that now totally engulfed me. There was nothing solid under my feet. The mud was bottomless, as far as I could tell, and the heavy weight was pulling me deeper as I struggled. Going under the mud is intoxicating. Part of me wants to check to be sure I’ll be able to free myself from the weight, and another part of me just wants to sink deeper and deeper until the weight of the mud crushes the breath from my body. I’ll let you decide which part won out.

I uploaded a short clip for you all to check out. You can find it here.

The wind is currently out of the West and South West, which is generally favorable for low tides on the local estuaries. It is just a little after 07:00 AM right now, and the low tide this morning is at 08:15. After paddling with a group last night on the Newport River, surrounded by muddy banks that just begged to be explored, it’s going to be difficult to talk myself out of starting my day in the swamp. If the winds remain favorable, the opportunities for mudding will be much more frequent and promising, but the one thing you can count on with the weather is that it will always change. I was out paddling a couple of days ago, a few hours before low tide, and the water was already pretty low. The sun was setting, so I could only take a quick dip in the mud, as I paddled past one of my favorite spots. By the time I got to the take out, the sun was on the horizon, and the tide was at it’s lowest point. For a +0.5’ low tide, it was pretty low.

Don’t forget to check the clip store for two, new clips from July. I’m going to put together a teaser from some of my recent trips, as soon as I get some free time to hack it together. A special thanks to my buddy in Melbourne for purchasing 2 copies of my latest clip, but you really didn’t have to do that. If there is ever a problem with a download, just let me know and I’ll fix you up. I really appreciate those of you who contribute to my mudding fund. That’s what keeps this web-site alive, and keeps my camera equipment updated. It’s not a for-profit business, but I couldn’t justify the expenses without your financial support. Mudding itself doesn’t cost money, but producing the videos and hosting free videos on my web-server does. So, thanks again to my supporters. You know who you are.

I uploaded the swamp bondage video we shot on July 19 to the clip store. It’s a short, hand-held video of me, struggling hopelessly with my arms tied behind my back and my ankles tied together. I’ve been way too busy to keep up with my videos, but once I get some down time, there are a few videos I want to edit and put on the web-site, and some more I hope to upload to GAMWAM’s Yahoo! Group. Don’t hesitate to drop me a note, if you’re interested in what I’m doing. Like all exhibitionists, I like to have an audience! My next sinking trip will probably be around mid August.