Kayaking Adventures

Stone Bridge on a good day

2011-11-28T06:55:00.008-05:00

Three years ago, almost to the day, I planned a paddle in the currents of Stone Bridge. The forecast was dire but the paddling never really lived up to the hype. This year Bob made similar plans. He was a bit more lucky.

The key to excitement at Stone Bridge is opposing wind and current. We have been out there when the current is running strong but standing waves won’t form due to lack of wind. The fast moving flat water provides its own challenges. Crossing the eddy lines in the long sea kayaks can be a bit disconcerting. But it’s not fun.

It was Wednesday when Bob started suggesting the paddle. That’s a little early for me to commit to anything. Especially when the commute is two hours long and I haven’t been on the water for almost three months. By Friday I could see that the temperatures would be reasonable (low 50s with sun) and the winds would have potential (high teens from the SW). In addition, all the other little life events seemed to be indicating a free day. The only remaining factor was how would my body feel on Saturday morning.

Saturday came. Out of bed a little after 5am. A cup of coffee and the hunt for all my winter kayak gear took about an hour. Loading the boat in the 32 degree temperatures took a while. I located my “land based” digital camera with the 10x zoom so Keri could take pictures from the base of the bridge (it needed charging). We were off by a little after 7.

Stop at Dunkin Doughnuts for a muffin. Stop at Cumberland Farms for a Gatorade and a couple of granola bars that I’d forgotten. Search for a place to pee. …. Arrive at Stone Bridge around 9am. Well before anybody else!

Eventually Tim arrived, then Bob and Tony and Jon and Todd and Rich. We began to suit up and prepare the boats. The wind was blowing and the water had some shape to it already. I put on more layers than I expected I’d need and struggled with a sticky dry suit zipper that needs fresh wax. Finally, with a “look out for each other” pep talk from Tim we were on the water.

I felt OK in front of the beach but as I made my first tentative pass through the slop I felt like it was going to be a short wet day. I felt so uncomfortable in my boat. Going directly from time off to testing conditions was a bit too ambitious. I fired up a little adrenaline and I made it through. I played a bit around the edges and before I knew it I was in the middle and comfortable. “It’s like riding a bike!”

Once I became comfortable in the boat the conditions appeared a bit tame. There was current and there was wind and the resulting waves but they weren’t overly large. We all began to hope for boats to pass through and stir things up. Tim used his time to focus on skills. Crossing the eddy lines, crossing the rough areas as opposed to traveling directly up and down them. Rich went ashore to peel off some layers. The conditions seemed to go even flatter. Jon and I were having a little conversation at the down current end watching the others up by the buoys.

Suddenly our boats were bouncing in some good standing waves. Jon and I recommenced playing. I called Todd over to our spot. But in a matter of minutes the whole area came back to life. I think the wind had shifted and increased a bit. We made our way to the buoys and things were getting exciting. Exciting enough that most people began to stay ahead of the slop. Backing in for a little excitement and pulling back forward to gain composure. At the transition there were many short wave length three footers. Not quite standing waves but chaotic transients with unpredictable direction sometimes almost abeam.

At this point I felt like I was beginning to run out of talent. My boat, very light because there was nothing in the bulkheads was being turned up wind from behind unless the skeg was down. Then, in the flat area, I needed skeg up to get the boat to turn back up wind. Generally, I don’t like to use the skeg. I feel like if I need it “I’m” doing something wrong. It has its place. It is great for balancing a boat to help hold a heading while paddling. But this was different. I needed skeg just to get the boat to do what I wanted. And if I need to be fiddling with the skeg to move the boat around in conditions it was only a matter of time before I was upside down.

I was also hot and thirsty. It felt like the right time to go over and take a break and get some Gatorade in me. I got out of the boat for a few minutes and talked with Keri, Tim (who was also taking a breather), and some spectators wondering what was going on.

I returned to the current for some more play. I wanted to make a run into the wind but it was a real struggle to get the boat to point that way. Wind at this point was more influential than the current. In hind sight, the nearby buoy reports indicated steady 20 to 25 MPH winds from the SSW with gusts near 30. It didn’t seem that windy from a wind in your face point of view but it certainly did from a boat handling perspective.

Then, far up wind, I could see Tim’s boat upside down and only Bob was near him. Rich and Tony were off the water. Todd was near me (I think). And Jon was taking a break (I think). I felt I needed to get there quickly. I decided to go the longer route around the channel where the water was a bit less lively. If Tim was upside down the conditions were formidable. I did not want to be “another” casualty. I was surprised how quickly I got there given that I was struggling to go up wind just moments earlier.

As I approached I could see that Tim was separated from his boat. Bob was struggling to collect the boat and Tim was attempting to paddle-swim towards it. I paused to set up my tow belt. I was assuming it would be helpful to tow the two of them out of the area of rough water and towards the east where things were a little more tame.

… flash back to the beach before we launched… Tim and Bob were discussing “break away” connections for their tow belts. Many paddlers pull the hook of the tow belt out of the pouch and clip it to their vest. This makes it much easier to grab in times just like this one. I need to take both hands off the paddle to fumble with the pouch and find the hook. This leaves me unable to brace for short periods of time. The counter problem is that if the hook is out of the pouch there is a short length of rope out with it that becomes one more thing to get tangled up in. Tim just tucks his into his vest. It is not hooked to anything and can easily be pulled out. Others clip to a “break away” or “quick release” loop. This allows you to easily disconnect should the short length of exposed rope get tangled. … flash to the future… I need to decide on my method. In real conditions fumbling for the clip of the tow rope is not acceptable. I’ve managed to not get in trouble so far but when seconds count accessibility is important. I don’t want to tip over fumbling with my tow rope when somebody else needs a rescue…. Back to the present…

Tim and his boat do not seem to be converging. Bob is dealing with Tim’s boat so I decide to go to Tim and try and bring him to the boat by letting him hold on to or climb up on my bow. As I am doing this the four interested parties (Tim, Paul, Bob, and the Boat) seem to converge. I switch to performing the rescue.

Grab the boat: it’s already upright because Bob was towing it. It is difficult to grab because everything is bouncing up and down on the waves.
Drain the boat: there is not a lot of water in the boat but it seems appropriate to drain it. We are a good distance from land and it will be much easier to paddle empty. Things feel pretty stable once I am well connected to the boat.
Stow the paddles: This is usually where I go wrong in a rescue. When I try and tuck them under a deck line they often seem to end up askew and out of reach or a blade ends up in the water almost pulling me over. I put my paddle into my paddle biner on my deck. I attempt to hold Tim’s paddle under my arm between the boats. The paddle of course ends up in the water between the boats but I keep an eye on it and this time it doesn’t get away. I need to master tucking the paddle under the deck line quickly with one hand.
Get Tim in the boat: Tim’s a big guy. He has a lot of experience getting into the boat but he doesn’t just ‘pop’ in and it’s hard to keep his boat flat during the transition. We suck some water into the boat in the process but not too bad.
Attach the spray skirt: The skirt is always a bit of a problem. Tim gets it mostly on but I spend some time helping him get a section behind him pulled properly over the combing.

Meanwhile… Bob is upside down. I’m not sure exactly when it happened but he got his paddle tangled in his own tow line and went over. Fortunately Jon and Todd headed over to help him. Todd gets him in his boat, Jon retrieves his paddle. After finishing up with Tim I headed over to Bob and helped stabilize the rescue.
After the rescues Jon and I headed back for one more pass. When I realized everyone else was headed directly for the beach I decided to stay on the edge of the chop and keep an eye on Jon. He had just gotten back on the water and probably wanted to stay longer but we both returned to the beach.

After we finished, Jon commended Tim for holding his paddle vertically above him while he was in the water. From the distance it was all that Jon could see to locate where Tim was. We also discussed that Tim ended up in the water after a failed roll that Bob had encouraged him to attempt. In the end it made for some great practice in conditions.

I know I say this all the time but it was another great day on the water. We got the chop we were looking for, I re-acclimated to my boat relatively quickly, and I got to spend some time with friends I haven’t seen for a few months. Can it get any better?

11/12/2011 Stone Bridge, Sunny and low 50s, Water mid 50s, winds SSW at 15 building to 25

Stonington, ME

2011-08-14T21:14:00.003-04:00

It was August already and I still hadn’t been kayak camping this year. We often pop up to Casco Bay but that did not seem remote enough. Muscongas is beautiful but it is the location of my last Maine Island trip. It was just Keri and I so I thought the familiarity of Deer Island would be a good thing. But I did not want to repeat the previous trip to Stonington. We chose to launch from Naskeag Point and see where the paddling would get us.

We left on a Wednesday. It was a rainy day but the forecast was favorable for the rest of the week. We had prepared very little and spent the morning packing. It was around lunchtime when we left, stopping for Lebanese food in Methuen, Kittery trading post for Wag Bags, a lobster roll in Wiskasett, then iced coffee and some more bread for lunches on the water. We rolled into Bucksport around 7 pm and checked into an inexpensive hotel. Our plan was an early launch on Thursday morning.

It was a bit gray on the ride to Brooklin. At the launch it was foggy. We could see the first island less than ¼ mile away. We couldn’t see the second at ½ mile. I packed the boats in a whirlwind. Keri felt a bit helpless just watching me. We need to practice this a bit but I wanted to get her boat balanced as best I could to help with the handling and stability. And I was a bit nervous about the fog…

I had map, compass, GPS, and limited visibility. We had all day to find a spot and could camp on two Islands within a ½ mile of the launch so there was no rush or urgency to push into danger. But I did want to go further than a mile. We chose to paddle from visible island to visible island and take it one island at a time. The ¾ mile crossing was the most sketchy. We waited till the fog thinned a little and went for it. We did this hopping six times. We settled in on the Lazyguts Thrumcaps. It is a new Island on the Maine Island Trail and was absolutely beautiful. It had only one tent sight set in the woods on deep, soft, (and dry), peat soil. There was very little landing opportunity on the granite at high tide but as the tide dropped a gently sloped beach made mostly of barnacle shells revealed itself.

Lazyguts Thrumcaps Islands

The fog never quite went away all day Thursday. We settled into our island exploring the amenities and harvesting our first snack of Mussels. (We had checked for shellfish closures before we left the mainland.) During the night it “rained” fog on our tent. The spruce trees were wringing the moisture out of the fog. I could not believe it wasn’t rain. I actually went out on the rocks just to prove it to myself.

Afternoon Snack

Friday morning was sunny and calm. A seal pup explored the rocks near our tent. He would expose his cute little tail flippers before diving. We loaded lunch and drinks into the kayaks and headed over to the islands in front of Stonington. We saw some seals and some beautiful islands. Coming back we made a few long crossings. None quite as far or as treacherous as the Johnstone Strait crossing we are preparing for. But good practice none the less. Back on our Island we snacked on meat we brought back from Spain, 5 year old Gouda, and some more mussels!

Looking North to Stonington

The moon was nearly full and we were treated to a sun set and a moon rise that opposed each other and lined up perfectly with the gap between our islands. As the sun set we saw a head pop up just off the island and heard a squeak. I had never heard a seal make that sound before. Minutes later we heard more squeaking and saw a pair of otters frolicking on the rock weed near the water. I tried to take a picture but brown otters on brown sea weed in low light results in a “you have to just believe me that those are otters” photo!

Sunset looking one way...

Full Moon looking the other!

On Saturday we choose to head inland a bit and we did a circumnavigation of Stinson Neck. This included a portage over the causeway to avoid backtracking. We poked into Western Cove hoping to buy a few lobsters. There was only one boat with crew aboard and he was just cleaning up the boat. As it turns out there is no “pot pulling” on Sunday. Sunday starts officially at 4pm on Saturday. We would not appreciate until the next morning the quiet of not having all the lobster boats out. As usual, we snacked on meat, cheese, and mussels.

East to Mount Desert Island

Sunday was overcast as we packed up our boats. I took the time to explain to Keri my logic with loading the boats. The new roll up crazy creek chairs we got at REI pack perfectly along the skeg box. With 5 less gallons of water and some empty food bags the loading went very easy. I still choose to pack the sleeping bags in dry bags in front of my feet in the cockpit. I’ve got a new dry bag compression sack which worked perfectly from the fitting point of view. One of these days I’m going to flip over and find out just how waterproof the dry bags really are.

While packing the fog was slowly rolling in. When it came time to launch we could not see the Island 0.2 miles away. I set a heading that I thought would skim the island and head toward Stinson Neck. On the water our boats were twisted around by the currents. We were a bit lackadaisical about holding a compass heading and finally saw land. We approached and checked the GPS. We found we had made a big arc and were on the opposite side of the island we were headed to. With new appreciation I picked a new heading and held our course tightly. We arrived at our second waypoint with much less trouble. The visibility was still poor so we hugged the shore. I was preparing Keri for what was going to be a blind crossing. Holding a course with both wind and tide skewing us inshore we were sure to reach our destination shoreline. But if we didn’t hit any of the islands along the way it was going to be two miles. Again, I had the GPS but I always consider it the back up. If I’m not comfortable with map and compass I’m not going.

Fog when we started... Fog again as we left.

Fortunately, as we headed inland we popped out of the fog. Our path was to be right along the interface between fog and clear air. We started across and as we did the fog receded even more. All was to be uneventful.

It was a very relaxing 4 days in the Jericho bay area of Maine. The Maine Island trail is an incredible resource. If you’ve ever been frustrated by lack of shore access you might consider becoming a member. They are a model that other water trail activities are emulating. And as much as I’d like to keep it personnel secret, the more people who help who use it responsibly and preserve it the better.

August 11, 12, 13, 14, generally light winds increasing out of the SW into the afternoon. Air 60-70+, water 55 degrees.

Paddles of 2011

2011-01-01T11:11:00.012-05:00

Paddles of 2011

February 13, Osprey Sea Kayak Rolling Clinic
March 20, Bay Campus/Narragansett Beach/Whale Rock
April 30, Fogland Beach to 3rd Beach
May 28, Essex River
June 4, Slocum River
June 25, Gooseberry Evening Paddle
June 25,26 Wilderness First Aid Class
July 9 URI Bay Campus
July 23 Head of Westport
July 31 Ft Wetherhill
August 11,12,13,14 Stonington ME
August 20 Sakonnet Point
November 12 Stone Bridge

Westport River on an outgoing tide

2010-11-06T20:50:00.005-04:00

“I love it when a plan comes together”. The week was rolling along and I had no firm plans for Saturday. Then a received this email Friday morning:
“ … I'm picking up my brand new boat Sat. morning at Osprey. ( Limey, the Green Hornet ). With the new moon and tidal ebb and large swells ( 6 ft. ), I'm guessing that there will be good play conditions at the mouth of the Westport river. … (Jon)”

Excellent!

Bob checked the tide timing… he was in. Rick was expecting 7-10 foot seas… he was in. Add Jon and I and we had a nice group of 4 with similar capabilities. Rick and I both expressed some concern about the conditions. I know Jon is reasonably cautious. And Bob? Despite his well earned reputation, he does show good judgment when suitably encouraged to use it.

The Mini goes kayaking

So Saturday morning came and off we went into conditions we knew would be exciting but we had no idea exactly what to expect. It was cold, the air and water were around 50, the sky was grey, and there was a light breeze from the North. On the way out I asked who had a radio. Jon and I both had radios in our day hatches. I also mentioned that the 4 of us were all not known for staying in a tight group. We all acknowledged this and agreed we needed to look out for each other.

The tide was running fast and we reached the mouth averaging about 6 MPH while paddling at an easy pace. When we approached the open part of the harbor we could see that waves were occasionally rolling over the bar within the harbor. The rip at the group of rocks off the end of Cherry and Webb beach was almost as strong as what we expect to see along the Knubble. And the waves? They were breaking about a ¼ mile off the beach, for as far as the eye could see.

Nasty on the outside

We decided (at least in my mind) that it would be a good idea to paddle out of the harbor and see what it was like before we were dragged out of the harbor upside down if we were to go over in the rip. We went out between ½ mile rock and the Knubble. Although 20 years ago this was the marked channel, the channel is now marked to the east of the rock. But we did not want to be on the east side of the rock. It was breaking everywhere to that side. Our path was covered with very steep 4 footers. We went out through them and could see they were growling all around. One in particular had us all paddling hard to get over it.

Once through the worse of it we were in a fairly comfortable spot. We could have paddled to the west a bit without too much trouble but we were all a bit uncomfortable out there. It was just the 4 of us. It’s November, there were no fishermen stupid enough to be out there with us. I suggested that before we went anywhere it would be a good idea to go back in and be sure we would be comfortable paddling with the waves behind us. We turned around and went in. I think we were fortunate to get through without a big set of swells to upset us. It was exciting but not overwhelming. Once back inside we headed for the rip along the Knubble. It was seriously interesting in there; lots of messy three footers standing up at random locations. Near the rock of “Eric loses his glasses” fame there was a steady three foot mayhem and the eddy was nonexistent. We were all barely able to make headway through here regardless of how far from the shore we paddled. In fact it was better to be in the area where it was sloppier because you could surf forward. However, the chances of being upside down in there were much greater. We had spent about 15 minutes outside the harbor and it took us about another 15 minutes to get through the rip and onto the beach behind the Knubble. Our average speed through the rip was less than ½ mph! There were times where I was wondering if I'd be able to paddle through.

Nasty on the inside

We all hopped out on the beach. We had only been paddling for 45 minutes and we were feeling a bit defeated. It was an interesting situation. We were all “statistically” capable of handling the conditions but we all knew that when the narrow side of the statistics caught up with us it was not going to be pretty. The outgoing tide was going to push us to the east in front of Horseneck Beach where we knew we didn’t want to be. The North wind was going to push us off shore so ultimately we would end up on the sandbar off Horseneck. There was a real possibility of getting stuck on the bar and not be able to get to shore nor outside the bar.

With appropriate caution we headed back to the rocks off Cherry and Webb beach. There was enough excitement over there. And, closer to the beach, getting to the beach as a fall back was much more realistic. I started off with a wonderfully long fast ride on a perfect swell eliciting some envy from my peers. (That would change.) After about a half hour we were all growing tired. We were still paddling against a stiff current the whole time. Rick and Jon were paddling together in the rip near the rocks. They headed toward the beach for a break and lunch. Bob and I were playing a little further out where there was more swell. We too would head to the beach but suddenly I was over. I don’t remember the exact situation but ultimately my bow dug in, my stern came around, and despite my brain saying lay on the wave I couldn’t bend my body over to that side. I attempted a roll then predictably was bailing out.

Even nasty where it's usually flat

Now I’m in the water. Shit. Rick and Jon are standing on the beach. Shit. Bob is close. Great. My helmet is floating beside me. Shit. When we left the beach Bob offered to help carry my boat and I just popped it on my head without snapping it. Shit. I’m well dressed for the water and I have my neoprene hood on and am really pretty comfortable. Great. I’m trying to grab my helmet while holding the boat and paddle. We are all drifting together so I do momentarily let go of one at a time and gather them all. Great. Bob is making his way towards me. Great. I’m calm-ish but I really want to execute a quick and efficient rescue. I was in a safe place when I went over but I’m drifting out at 3mph. I tried to flip my own boat without success. (why I thought this was a good idea is beyond me.) Bob seems a little too relaxed about all this and executes a nearly perfect rescue if only a little too slow from my perspective. (Actually Bob’s deliberate approach was appropriate. If he was to have gone over too it would have been a whole new situation. ) I’m back in the boat with a little more water than I’d like but I’m in quick enough that we are still in relatively flat water. To the right there are the beach breakers that I can avoid. To the left is the messiness that I can avoid. Behind me are the bar breakers that I desperately want to avoid. I can see that there is a calm path to the beach so I choose to paddle with the water in the boat. Bob paddles just behind me. Had I gone over again there was a real possibility that he could have executed an Eskimo rescue. That would have been fun!

Jon's new boat

We gathered up on the beach and ate lunch. I was a bit cool but not so much so that I didn’t think I would be OK when I got back in the boat. After lunch we headed back over to the rip by the Knubble. We “thought” things had calmed down a bit but it was still flowing strong and the setup was the same except that the eddy had reformed behind Eric’s rock. We messed about here for about an hour, alternating sides as a few boats passed in and out. The paddle back to the launch that took 15 minutes with the tide took 45 minutes against the flow.

Fun for the boys

The new boat is stable

It was a great day on the water. We did take some risks by paddling where we were but I felt like we did a good job of respecting the conditions. The fact that I did go over and things did not break down does indicate that we were not way out of bounds. In hindsight, I’m sure Rick and Jon wished they were on the water when I went over. In hindsight Bob and I should have headed to the beach with them. I could see Rick and Jon watching what was going on. I did not specifically ask but I imagine they were ready to get in their boats. As I sit here this morning it’s easy to say that Rick could have jumped in the boat to be a support boat and Jon could have pulled out his radio and watched what was going on from shore ready to summon support if needed. But my comments are only from the “in hindsight what is the safest thing we could have done” perspective. If any poor judgment was to be assigned it would point directly at me.

11/5/2010, water 52 air 49, wind N-10, strong outgoing tides, 4+ foot swell, 6.9 miles

Wicopesset

2010-10-11T19:45:00.004-04:00

Cam, Tim, Gerry, John G, Joe S, Rich C, Bob, Rick, and I met in Stonington for a Wicopesset tidal race adventure. It was a new moon in autumn so we expected strong currents. Paddling on the flood tide meant that if we went over we’d drift into the protected side of Fishers Island instead of out to sea. It was also Columbus Day, a holiday for many of us. The setup seamed ideal.

The weather was perfect. Although temperatures started in the mid 40s in Northborough it was predicted to be in the mid sixties, mostly sunny, and light winds on the coast.

The nine of us paddled the 2 mile crossing to the east point of Fishers Island in multiple small pods. We could see dozens of boats and birds circling out past Wicopesset. One could only conclude the fishing was good. We stopped on the island for a short while to let the currents build. Then we all headed around the corner for some play.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much there. The current was strong but the surface was relatively flat. We all paddled through a few times and the most exciting part was playing by a rock right on the initial upslope out of Block Island sound. The water would flow over the rock creating some reliable waves behind it. Joe was the boldest, approaching the rock from all angles and unconcerned about crossing the flow. The rest of us did our best to be there when the standing wave formed and surf a bit.

What the race really needed was some wind or some waves. The wind wasn’t happening but occasionally a boat would pass by and get things stirred up. This happened a couple of times. The best time being right before lunch. During this 5 minute window. Joe, Jerry and I tended to surf near the front of the race. Rich and Bob tended to bounce and play in the more turbulent sections. The others were off playing around some rocks near the shore.

I managed to have some fun in the turbulence, surf over the rock, surf the front wave, and play in the rocks. So when the call for lunch came I was ready. Gerry, Bob, Joe, and Rich stayed for a little more but were not far behind. On the paddle back to the beach I was first surprised by a surfacing snorkeler then was surprised again by a good sized harbor seal swimming within 20 feet of my boat. It seemed too early in the (winter) season for a seal.

We ate a relaxed lunch and we all were in no rush to get back in our boats. Like any day on the water we were happy to be out but we were all a bit disappointed in the conditions. They were far from “Medieval”.

When we finally got back in our boats we headed off towards Latimer Reef Light. Rick dropped a lure for some fishing but got no action. The action we did get was a fresh west wind blowing at 15+. This made for a fun beam sea on the leg to the lighthouse and a great following sea for the leg back to Stonington. We all had plenty of fun down wind surfing. At one point I looked over at Rick and could see his face saying “I really need to stop this ‘cause I’m dead tired but I’m having too much fun.” Tim and I certainly shared his thoughts…. we all kept surfing.

This searching for tidal races is hit or miss. We’ve had one great day in Westport and one nice day at Stone Bridge. But for each of those successes we’ve had three or so just OK days at the same venue. But even when the waves don’t appear we always have fun. This day was no exception.

Stonington to Wicopesett 8.1 miles Air Temp 65, Water Temp 64, winds light going west 19-21 knots

Surf's Up

2010-09-29T21:20:00.007-04:00

First and foremost I’d like to congratulate Tim on receiving his BCU 4 STAR SEA KAYAK LEADER award. I mention that because I was able to paddle with him on his final assessment. If you are not familiar with what that means I think I can say simply that Tim has demonstrated to the BCU coaches that he is everything that we RICKA paddlers know he is. A highly skilled paddler and a strong and competent leader.

Now on to the paddle… Eric J, John G and I joined Tim as his “subjects” while John Carmody, a BCU 5 level coach evaluated his performance. Of course we were happy to help by being Tim’s guinea pigs but we selfishly hoped to pick up a few pointers from John in the process.

The winds forecast for the day were relatively light but there was a good swell running from a windy night. Off shore wave heights were running around 6 feet. My experience is that this usually translates into something interesting out past Bonnet Shores.

We all met at the usual time at the Bay Campus. After introducing us to John C, Tim shared his plan which was basically a paddle to the Narrow River and back. And with that we were off. We paddled as a pod until we reached the rocky shore that is the beginning of Bonnet. At that point Eric took the lead and Tim held back. The swells were already showing some power so Eric held a comfortable distance off the shore. As we approached Bonnet Point Tim jumped in front and made an assessment of whether we could tuck behind the big rock there. You could see the waves rolling through on both sides of the rock so we decided to stay out. The water depth jumps quickly from about 35 feet to about 10 feet in this area. The result was plenty of 6-8 foot waves rolling through. This is actually a fairly predictable area.

Around the next point the waves were all 6-8 foot, but they had plenty of time between them. While predictable in time they were a bit less predictable in space. There is a lot of wave refracting going on in this area as the shore line and the bottom contours bend around. We all had a chance to get caught on a "big one". John hesitated on his and didn’t paddle as aggressively as I would have liked to see but he made it over fine. My chance seemed to be all of 10 feet with the top foot or so folding over. I was fine going up. But the adrenaline kicked in as I popped over the top blinded with a face full of saltwater. There I waited for the bow to pitch back down out of the air into the much more supportive water. Thankfully I landed with a smile.

We stayed outside of the breaking waves as we approached the rocks off the Narrow River. We grouped up there and discussed what to do. Tim, with his local knowledge, was considering bringing us in. I was OK with going in but was a bit apprehensive about coming back out.

At this point Tim and John talked a bit. John Carmody suggested that we stay away from the rocks and explore the possibility of landing directly on the beach. We paddled a bit further along the beach looking for something smaller. I was less than excited about landing in the 6 foot dumping waves. We gathered together and John offered a teaching momment talking about the conditions. We mutually decided the safe thing to do was head back to a protected landing spot to the west of Bonnet.

Eric and I led the way back by heading out towards Whale Rock staying well away from trouble. It was great fun when we turned north and finally had these 6 footers pushing us along. Without incedent, we all landed for lunch.

After lunch we headed to Bonnet Beach for some surfing. I did a little rock gardening along the way. At one point I was setting up to pass through some rocks when John C started calling out “wave”. It was only a 3+ footer but I was in close to the rocks. With the advanced warning I had time to prepare and easily passed over it.

Tim led us to a safe landing on Bonnet beach and we discussed the plan. John C helped us with some pointers. I had watched John come in to shore and saw him doing a lot of intense stern ruddering as he rode the wave. My boat surfs well and I often end up out in front of the wave. So when he told me apply some “brake” with my stern rudder to keep the boat high on the wave I knew exactly what he meant. His point (to all of us) was to keep the stern of the boat up over the top of the wave so that it would be easier to turn the boat. My first try was positive. In my second try I slowed too much and buried the bow. It’s all about finding the right balance. John’s other points… lean more subtly with your butt instead of your knees, watch where you are on the wave, don’t watch the bow. He had other points for Tim, Eric and John.

We left the beach before we were all too tired. We again stayed outside of the rocks at Bonnet point and turned north towards the Bay Campus, pushed by some nice swells. Back at the launch there was no rolling and rescues. We were all tired and ready to call it a day.

I guess John Carmody liked what he saw. What I saw was once again Tim led us in some challenging conditions, kept us safe, allowed us to push ourselves a little, and still allowed us to have fun. That’s what I want to see out of a BCU-4 leader!

9/29/2010, Bay Campus to Narragansett Beach, 12.5 miles, light SW winds, Air 70, water 62.

Saguenay Fjord (Paul's View)

2010-08-12T20:51:00.002-04:00

I’d been planning a trip to British Columbia this summer but work and life combined to make the trip inconvenient. But I did not want the summer to pass without some sort of kayak camping adventure so I reserved the week following the Pan Mass Challenge bike ride for some sort of trip. On my list were three areas that I thought Keri and I could paddle as a pair. We settled on the Saguenay Fjord in Quebec. This is an area we could reasonably expect to see Beluga whales. It is also an area that is amenable to kayak camping with a Canadian National Park providing tent platforms accessible from the water only (no car camping) over its 60 mile length.

Generally the park wants you to paddle in one direction out of the Fjord. This would require a shuttling of the boats or at least the people to complete. We investigated this but found the number of days that the shuttle ran to be limited and not compatible with our schedule. I also found that the employees making reservations at the park were not strict about the one way direction. These issues as well as the tide timing mapped into the following plan:

Launch at Anse de Roche in Sacré-Coeur on an incoming tide paddling 7 miles to camp at Anse des Îlets Rouges. Launch late morning with an incoming tide 10 miles towards camp at Anse du Portage. Launch very early morning to catch the outgoing tide 13 miles to Anse au Cheval. Launch at a leisurely morning pace to return 5 miles to Sacré-Coeur.

The wild card in this plan was the wind. The Saguenay Fjord is generally about 1 to 2 miles wide and lined with 300 foot steep sides. It is part of what makes it a beautiful place. It also forms a wind tunnel with the wind blowing up or down its length.

We drove straight up to Tadousac in one day. It is about a 10 hour ride without any significant stops. We stayed at “La Galouine Auberge et Restaurant” where we had a wonderful dinner and a fine breakfast. This set us up to be at the launch around 9AM and on the water before 10:30. (We pre-sorted the gear into dry bags in the B&B parking lot.)

The boats packed up relatively easily. Keri felt a bit helpless watching as I stuffed bags into all the crevices of the two kayaks. I wanted to make sure her boat was loaded properly with the weight centered and low in the boat to maximize her stability. She had never paddled a loaded boat.

It was a beautiful warm day with little wind. Even though the water is cold we did not wear wetsuits. This is always a calculated risk you take based on water temperature, air temperature, weather conditions, skills, number of paddlers, and proximity to shore and/or rescue. As we paddled towards Baie Sainte-Marguerite the wind began to pick up in our faces. Keri was beginning to struggle with boat control when suddenly we were in amongst the Belugas. They were popping up all around us as we held our position into the wind with the tide and light paddle strokes.

When there was a lull in the whale surfacing and we started to try and make headway again it became apparent just how much the wind had picked up. It was clear we needed to get going so I put Keri under tow to help make her strokes as efficient as possible (no worries about directional control). We both did some hard paddling until we landed on the NE edge of Baie Sainte-Marguerite. We needed to rest, get some food in us, and put on our wetsuits which we had stored accessibly in our front hatches.

I was concerned. The wind at this point was blowing about 20 knots (as measured by how tightly I had to tighten the elastic cord in my hat to keep it on my head). The waves with an opposing tide had built to at least a 2 foot chop and it was difficult for us to make forward progress. We would seek refuge behind each little point but then as we rounded the point we would be exposed to the worst combination of tide, wind and chaotic waves. Fortunately, our first camp site was closer than I expected and we dragged our tired bodies ashore in a cove protected from the wind.

Our campsite was beautiful. We were the only campers on the six well spaced tent platforms. We cooked up our steaks and potatoes and relaxed in the evening light. I was enjoying myself but I was concerned about the wind. I was tired from the first day’s effort and I knew I would not be able to tow Keri for a second day like I did the first. We discussed this casually and I pointed out that we could always turn back if the wind returned.

The second day started out reasonable but there was already a head wind right from the start. It appeared to be coming across the fjord at an angle so we crossed over to the other side to seek refuge. Unfortunately, as I feared, the wind was coming straight down the middle and riding up both sides as it was slowed ever so slightly by the cliffs. We fought it for a while but I wanted the experience to be fun, not a slog. I chose to abort our planned destination before we were a third of the way there. We would take our chances that there would be an open campsite at one of the three pullouts that were within our reach. Anse à Tidée was the destination of choice.

With the decision made we crossed back over, now with the wind at our backs, to explore some islands on the other side. We sought out eddies to push us against the tide and played in some mini tidal rips. We ate lunch in Anse Gagnon. The gradual slope of this beach combined with the 15 foot tides had us pulling in the boats every 10 minutes. On the crossing back over to Anse à Tidée Keri spotted one lone Beluga.

We were the only campers at this pullout. We began to empty our boats and scope out the prime tent site. Just as were ready to settle in 5 paddlers came around the corner. They were a Maine Based tour group and they had reservations at four of the six sites. Fortunately no one else showed up and we settled in on an upper platform. We let them use the beach and we cooked dinner up by our tent.

Because of our plan change, the paddle from Anse à Tidée to Anse au Cheval was only about 3 miles. These three miles would bring us back by Baie Sainte-Marguerite where we hoped to see the Belugas again. I chose to fight the current around Île Saint-Louis so that we would drift through the whale zone and not have to paddle directly towards it. Unfortunately the currents were strong and pulled Keri’s boat around mercilessly. I quickly put her on tow again to get her around the island. Although the tow helped achieve my goal it was probably a poor decision from the point of view of building Keri’s paddling self confidence. Here we were in flat calm water and I was towing her. We could have just gone with the current the whole way.

We did not see any whales this morning and we pulled into our next campsite at the bottom of the tide. We settled in and I put a long rope on the boat and slowly advanced them with the tide. Through binoculars we kept watch for the Belugas. I was unsure if they showed up each day at the same time of day or the same time on the tide. Our plan was to wait until we could see them and then cross over in our empty boats. We waited until almost 4pm and the top of the tide. (This was later in both day time and tide time than we had seen them the first day.)

Near the mouth of Baie Sainte-Marguerite there were Belugas everywhere. We saw at least three distinct pods and we watched 3 and 4 surfacing simultaneously. We even saw one floating vertically in the water with its head in the air. A tandem kayak passed a few hundred yards from us and a pod of 4 or 5 chased it as it paddled away!
Suddenly, there was a disturbance right off Keri’s bow. She could see the whale passing under her boat. I looked down and could see mom and baby (the young whales are gray) sitting parallel to me about three feet down. The mom swam forward while the baby held position a bit longer.

(head up Beluga, look close)

In the all the excitement I failed to notice how well Keri was paddling. The wind had picked up, there was tidal rip happening, she was paddling beam to the waves, and all the while she was in perfect control. Maybe all the struggling with a loaded boat made paddling an empty boat seem easy? I do think the boat was loaded a bit bow heavy on the second day and paddling in calm water can make every mis-stroke of the boat even worse as the hull is so tightly attached to the water over the entire length. With only a handful of paddles under her skirt she was doing amazingly well.

We got an early start on our final day’s paddle. The water was calm, the sun was warm and it was perfectly relaxing. It was relaxing and uneventful until we heard the blow. Actually we both had heard it a few times before we became aware that a Minke was feeding in the cove in front of us. We sat spinning on the eddy line in front of Anse a Pierrot for at least a ½ hour while the Minke surfaced dozens of times. We saw it roll on its side. We saw its throat pleats and its flippers. Finally it crossed the Fjord to give a similar show to some kayakers we could see on the other side!

(On side, look close)

Our experience on the Fjord was phenomenal. Our whale encounters were unforgettable and the camping was beautiful. Our decision to alter our plans without having the appropriate reservations worked out well. Truth is we ended up doing the same amount of paddling that day but we did it with the wind and without the stress of charging toward a distant destination. Unfortunately it will take some really close encounters to exceed this experience. But I’m very willing to settle for “more of the same”!

Day1, 7.1 miles Day2, 9.3 miles Day3, 11.8 miles Day4, 11.6 miles

Saguenay Fjord

2010-08-10T06:11:00.006-04:00

8/10,11,12,13 Saguenay Fjord, 8/13,14 Flueve St Laurent

(This is a guest blog kindly submitted by Keri. I will follow up soon with a different perspective. PB)

Being new to kayaking (first season this year), and never having been on a kayak/camp adventure, I had no reference point to base this trip on. So when Paul suggested this as our first major outing, I was a little apprehensive. I saw the pictures from two years before and was wondering if my 10+ excursions so far were enough preparation for this level of adventure.

Starting out the first day, after packing up the kayaks we headed on our way. We entered the water at Anse de Roche and headed upstream with the tide. As we got to Baie Sainte-Marguerite (a haven for Belugas), the wind had started to pick up. We did stay in the Bay for a bit as there were many pods of Belugas and it was mesmerizing to watch them. After a while we needed to head to our first camp site at Anse aux Ilets-Rouges. The wind had really picked up by now, and the tide had actually started to turn also and I quickly found myself struggling to not lose any ground. After a while Paul finally put me out of my misery and attached the tow rope to get us both around the point to the safety (and calmness) of our cove. The campsite itself was incredible. There were 6 tent platforms and we were the only ones there for the evening. We unpacked, cooked dinner and enjoyed the solitude of the campsite.

On the second day we were due to head upstream further to Anse du Portage, however I was still having control issues with my kayak and after much frustration it was decided we would paddle locally, and settle on a closer campsite. We enjoyed a nice paddle around some of the islands and shores and saw one lone Beluga before settling on and heading to the Anse de Tidee campsite for the evening. This camping area also had 6 tent platforms and we waited anxiously to see if any other paddlers would show up to see if there was an extra one for us. Luck was with us and although an Adventure Kayak tour from Maine arrived, they had only reserved 4 of the 6 platforms and we were able to make camp for the night.

The third day we awoke, packed up and headed out to our final campsite. Since it was close by, we decided to unpack our camping gear to lighten our loads for the day. The campsite was at Anse au Cheval and had a beautiful landscape to it as we arrived at very low tide.

We were close to Baie Sainte-Marguerite and as we relaxed at the campsite, we kept the binoculars nearby to wait for the Belugas. Finally in the late afternoon they started arriving. The water was very calm and there was only 1 other visible kayak and a few small sailboats. We sat towards one shore and watched the Belugas as if it were our own personal nature program – completely in awe. As we were peacefully and blissfully unaware, a big air bubble came up right in front of my kayak – Paul started laughing at my barely stifled scream, and as I watched below me, the dark form of an adult and baby Beluga passed directly under me. I can tell you I was very scared that they would surface and tip me over, an event Paul thought would be very exciting to have happen. That would be our closest encounter. As the Beluga’s migrated back out of the Bay, we made our way back to camp to prepare dinner.

The nature show was not yet quite over yet. It was now high tide and our camp was very flooded. The beautiful landscape was completely submerged, and as we sat on our tent platform we watched as a harbor seal came into the flooded area, swimming around and poking his head up now and again. What a great way to end our final evening on the Fjord!

The final day we awoke at our usual 5 am, and packed up our kayaks with our camping gear for the last time as we needed to catch the tide as it recedes. We figured we were done with our whale encounters and explored the high Fjord walls. The water was like glass which made it my favorite paddle I have ever done.

I was in control of my kayak and the views were spectacular. To top it off, as we were slowly making our way to the launch, a Minke appeared in the bay before us and we again sat and watched our own private nature show as the whale surfaced, rolled, and fed in front of us for over a half hour.

It was truly an amazing day, and it was going to get better still. We exited the Fjord, retrieved the car and packed the truck back up with all of our supplies and equipment and headed to our last campsite of the trip; Paradis Marin. Again, Paul had been here before, and thought it would be a good place to whale watch. He didn’t know how right he would be. When we arrived we were informed we should drive around and pick out or campsite first, and then register at the office. We decided to take a quick drive through the water front spots on the off chance there was something available. As luck would have it, we spotted a prime camping spot as the current occupants were taking down their tent. Since it was a Friday afternoon, this was great luck!

I stayed at the spot while Paul went and registered us for the night. I sat and watched the glass-like water conditions in the Fleuve St. Lawrent as pods of Belugas, Minkes and even White Beaked dolphins swam by. You could clearly hear their deep breathes as they surfaced. We could hardly wait to get into the water and join them, but since we had not yet eaten lunch, we needed to get some food into us. We couldn’t bear the thought of leaving this front row view, so for the first time of our trip, we ate a freeze-dried meal. We chose the chicken breast and mashed potato meal, and because it was not well measured out, it ended up being cream of potato soup with chicken. It wasn’t too bad, but I think the consistency got to Paul as he excused himself, and when he returned he was done with lunch. After lunch, we quickly donned our wetsuits, and launched the kayaks. I think all the marine life decided it was time to take a break, because although it was a beautiful paddle, we saw whales only sporatically. The interesting part was, since it was so calm out, there were pods of kayakers gather around the fleuve. People were congregating in small groups on the water, just enjoying the fortunate weather and water conditions. The colors of the water were amazing, and although we didn’t see much marine activity, it was still one of my favorite paddles.

As we made our way back to the launch point we encountered some bubbles coming from the deep water. As the bubble path was moving, we were sure that it was a bubble net and moved out of the way to make room for the feeding exhibit we were about to witness. When nothing surfaced, but the bubbles continued, curiosity got the better of Paul and he tenaciously tracked the bubbles until he finally was able to discover the source. It was the elusive marine diver. There were two of them, and if they were able to see the kayak following their bubbles on top of the water, I am sure they were getting a good laugh at our expense.

As the day turned to dusk, we ate dinner and sat on the rocks in the sunset watching the few and far between whales go by. As per usual, we were barely able to keep our eyes open by 8 pm and crawled into our tent for the evening. Just then, we heard a whale blow, so we frantically threw back on our warm clothes and dashed out of the tent to watch the final whale of our evening go by.

The final morning in the St. Laurent we were woken up to the sound of a whale. We unzipped the tent door to reveal a spectacular sunrise and we were again fortunate to view whales saying good morning to us across the glass-like water. It was tough to pack up and leave. We stayed as long as we could before heading out to Quebec City. We enjoyed our time poking around the streets and shops of the city, but I think we both wished for more whale and paddle time. We are already trying to pick our next adventure, but how we will ever equal this experience will be a challenge.

The Paddles of 2010

2010-01-01T12:59:00.023-05:00

The Paddles of 2010

3/6 Bay Campus to Rome Point
3/20 Salt Pond
4/3 Lake Chauncey Practice
5/15 Narrow River Surfing and Practice
5/17 Gooseberry Neck to Allens Pond
5/22 Stonington, BCU-3 Training
5/23 Nashua River, Pepperel
6/7 Sakonett Point
6/13 Potter's Cove
6/19 Quonny Pond Safety Practice
6/26 Bay Campus to Jamestown
7/18 Westport River and surfing
7/24 NH Rolling Practice
7/31 Sakonett Point
8/10,11,12,13 Saguenay Fjord
8/13 fleuve Saint-Laurent
8/28 Kayak Waveology Training
9/26 Bristol to Prudence
9/29 Tim's BCU 4
10/11 Wicopesset
10/30 Tucker Pond
11/5 Westport Rip
11/13 Ft Wetherill

Nothing special happened today

2009-11-29T18:42:00.005-05:00

Today on a casual hike we were discussing kayaking. In the course of the conversation I realized how lopsided my blog can be towards the adventure side of kayaking. 27 days on the water so far this year and only 9 made the blog. What’s that all about? Were some of those non-blogged days just plain old relaxing days where all I did was recharge my batteries?

There are really two paths to the answer. The first is a simple yes, some of these were just relaxing paddles. Paddles where just being outside or conversations with friends carried the day. But the second answer is that we seek the adventure. We push our experiences just a little each time we go out. Pushing a little is relaxing.

It’s been nine years and 5 kayaks from the day I started. Some of the rewards of kayaking, like just being on the water, still excite me. But others, like seeing new places, keep getting bigger. I still enjoy Narragansett Bay and seeing an occasional seal. But now I dream of British Columbia and Orcas rubbing their bellies on the beach! When I got my first boat a windy day on a pond was adventure. Now I dream of standing waves in Deception Pass. (There is a theme building here.)

See, I can’t help myself. I wanted to just talk about the relaxing days and out came the focus on future adventures. Really, the 90 minutes on a pond with E&H just practicing some strokes was great. I can talk about that without talking about the rolling can’t I? I guess not…

It’s funny how we grow with our hobbies. Remember when we didn’t need dry suits? Remember when an $89 paddle could be your primary paddle? Remember the days before my spare paddle became a $450 feather weight miracle of carbon science? Paddling can still be simple and relaxing. Can’t it?

Now a small confession. I wanted to include a picture from this year of a relaxing paddle where no big waves or surfing or rock gardening or camping or ice bergs occurred. I don’t have one. I guess I forgot to take a picture on that completely low key day. But really, has the six o’clock news ever open with “Nothing special happened today, it was just pleasant, calm, and relaxing”? I don’t think so.

Kings Beach Surprise

2009-11-22T22:02:00.006-05:00

It was a great day for kayaking and the perfect launch spot. The water and air were both in the low fifties. Partly cloudy with a steady wind out of the north, 15 with gusts to 20. The swell was a meager 1 foot rolling against the wind. But it had plenty of energy to make it exciting around the rocks and reefs.

Rick T, Jon, Bob, Rick B, Cam and I were loading up the boats when a surprise seventh showed up. It was Tim. He thought he was a few minutes late. I thought he was 6 months too early!

The paddling was easy and very comfortable. We poked in and about plenty of rocks. The swell was powerful enough that there were places we chose not to go. (Although I’ll admit, water temperature was probably the only thing that kept us off some of the rocks.)

On the reefs the waves were large enough that we all stayed away. On the way out at least. As we rounded the corner along the cliff walk we were exposed to the wind. It didn’t have much fetch coming over first beach but it added a little chop to loosen up the boat a little in the water. There were plenty of spectators on the cliff walk but we really didn’t give them much of a show. Except maybe for Rick T doing his usual beautiful gentle rolls.

We stopped for lunch on one of the pocket beaches. We were protected from the wind and could sit in the sun. In fact, it was partly cloudy and we didn’t warm up as much as we would have liked. Lunch ended with a golf ball hunt. Cam found a couple of dozen balls on the beach. Rick managed to juggle three at a time.

After lunch there was some discussion about heading towards first beach for some surfing. This was Jon’s preference but he was out voted. The rock gardeners were hoping the waning tide would expose some more excitement.
We all left the beach with helmets on. This is usually a symptom of trouble not safety. Today would be no exception.

The waves around the rocks off Ruggles Beach were larger than anyone wanted to play in. Bob took his usual route in close. Cam stayed on the outside. I, true to form, took the middle. From inside Bob and I could see Tim and Jon going nearly vertical as they headed back out through the standing swell from their scouting point outside the rocks. How a one foot swell can turn into a four foot wall always amazes me.

By sheep point I had warmed up enough that I wanted to take my neoprene skull cap off from under my helmet. This took a minute or so and Tim stayed inside of Gull Rock to keep an eye on me as I bounced in the swell. When I got settled in I accelerated towards him and intended to thank him. Before I got to him he was emphatically pointing to my right. I looked over and saw Bob out of his boat. He had watched Bob get caught up in a huge wave.

I slipped out my tow rope and headed over to him. I could see where waves just like the one that had caught Bob were forming. I could also see that he was fine and hanging on to the bow of his boat. I circled around the breaking area and approached him to do the rescue.

I considered towing him but we had a comfortable amount of clear water between the first break and the shore break on the rocks. I started the rescue. Because Bob was holding on to his bow it took a little time to get things going. Meanwhile Tim had approached. I was lifting Bob’s boat to drain the water when I realized I had let go of the paddles. I said this to Tim and he proceeded to help get Bob in the boat and told me to get the paddle. What I don’t think he realized was I had lost both paddles. Bob’s and mine. I maintained contact with Bob’s boat trying to decide what to do. Meanwhile we were drifting closer to the rocks along shore where the waves were beginning to stand up for the second (and final) chance.

The paddles were less than a boat length behind me so I gave myself a good push and a couple of hand strokes to get to them. Mine slipped directly under the boat and took a little time to come within reach. Then I had to pull it out from under me which is always a little destabilizing. Fortunately, I had learned from white water kayaking to paddle with both paddles spooned together in my hands. I got the paddle back to Bob just as he was ready for it.

This is the second time I’ve lost the paddles during a rescue. It is clearly something I need to be more conscious about. I find it difficult to get a paddle under my deck lines. Maybe I need to loosen them up a little?

We all took this in stride and no-one seemed to loose their mojo. The rock gardening continued. By Gooseberry Island Bob and I sat waiting for the ideal time to slip between these rocks with waves curling all around them. As we sat transfixed on watching the building waves the wind pushed us right into the area we were trying to stay out of. We both passed through with ease.

Rick, Bob, and I were not ready to be done yet. We insisted on playing around the last rock in front of the put in before calling it a day. After Bob put himself on top of the rock we all decided it was time.

It was quite a nice day to be out on the water. Let’s hope there are a few more of these before the winter settles in.

11/22/2009

Fort Wetherill Explorer

2009-08-16T06:19:00.002-04:00

Words to follow but I think this picture really doesn't need any...

8/16/2009 Ft Wetherill to Narrow River, ~12.5 miles, Water 73, Air 80, Winds light <10

BCU-2 Training

2009-08-08T21:15:00.002-04:00

Tim took BCU-2 training with Greg Paquin this spring. It was a last minute thing and I could not attend. But last weekend, with Tim’s encouragement, I got a second chance. Tom M, Linda S, Eric, Heather, Tim and I participated. We were joined by Heather and Sally from CT and coached by Greg and Paula of Kayak Waveology.

I think we all had a great time. Greg and Paula make an effective coaching pair. Greg has lots of upper body strength. Even though his form is clean and I know he is not using lots of muscle, it’s a lot more convincing when Paula shows the same stroke with finesse. I’m also a huge fan of having multiple people explain things to me. I often find that different people will explain things different ways. In hind sight I know both were describing the same thing but sometimes one explanation will click better than another. Over the course of the day each of them managed to say things that helped my strokes work better.

We reviewed all the basic strokes
Forward stroke, Reverse Stroke, forward sweep and reverse sweep.
We worked on edging and used it with our strokes.
Bow rudder, beam draws, sculling draws, hanging draws, and running draws.
Low braces, high braces, sculling for support, and low brace turns.
I don’t think we actually talked about the stern rudder but we used it.
Paddle rescue, Bow Recue, T-rescue, scoop rescue, and ladder rescue.
We also discussed hyper and hypothermia, tides and waves, and kayak citizen etiquette.

I’m sure I’m forgetting something but it was a great review and great fun.

The ladder rescue was new to me. I could see a clear advantage to it in that it keeps the cockpit dry while the swimmer re-enters. I’ll need to try it in rougher water to be sure it’s effective in the slop. Like most things there is a u-tube demo of it.

I had taken the Ocean Play 1-2 course with Peter Casson at the Kayak Center in the past. We covered all the same stuff again in this class but it was far from a waste of time. I think there is real value is spending some time focusing on technique and not just paddling.

8/8/09

Muscongus Bay, Day 4

2009-08-05T20:21:00.000-04:00

Day 4, back to sunny and warm. The coffee was brewing. There was a bald eagle on a nearby island while we were making breakfast.

We packed up our gear and loaded the boats. There was more room now. I managed to fit all the garbage in my front hatch.

There was no consensus to go exploring so we headed back to the launch at a leisurely pace. We surfed some gentle swells. We poked around Jim’s Island. (Which I mistook for Cow Island, good thing Bob was paying attention).

We stopped for a final lunch and explored Crow Island. On the last leg I could see a thunder head building. It was just to our north as we landed back at the marina. Sort of an omen that it was time to go.

I was sad to be leaving this beautiful bay. I really had a wonderful time. But you don’t want to over stay your welcome.

8/5/09

Foggy Thief, Day 3

2009-08-04T19:58:00.000-04:00

On day three we woke up in a fog. There was no rush to get out in the boats. And good thing… Laurel set out to make pancakes for 6, one cake at a time on Bob’s MSR Dragon Fly stove. The dragonfly can be reduced to simmer or, in this case, low enough not to burn the pancakes. My MSR Whisperlite is much quieter but is basically one temperature. Great for boiling water, did fine with bacon and sausage, but sure to burn anything delicate. Anyhow, Laurel cooked pancakes for what seemed like hours. It was almost like eating Blue Shell Crabs. You can’t eat them fast enough to fill up on them. The pancakes had fruit added both inside and on top. They were absolutely delicious.

Still foggy. Now what? A tour boat of sorts wandered in from the fog. Apparently it was attached to a kid’s camp or something. The pulled a pot to see what was in it. Then they started fishing for a while. Rick jumped in his kayak to see what it was all about. What Rick was really looking for was lobster. He came back, grabbed some money and headed back out to the nearest lobster boat. For a while, we could hear them but not see them. One came close and Rick was off.

We could see the deck hand dropping fresh lobsters into his day hatch. And I swear we could see Rick’s smile beaming like a lighthouse through the fog.

We all paddled a little around the island in the fog. Rick and Becca did some rolling practice. Then Carole and I did a slow lap. Carole continued to loop around for exercise while Becca and I were a bit more mischievous. Laurel did some laps specifically to work on her forward stroke. Meanwhile, Rick and Bob began to cook the lobsters. We had one pot and could cook three at a time. By the time I pulled ashore they were all cooked and we sat down for the feast. They really were the best lobsters I have ever had. They were soft shelled and cooked in seawater. Salty and tasty. There was no reason for butter. Rick, quite skilled in the art of eating the carapace, ate everything. I’m not a big fan of the roe and didn’t lick the tomalley quite as clean. I’m not so sure that I looked up to see what the others were doing.

Still foggy. Rick and Bob disappeared in their boats. I assumed they were playing around the rocks and when they didn’t return in what I thought was a reasonable time the curiosity got to me. I jumped in my boat to go find them. As I went around the island I didn’t recognize where I was. On the south tip where Becca and I had surfed earlier there was now an entirely new rock. It was a couple of hundred feet long and revealed by the dropping tide. Bob and Rick were playing around a small rock a bit further out. The fog was such that the Island was barely visible from the rock. The waves were not big but they were running up the rock. Bob was of course stuck on the top and had to push himself to slide off. Ten minutes later he was stuck again. This time he was pinched in on four corners. It was a more difficult escape. After another 15 minutes we decided one more loop and we’d head back. Bob, you guessed it, was swept up onto the rock one more time.

We headed back around the east side of the island. At the same time the girls were coming around the west side by foot to try and find us. We didn’t cross paths. They were beginning to worry.

Back on the north side of the island there was some excitement. Blair and Theresa had found some giant spiders, probably wolf spiders. Then, out of the fog, Nancy and Ben appeared. They were a mother and son. I don’t think they should have crossed in the fog but they seemed OK with it.

Carole was beginning to think about dinner and I was thinking about burning the huge burl Becca had found. C started cooking, I started the fire. We ate Knackwurst and vegetables. Special for Bob was a side dish of worms. Gummy worms. We cleaned up, sat down around the fire with Nancy and Ben, and ceremoniously applied the burl to the hot fire. It was a slow burn that was still flaming the following morning!

Very little time in the boat, no sign of the sun, great food, another wonderful day!
8/4/2009

Sunny Thief, Day 2

2009-08-03T20:34:00.004-04:00

We departed Hog Island about 11:30 headed to Thief Island via Coombs Ledge. From the Hog Island vantage point, Indian, Thief, and Wreck Islands look more or less the same size. Today I wanted to be sure I choose the perfect heading and we would get directly to the proper Island. From Coombs ledge that was exactly 180. Couldn’t be easier.

As we passed Coombs we saw a small seal that was clearly not healthy. Carole, trained in marine mammal rescue techniques, tried to call for help. The little seal slowly made it to the water. It looked as if it had one injured flipper.

We were alone on Thief and choose the five “best” sites to set up our tents. I was determined to set up on a flat slice of granite but I completely circum-hiked the island and couldn’t find a flat enough spot. The site I did choose was one that Bob passed up. It was situated nicely but had a bit of a slope. (The first night I pulled myself back up hill numerous times. The second night I simply slid into the corner and slept like a baby!)

Somewhere along the line Blair and Theresa arrived. They were familiar with the island and chose the site on the south end. About 3pm we headed out to do some exploring. We paddled SE towards the Wreck Island Ledges. There was very little swell but we did have some seal visitations.

From here we meandered to Harbor Island. There was a little more wave action here and Bob managed to park his kayak up on a rock. One nice thing about the 10 foot tides is the rocks are fairly soft with sea weed when the water is low. From Harbor we could see the light house on Franklin. An Object. We had to go there! On the way back we surfed the swell a bit. C and I went outside of Wreck where there was a little bit of wave excitement. The other 4 headed the slightly more direct path back. It total, we did about 10.5 miles this day.

For dinner Rick set out the appetizers and prepared a pasta/pesto dish and veggies. It was about this time we noticed there were mice all around. They were cute and well rounded. Apparently the island needed a few more Eagles and a few less Ospreys. After dinner we got the fire going and sat back and talked about our day and more. It was a wonderfully relaxing day.

8/3/2009

Muscongus Bay, Hog Island, Day 1

2009-08-02T19:17:00.002-04:00

We’ve explored Casco Bay and we’ve paddled Stonington. We decided to split the difference and check out Muscongus Bay. There are easily 100 square miles of bay to get lost in. And as you’ll soon hear, we tried!

Bob and I, Becca and her sister Laurel, and Carole and Rick all went up. Bob and I headed up first with intentions of getting the lay of the land regarding the launch point etc. As we drove up it was overcast and there was an occasional mist or drizzle, especially when we were near the water. While standing at the launch it was clearly a fog. But the visibility was about 1 mile.

We talked with the staff at Broad Cove Marine for a bit and paid for parking. Then we headed up the road a bit to pick up some bread for Bob. While in the store B&L showed up, presumably noticing our boats. We did our greetings and they searched for a ladies room. It was then that Bob noticed that Becca was missing one of her hatch covers. In hindsight they remembered seeing a sponge fly out back in Providence. Apparently the hatch cover had blown off hours ago. Meanwhile C&R showed up and we all started phoning around for an open kayak shop (on a Sunday evening) that might have a replacement cover. No luck of course but fortunately Bob carries a small piece of tarp and a bungee just for this purpose. We decided to go ahead with the temporary cover.

It took us our usual hour and a half to load the boats. At 4:30 we pushed off. Our destination was to be Thief Island. As we passed around Oar Island we could see just how foggy it was. Visibility was less than ½ mile. There were a few possible camp sites within a mile of the launch but a half hour paddle was not what we were looking for. We stayed along the shores of Oar and Hog Islands. At one point we could barely make out some people on the end of Crow. ¼ mile visibility. We had the island to our right but all we could see was fog. As we neared what might have been the end of Hog we thought we could just make out Louds Island, including trees. This was to be our first real crossing of about ½ mile. Then suddenly the island turned into a rock a mere 50 yards away! Visibility about 100 yards.

The Muscongus Bay chart at 1:40,000 scale is about 3 feet by 4 feet. I’ve marked the various camp sites on it but it’s folded into my “large” chart case which fits about 12 inches by 18 inches. I usually try and fold it so that the compass rose is visible somewhere. In this case there is a corner showing somewhere on the back side of the fold. I’m an engineer, I love maps, I’ve taken a seamanship class, I’m all over plotting courses and doing current corrections etc. But I don’t have an Eldridge tide and current book and I’m not sure it would show the fine detail I need even if I did. We are about to traverse the Hog Island bar. This is an area that’s not navigable for many boats. We’re in kayaks. We don’t need a route. We hop from one pretty island to the next based on what we see. How would I plot that route ahead of time? On the water? Am I to plot on the deck of my boat? On a wet rock? My chart would turn into a wet paper towel almost instantly.

I do have GPS. Mine includes topo maps of the area. Bob’s is old school and simply shows a track and GPS coordinates. My attitude about the GPS is it is for emergency use only. It’s the back up. If we’re counting on it and I drop it over board then what? (How many pairs of glasses have I lost over the side?)

We do know that if we paddle anywhere but south we’ll hit land. West is the appropriate fall back. We’re not in danger in this fog. It would just be inconvenient. I can picture setting up tents in the fog and waking up in the 16th fairway of some golf course!

It’s now about 5:30. The wind has picked up a little as we’ve entered the more open portion of the bay but it’s still no more than 10. We’re about ½ way and not making particularly good time. Laurel is a new paddler and although competent, she has yet to develop an efficient stroke. I mention that Hog is a possible camp site but I don’t strongly suggest we should stop and no one else seems to want to stop.

Now we’re sitting at the end of Hog Island. I’m looking at the chart estimating by eye that it’s about 15 degrees more than 180 true. I add 15 for magnetic (It’s really 17). 210 magnetic is our course. (It’s really 214.) Becca suggests we head out until we are just losing sight of Hog and see if we can see Louds. We try this and then we stop and discuss what to do next. The vote is pull out the GPS and keep going. Meanwhile we’re drifting and meanwhile we see our first boat in the fog. Somehow in all this we end up with an actual course of 250 magnetic. Almost 40 degrees off our desired heading. I assume this was the wind (beam) and flooding tide (same beam?) affecting our route.

We’re now at the northern tip of Louds Island. It took us 20 minutes to cover what should have taken about 8. We went a little further; it was getting to be about 6pm. We had at least an hour to go. We had another crossing closer to a mile and in an area that I expect might have boat traffic. And Laurel is slowing down. We decide to head back to Hog. The return crossing takes us the expected 8 minutes.

We were out of our boats on Hog about 6:20. No sooner had we landed and the fog lifted. We could see Thief Island in the distance. We talked about going but it was 2.25 miles away. We would be setting our tents up and cooking in the dark. We agreed to stay put. The visibility had gone from 100 yards to 5 miles in less than 20 minutes, it could go back to zero just as fast.

The island was soggy. I was happy as a clam in my knee high Chota’s but Becca was losing her Croc’s left and right in the mud. Fortunately there were wooden tent platforms to pitch on. We erected our tents. It rained "just a little". We cooked dinner and sat around and watched the LED lantern while telling stories. (No fires on this Audubon owned Island.)

And so went day one. We woke up to a beautiful sunny calm day, almost hot. We cooked a delicious breakfast and packed our boats for our “real” destination.

8/2 5.4 miles, Air 68, Water 60

Boston Harbor Camping

2009-06-07T21:27:00.008-04:00

Becca and I decided we were going kayak camping. We didn’t care where, we were flexible about when, and we were going regardless of who could join us. The two options were Casco Bay and Boston Harbor. The logistics of a “first time this year” camping trip were easier locally and I was without my drysuit which was in for repair. Carole and Bob were interested in joining in, C also preferring Boston. So Boston it would be. B and I intended to go out Friday night and grab the good spot, but a rainy forecast pushed us out to Saturday morning.

The adventure started long before the put in. Amazingly, I was just a mile or so behind B on Route 3 and caught up to her on the exit ramp to 228. I was following her when suddenly a cat came charging out from the side of the road right in front of her. There was nothing she could do. I careened off her bumper. We both pulled over, it didn’t look good. We approached the cat planning to pull it to the side of the road and try and find its owner and get some help. Just as we were bending over it popped to life and ran away!!! We were relived; it actually ran with a gait that looked as if it had no broken bones. I wasn’t sure what to make of that as a start. It was a full moon… it wasn’t a black cat.

It took us about an hour to load our boats. I was very pleased with my WXtex Pneumo Dry Bags, a Joe Sherlock recommendation. You can squeeze the air out and get them much smaller. The sleeping bag went in the cockpit in front of my feet. It’s a little odd to put the one thing I most want to stay dry in the wettest part of the boat. I think I need to experiment with that some more. Just as we were getting ready to launch C&B showed up. We decided to head out before them, continuing our quest to secure the prime real estate.

The paddle out to Lovells Island was uneventful. The currents in the Hull Gut were not a factor and the heavy boat is fun to cruise in. Once you build momentum each paddle stroke is easy as the boat speed is nearly constant.

The rangers met us as we were scoping out the sites. They requested that we don’t use the “preferred” site because they were planning a campfire for the island visitors Sat night. In fact, with 4 tents, the site we chose instead was even better with plenty of flat sandy surface to spread out on.

Once the 4 of us had set up our tents we jumped back in our boats for some exploring. We headed out to The Graves because that’s what you do in Boston Harbor! The waves were small, <2’, but on the outside of the light house it was a bit squirrelly due to the clapotis. A lone duck chick seemed to follow B around like she was its mother. Peep,peep,peep,peep,peep.

On the way back we stopped on XXXX(*)Island. This island is loaded with beach glass which B is collecting. She found prized red glass. The rest of us could claim nothing better than blue. The nests that we had seen on this island back in March were all populated with cormorants. Other spots housed gulls. While we relaxed on this island the winds picked up to near 15. Fortunately it was mostly a tail wind all the way back to camp. (*Note: Legal action has been started to keep me from disclosing this secret island location. Apparently there is fear that the throngs of kayaking blog readers will overrun the island rendering sea glass extinct.)

As we approached the island I could see a flapping piece of black cloth flapping on the water. I was fairly certain from the distance that it was a tent in the water. Was it one of ours? As we got closer the suspicion of tent was confirmed but it wasn’t one of ours. When we landed I went and retrieved it. It wasn’t in deep water but I was dressed in a wet suit and neo boots. Back at the shore the ranger and the tent owner greeted me. Fortunately there were no sleeping bags in the tent. The nylon would dry quickly enough.

For dinner Bob prepared burritos without beans. Becca was incredulous! But they were delicious. After dinner we joined the other campers by the fire. The 2 rangers, 2 young doctors in residence (and brothers), and a father and his son. We had some easy conversation and enjoyed the warmth.

It was 5:55AM when I was woken by the roar of a jet plane. Air traffic from Logan is routed directly over the island when the wind is right. Fortunately, either light traffic or favorable winds afforded me a jet-free night’s sleep. It’s Boston Harbor. You have to expect these things.

Becca prepared a wonderful bacon, potato and egg breakfast. We cleaned up the dishes and headed back out towards Shag Rocks. This is a great place to do some rock gardening. There are numerous passages of various degrees of difficulty. From there we explored the Brewster Islands, ultimately landing on Great Brewster for lunch. It was warm and we just relaxed in the sun. (I’m still scratching the sun burn on the tops of my feet.)

We arrived back at camp mid afternoon. We packed up our tents and relaxed some more. We had little motivation to leave. We paddled back to the put in via the west side of Georges Island. Again, we passed through the gut at nearly slack water.

When the boats were loaded up Bob headed out to meet his sister in Maine. C, B and I headed to Nantasket beach to find dinner. Schooners restaurant was the choice. It was better than previous attempts at eating in this area but still nothing to write home about. I’m told Barefoot Bob’s Grill is the place to go. Next time.

It really was a wonderful weekend. It was as long an adventure as you can reasonably pack into one night’s camping. I think paddling after setting up the tents made a difference. Likewise, I think breaking camp late in the day had the same effect. And as always, camping with friends is just good fun.

6/6-6/7 12+10 miles, Air temperature 70, water temp 55, winds 10-15/light

Westport to Goosewing

2009-04-18T19:11:00.007-04:00

Some days I’m more into paddling than others. This Saturday was one of those ambivalent days. It was supposed to be nice in the morning and I really wanted to get out on the bike. But I had already rode two days in a row and I hadn’t seen my kayaking friends in a few weeks. I waited until the morning to decide and my choice was to load up the kayak.

The forecast was for air temperatures in the low 60’s. Water temperature (a bit more predictable) was about 45. I started out wearing my fleece “PJ’s”. I was over heating before I was even zipped up in my dry suit. So I switched to a thin polypro top and bottom. I jumped in at the ramp. I’d like to say that I was testing my clothing but really the die had been cast. I was simply getting all the air out of my suit to keep me as cool as possible.

Jon planned the paddle. Tom and Rich C were there when I arrived. Jim, Carole, and Bob rounded out the group. We headed out at just about slack tide. We joked about how when the matriarch plans this paddle we are always fighting the tide both ways!
We were treated to sunny skies and 1 foot seas as we rounded the Knubble. We did the usual rock gardening and were visited by some seals. I think at one point I saw three at once. It was interesting that the SW wind at about 12 knots was effecting my boat handling around the rocks in a way I didn’t remember experiencing before. But all in all I felt good in the boat.

There were some waves popping up around Brayton’s point. We chose not to play there which might have been a mistake as I think they may have been better on the lower tide. I did mention to Carole that although I was really comfortable in the air I didn’t really want to get wet. Instead we headed to goose wing beach more or less where Tunipur pond flows out (when it is flowing).

The waves were approaching 2 feet as they rolled over the sand. There was some talk of going further west where the waves bend around the next headland and are even smaller. But it was pretty tame and I thought everyone was quite capable of reaching the shore unscathed. I suggested a spot where there was a gentle rip going. The deeper water in the rip causes the waves to bend a little leaving the smallest waves in the center.

Tom went in first with Rich following. I was feeling a bit impatient about making a big deal about a beach landing and the wind was pushing me towards shore. Just as my turn was opening up the larger set was approaching, maybe 3 feet. I had drifted right where the wave was at its steepest. I thought about letting it pass but I was pretty shore it was going to catch me regardless. So I started to half heartedly build up some speed with the paddle. With little speed the wave caught me. I expected the boat to speed up and slide down the wave as it usually does. Instead the bow went down. In what could only have been 2 seconds I watched the nose drift down into visual fuzzyness and the layer of water make its way up to my spray skirt. It felt like I was 80% of the way to an “endo”. (Jon saw an awful lot of white hull in the air from behind.)

Fortunately I went over fairly gently. I was not conscious of hitting bottom but with an 18 foot hull I must have at least rubbed it. I set up for a roll but couldn’t get my body in position for my first sweep. I made a relatively patient second attempt with the same result. I popped the cord.

Now the wisdom of going in at the rip took on a new edge. I was in the break and didn’t expect any help. But I was making no progress towards shore. The little pull in of the breaking wave was canceled by the rip. Rich came in to try and help and got thrashed by my boat and a wave. His roll worked. Finally I could get a toe on the bottom and push the boat in.

I was in the water for a few minutes. It was not uncomfortable and when I got out of the water the sun warmed me back up quickly. Unfortunately when the sun went behind the clouds I was cold. I considered putting the “PJ’s” on. I had packed them in the boat.

After lunch when everyone headed out to surf a little I stayed on the beach. Partly to stay warm. I didn’t think another swim was a good idea. The other part was to get some surfing pictures. I never get pictures from the face on point of view. After a few pictures I headed out and caught a couple of waves.

We headed back to Brayton point and did some surfing there. Jon was testing out a P&H Scorpio on this paddle and found himself upside down in the surf. Possibly due to his poor fit in the boat (without custom foam) he ended up out of the boat.

From there we headed back to the ramp. We made a quick stop to climb on the Knubble. From the top of the rock we could see Martha’s Vineyard quite clearly. The effect is called a “superior mirage” where the light bends in the warm air over cold water making everything look higher on the horizon than they actually are.
Like all good paddles it was relaxing with a bit of excitement and some good stories to tell.

10 miles, air 60 , water 45, winds SW 10+

The Paddles of 2009

2009-01-01T00:01:00.018-05:00

The Paddles of 2009

2/8 Hull, around Peddocks Island
3/15 Middletown, third beach to first beach
3/21 Boston Harbor Outer Islands
3/28 Bay Campus to Whale Rock
4/18 Westport to Goosewing Beach
5/3 Bay Campus to Beavertail Light
5/25 Sakonnet Point
5/31 Dutch Island
6/6-6/7 Boston Harbor, Lovell/Graves/Green/Shag Rocks/Great Brewster
6/28 Bay Campus to Narrow River (and all the rocks in between)
7/11 Westport to Nowhere
8/2,3,4,5 Muscongus Bay, ME
8/8 BCU-2 Training, Tucker Pond
8/16 Ft Wetherill to Narrow River
8/23 RICKA Picnic/ FT Getty / Hurricane Bill
9/4,5,6 Casco Bay, ME
10/4 Westport to Little Compton
10/11 Bay Campus/Beavertail/Narrow River
10/31 Stone Bridge
11/7 Sakonnet Point
11/22 Kings Beach

Storm Warnings

2008-11-15T20:53:00.004-05:00

Plan to paddle with Gale Warnings Forecast? How do these things happen?

Dateline Sunday. I notice the waxing moon and start to think about hiking Wachusett Mountain under the full moon.

Dateline Monday. I check the tide chart to see when the full moon is and happen to notice that the tide range is almost six feet as opposed to the normal range of closer to 4 feet.

Dateline Tuesday. I send out an email to some of the paddlers suggesting a paddle on Saturday at Stone Bridge. Bob responds, “OMG! I was thinking THE VERY SAME THING! Psychic or WHAT!! This is SOOO COOL!!”

Dateline Wednesday. Tim investigates and informs me that the current will be just shy of 3.5 knots at 9:50 AM. I check Saturday’s weather forecast and see south winds 20-30 predicted. Decide to play wait and see.

Dateline Thursday. No real change in the forecast. I check with some paddlers to see if I have a large enough group of reliable paddlers to give it a go.

Now I start to think about the conditions. I’ve been at Stone Bridge and the Westport River in strong current conditions. When the standing waves get going tall and tight it’s a full concentration situation. If someone goes over it’s difficult get the boat turned around quickly to get to them. I’ve also been out in the bay in 20+ conditions. Some paddlers were unable to make progress into the wind. And again, turning the boat around quickly is difficult. In addition, boat to boat communication is especially difficult in the wind and even worse with the wind whipping through a helmet.

Now I start to think about paddling with both of these conditions combined. I can picture a paddler in the water. The boat is blowing north with the wind. The paddle is drifting south with the tide. A second paddler goes over trying to turn the boat to execute a rescue. In my mind, the situation on the water could get crazy.

Dateline Friday. I get an email from Carole asking “Would I be correct in assuming that the Saturday paddle is cancelled? Or are all of my friends crazy?” The answer is crazy. Bob, Joe, Tony, Eric, and I are definite. Tim and Gerry are question marks.

I check the forecast one more time: “SAT S WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT...INCREASING TO 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 KT IN THE LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON. WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. SHOWERS WITH A CHANCE OF TSTMS. VSBY 1 TO 3 NM IN THE MORNING.”

I decide to post on the message board as a level 5 based on the wind. It looks to me like this could be an exciting day.

Back home I load up my equipment and the boat.

Dateline Saturday. I wake up early and check the forecast. It hasn’t changed. It’s calm here in Northborough but that’s not unusual. I check the observations for Newport and the winds are still light. But this is not unusual either. This weather pattern is a strong front and it’s not uncommon for it to build quickly. I check some of the buoy reports and south and west of RI there are gusty winds already. It is on its way.

I pack my lunch and some cloths and head south.

As I pull into the beach parking lot I see a flat calm Sakonnett River. The tide is already running strong but it is flattening the water’s surface even more. I’m beginning to get disappointed. We paddled Stone Bridge earlier this year without wind and it never got very lively. I listen to the weather radio. The radio says winds by 10AM, strong by noon.

Joe drives up and begins to give my lip about the “level 5” conditions. Bob follows. Cat stops by on her way to work. Eric and Tony show up and Tim stops by without his boat. We talk a little bit about moving to Sakonnett point but the forecast is for Gale conditions in the afternoon. It seems foolish but it is fairly calm right now.

Finally, I suggest that we put our boats in and do a little warm up paddle over to Nannaquaket and around Gould Island. “Let’s give the wind a little time to build” I suggest. Joe heads right towards the Evil Can. Bob and Tony follow. I look over to Eric and suggest we should probably join them.

The currents are very strong. Joe is backing his boat over the eddy lines. Tony is exploring the area. Bob is bumping his boat against the evil can. I let my boat drift to the far end of the current effects. There is at least a little chop there. The five of us continue to wander around looking for trouble for about an hour. I start to notice a fog forming and make a mental note that the launch is at 60 degrees magnetic. Suddenly Eric and I find ourselves in a dense fog. We are only about 300 yds from stone bridge. We can barely make out the can. We can’t see the bridge. We start to paddle in that direction but our progress seems painfully slow without any reference markers. As we approach the bridge we find the other 3 and also find that the fog is lifting almost as fast as it arrived.

Eric and I are clearly in a funk. I’m disappointed in the conditions. I expected mayhem and it’s really quite tame. I’m not sure why Eric is off. The other three… they are continuing to look for mischief. And the wind is picking up a bit.

Eric and I are sitting in an eddy. I look over and see Bob and Joe bobbing around in a deep chop. The waves we have been looking for have appeared. Tim walks out on the jetty just in time to see us all dodging, holding and surfing 3 foot standing waves. There are waves coming from many directions right near the evil can. Closer to the line that is where stone bridge once stood they are more steady and parallel. We all make multiple loops through the unpredictable section and into the standing waves. We end each pass by surfing with our nose buried in the wave straight through to the calm water just past the standing waves. Joe tells me I’ve redeemed myself. Bob just has an ear to ear grin on.

We loop through for about 15 to 20 minutes until the conditions flatten out again. We are all getting tired and head to the beach for lunch. Tony has already loaded up his boat. Eric is done.

Dateline Conclusion.

The five of us broke out snacks, tea, and sandwiches and talked about the conditions and the fun that we ultimately had. It was disappointing that it took such a long time to develop. It was great that the wind never reached the levels that were predicted because I think they would have been overwhelming. But they could have come a little sooner to get things stirred up. They were calm at 9; under 10 when we started. They rose to 17, gusts to 25 about the time we got off the water. It wasn’t until 5pm that they built to 25/ G30.

It was a funny paddle. Had we not expected “medieval” conditions we would have been thrilled by what we ended up with. But with such high expectations it was a bit of a letdown. But, like most paddles, I’m glad I went and I had a great time.

11/15 Air 65, water 55, winds S 10-15.

Padanaram

2008-11-01T20:26:00.002-04:00

We don’t frequent Buzzards Bay. There is the Cuttyhunk paddle. The Westport and Slocum Rivers are staples. But we rarely use the other put ins. I’m a fan of West Island in the off season. And I’ve paddled out of Mattapoisett a few times. When Cat talked about Padanaram I was excited to give it a try. She mentioned rock gardening and surfing. I was a bit incredulous. Buzzards Bay is always lively in the summer with the sea breeze but it is very protected from ocean swells and is generally tame without the wind.

Six of us showed up. I was there first followed by Tom, Cat, Bob, Carole, and Rick. The sun was out and it was pushing 60 degrees so I wore as little as I could under my drysuit. I jumped in to purge my suit and cool off. The water, in the mid 50s, felt cool but I was fine. We headed out of the harbor with a tail wind. We poked around “Barekneed Rocks” a bit and continued south towards Round Hill.

Cat had said we were headed to the Dumplings. Bob and I headed directly for them but the other four hugged the coast. We kept an eye on them and debated whether we were being bad group paddlers. I plead the fifth with regards to our decision but I will say we were excited when they made the left turn towards us.

There was a small swell from the south in opposition to the wind waves from the north. This made the water around the rocks a little lively. There was also a funnel about 100 yards wide between some large rocks kind of like around Sakonett Point. On this day the excitement was low but it was clear that there was plenty to like here on a summer afternoon when the south west breeze kicks in.

We all played around a bit. Tom switched from a stick to a euro paddle. Then he promptly went upside down. But he quickly rolled up. Pretty impressive considering the fact that Bill Luther taught him to roll just 9 months ago. I needed to get out of the boat so I pulled up on the one square yard of sand exposed near the rock at this tide level. The rock was a great place to get some photos of the crew from an overhead point of view. (We’re all pretty sick of seeing views of the bow of my boat!)

We headed west past Round Hill Point to the town beach. The small surf was dumping right on the beach so there were no surfing opportunities. Carole found a nice sunny spot to sit and eat lunch.

After lunch we headed back towards the Dumplings. Rick entertained us with a questionable approach to a surf launch. He stayed right side up on his second try! During lunch the wind veered from NW to NE and the tide had dropped. This changed things a little around the rocks but there was still nothing too scary.
As we headed back the wind freshened so we headed up wind into the bay with hopes of surfing back. The surfing never really materialized (despite the best efforts of Bob and I) but I always enjoy paddling into a wind chop. I hung a little up wind of the crew. Partly because my boat liked it that way. Partly because of that “man against nature” thing I feel when in open water.

In the last few hundred yards of paddling Bob and I discussed our desire not to roll our boats. Bob pointed out that it was Neo-Hood season from now on. Then, Cat rolled her boat and asked who was next. I still had my helmet and sunglasses on so I rolled just like that. I think Tom rolled also.

Now I was wet and the sun was behind the clouds. It was cold. I unloaded some of my boat and got out of my drysuit and into dry cloths before finishing up. For the post paddle, Cat invited us to her house for coffee. It was a wonderful way to end the day.

11/1/2008 Air Temperature upper 50’s, water temp mid-50s, wind NW-NE 10-15

Westport Ripper

2008-10-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

Tim made a second try at catching an outgoing tide. This time it was to be at the mouth of the Westport River. We met at 10 AM at some secret little put in that saved us about 1000 yards off our usual paddle. Tim, Paul, Jon, Rich, Eric, Cat and her Russian friend. It was a comfortable day. But there was a breeze from the north, a mid October date, and a plan to get wet. We all donned wet suits or dry suits (except for Eric in shorts and a dry top!)

We paddled out to the mouth and found a moving tide but no waves. We rounded the knubble to play around our favorite rocks but there was little swell. Jon saw some birds working and offered to catch me a fish. He had one hooked before I knew it. Unfortunately it was a small (but delicious looking) stripper.

So we headed to Horseneck hoping that the waves we could see on the beach might be surfable. We tried but they were marginal at best. Eric and I we lagging about 200 yards to the west and talking when suddenly we heard a loud bang. Looking over we could see Jon, Cat and Rich in close proximity. But really, there was no surf to speak of. As we lazily approached we heard Tim saying “We’re all going to beach over there where the break is smaller”. Then Cat was saying “It’s filling up with water”. She loosened her spray skirt, which seemed silly to me until I saw the CD sized hole in her boat.

It didn’t take us long to figure out that Jon had surfed into her. It was difficult not to start teasing Jon. This was his second spearing in less than 12 months. But I also knew he would feel like a heel. And then we realized that Cat’s thigh was right where the hole was. She had to have taken a pretty good hit.

Before I go on I need to mention that if you find yourself surfing towards someone the best thing to do is tip yourself over. You’ll lose most of your momentum instantly. These sea kayaks are long and heavy. Maneuvering them out of trouble is nearly impossible.

Once on the beach we could see the extent of damage to Cat’s boat. Besides for the hole there was an 18 inch split in one direction and a 4 inch mix of fractures in the other. The damage showed one of the negatives of the Trylon or Carbonite material. It is a very tough material. But once exceeded, unlike fiberglass, there is no weave to contain the damage.

Most of us ate lunch, Jon headed out to get ice, but Cat was determined to field repair her boat. She whipped out her Gorilla Tape and quick curing epoxy and deftly contained any further propagation of the cracks while sealing the hole from both sides. I have no doubt that the boat could have easily made the return trip. But there was also a welt forming on Cat’s thigh. The men decided that it was sure to be tender and bracing with the thighs in the boat might be painful. Cat was not quick to relent but that 1000 yards we saved by moving the put in meant that the cars were less than ½ mile away by land. Jon brought his car as close as he could to the beach and the rest of us helped carry the boat and gear to it.

With the excitement past we headed back out for the return trip. The wind had moved a bit to the east and with the lower tide there was some breaking going on over the sand bar. We played there for a few minutes but no organized waves were forming. I’ve been trying to develop a combat roll so I tried to roll but was unsuccessful. Eric quickly rescued me and we paddled on.

We started passing the mouth of the river against the beach side. But I was closest to the Knubble and could see some rip happening. I started heading in that direction without agreement from the group. This was bad form but Eric didn’t hesitate to join me. Sure enough the river was hopping. We all made a few passes. With each pass the excitement went down a bit but the anticipation that my luck would run out increased. Where I focused on the excitement of surfing and burying my bow in the waves, Tim practiced moving his boat at all different angles to the current. There was a lot of variation in the standing waves. Visually, sometimes it looked like it was flattening out but it never seemed to disappoint.

After about a half hour of that we headed back. At the put in Eric and I did a few rolls. Although not combat rolls I tried to make them as smooth as possible.

There was one other thing that happened this day. The Russian guy was also an ultra-marathoner. After lunch he headed out paddling solo from Horseneck beach, around Sakonnet Point, up to OSA in Bristol. Why do I mention this? Because at 5pm as we were sitting at Coastal Coffee Roasters in Tiverton by Stone Bridge we saw him paddle by!!!! Rich tried to flag him down but of course he didn’t see. We were happy to see he was safe and probably had enough time to make it to Bristol.

10/15 Westport, air 65-70. Water 63, Winds NE <10

Deerfield, take two

2008-10-11T20:26:00.000-04:00

It was almost two months ago that I took the RICKA white water class. I got the email from Erik saying they were heading out to the Deerfield again. I was genuinely interested, but as usual, I was unwilling to commit until the last minute. I was thinking about other plans for the long weekend. As it turns out in this case I had to travel to CT and back to be with a friend on Friday night. When I returned home about 11:30 my level of commitment was “I’ll decide when I wake up!”

When I woke up I checked my email for any updates about when and where we would meet. Then I checked the WW web page and saw a Friday night post that said the gathering would be at 10AM. Great, I had plenty of time. I strapped on the racks and the boat and loaded the truck. The ride out Route 2 was beautiful. The leaves were near their peak. Right in that period between where the swamp maples have lost all their leaves and the terrestrial trees have turned.

As I neared the Zoar Gap picnic area I started following a red truck with a RICKA sticker on it. I knew I wouldn’t be too late! In fact we were the first to arrive. I did not know the three in the truck but I threw my boat in with their’s while they rode up and dropped them at the put in. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew arrived at the meeting spot. We consolidated a few more boats and headed up. But my new friends in the red truck had not returned yet so we were on the lookout for them. Fortunately, they arrived just as we were getting ready to leave. We didn’t have to flag them down as we passed.

We arrived at the put in and began to ready the boats. Someone decided that it would be a good idea to seal launch from 30 feet up the hill, through the trees, down to the water. He ricocheted off some trees and didn’t quite make the water but he did not hurt himself. 9 points for luck, 0 points for good judgment.
On the water we quickly found ourselves in some decent sized standing waves. They were a little larger than I was ready for this early in the day. I hadn’t found my rhythm in the boat yet. There were a large number of boaters lined up in the eddy ready to play. I took my turn in the waves but played it fairly cautiously. As I realized I was not yet comfortable I decided to surf on some of the smaller waves a little further down stream. It seemed like a great idea but as someone dropped off the taller standing waves they backed down onto me. This caused him to go over. He attempted a few rolls and I let myself drift down with him hoping he might grab my bow. When he finally did roll up I apologized for being in his way. He seemed to take it OK.

Before I knew it I was over too. I’m not sure exactly why but it was early. No big deal. I attempted a roll but no luck (really no skill).
We continued to play and surf. I practiced some ferry crossings and peel offs. I remembered Mike’s words about how smile shaped waves were good. Frowns were bad. So when I approached a grimace I wasn’t sure what to expect. Sure enough it was sucking me up pretty good. I tried to peel off it but the eddy line sucked on the back of my boat and over I went. Elaine confirmed that she found it a bit of keeper also so I didn’t feel too bad. Again no roll. I repeated this same error at another rock. I was beginning to get frustrated with the upside down part but was otherwise having fun.

We stopped for lunch and I took the opportunity to warm up in the sun. My wet suit / dry top combination was warm when dry and cool when wet and out of the sun. Just about perfect.

After lunch I went over in the same spot I had gone over 2 months ago. And just like I did two months ago I rolled up there! I felt relieved. More surfing and playing and I found myself over again. A young woman in an open boat helped rescue me this time. Then I saw a nice mound of water and thought it would be great to go through that. Why did I not realize it was a big rock? Over again… This time I became separated from my paddle. I was getting embarrassed as now I needed a rescue AND someone to retrieve my paddle. I decided I’d stay in the boat the rest of the afternoon.

At the gap we set up on the hillside to watch Erik, Brendon, and Eric run the river right side. All three easily stayed upright.

We packed up our stuff and gathered for dinner at Applebee’s. It was a nice way to wind down and we were all starved.

On the ride home I got to thinking about why I spent so much time upside down. I was a bit more aggressive about where I was putting myself but I think it was more that I was just too casual. Where last time I was highly alert and cautious this time I’d turn for things mid stream and plow right to the front of the wave. I was having fun so I was not concerned about being upside down. That is, until the number of upside down opportunities added up!

10/11 Air upper 60s, water comfortable!

Sometimes too many words...

2008-10-05T19:23:00.000-04:00

It was a warm weekend in October with 20 miles of paddling. Tail winds both ways. Little more needs to be said.

In-Formation

Home

Why

Our Little Jewel

From Whence we came...

Who Dunit?

Friends

Slow Speed

3x the gas mileage

October 4,5 Casco Bay Maine, Winslow Park to Jewel Island

"Patio" Stone Bridge

2008-09-20T19:59:00.000-04:00

Tim picked a weekend when we could catch the outgoing tide at Stone Bridge. The tide was scheduled to run strong in the early afternoon. We wasted time by lazily paddling to the top of Common Fence Point and back to the bridge for lunch. Carole entertained by wearing (and sharing) her lunch. Heather laughed when at lunch I described it as “a stupid paddle, but fun!”

After lunch we headed out to the evil can. The water was moving but there was no wind. It was basically flat. Joe encouraged us to back our boats down on an eddy line for excitement. It did result in a few capsizes. Even a passing cruise ship couldn’t stir things up.

So how does one recover? Coastal coffee roasters of course! http://www.coastalroasters.com/
Just another great day on the water.

How many times has this boat been upside down?

9/20 Stone Bridge Tiverton

Hull Sharing

2008-09-08T21:18:00.002-04:00

Every Monday morning Ellen and I sit down at break in the cafeteria and share our kayak adventures. Mine usually involve time on the water. Her’s often involves “I was too busy”. But despite this, it was Ellen who actually got me started in kayaking. That might have been 8 years ago.

There are others at the table also. They are also wondering what this kayaking thing is all about. My dirt bike riding friend Chris thinks it must be boring and involve no skill. My rec-boat paddling friend Darik can’t imagine why I’d want such a long boat (and wear a life vest). But most of the others think it looks like fun and would like to try it.

So when we decided to have our summer work outing at Dave’s house in Hull on the water, Ellen, Darik, Dan and I decided to bring our boats. We had seven total. An Explorer, Ellesemere, Elaho, Carribou, Sole, Swifty and Loon. About half of the group of 30 spent some time in the boats and no one found themselves upside down. I explained the differences between the boats (engineers are an inquisitive bunch). Most could appreciate the long boats over the short ones on the water. It felt great to share our sport with our friends.

As the day wound down Ellen, Dan and I headed out for a paddle around some of the inner Boston Harbor Islands. We invited Scott along. He has spent a lot of time in canoes with his boy scout troop and looked very comfortable in the Elaho. We paddled by Bumkin Island and headed across the two mile crossing to Pedocks near the Hull Gut. I would have liked to go a bit farther through the gut but it was getting late and I knew Scott would tire from too much “arm paddling”. So we rested a bit and explored the island before heading back.

Dan’s arm was bothering him on the way out so I encouraged him to lead the pace paddling back. The vitamin-i he took on the island obviously kicked in because he paced us pretty good on the return trip. As expected, Scott started to fade in the last mile. Dan and I surfed every ripple or wake we could find. Ellen returned with Scott just a few minutes behind and just as the sun was beginning to set.

It really was a wonderful day on the water. I don’t usually paddle so late in the day. Things looked very nice in the fading light.

Worlds End to Pedocks Island Hull, Sept 8 Winds Light, Water upper 60s, air low 70s

Tropical Storm Hanna

2008-09-08T07:18:00.001-04:00

Tim had a paddle scheduled out of Sakonnet point on Sunday morning. But tropical storm Hanna was forecast off shore Saturday night with the winds lingering into the day Sunday. In my mind this paddle was not going to happen. And if it did, it was going to be well beyond my comfort zone. Sakonnet can be a challenge in much tamer weather.

On Sunday morning I read Tim’s email about moving to the bay campus. He emphatically stated:
“This will be a level 5 paddle. Full safety and rescue kit required. Must be able to stay with group, follow direction and lend assistance as required. Expect large swells and strong wind gusts. No "cowboys" needed.”

Paddling from bay campus allows you to sneak up on the swells slowly. If at any point it feels too much you can retreat. This of course assumes that the conditions are getting better not worse. And it also assumes you didn’t wander into the trouble spots at any of the many points.

Unfortunately I was in RI without a boat. The best I could do was meet them at the launch site as they returned from their adventure. This would allow me to hang with them at Java Madness. This is of course the highlight of any paddle!

When I arrived at bay campus I recognized Joe, Eric, John, Bob, Rich, and Tim’s cars. I didn’t notice the cars of Tim, Rich, and Nick who made the total 9. They were still out so I wandered over to Bonnet Shores to watch the swells rolling into that cove. It was quite beautiful as the bent in an arch across the whole cove and dumped their energy on the beach. Wave power is proportional to their wave length and the square of their height. I would estimate these swells had 10 to 20 times the power that we typically encounter.

Back at the launch the paddlers had returned and were practicing various rolls and rescues off the beach. As they pulled ashore they told stories of conditions being more reasonable than they expected. They also described a very sensible level of risk taking. They stayed well clear of the problem areas such as Beavertail Point.

At Java Madness Carole showed up with her daughter and her daughter’s partner. She too wanted to hear the storied of the day’s adventure. (And how did she know we would be there?)

I must say it really was almost as if I paddled. Except for the salty feeling and all the rinsing of boats and equipment.
Now what am I going to do with those 4 boats I have in my garage?

Deerfield Whitewater Kayaking

2008-08-17T21:05:00.001-04:00

About 3 years ago I bought a whitewater kayak with intent of surfing it. I selected a Necky Rip because of its length and shape and because Pete B. and Bill L. seem to breath a lot of excitement into their Necky Jives (a sister boat which is a slightly smaller). It turns out I’ve only surfed it once. A day where I really took quite a trashing! The truth is I have not surfed it again mostly because I have a three hour round trip commute for about an hour of surfing. I have used it a lot for rolling practice, both in a local lake and in the pool. It’s been worth the investment to me.

I noticed that the whitewater group was offering an intermediate white water clinic on the Deerfield River. My usual style is to not commit a weekend too far ahead of time. True to form I was late to sign up but fortunately there was still room. Mike Rock and Bill Luther were the instructors. I didn’t know much about Mike but I had met him on the 4th of July. Bill had been instrumental in solidifying my roll at a winter pool session.

I’ve avoided the whitewater mostly out of a fear that I’d put myself in conditions beyond my ability. It’s not hard for me to imagine saying “I can run that” instead of portaging around. With this in mind I was as interested in cross training as I was in whitewater exposure. We often put our sea kayaks in conditions where I feel some white water experience could be valuable.

There were ten students at the clinic. We were to meet in the Zoar picnic area at 8 AM. I considered camping out in the area Friday night but it is only about an hour and a half from my house (and the weather was forecast to rain) so I chose to leave in the morning. As I got on the road I realized I forgot Bill’s directions to where the picnic area was. I drove too far on Route 2 and my 30 minute cushion quickly diminished to zero. I stumbled across the spot just ahead of time. Fortunately I wasn’t late nor the latest.

We started out by driving to a spot just below the dam on Fife Brook. There Mike wanted to see a wet exit by anyone he was not familiar with. I tried to appeal to Bill’s experience but he wouldn’t go for it. Not wanting to waste a good inversion I chose to set up for a roll or two. I figured I’d rather get in a few warm up rolls before bailing. And if I blew a roll the bailout would just happen! I did roll and then I wet exited. The water was cool and the air was still cool but I was comfortable in my farmer john wetsuit.

Meanwhile Mike was eying suspiciously the $500 sea kayak paddle I was holding. He was very concerned about me trashing it. I was very concerned about using my ww paddle with its straight shaft. It was fine in the deep pool where we were warming up. I took his advice and used the much stronger ww paddle on the river. It was fine largely because the paddling is much less rhythmic in ww. The strokes are much more powerful and in shorter bursts.

Practice in the pool below the dam was not all that valuable to me but it did allow me to loosen up and get the feel for my boat. I played around getting the feel of current under the hull. I also skulled a bit and demonstrated my sculling roll which would clearly be useless in WW but has proven valuable when I’m out of position in the sea kayak. (As if being upside down is not out of position enough!)
After lunch we launched from the Zoar picnic area. We practiced ferry crossings. I found it difficult to get used to leaning away from the current. Then we practiced peeling out and grabbing an eddy. This was fun and valuable. I guess I just pictured bombing down the river. As it turns out playing in one spot was most of the fun. Anyway, peeling out is a little disconcerting as the current grabs your boat. Grabbing an eddy requires paddling aggressively. More aggressive than you’d expect.

Once I got the hang of those skills it became clear to me that grabbing a wave was fun. Some of the waves are rock related and you grab them in the same way as finding an eddy. Some of the other waves are in more open space and you need to either paddle aggressively into them or back down on them. I imagine that you could turn in the midst of them but that clearly was not a skill I had.
When I look at some of the photos of me surfing it’s a little disappointing how small the waves look. But I can tell you they were fun. I could lean forward and bury the nose of the kayak and get water to run up the bow and over my spray skirt.

Erik was performing the sweep duties for Mike and Bill in his open boat (aka canoe). The paddling quickly digressed into him and me surfing every little wave we could find. Sometimes I felt like I was hogging the good ones!
About half way through the afternoon I caught the back of my boat in the current. This was a destabilizing thing for me because my response was a low brace leaning aft which only worsened the problem. The result was I was upside down. For whatever reason I was fairly calm and I set up for my roll. Up I came. Honestly I don’t remember whether it was first try or second try. But I was up with my first real combat roll! Just to keep my head from swelling too much I’ll disclose that I went over again later in the day and on Sunday. Both times I blew my roll. So it goes…

After a day of paddling the majority of us met at a local campground. We all brought a pot luck item and we ended up with a wonderful meal. Yes we all contributed but Jay was clearly the key player. He did all the grilling, had all the proper equipment, and managed to get the camp fire going all at the same time.

On Sunday we (-2 people) repeated the section from the Zoar picnic area and then (-6) paddled the Fife Brook section above Zoar gap. I felt much more comfortable in my boat and had a great time. I thought I would be more tired. At the end of the day Elaine and I pulled ashore while Mike, Bill, Erik, and Brendon ran the gap. Mike and Bill made it look easy. Erik and Brendon made it look exciting!

It was a great weekend. It would not have been possible without Mike and Bill volunteering. And it would not have been as fun without everyone who came along.

Also see Eriks blog at http://www.woonsocket.org/wwschool.pdf
Deerfield River, Aug 16/17

Saguenay, Quebec

2008-07-29T20:07:00.004-04:00

I’ve wanted to kayak with whales for a long time. My recent trips to Oregon and Alaska provided views of Grays, a Humpback, and an Orca but none up close or from a kayak. The other disappointment in both these trips was the use of someone else’s kayak. The rented and borrowed kayaks were never the comfortable sleek units we paddle around home. I was determined to paddle with whales someplace I could drive with my own Boat.

I’m not sure how I discovered the St Lawrence River and the Saguenay Fiord. Wayne S. from ConnYak has made the trip a few times and was a great help with the planning. The map of sightings at www.whales-online.net put me over the top. It promised almost certain sightings of Minkes and Belugas with the possibility of Fins, Humpbacks, and Blues.

I started to generate interest in others in late January. In April we gathered at Lisa’s to decide on who was coming, set a target date, and agree on a rough itinerary. The group was eight strong, the time was the third week in July, and the itinerary was car camping. (My desire for primitive camping is for not when there would be 6 tents and 8 clowning and laughing adults involved.)

I selected “Paradis Marin,” a campground in Les Bergeronnes Quebec, about 600 miles from Providence. We would spend 8+ days; 6 camping and two somewhere along the way. In early July we met again to finalize plans and split into teams; Paul and Lisa, Bob and Carole, Rick and MA, and Eric and Heather. Each team agreed to plan one dinner and one breakfast. We figured we’d eat out a couple of times to fill in the unplanned spots.

When the departure date arrived we packed tents, coolers, food, kayaks, bikes and hiking gear and headed out on the road. Lisa and I left Friday morning, visiting St Johnsbury, hiking Mt Pisgah, and walking the town of Newport in VT. We had a late dinner and stayed in a hotel in Drummondville Quebec. On Saturday we explored Quebec City and Baie-St-Paul. All 8 of us met and stayed in St-Joseph-De-La-Rive.

On Sunday morning, E,H,P and L headed out early for the campground. The four of us had left New England on Friday. B,C,MA, and R had come up all the way from RI on Saturday and took the opportunity to have a more relaxed start. We wanted to get to Paradis Marin early because they don’t take reservations.

The road from QC to St-Joseph-De-La-Rive got better with every mile. The continuation to Les Bergeronnes was beautiful. We arrived at the campground and proceeded to try and explain in English to the French speaking owners that we were looking for six nights for eight people. At first they sent us off to “find a good site” which is the usual approach. Then before we could leave they set us up right by the boat ramp, close to the café and washroom, and all close together. There were prettier sites on the property but none more convenient. As Carole says:
“I was very happy with the campground. It was more like a small community than a campground. Although none of us spoke French , we quickly got in the groove and figured out what the signs meant, and only a few times said "Bonjour!" for goodbye, instead of "Au Revoir!" At whale sightings (the camp was directly on the water where whales could come quite close), word would soon get out and campers would gather quickly on the rocks or, if they were ready, jump into their kayaks. "Balein!" is a word we always understood. “

The 4 of us set up our tents and a screened gazebo. We were just about settled when the next 4 arrived so I went out for a bike ride. I had heard that there was a bike path and thought from my translation of French that it was paved. It was a great dirt path but with my road bike I was relegated to route 138. You don’t want to ride on a two lane road with no breakdown lanes when trailer trucks are passing in both directions at 60 miles per hour. Besides for my fear of death it was a great ride into Les Escoumins!

When I returned we started our first meal. While cooking we could see Belugas and Minkes swimming just off shore. When dinner was finished the 4 boys could stand it no more and we raced into our kayaks and headed out for a quick paddle. I donned my drysuit with just a thin polypro layer underneath. As soon as I got on the water the temperature dropped noticeably. As we paddled away from shore, less than a mile, it was clear that I was under dressed for the cold. But we had seen a Minke from shore and headed for that general area. On the water, in the calm conditions, we could hear the Minke before we saw it. It popped up a dozen times in an area about a 1⁄2 mile diameter. At one point it was very close to Rick. We avoided chasing this whale, reminding ourselves of the marine mammal protection rules. Besides, the whales were everywhere. There would be plenty more we thought.

On Monday we woke up in a fog. It was early in the week so we decided to pass on the paddling and do some exploring. We walked the bike path about a mile to Cape Bon Desire. It is a provincial park celebrating a light house and the whales. We sat in the cold wind on the rocks for an hour or so and saw a Fin Whale. This was confirmed in fine English by the ranger and tallied on their wall where the keep track of sightings.

As the morning wore on the fog wore off. I was feeling that “too baked” feeling of being in the sun too long without a hat or sun tan lotion. So when the others went off to explore Tadousac I stayed back at the campground and rested in the tent. What I missed was a wonderful sighting of a Minke mom and her calf. They described the calf rolling over and showing its pink belly!

On Tuesday we were more determined to get back on the water.
There was a fairly stiff breeze from the east but nothing too strong. We decided to paddle east into the wind and then come back with the wind at our backs. We saw no whales (the big kind) but did see a few flashes of Harbor Porpouse. When we did turn back the waves were a bit pushy and fun to surf. I hung back with Eric and watched as Rick surfed over Carole’s boat and flipped. I swooped in to rescue the white boat that looked a lot like a Beluga! With Eric’s help we had Rick in the boat quickly. It took quite some time for Carole to get her boat turned around and position herself as additional support. This made me feel like the cautious paddling I was doing from the sweep position had been worthwhile.

By this point in the trip it was clear that Heather was the whale spotter in the group. She had the patience (and the best binoculars). She would sit on the rocks and wait, soaking in the relaxation she could draw from the sea. Then, without fail, she’d spot the marine mammal.

On Wed. the wind was more reasonable so we paddled West and then East in search of whales. Again we saw none from the boat despite our frequent sightings of Minkes in the morning and Belugas in the evening. All right from the rocks at the campground. With regard to not seeing whales, MA said:
“I was anxious throughout the trip as we were on the water wondering what would it be like if a whale surfaced right next to us, Would I freak and freeze, lose it and go over, or best scenario actually go over and roll the boat out of shear panic not to be floating outside my boat with something larger than life. Occasionally I would say to myself, "okay whales surface around Paul or the others, they can handle it and I really do not need to be up and personal with you". Then we got to the fiord, where I realized that as I floating above the water enjoying all that was the best of unfretted nature that below me there were babies and moms and families of the magnificent species just enjoying the same peace. They came here to relax and not be bothered as they created the next generation. Babies were probably looking up saying "Hey what are those huge dark spot that move across the water every so often. Can I go play with these little tiny things that seem to just float across the water. They keep waving at a rhythmic pace from one side to the next." For me it was just awesome to think that we were there sharing their time and space and water.”

In the afternoon I tried again to get out on the road bike while the others took their off road bikes on the bike path. My ride was much safer on a long looping back road but I still had to survive 3 miles of the high speed truckers on Route 138.

Each morning I’d get up and make coffee and head down to the rocks in search of whales. Most mornings I was not disappointed. One morning I saw a seal right in our cove. He had caught a large fish and had it in its mouth. It was about 10 lbs and still flipping. I never actually saw the seal swallow the fish but I’m sure it was satiated for at least a little while!

Thursday started out rainy. Seven of us headed into Les Escoumins for breakfast. The majority of the wait staff were not strong English speakers. (All of us were not even novice French speakers.) But we managed to order some wonderful breakfast dishes. From here we visited a terrible museum on Quebec natural history. Next we ventured to Bay-Saint-Marguerite. This area was supposed to be an area where belugas and their calves were gathered in large numbers. As it turns out we didn’t see any but we did have a nice hike. Finally we descended on Tadousac again. From the rocks in town we saw mother Belugas with their small grey calves right by their tails.

Two of the nights we had entertainment in the café. As Rick said:
“I loved the wonderful scene at the "after hours", open air cafe, where dozens of French-speaking Quebecers sung along with the English-language jazz standards and show tunes that were being performed on an old-timey guitar and upright bass by a wonderful husband and wife duo who came from Montreal to stay at the campground each summer, along with the husky-voiced, professional songstress who was also staying at the campground and who had only met the instrumentalists earlier that day.”

On Friday we loaded up our kayaks and paddled in the Saguenay Fiord. We launched from L’Anse-de-Roche. We headed south into the wind towards the Flueve-St-Laurent. It was beautiful paddling with steep cliffs and hills surrounding the 1 mile wide fiord. We think we heard a Peregrine Falcon (they nest in the area) but saw none of the expected Belugas. We stopped for lunch and headed a few more miles south before crossing over to the west side of the fiord and heading back towards the put in.

On the way back we stopped on a gravel beach to “adjust ourselves”. Just about the time we were all out of our boats someone spotted Belugas. (It had to be Heather!) We all jumped into our boats and headed out “in their general direction”. This was a difficult test of conscious because we all wanted a close whale encounter and we hadn’t seen a whale from the boat since the first paddle. But Belugas as an endangered species have a 400 meter avoidance distance. For a few moments I saw as many as 5 in the water at once. Bob was the closest but it was still a good distance away. I expected that we were about to see the procession of one Beluga every half mile as we would typically see from the rocks at the camp site every evening. As it turns out this small group was all we saw. Unfortunately we were not well situated for the viewing.

After seeing the whales we all spread out a bit in search for more. What we found was a large freighter heading out to sea. I’ll let Rick describe it:
"On the return trip up the Saguenay fjord, we noticed what appeared to be a tanker far in the distance, nearly camouflaged by the rocky fjord behind it. But before too long, it was clear that the giant tanker was heading our way, directly up the center of the river. M wisely suggested that we all head over to the right-hand shore, and in no time, she and C were hugging the coast. B and I, however, remained much closer to the middle of the river, presumably to get a closer look at the tanker (and its wake?) as it passed by. Meanwhile, E, H and P had chosen to avoid the tanker by heading to its left, and by the time M, C, B and I had regrouped, they were nowhere to be seen. M and C were hesitant (i.e., refused!) to continue homeward without first knowing precisely where E, H and P were. Of course, given the glare created by the low-lying sun, we were simply unable to locate them on the far shore. With some prodding by B, M and C reluctantly agreed to resume paddling in the fast-moving following seas towards our destination. M appeared to be at some risk of "losing it" as fatigue and uneasiness with the squirrely waters set it, but she kept it together valiantly. We all were heartened when we saw E, H and P's paddles flashing far up ahead, and before long we back at the launch unloading our boats, as the sunset began to irradiate the sky."

So while they were concerned, we were care free. What we had was a great tail wind and some nice 1 to 2 foot waves to surf on. The three of us had a great time working up a sweat catching rides that were sometimes 15 or 20 seconds long.

After the long paddle we headed into Tadousac for dinner. It was our last hurrah in Saguenay. We would be breaking camp the following morning.

Saturday was a beautiful morning. We concocted a breakfast out of whatever food we had left in the coolers. Then we slowly packed our tents and bikes. Meanwhile, the weekend had brought more day kayakers to the launch and various people we ogling our flotilla of kayaks. Mine and Eric’s seemed to draw the most attention. Probably because they represent two of the extremes in kayak design (Qajariaq and Force4). Someone was interested enough in the Q-boat that Eric let him take it for a test paddle.

When nearly everything was packed away we all (minus MA and H) headed out for one last paddle. (Or in Lisa’s case, a first AND last paddle.) The six of us plus a gentleman we just met paddled out into the wind towards Cape Bon Desire. Conditions were lively but comfortable. We saw no whales. After a short hour, Lisa and I headed in to go easy on her shoulder. When she beached her boat I headed out to do a little surfing right in front of the camp. I made 3 or 4 passes and was about to quit when suddenly I heard “Heather the whale hunter” shouting to me. She was pointing in the general direction that we typically see our morning Minke.

I headed to the zone a couple of hundred yards off the rocks. I waited and paddled in place. I was getting ready to quit when suddenly I saw the Minke 200 yards away heading straight towards me. It was an orientation I had not yet seen and was actually a little surprised by how thin it looked at that angle. It submerged and popped up again about a 75 yards closer. This time it had turned a little towards shore. On its third blow it was 200 feet away and I had a spectacular view. I was nearly levitating. It’s forth blow was less than 75 feet from me. This time it arched its back and went down for its dive. I was thrilled. I headed out to tell the others who were meandering back along the shore. What a spectacular finish to the trip! (Incidentally, this pattern of four breaths was very predictable with the Minkes.)

MA left early to head straight back to Mass. R,C,B,E and H headed to Quebec City. L and I headed further south. We expected to stay somewhere in Canada but found no vacancy in Sherbrook. Fireworks and a celebration meant no hotels in Magogg. Newport VT was full. We ended up pulling into St Johnsbury at midnight to get the last available room.

Sunday we meandered down through Vermont. The GPS emboldened us and we actually spent about 25% of the time on dirt roads! It was a relaxing way to travel the miles back.

I think the vacation was a great success. We were told that there were actually fewer whales than usual because the Capelin were spawning longer than usual further east and that’s where the whales were. And the weather for paddling could have been better. But I don’t think anyone was disappointed. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Saguenay Fiord 7/25 Air 75 Water Low 60s?
Flueve-St-Laurent 7/20,22,23,26 Air 60+/- Water low 50s

Winds/Fog were a factor in paddle planning. They were Highly Variable Day to Day and Place to Place.

Connubial Prudence

2008-06-29T20:47:00.001-04:00

It was one year ago almost to the day since E&H were celebrating their wedding with friends and family in Bristol. A year later we were back in Bristol for a little less formal gathering we were calling the anniversary paddle.

MB, BH, CC, PB, RB, and TM all joined E&H for the paddle. We met at OSA and were planning to paddle to Prudence, portage over, and come back around via Patience. There was fog and thunderstorms in the forecast so we were being cautious and were willing to do whatever paddle seemed safe. We were predictably slow getting on the water as we all visited Cat and checked out her store.

The paddle out of Bristol Harbor is always longer than expected. At one point we were lined up side by side almost as if we were an organized group. And we were all thrilled to finally pass Popasquash Point and head over to Prudence. As usual the eight of us alternated pair and triples as we paddled along and caught up on the stories and trials and excitements in each others lives.

When we landed on Prudence it was feeling hot. We explored the marsh that we were planning to portage over and decided, partly because of the low tide, to skip the carry and paddle up the east side of the island. It was already nearing lunch time so we were searching for a good place to land and eat.

We found a reasonable spot to pull ashore and the usual lunch ritual began. Tim shared his PB&J with Eric, Heather shared her home baked cookies, and various other partially melted and crushed foods were passed around.

As the lunch break was proceeding we noticed we were being approached by three strange kayakers. As they neared we realized it was RB, MR, and MK. MK was sporting a web cam mounted on his helmet. We discussed throwing rocks at them to thwart off the attack but instead decided they might have good food and let them join us. They had left out of Goddard Park and were on a mission a little more challenging than ours.

The wind had picked up a bit as we left Prudence and headed east towards Bristol. The beam sea paddling was comfortable but the southerly leg into the wind was a bit of a slog. Rounding the point, we all enjoyed a little down wind surfing. We each caught at least a few rides, Bob of course leading the way.

As we neared the launch we were joined by RS who was practicing a bit and waiting for us. LB met us on the beach, sidelined with her sore shoulder. We were as slow to get off the water as we were to get on. A number of rolls, some sculling, and a few rescues kept us cool and smiling.

After the paddle we met at the Bee Hive Café on Franklin Street in Bristol. The coffee was good, the pastry was delicious, and there were nice indoor and outdoor places to sit. It was great way to help E&H celebrate their first anniversary.

12 miles total

The Season’s warming up

2008-04-19T21:47:00.000-04:00

It had been a few weeks since my last paddle. I was itching to get out in the boat and the weather was perfect. In fact it was too perfect. The air was warm enough that it is difficult to dress for the water.

The plan was the Jamestown dock on Saturday morning. I was itching to go somewhere different but the Jewish holiday had a few of us on a tight time schedule. As conciliation we hoped that the outgoing tide and the full moon would combine to spice things up at the dumplings. Seven of us arrived ready to paddle. It was a crew comprised largely of very experienced boaters.

There was very little wind as we were dressing and packing our boats. We were all feeling pretty hot. I wore a very light layer under my drysuit. I knew I would cool off quickly if I spent any significant time in the water but the conditions were benign and I had confidence in my partners. Plus the air was warm enough that I’d warm back up once out of the water. This is in contrast to a typical winter paddle where once you cool off it’s very difficult to warm up, especially your extremities.

Once on the water I did some sculling to get my body in the water. It cooled me down quickly. Surprisingly quickly I might add. As we started paddling a breeze did pick up. It was just enough breeze over the cold water to balance the heat I was generating internally. On the water, I was very comfortable.
Bob and I headed to the East side of the dumplings to look for some fun. The current was running but not too strong and without an opposing wind it was fairly tame. Carleen, Carole, Tony, Rich, and Becca all went along the shore.
Carleen was suggesting Beavertail. Others wanted to head towards Brenton point so as to head up wind and not have to fight it heading back. We agreed on BP and made a long diagonal crossing in that direction. This is a crossing we would do as a perpendicular beeline in summer to avoid boat traffic. This day we were largely on our own.

We paddled along the shore and did some easy rock gardening. Carleen was suggesting helmets but no-one was biting. When we got to the jetty there was some wave action coming over the shallows. Bob and I headed across and we were greeted by waves approaching simultaneously at 90 degree angles. Tony, with helmet started surfing them. We all followed suit and put ours on also. Bob and Carleen were paired up. The rest of us were more timid and discussing if we really wanted to go over. Becca was concerned that she was out of practice. I knew that I was dressed a little too light to deliberately put myself in the water.

The next thing I knew I could see Bob retrieving Carleen’s kayak. We were not at all alarmed. It was not very rough. B and C would be fine. But things weren’t proceeding as quickly as expected so we wandered over in that general direction. It was then we saw that C was separated from her boat. But Tony had her hanging off the back of his big double kayak so we weren’t too concerned. It would be no time before T had her back to her boat. But again things were taking longer than expected. T couldn’t pull her along nearly as fast as I expected.

So I headed over and met up with them about the same time as they were all meeting up. Tony dropped off C, B started the rescue, and I pulled up along B’s boat for extra support. We were away from the surf so it all seemed like no big deal.
But about this time I was realizing things were not all going as easy as I expected. C was very tired from being towed along by T’s boat. She was struggling to lift herself onto the boat. I was recalling a rescue last fall where the swimmer was very tired just from holding on to his boat. Somewhere in this process C became separated from one of her boots and Tony recovered it.

Once C had some of her body on the boat she was struggling to get her feet up at the surface and continue the slide on. We were starting to think about the sling. I had mine right in my vest pocket but I was thinking to myself “Do I really remember how Tim showed me to use this thing? Do I really want to add the rope to this situation to get tangled in?” Besides, give C a minute to rest and she’ll just pop herself in. Then once C was on her boat her vest became caught on the combing on her cockpit. We finally got her all the way on but now her vest was caught in the hole that is her cockpit. Slowly, we got her unstuck from the cockpit and she could slide into the seat. It was all very strange.

We all decided to head over to the beach and get Carleen re-connected with her boot and give her a rest. At the beach it became clear that she had about a gallon of water in each leg of her drysuit. The neoprene neck seal of the Tropos drysuit had let in a significant amount of water while Tony was towing her through the water. It was only a day later that Carole and Bob realized that during the rescue Carleen had brought her body over the cockpit of her boat instead of over the back decks of her and Bob’s kayaks. That explained the very strange tangle of vest and combing but it didn’t even occur to us on the water.

What a lesson this was. Bob, Paul and Tony with Carleen in the water in relatively tame conditions is a rescue you would expect to go quickly and easily. But it didn’t. I know personally I was so lulled into the belief that it would go easy that never got involved with the intensity I should have. It makes me think about the way the kids used to practice soccer when I was coaching. I’d try to get them to practice with the intensity as if it was a game day but they never really took it too seriously. It’s exactly what I did in this situation. And in hindsight it is very obvious to us what went wrong but at the time we weren’t seeing it.

There was nothing dangerous about this situation. But it reinforces how important practice is. These things need to go smoothly when the conditions are difficult. They have to be mindless and flawless in benign conditions if this is going to happen. I often let others do the rescue in practice sessions thinking I’m all set and I want others to learn. Maybe I should do some more of them? And I for one want to practice more in difficult (but safe) conditions.

So back to the paddle…. we ate lunch on the beach and then headed out to Brenton Point. With the tight schedule and Carleen already wet on the inside of her drysuit we just went out to have a look and then headed back. At the beach Carole, Becca and I worked on our rolls. In the process Carole realized her latex neck seal was too worn and was letting water in also. Another thing to fix!

4/19/2008 Air upper 60s, water 50s, wind light

Kings Beach, Newport

2008-03-31T20:37:00.000-04:00

It had been 8 weeks since my last paddle. I was getting a bit restless to get out in the boat. For a winter paddle I usually contact some of the regulars by email first to be sure there will be at least a few paddlers on the water that I trust. This is a safety measure. I want to be sure that there are people with me who are aware enough to use appropriate risk avoidance. I also want to know that there will be others who can perform a quick and efficient rescue should things go awry. Then, with a quorum established, I post on the web page hoping that additional capable paddlers will join in.

This week I had my heart set on the Kings Beach launch and a paddle along the Newport coast by the mansions and the cliff walk. It’s an area I had never paddled before and one with some stretches where beaching is not possible because of the rocky shoreline. As a winter paddle this is something I would only suggest in favorable weather conditions. Favorable in this case was a North wind and temperatures in the mid 40’s.

A total of 8 paddlers showed up. All skilled and ready for this trip. What we weren’t ready for was the cold temperatures. At 9 AM the temperature was still below freezing and the wind was a steady 10-15. It felt frigid. The locals like Tony can show up pre-dressed in their dry suits. I have a 90 minute drive. I need to dress in the parking lot. (I can just picture myself putting gas in the truck and buying doughnuts in my gortex “space suit”.) The dressing up process was cold but once I was zipped into my suit I was quite comfortable.

During my time off the water I had taken the opportunity to augment the foam in my boat. I trimmed out my thigh braces and added significant hip padding. I was looking forward to feeling how the new boat would respond with this customizing. The hip padding is tighter than it was in my older boat. It actually applies a gentle pressure as opposed to just filling in the gap. The result was wonderful. I took three paddle strokes and did a little hip flick to see how it felt. My hip flick almost tipped me over because every degree of torso bend translated into boat motion. No slop or delay in the boat’s response. The process of foaming your boat seems a little daunting at first. The expensive foam doesn’t really fit right out of the box. It seems like you’ll never get it shaped to fit right. In fact, it’s not all that hard. I’ve typically used the layer approach to foaming in. I’ll use a ½ inch sheet and let it follow the outer contour of the boat. I then add additional ½ inch layers in more localized areas. This is followed by sanding away and shaping with coarse sandpaper. It’s very easy and the resulting boat feel is well worth the effort.

When we were all on the water we headed east. It was clear from the start that the conditions we ideal from a safe easy paddle point of view but were going to be a bit too tame for this group of paddlers with rock gardening and surfing thoughts in their heads. But it was nice to be on the water and we took our time and poked in and out of the rocks and explored. Joe commented that it was really quite scenic. A perspective he usually doesn’t notice because he is busy watching the waves and flow around the plethora rocks that dot this section of shoreline. Half the group tried to catch a wave on a small reef by the end of the cliff walk. But the swell was virtually non-existent and one attempt each was sufficient. A bit latter at Ruggles beach we all had a go at surfing. There was one spot with surfable stuff. The more confident among us surfed between rocks. The rest surfed with rocks to just one side allowing at least the possibility of directing our boats to the right and away from danger. After a few passes here we decided it was time for lunch. We were headed for the corner of First Beach but selected a little rocky cove below the cliff walk. Here we were well protected from the wind and were well lit by the sun. It was warm and quite comfortable.

I had my usual PB&J and the deserts were passed around and shared. Some new stories were told and some old ribbing was continued! We were in no rush to go anywhere.

After lunch we headed back. We took a few more rides at Ruggles. We found a different rock to poke around about the half way point. We paused here to discuss some coaching approaches. (Three of the paddlers were coaches and one is aspiring to be!) It was here that Bob had his best opportunity to go over when a rogue wave caught him off guard and surfed him towards the rock. He handled it with ease but it did add some excitement. While sitting at this spot I saw a good sized seal in the distance. It was the only seal sighting of the day.

Back at the launch Gerry, Eric and I took the opportunity to slip in a roll. My execution was fine but I forgot to close my day hatch which I had opened to put my sun glasses in. It filled with water. Gerry looked smooth. Eric was successful but did struggle a bit. On his second roll he popped up awkwardly without his hood on. The cold water on his head made him a bit grumpy. (Actually I assume he was more grumpy about his first aborted roll attempt.) But true to form he tried one more time and came up comfortably.

While we were rolling about, Mark and Steve headed back out in the direction of Brenton Point. This entire length of coast was new to these Connecticut people so they wanted to explore a bit more before calling it a day.

The total distance was only 9.5 miles. The wind was 10-15 from the north shifting to the south just about the time we got off the water. Air temperatures rose from 32 to about 42. Water temperature was just above 40. 3/30/08

RICKA pool sessions

2008-02-10T20:07:00.001-05:00

Rolling. I’ve been paddling for almost 8 years now and I’ve never “needed” to roll. Yes, it would have been nice to roll in the surf. And yes, I have needed to be rescued when I could have otherwise rolled but at no time has my “lack of roll” put me in danger.

So why am I talking about it again? Because I just finished my third RICKA pool practice session. Why do I do it? It’s fun. But that’s not the only reason. It’s probably the most tangible measure of competency level for kayakers. Hardly the most important one but clearly the most recognized. So there is an element of pride in there. And some showing off. I must admit I like to casually mention to the boys at work on Monday that I rolled a few times in 38 degree water.

Practically however, it’s a bomb-proof roll that matters. Rolling in the pool or when setting up ahead of time is fun and games. Rolling when the water conditions put you upside down is the real goal. In 2007 I wanted to master rolling in the surf. I didn’t achieve that goal partly because I didn’t have many opportunities to paddle in the surf. But I did roll on almost every paddle I did. It served to build my confidence. A confidence that is needed to think through and then execute the series of motions that are required to get yourself right side up. For some natural athletes it’s mindless. For most of us it’s a practiced skill.

I did have a little lapse in skill this summer. My roll was 90% for most of the year but for about 3 weeks it dropped to more like 50%. It was frustrating and the frustration just made the roll worse. But the months of reliable rolling leading up to the lapse did give me the confidence that I’d get through it and I did. I also set up and executed some rolls in current and chop. I learned there that getting back up doesn’t mean you’re done. If the water is nasty enough to put you over it’s not going to be any friendlier when you pop back up from a roll but are still not well balanced. It doesn’t wait for you to finish celebrating before knocking you about again.

Four weeks ago the pool sessions started. I popped my boat in the water, paddled around a little, tipped over, and blew my roll. I was disgusted. I hopped back in and rolled many more times. I got my offside roll back and never came out of the boat again that day. 12 months earlier I would have been thrilled by that performance but I was disappointed due to my high expectations. While driving to the pool the second week the radio was playing great music (George Thorogood). It put me in a great mood and my rolling was spot-on. I even rolled Tim’s Explorer HV both on and off side despite the fact that I was totally loose in it and couldn’t even touch the foot pegs. I skipped the third week to paddle outside. The forth week was going great until I jumped in Kevin’s Ellesmere. I own an Ellesmere so my anticipation was high that it would be like getting back together with an old friend. But it was uncomfortable and I blew 2 of three rolls. Why? Who knows. I had rolled about six different boats this year. Many that I wasn’t well fit to. I quit trying with Elly and, with confidence, returned to rolling the white water boat. I left a happy paddler.

Such is rolling. It’s why I practice a lot. It’s why kayakers are impressed when they see others do it with ease.

Thanks to RICKA for letting us "almost competent" rollers play in the pool. And thanks to the coaching staff for foregoing their own rolling fun to help the next generation learn the skill. Your dedication is what put many of us in the deep end!

January and February 2008. Air temperature 75, water temperature 75 in the pool. Air and water sub 40 degrees outside.

February on the water

2008-02-03T19:23:00.000-05:00

RICKA rolling pool sessions only occur 4 times a year. Sunny, 45 degree, weekend days in February occur even less frequently. So faced with a decision between those two options I hesitated but the decision wasn’t hard.

Carole, Bob, and I met at the Narragansett town beach just after 10AM. The temperature was already 40 and there was a gentle swell of less than 2 feet rolling onto the beach. I had arrived early and had time to watch and see that there was an occasional larger wave, in fact they seemed to come in pairs. It was not a major concern to me but I didn’t want to dump in the surf right off the start.

We loaded up our boats and dragged them to the water. Bob jumped in first and paddled in and out of the small surf. Carole was still finalizing the loading of her boat so I waited for the two large waves to pass and headed out through the gentle surf. Bob went back in towards Carole and the two of them paddled out while I watched. Just as they passed the break zone they met the next set of two larger waves. They were steep but still rolling and they easily passed over them. 20 seconds later however and they both would have started the day off with a least a face full of cold water.

We headed north by the rocks that guard the entrance to the Narrow River. We paddled along Boston Neck towards Bonnet Shores. There were a couple of locations where the swells stood tall over the bottom features and Bob was attracted but Carole and I held our distance and he seemed to get the point that we didn’t really want to go in and get him. It was warm with a gentle breeze at our back. And it wasn’t long before we were approaching the beach at Bonnet. Bob surfed a few waves and Carole and I headed to the east end for an easy dry landing.

We set up for lunch against a concrete sea wall which protected us from the wind and faced us directly into the warmth of the sun. We shared tea and snacks and ate our sandwiches. Adults, small children, and various sized dogs were frolicking on the beach. We weren’t stripping out of our dry suits but it was awful nice for February.

After lunch we discussed whether we would paddle further or just head back. I kind of wanted to touch the rocks at Bonnet point but for some reason we just headed back towards Narragansett. While we had stopped for lunch the wind had picked up a bit. It wasn’t strong but it was enough to slow us down and start up a random chop. As we passed the corner where the shore starts to bend westward it was a strange mix of swells, chop, and reflections which confused the waters. It almost felt as if the tide was moving against the waves but I knew in fact the tide was coming in. For me it was just enough to make it a bit exciting and get me thinking that this was February and no time to be doing something stupid. This slop continued until we reached the area near the outlet of the Narrow River.

At the river we passed inside the rocks and paddled just outside the surf rolling in on the beach. From the back sides they looked a little bigger than I had remembered at 10 AM. But as we had discussed, if we dumped while returning to the beach we were close to the cars to warm back up. Plus, the further up the beach we went the smaller the waves were.

As we approached the cars I was dealing with a strong urge to stand by a tree. While Bob stopped to talk with a WW boat surfer I just hopped on a wave and headed towards shore. My new Impex Force 4 seems to hold a nice straight line in the surf. In fact it tends to accelerate and stay ahead of the wave with the bow sinking just shy of the point of burying. This is in contrast to my Ellsmere which had a habit of burying the nose and inviting the back end to come around. But I should qualify this with a disclaimer that I’ve only been in relatively small (less than 3 foot) surf with the new boat.

I relieved my need, donned my helmet, removed my sunglasses, traded pogies for gloves, and headed back out into the surf. On my way back out I plowed through three or four waves that broke strongly onto my chest. I set up and rode another nice wave back into shore. For reasons I don’t fully comprehend I tripped the boat as I was turning to head back out. Over I went and I started to think about rolling. As the words swirled about in my head I started dragging my head and back along the sand. I started to set up my paddle but it was all too shallow and I fell out of my seat. (I still need to foam the boat.) The water was cold. As it slid down the ear canals underneath my neoprene hat I got a hint of that coldness disorientation. It wasn’t bad but it was clear to me that my neoprene hat (over the ears with a strap) was not nearly the same level of protection as my neo hood.
Carole and Bob seemed like they were done so despite the fact that I had only ridden one wave I decided maybe I should be done too. I decided to walk out and test the effectiveness of the insulation layers I had under my dry suit. I was comfortable in the water and floated about for a bit. Then, after a conversation with B&C I figured I’d try it without my hat on. I dove into a wave and experienced instant ice cream head ache. Not a killer one but enough that I didn’t want to stay in the water.

This whole neoprene hat thing is a conundrum. I would have over heated had I paddled all day with a hood on. On the other hand I would have really wanted it on had I gone over for some reason out in front of Bonnet.
It was great to load the boats in the warm parking lot with bare hands and light jackets on. Normally an immersion by the put in would have me scrambling for a warm car and dry cloths. Pretty nice for February!

After the paddle we went to chez C’s where we were treated to strong coffee and Panini. It was just a wonderfully relaxing day to be on the water.

Narragansett Town Beach to Bonnet Shores. 8.2 miles round trip, sunny, air 44, water 39, winds SW at 10.

Three Amigos

2008-01-06T16:27:00.000-05:00

For me, winter paddling is all about the weather. I have no desire to head out in sub freezing temperatures but a 40 degree day is more than enough to get my attention. So when Joe suggested a Boston Harbor paddle as an option for Saturday I checked the forecast and my schedule (in that order) and got excited. I contacted Eric to find out if he had a preferred day. Boston is “sort of” in our neck of the woods so I didn’t want to do it if he couldn’t. It was his preferred day. Then Joe posted that he was feeling a little bit under the weather and maybe Sunday would be a better day. I asked Eric if he’d be OK if it was just the two of us. We agreed that would be fine, we’d just stay inside of Hull. But I also said to him that if we were going I suspected Joe would feel well enough. He didn’t disappoint me.

Initially the forecast for Sunday was actually a little warmer. But my weather mantra is “don’t pass up a good day for want of a better day later”. Too many times I’ve said let’s wait for the better day only to have the forecast degrade. Again, the weathermen didn’t disappoint me.

So Paul, Joe and Eric showed up at Hull Gut. We had posted and did not know if anyone else would arrive. I didn’t expect any of the RI crew because they feel they need to have their passports to cross their little state border. But I thought that maybe some of the north shore paddlers that sometimes join us in the summer would show up. It turned out it was just us three. The conditions we perfect for a relaxing paddle so 3 was fine.

I suggested that our course include circumnavigating Pedocks Island but Joe insisted it was boring. So we all agreed to head towards the outer islands with Green Island as our destination. We headed out with the tide and a light wind pushing us. We managed just under 5 miles in the first hour and were at Green well before we were hungry for lunch. The Graves loomed off in the distance but we couldn’t land on graves comfortably and it was winter so somehow we managed to show good judgment and head south towards Outer Brewster Island instead. With a little instigation from me, Joe started the process of sneaking through a skinny passage in the rocks. I chose the second passage and rubbed my bow a bit. Joe took a different line and awkwardly scuffed his beam. Eric learned from our mistakes and made the passage perfectly! We found no good landing spot on this island, nor Middle Brewster, so we headed towards Boston Light.

We had not seen any seals around Green Island. We did see rocks that looked like perfect sunning spots. We assumed that maybe there were none to be found. But we were surprised when a friendly group of about 6 checked us out as we passed between Outer and Middle Brewster. We paused to observe them and discussed how we probably scare them because we look like 17 foot sharks from below. However, in the water and at their distance they seem comfortable.

We pulled up on the shore of Boston light for lunch. I located a comfortable rock facing SW towards the sun. As we started to eat our lunches the sun slipped behind a high cloud haze and the wind died. The lack of sun, the cold rock under our butts, and the cooling down of our bodies from stopping paddling combined to chill us all a bit. It’s heeding little clues like this that keeps us cautious and not doing things like paddling out to The Graves. Had one of gone over out there it would be two hours back to the put in.

The three amigos talked about our jobs while eating lunch. Had it been warmer I could have sat on that rock for hours. It was profound how different work is for the three of us. Yet each of us finds satisfaction in what we do. (And each of us enjoy immensely being out on the water in early January.)

Back on the water the wind picked up a bit. It was always gentle but without the sun it had a cold feel. We headed directly back to Windmill Point. As we passed through The Gut the tide was just finishing its ebb. Eric felt compelled to continue his discipline of doing at least one practice roll. This day it was just one roll but he did it.

We packed up our stuff, changed into dry cloths, and sought out the nearest coffee/pastry shoppe. I think we earned a little snack.

1/5/2008 10.5 miles round trip. Air 40, water mid 30s, winds gentle WSW.

2008 Paddles

2008-01-05T18:37:00.020-05:00

The Paddles of 2008

1/5/2008 Boston Harbor Outer Islands
1/12 Oaklawn Beach to Patience Island
1/13, 1/20, 2/10 Ricka Rolling Practice
2/3 Narragansett Town Beach to Bonnet
3/30 Kings Beach to 1st Beach Newport
4/19 Jamestown/Brenton Point
5/11 Oaklawn Beach to Patience Island
5/25 Quonny Pond Practice
6/29 OSA to Prudence
7/4 RICKA picnic paddle
7/12 Westport Paddle
7/20,22,23,25,26 St Laurent / Saguenay Quebec
8/16,17 Deerfield River WW Class
9/8 Hull, World's End to Pedocks Island
9/13 Sakonnet Point Training
9/20 Stone Bridge, Tiverton
10/4-10/5 Freeport-Jewel Island Maine
10/11 Deerfield River Round 2
10/15 Westport River Rip
10/18 Lake Chauncy Roll & Rinse
10/26 Charles River/ Barking Crab
11/1 Padanaram to the Dumplings
11/15 Stone Bridge/windy paddle
11/29 Bay Campus

Narragansett Bay Campus to Beavertail to Whale Rock to Bonnet Shores to…

2007-12-30T21:51:00.001-05:00

Between working on my house, hiking in the snow, and shoveling snow everything in my body hurts. Add staying up late two nights in a row and I was less than excited about paddling. But the weather looked good and my home project is in limbo while I wait for materials to show up, so what the hell!

Traveling to RI for kayaking from central Mass is quite a commitment. It’s typically about a 75 mile commute. My usual ritual is get up at 6, eat a good breakfast, pack my stuff, make my lunch, leave the house at 8, and arrive at around 9:30 for the 10 o’clock paddle. In winter I like to put the boat on in the evening before. Even on a day like today when it is forecast to be low forties it is usually only about 20 degrees when I walk out in the morning. On this particular morning it was quarter of seven when I got up and the boat was not loaded. Fortunately I’ve got my boat and equipment fairly organized so when suitably motivated I can gather everything up very quickly. I was on the road just a little past 8 and I was the first to arrive at the bay campus.

Matt showed up, ironically planning on paddling solo because he did not know a paddle was planned. Ken and Cat followed and finally Joe showed up at the last minute. We all geared up for the cold water. Cat and I were probably a little over dressed expecting a bit more wind and a little less sun than we had. We discussed plans to make a loop of the lower west passage and agreed to do it clockwise so that we’d be protected by the Narragansett shoreline if the wind should pick up. We would be fighting the tide but the neap tide was not very strong.

We decided to make a more or less direct crossing from the bay campus to beavertail. The crew was full of capable paddlers and the conditions were fine so we had no fear of lingering in the middle of the channel. (We saw only two other boats in the distance the whole day.) In the open water we could see that a powerful swell was in evidence. It was not high but with its long wavelength it was pre-disposed to build over the bars. On the Jamestown shore the boys showed great discretion in avoiding too much play in the rocks. At Beavertail we could see some waves steepening up over the shallow water. We chose to stay out of this and head towards Whale Rock. From there we turned due north. We were headed to lunch just inside the cove where Bonnet Shores is. But it would get a little exciting at the corner when we were all caught by a set of 3 waves that tried to surf us into the rocks. It was my first chance to see how the new Impex Force 4 would respond to a steep growler. It stayed upright as did everyone else’s boat but provided for a little excitement to spur on the lunchtime conversation.

After lunch we were headed to Bonnet Shores beach for a little surfing. Everyone except me donned their helmets. I was in a new boat in winter. I thought it was best that I avoided all the rock gardening that the crew was doing along the west shore.

We explored the beach from west to east. The waves were a bit larger on the west side. We were all a bit tentative about getting wet. Somewhere east of center the waves seemed about right and everyone started taking rides. They were a perfect 2-3 feet and the surfers would just disappear from view as they rode in. I was a bit tentative with my new boat. I simply didn’t know how this long, low rocker boat would handle the surf. The larger waves were arriving in sets of 3 (as we experienced just before lunch). For my first few rides I avoided this set and played in the smaller waves in between. As I became comfortable with the boat I started surfing the third of 3 so that if I was to get messed up I would not have 2 more big ones to pummel me. I was building up body heat and the spray of heading back out through the breakers actually felt good. The boat surfed pretty well so I decided to try and back surf it on a smaller wave. It did this well also but bracing when back surfing is a confusing proposition and I ended up upside down in shallow water. I tried to set my paddle up for a roll but had difficulty getting it into position. Possibly I was pinched by the sandy bottom. I chose to bail out.

We all had a few more rides then headed around the point and back to the bay campus. As expected there were some pretty impressive walls of water coming over the bar inside the point. We discussed some of the adventures we’ve all had at this point on numerous previous paddles.

The route back always seems long. It is only a mile and a half but we are usually fighting the current there and it’s anti-climactic as the swells die out in this section of the bay. This section gave me plenty of time to think about the fact that I hadn’t rolled this boat yet. I was rationalizing that I hadn’t foamed it out yet but I’ve jumped in a lot of other people’s boats and rolled so that was no excuse. The water was cold but I had to try it. I managed a reasonable roll and called it a day. The cold water was delayed from reaching my head by my neoprene hood but as it soaked in I knew it was enough.

Post paddle was a simple coffee and bagel at dunky’s. We wished each other happy new years as we left from our last paddle of 2007. Knowing a first paddle of 2008 was not going to be too far away!

12/30 Air and water 42. Winds light. 10.5 miles round trip.

Why we don’t put our boats away

2007-12-26T20:15:00.001-05:00

It’s days like today the remind me why we don’t put our boats away for the season. Temperatures were in the upper 30s, the sun was occluded by high thin clouds, the wind was light, the water was in the low 40s, and the seas were calm. Cat, EJ, and I met at the town beach on West Island in Fairhaven. We joked about not needing our helmets as we loaded the boats and gazed out over the mirror like Buzzards Bay. On a summer day this would have been a disappointment. But in December, with only three paddlers, this was heaven. Like an omen, we were visited by a seal before we even got the boats wet.

The plan was to paddle around the island but I suggested we head over to Ram Island. Ram Island is a small island off the end of Mattapoisett Neck. I’ve paddled West Island at least a half dozen times but never in that direction.

We had a couple of seals popping up around us within the first mile. As we approached the aquaculture pen there were at least 6 seals popping up all around. We did some paddling backwards but they seemed to figure that out quickly and still popped up behind our backs.

I landed on Ram Island and put a few scratches in my new boat. We then headed to the beach on Mattapoisett Neck for lunch. From the beach we could see seals ½ mile away on Seal Island. (Clearly, we know how it got named.) For lunch we had our sandwiches, soup, tea, Christmas goodies, and H’s excellent corn bread.

After lunch we headed back to West Island passing ¼ mile north of Seal Island. In the water beyond the island I could see one or two feisty seals leaping through the air, their whole bodies airborne for half a second. A couple of seals greeted us as we passed the Island but as we moved further away even more showed up. At one point I counted 12 on the surface. At times they were close enough that I could hear them breathing.

When we reached West Island we were in the midst of a large flock of Eiders. Mixed in was a Buffel Head couple. As we approached Whale Rock we spotted a seal out of the water so detoured well around the rock so as not to disturb him. Near the put-in we saw a seal 3 feet out of the water on a steep sided rock. Clearly she had gotten up there when the tide was higher and the water had dropped out from under her. We were closer than we wanted to be to her because we didn’t notice her until the last moment. Fortunately she wasn’t disturbed by our presence.

Back at the launch EJ was determined to do a couple of rolls. I watched closely to be sure he came back up. In the distance another seal was watching us from its rock. (Look closely in the photo for the smiley shape!)

Without the seals it would have been an uneventful but relaxing day. With the seals it was an exciting and memorable paddle. Either way I was happy to have not put my boat away for the season.

12/26 9.5 miles round trip.

The Winter Solstice Paddle

2007-12-23T16:15:00.001-05:00

Each year on the Winter Solstice RICKA has a paddle on the Slocum River in South Dartmouth. I’ve paddled this river a number of times. I maintain it is the prettiest river in Massachusetts. But for some reason I’ve never done this paddle in winter.

Seven showed up for the paddle. TM, CM, JS, PH, KF, CR, and PB. We were all suited up in our dry suits as we shoved off into the bottom third of the tide. The sun was shining brightly and the winds were light. The first ½ mile was very pleasant but we quickly ran into ice. TM and PH led the way, carving through with their plastic boats. At first the ice was merely a nuisance because it was soft, as you typically expect in salt water. But as we went further it became more than a ½ inch thick and difficult to break through with the paddle. This went on for a half mile or so. I tried to be last in line through the ice. Not because I didn’t want to work. But because I didn’t want to scratch my new boat on its maiden voyage.

There were plenty of ducks to be seen and a couple of hawks floating over the nearby woodlands. The paddling was easy until we reached Potomska Point and had to navigate the sand bar protecting (or confounding?) the river. The channel passes to the east and although that side is the side I prefer the group was determined to take a shortcut and head towards Barneys Joy Point. We found a way through that only required a gentle rub on the bottom of the boats.

We stopped for lunch at a pocket in the dunes just past the rocky section of shoreline. This location afforded us some protection from the wind which had picked up with the coming of the clouds. CM brought some special beverage and we toasted to the winter solstice. From now on the days will be getting longer. I can’t wait for spring! As we ate lunch CR was the only one to admit that her feet were cold. But I felt the same. Mine weren’t painfully cold but they were uncomfortable.

Without the sun it wasn’t comfortably warm feeling. We finished up lunch and headed back out again. As I backed my boat into the 6-12 inch surf it was just large enough to dump a few gallons of water into my cockpit. Great, just what I needed for my cold feet.

It took a surprisingly long time for TM and CM to get off the beach. I never did figure out why. Meanwhile KF played around the rocks trying to get as much excitement as he could. CR and I were not quite as determined but she did get caught by an unexpected wave that instantly turned her towards shore and surfed her towards a rock. She avoided it with ease but I felt a little bad that I didn’t warn her it was coming.

Our short stay on the beach for lunch didn’t give the tide a long time to change and put some more water in the river. As we approached “Deep Water Point” we all had to try various methods of getting over the sand bar. This included pulling with the paddle and getting out of the boat and walking. I chose to push off the bottom with my hands which kept me in my boat but certainly made my hands cold quickly.

Once over the bar it was smooth paddling back to the launch. The icy section had opened up and no more ice breaking was required.

Back at the launch KF joined in and admitted his feet were ice cold too. We all did what we could to get our boats loaded up and get warm. For some reason there was no post paddle meal. We all wished each other a happy holiday and went our separate ways.

So it was a very uneventful paddle in contrast with some of the more recent outings. But anytime you are out on the water with friends in December it’s a great day.

12/22 Air and water upper 30’s, Wind SE at 10. 12.5 miles round trip.

Not quite how I wanted it to end

2007-12-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

I had a goal this year of paddling during every month of the year. I did achieve my goal. In some ways it was an adventure better than I ever expected. In others ways, the ending was a bit sad.

It was my love, me, my boat, and my friends traipsing month to month and state to state enjoying new adventures, learning about ourselves and each other, creating stories to tell and never forget. Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Oregon, Maine, Gloucester, Stonington CT, Alaska, Lake Champlain, Isle-au-Haut, Stone Bridge, Casco Bay, Sakonnet, Newport, and Jamestown. There is about 12,000 miles of travel here for about 500 miles of paddling.

There were plenty of mistakes made in the year. Most of the time we were upright but there were rolls not fulfilled, places not explored for want of destination, conversations not had, guidance not given or taken, and perspectives not viewed. There were plenty of high points, successful rescues, tricky passages made, one on one time, small intimate groups, and oh those special conversations. At times we were a well oiled machine. Other times we were a fragmented group bickering over what way to go.

All in all it was a wonderful year. By far the most fun I’ve had in years. The bumps and scrapes the boat and I have accumulated only add character. I’m not sure I could have made it better by trying to do more. And I’m certain it would not have been as much fun if I would have played it safer.

But my December paddle was marred with ill feeling. We met at Fort Wetherill. The weather was wonderful and the company was good, but I was not whole. A sickness had snuck up on me and although I headed out and returned under my own power my equilibrium was edgy. We had to stop early for lunch in Mackerel Cove. I thought I might be OK and tried to push on towards Beavertail. But I didn’t have it in me and I had to turn back. The last leg back felt long and hard for me but my friends were there to keep an eye on me. Back on land I could just sit there in a daze a bit. I recovered to get my stuff packed but the ride home was almost as bad as the paddle.

It was really not the finish I had hoped for.

12/8/2007 Air 41, Water 39, winds West at 10-15

Self Assessment and Paddle Ratings

2007-11-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

The Sea Kayak leaders at RICKA have set up a paddle rating system that is a guide to the expected difficulty level of a paddle. It’s on a 1 to 5 scale and is intended to help a potential paddler judge whether they have the abilities needed to participate.

When we post a paddle, be it a sanctioned RICKA paddle or a winter show and go, we are counting on the individuals to self determine whether they have the skills to participate. Please be realistic.

Self determine is sometimes a problem. Some paddlers over estimate their skills, or under estimate the conditions, or are more risk tolerant.

I used the following hints as I started paddling with RICKA:

Start with a 2. Repeat until you know you are comfortable.

Proceed to a 3 but… know the location. Our rating system doesn’t distinguish between “bay” paddles and “ocean” paddles but really there is a progression of 2, “3 in the bay”, “3 with ocean exposure”, 4, and 5 (which is usually RSVP only). Proceed to a 3 “in the bay”.

Also, check the weather. If you’ve been doing level 2’s make sure the weather is ideal the first few times you do a 3.

Practice with the group. At level 3 paddles there are frequently impromptu practice sessions at lunch or after the paddle. If you want to do a rescue, or be rescued, or try and learn a new skill this is the time. It is hard to imagine you can’t find a skilled paddler to support you with some practice at any RICKA paddle. We love that. During practice, TIP OVER. Tip over accidentally while practicing, a lot. When you tip over on a paddle it’s not going to be an expected thing and it’s highly likely to be in “the last place you want to be upside down”. If the only way you’ve been over is holding your breath and counting 123 you’re not prepared for it to really happen.

If you’re paddling strong and practicing with the group the following will invariably happen; skilled members of the group will encourage you to come to higher level paddles. It is no one’s job to rate paddlers but if your skills are up to the challenge people will be encouraging you to “join us on the level 3 next week” or asking “Will you be coming to the level 4 on Sunday?”

Proceed to” level 3 in the ocean” but again, check the weather. Make sure the weather is ideal the first few times you advance a level.

Grow your skills in the summer. Winter is not the time for less experienced paddlers to be learning new skills. Nor is a time to be advancing to higher level paddles.

Be considerate of the group. In summer the groups are larger and paddles more frequent. And warm water makes immersion in most locations a much more benign experience. A mistake here in the name of growth is often a growth opportunity for everyone.

In winter you need to be sure. You need to feel that you can help your peers if they get in trouble and that you can help your peers by being skilled at executing your own rescue efficiently with their assistance. Things quickly degrade when a problem occurs. Be cautious in winter.

And finally, know your peers. There is a wide level of skills and propensities throughout the group. On a show and go, who’s organizing the paddle is often as strong an indicator as what the paddle is rated.

Comments, as always, welcomed and encouraged.

3, 2, but not 1

2007-11-24T19:26:00.000-05:00

I’m pretty sure that I paddled once per month in 2006 but this year I’ve been documenting it as part of my blogs. This November things had conspired against me and I had not yet paddled. (Well, actually I did demo a boat at Charles River Canoe and Kayak a few weeks ago but I didn’t want to count that.) Thanksgiving weekend was the last weekend in November and I had four chances to get on the water. Thursday would have been nice with 65 degree temperatures but it was windy and I had places to be. I tried to set something up Friday but there were no takers. Sunday was going to be difficult because I was picking LB up at the airport as she returned from Mexico at 12:30 in the morning. That left Saturday as a must paddle day. I talked about a road trip to Monomoy but we all settled on Third beach in Middletown. I’ve never paddled from 3rd beach around to the Mansions of Newport and that was my plan.

When I arrived, TM, a new person, was waiting. This made me a bit nervous because I did not know his abilities. He did have a dry suit and a neoprene hat. He was dressed for the water and the winds were very gentle. I didn’t think we could get in too much trouble. CR, BH, CC, CM, and EJ showed up shortly after.

I was a bit cold getting the boat ready. I could not keep my hands un-gloved for too long without them chilling out. When I opened a hatch there was ice inside that I had to scoop out with my bare hands. I had bought a new neo-hat that I wanted to wear but I opted for my full hood instead.

Once fully dressed and in my boat I was quite comfortable. I was trying my new snapdragon pogies that have stiff cuffs and are very easy to slip your hands in and out of. My opinion after a day of using them is that they are all right. No more pulling pogies over my dry suit with my teeth!

CC was excited that the female/male ratio was close to 50% (3 to 4). We had some great conversations as we rounded Satchuest Point. I was looking for recommendations as to where to spend my Christmas break and there was no shortage of suggestions as to where I should fly off to. We headed to the far end of second beach and decided to land because TM was nursing a stiff back. This, combined with his need to get to work at 3pm was going to squelch any possibilities of reaching 1st beach and the mansions.

Before we stopped on the beach CM and BH did their best to surf on 9 inch waves. (OK they may have been a foot.) Our beach spot was a perfect place to sit for lunch with a 10 foot tall rock to block the wind and capture the warmth of the sun.

After lunch we headed out along the rocky shoreline on the west side of 2nd beach so that I could gaze over at the cliff walk. Then we turned east and headed back to Satchuest. There was some discussion about heading out to Cormorant Rocks which are about 1 ½ miles from the point. Unfortunately we would have had to split the group to do this so we chose to head back together.

Back at the point we were treated to sightings of Harlequin Ducks. CR had mentioned that we might see them here and of course she was right. CM and I noticed that there was an occasional line crossing our path. It turned out to be a huge tangle of poly-twine that BH and CR rescued.

Back at the launch CM and TM (no relation!) packed up their boats and headed off to other commitments. I waited for EJ to arrive and we both tested our rolling skills in the cold water. Mine was successful but even the small amount of time in the cold water with full hood on was enough to give me a hint of dis-orientation as the cold water slipped down my ear canals. EJ started to attempt an off side roll but missed and switched to on side and popped right up. One roll each was all we needed. The sun that had kept us warm all afternoon was fading behind high thin clouds and the heat we had built up while paddling was quickly fading. We headed to shore.

For post paddle festivities we searched out a spot to eat in Newport. We caravanned around downtown following BH until we settled on “Yesterdays”. Our meal was simple but tasty. From there we winnowed down to four and walked along the cobblestone streets like tourists. We stopped in to Starbucks so EJ could caffeine up a bit more. Then, down to three, CC, BH and I watched an “unresolved” movie that I won’t be renting on DVD.

But as a whole it was a wonderful relaxing winter paddle that was good for the soul. A perfect day for my only November outing!

11/24/2007 Air Temperature 38, water temp 49, winds light NW

2-Issues

2007-10-28T20:35:00.000-04:00

Sunday’s paddle from the bay campus was planned to be a level 2 to Rome Point. When we arrived the air temperature was in the low fifties and it was blowing 15+ on the shore. It was clearly a bit stronger on the open water. T suggested we could have a pleasant paddle at a nearby pond and have the added benefit of cleaning our gear in fresh water. The group votes were “don’t care” and “the bay” so the bay was chosen. JS, JS, and L were planning to head across on a 3-4 fishing paddle. They were a bit more organized and pushed off at 10. We were on the water at 10:30.

PB,TM,HCJ,DV,LB,EJ,CC,RB,BH were all paddling (CM was not!) We headed out into open water and then realized we should probably hug the shore for as long as we could to stay out of the wind. TM and EJ were out front. I hugged the shore closely to feel the waves a bit. The paddling was easy and everything was warm except for my hands which were chilled by the wet-wind-chill. C offered her gloves; RB was trying his new pogies which he found too warm.

As we rounded Casey Point the winds started to make their presence known. The slight NE direction of the shore line had been protecting us from the north wind more than we realized. About this time we noticed the JSs coming across the bay without L. Apparently he had decided the wind on that side of the bay was too much and headed back to the launch. In what will turn out to be a bit ironic we questioned the judgment of letting L go back alone.

We approached the Jamestown Bridge and regrouped by the beach near the old structure to prepare for the final assault into the wind towards Rome Point. As we passed under the bridge it acted like a wind tunnel and focused an incredible blast into our faces that was difficult to overcome. From there all we could muster as a group was ½ mile of paddling to Greene Point. BH and I both attempted a few up-wind runs to investigate the down wind surfing opportunities. The down wind runs we fast but I at least couldn’t sustain any continuous wave riding. We laughed about how we would need only about 17 minutes for the return paddle. In a strange occurrence JS tipped over just from lack of attentiveness (playing with fishing stuff I assume). His strong roll got him back up quickly to make it a non-event.

We stopped for lunch in an area that was not as protected from the wind as we would have liked. T had his usual spare sandwich which I really wanted but JS beat me to it. I ate H and C’s cookies instead. The conversation was enjoyable as always. RB wore CC’s “special jacket” to keep warm.

After lunch it appeared that the wind had died significantly. B and I expressed a bit of disappointment in this given our desire to ride one long wave back to the bay campus. We shouted over to T “to the lighthouse?” and with an assenting nod we were headed out towards the Plum Beach Lighthouse which sits in the middle of the west passage in the shadow of the bridge. My boat was happy on a more northerly reach directly to the lighthouse. T took a path closer to the bridge abutments. I was treated to a paddle through a huge assemblage of seagulls fighting with the blue fish over some surface bait. As I continued I could see T on my beam and was beginning to feel the wind lift my paddle a bit as it crossed my boat. The seas were a bit taller out there but nothing I couldn’t handle. I knew that some of the group was beginning to fall back a bit but I was focused on slipping behind the lighthouse into an eddy and then come about and watch them approach.

It was about ¾ of a mile from the beach to the lighthouse. Somewhere about ½ mile I should have recognized the changing conditions and waited to regroup with the others. What had happened was that the wind had not died down at all. It had just backed to the west a bit and the beach that we ate at was shadowing wind in a way it had not done before lunch.

In the last ¼ mile the conditions worsened quickly. They became sloppy enough that I could no longer glance over my shoulder to see what was happening behind me. All I could do was check that T was still on my beam. By the lighthouse it was utter chaos. The current and the wind and the lighthouse had things stirred up to a frenzy. I slipped behind the structure but was met with waves approaching from both sides instead of calm. I knew at this time that the whole group didn’t want to be there. I think T could see this so he headed down wind under the bridge. I took that as a clue and headed towards him. Just as I passed under the bridge B started shouting “Boat Over” and looking back from where I had come. I had no idea anyone else was out there with me. As I looked back I couldn’t see anything because the bridge abutment blocked my view. When I finally drifted past the bridge I could see the boat over and B and I headed over. T accessed that B&I could start the rescue and instead headed to a power boat and asked them to stand buy if we needed help.

B and I reached the swimmer about the same time. He had the composure to have kept contact with the boat and his paddle but was clearly fatigued from the ordeal already. B was closest to the overturned boat and I came alongside him. I had realized the previous day from practicing rescues in the standing waves by Stone Bridge in Tiverton how dis-concerting it was to do the initial lift of the boat to do a T-rescue in these conditions. B was showing this hesitancy. From my position I could reach over using B’s boat for stability and lift it easily so we got the boat up and emptied.

The next struggle was getting a tired swimmer back in the boat who was also worried about being a paddler again in the same conditions that had caused the boat to go over the first time. We were stable in this position and the water was not too cold so we tried to get him to relax a little and gain some strength to lift himself up onto the boats.

About this time my paddle that I had tucked under my deck line swung out into the “outrigger position” out of my reach. I began to focus on getting a grip on my own paddle and lost track or the two other paddles I was supposed to be holding on to. Fortunately E arrived about this time and retrieved these paddles.

We got the swimmer up on our decks and began to get his legs in the boat. B was doing the rescue in a bow-to bow position because that was the quickest way to approach the over turned boat as we approached it. Unfortunately that also meant it was hard to hold the boat as the tired swimmer tried to slip his legs into the cockpit. The boats separated and the cockpit re-filled with water as the swimmer hung precariously between his boat and B’s boat. We managed to get the boats back together and the swimmer in but then had to do a lot of pumping to get the boat emptied. T had showed up by this time so I used his pump to help empty the boat. We did not attach the spray skirt at this time. We were lucky that the boat was floating high enough and stable enough with us both holding it that this oversight was not critical.

It was clear that the swimmer was going to need some support while he regained his balance. E hooked up the rescued boat and B together and began to tow them both. I did not have my tow belt on because this was a level 2 paddle. E started the tow but it was clear that a double tow would be needed. I rafted up with B to get his belt as opposed to opening my day hatch and chancing filling that with water. I hooked to E and we both pulled in the direction of the Kingston shoreline. As we neared the shore we discontinued the tow and met with the others who had headed towards shore earlier to avoid any additional boats over. We paddled back to the Bay Campus together and began the de-brief of what had gone wrong (and right).

I was a big part of the wrong department in a number of ways. But I think the simplest way we could have avoided this would have been to paddle as a group. T, B, and I headed out towards the lighthouse without gaining consent of the whole group. Half the group didn’t know where we were going. Had we stayed together as a group we would probably have headed towards the lighthouse as we did BUT we would have certainly decided to turn towards the Bay campus sooner.

I headed out to the light and although I was in visual contact with T we were not in verbal contact. I’m sure he would have slowed me up as the conditions worsened had he been able to communicate with me.

As I neared the lighthouse I chose to go through the worse conditions to seek the protection (which actually didn’t exist) behind the lighthouse. I should not have put myself in these conditions where I could no longer look back at the rest of the group but could only focus on keeping myself up.

B and I chose to allow the rescue to proceed bow to bow. It was probably a good decision to continue this way once it started but if we were more attentive to getting this set up right we could probably have avoided the boat filling up with water again.

I didn’t have my tow belt on.

I lost track of the paddles.

The good things were the support of T and E, they let us work the rescue but provided support to the little mistakes. And Bob was extremely attentive to the whole situation.

I think given the fact that we had power boat support readily available sending the remaining paddlers to shore was a good decision. (Had the situation been different I think they should have stayed together and held a position down wind of us, paddling into the wind and keeping visual contact, rafted together if conditions and wind drift allowed.)

This was supposed to be a level 2 paddle. We as a group struggle with keeping a paddle at that level. Sometimes it works out where the advanced paddlers play closer to the rocks and the more timid paddlers stay in the more predictable conditions. Other times the conditions are hard to hide from. In this case we let ourselves get into conditions we didn’t have to. It never would have happened had we stayed as a close knit group and provided opportunity to everyone to weight in on there comfort with the conditions.

Comments and thoughts of course welcome and encouraged ...

Winds North 20 G25+, water 60, air 56

1000 Feet of Fun

2007-10-27T21:34:00.000-04:00

Last week I saw this posting on the message board:

“Early morning play at Old Stone Bridge Sat.(10/26)
Some of us are planning to play in the 3.5knt ebb current at Old Stone Bridge. We are going to meet at 9am and launching by 9:30.
Max flow is at 10:15.
We'll likely be off the water by noon.
The idea is to push skills, so be prepared to do rescues.”

Some of the replies were:

“OK - I'll get up early.”
and
“Espresso and adrenalin - a good combination.
I hope there are less people fishing this week.”

And the results were:

“This was an amazing paddle.
Thanks to Eric and Tim for organizing this.
Thanks to Paul for saving my life.”
and
“Yes, it was lots of fun, wasn't it? I think the real value in something like that is being able to hang out and spend extended time in conditions that you would just try to get past on a regular trip. The adrenaline ebbs away and you can relax and really observe the interactions between yourself, the boat and the water, find ways to work with the forces of the current, waves and wind instead of just (trying to) muscle your way through. And you can push yourself more, too, knowing everyone's just itching to get in some rough-water rescue practice!

I think everyone who wants to paddle this winter should spend some time at Old Stone Bridge. Paul was able to use his experience in the rescue situation the very next day, and when Tony and I ran into current going around Jamestown on Monday, my comfort and confidence levels were much greater because of the few hours I spent on Saturday.

It would be great to have some more women come next time!”

So how can I compete with that???

We never got further than 1000 feet from the launch point and we were done in less than 2 hours. But we had more fun, excitement, and opportunity to test our skills than we do in almost any other situation.

We started with some loosen up paddling right in front of the beach. Some just paddled about, others rolled, and others sculled. (I tried to scull and ended up rolling!) Then we headed into the melee. The tide was a 5.6 foot tide in an area that is exciting with the normal 3.8 foot tide. The restriction of the old stone bridge’s jetties accelerated the water locally and set up standing waves. This day, unlike two weeks earlier, the wind was opposing the flow and the waves were standing up constantly. The location of the waves shifted around especially in front of areas where there was upwelling water. They varied from about 18 inches to 3 feet right by the “Evil Can”.

A few paddlers went over, this was expected and encouraged as this was a time to practice and test your skills. The conditions were extreme enough that E went over trying to get to a rescue and we had two paddlers in the water at once.

I took the opportunity to paddle through the waves at various angles and hold position in some of the worst water. But I was especially entertained by some of the great surfing I could do. The waves and my hull were well suited to each other and I accelerated off numerous waves and had a couple of long fast rides. Four times by the evil can I found myself bracing in panic to stay upright.

One area I chose to avoid was the whirlpools. There were areas where about a five foot circle would form into a whirlpool. The middle 18 inches would suck down about 15 inches deep! T and E both poked their boats into these and managed to survive.

Not every one who paddles with us should join in on something like the stone bridge paddle. But what everyone should do is participate in the post paddle practices that often happen in the last 15 minutes before we quit. (Or T’s Wed evening practice sessions.) This is the time to gain confidence in bracing, rescues, and less frequently used strokes. It’s these skills that keep us out of trouble when the conditions get dicey.

Freeport Maine

2007-10-14T20:24:00.000-04:00

I was looking to do at least one more kayak camping adventure before the temperatures got cold. CC requested “not too far away” and EJ requested “not too close”. BH was predictably up for anything. We decided that Boston Harbor could be done any time so Casco Maine seemed about right.

Locating a place to park overnight is a bit of an issue. A couple of boat yards would allow it. But they were up the Royal River a few miles and seemed less than ideal. The 10 foot tides had me concerned about both lack of water and strong currents. EJ knew of a place on Harpswell Neck but that was an additional ½ hour of driving that we could do in our boats instead. I chose Winslow Park in Freeport but I couldn’t get confirmation that we’d be able to park there. Our destination was Bangs Island, about six miles straight line from the put in.

EJ and I carpooled up and left about 45 minutes ahead of BH and CC. Our plan was to scope out the launch and let them know where to go once we had settled on the spot. When we arrived at the launch it looked perfect. We made a call to the local Police department to confirm that parking was OK. In season it would be OK and there would be a fee. Off season, no one seemed to care.

We un-racked our boats and began the boat packing process. Fitting tents and bags and pans in our day tripping kayaks is an organizational feat. EJ’s back hatch and deck are so low it can hold little more than water. (And it has a habit of filling up all by itself.) We were mostly packed before the RI contingent arrived so we left them to guard our boats while we ran into town to pick up sandwiches for lunch. When we returned they were almost packed so we ate our sandwiches and headed out to sea.

EJ navigated with the chart. I confirmed with the GPS. We paddled out in relatively calm conditions with a warm sun and a gentle headwind. The temperatures were in the upper fifties so most of us were in dry suits and perfectly comfortable. I choose the farmer john route and was comfortable also but it just doesn’t breath as well as Gore-Tex. We were treated to views of about a dozen islands spread out with about a mile between them. Most were lightly or totally un-inhabited. A couple were clearly vacation spots serviced by ferry. Within a couple of hours we arrived at Bangs Island. I suggested we do a circumnavigation to see what it was like. There was one small site on the south side which would not have fit our 4 tents. The middle site was large enough but was a bit damp due to a heavy rain the preceding day. We settled on the north site which had just enough room for us all. We drew straws to decide where the snoring campers would locate and who would get the flattest spot. We had our tents up comfortably before dark and began to snack and prepare for dinner.

EJ and BH got a fire going while CC and I worked on spaghetti with sausage and meat balls. Cooking meat with out burning it on a camp stove is a chore. I basically had to hold the pan a comfortable distance from the flame the entire time.

After dinner it was stories and marshmallows by the fire. I saw about a half dozen shooting stars. The others saw one but it was a good one. Moving much slower than the usual streaks.

During the night the wind shifted and freshened a bit. This was the second strike of weather not equal to forecast. (Our head wind on the way over was supposed to be a tailwind.) I woke up about 15 minutes before sunrise and was treated to a cloud bank that was glowing red from the sun’s illumination from below the horizon. I watched it rise and then “un-rise” as it passed above the clouds. A small island about a ½ mile away had a few dozen seals on it. I saw numerous heads popping up and watched one pair frolic on the surface for a short time. (The others only saw one!)

We relaxed over an oatmeal and fresh fruit breakfast that BH assembled. The wind died down and it was comfortable. Slowly we gained a sense of purpose and we planned a route back that would allow us to explore 6 more islands that we hadn’t passed the day before.

Just about the time we had our boats loaded (CC was done first) the wind picked up again. This time straight out of the NW which was exactly the path we wanted to take. Strike three for the weather. We headed to the lee side of Whaleboat Island. This was an Island EJ had camped on before. CC and BH got out and did some exploration. Meanwhile the sky was becoming mostly cloudy and the winds were stiffening to 20 with higher gusts. We decided to head into the wind a little before stopping for a lunch break. This half mile crossing was enough to know that we needed to dress a bit warmer and that we were going to have our work cut out for us. We were slogging into a 2 foot chop and taking a lot of spray.

After lunch we had 4 more miles to go. We basically made four 1 mile crossings each to the lee of an Island so that we could rest without being blown back ½ the distance. It was an exciting paddle that was never unsafe but certainly not relaxing. I was ready to be done by the last leg and beached my boat as soon as I reached the put in. EJ performed a nice onside roll of his heavily loaded boat and then followed it up with a perfectly smooth offside roll. The water was in the upper 50s so a couple of rolls were plenty.

We re-racked out boats and headed into Freeport for dinner. We settled on a Turkish restaurant and had a relaxing meal and some more great conversation. The weekend was everything I had hoped for. Casco Bay was prettier than I expected and the un-expected wind made it fun.

10/13, 10/14, water and air 58, wind Sat 10-15 , Sunday 15-20, gusts to 25.

Current Practice ... x2

2007-09-30T20:38:00.000-04:00

On Saturday Tim planned an adventure in the currents by the old stone bridge in Tiverton. TM, RR, BH, EJ, RB, and Brian D showed up. We met for a 10AM launch but chose to have coffee first and let the outgoing tide build a little.

Unfortunately the wind was blowing fairly strong in the same direction as the current. It would take a boat or some other random activity to get some of the standing waves building. When a boat would pass we'd dash in like seagulls behind a dragger and play in the turbulence. The most exciting spot was right near the "big evil can" that would oscillate back and forth and occasionally get sucked down deep.

After about an hour of play we paddled around Gould Island to loosen up a bit. Our intention was to head back to shore for lunch but as we neared the beach I noticed it was whipped up pretty good so EJ, BH, RB and I returned for a little more. This really was the best current of the day and for about 15 minutes we frolicked in the 18 inch standing waves. This included watching Bob be chased by the evil can!

On Sunday CM had a paddle planned out of Westport. The group split into a level 2 and a level 3. The smarter 2 paddle went up river with the current. The 3s went out to the mouth fighting the current al the way.

At the mouth we all played in the current by the end of Horseneck Beach. CH and others went out around Gooseberry, TM, BH, EJ and I stayed in the mouth for some more current play. We ultimately headed out to the beach in front of the Charlton Estate for lunch and waited for the tide to turn.

After lunch we headed back in and found just what we had been looking for. The river was dumping its current at an unbelievable rate and the SE breeze was just enough to get it all stirred up.

We were treated to 2 foot standing waves in a 400 x 100 yard area. We passed back and forth through this slop multiple times. Each time one or two of us would watch (and rest) and the rest would mix it up. Our boats were at times buried to the spray skirt in the wave in front of us while the following wave pushed us in. The spacing between these standing waves was less than 15 feet. My first pass through bordered on scary, my second was an adrenaline rush that had me trembling with excitement. The third time through was less exciting and it was time for a rest to calm down. We made a few more passes before deciding we had pushed our fates far enough. It was one of the most exciting times I’ve had on the water.

Stonington Maine

2007-08-23T21:37:00.000-04:00

This spring I joined the Maine Island Trail Association ($40) and received their Stewardship Handbook and Guidebook. I’ve been fantasizing about kayaking and camping along the coast of Maine. I had spent a number of nights perusing the book while simultaneously planning my Alaska trip. Before I left for AK I offered to loan the book to Bob in hope that he’d plan a trip. My plan worked and he and Carole did the homework to set us up for a paddle out of Stonington.

Stonington is about a 6 hour ride from Worcester. Bob arraigned camping at Old Quarry Camp ground. From there we could explore the dozens of islands between Deer Isle and Isle au Haut. When we arrived Sunday evening we were a bit disappointed because “overflow camping” turned out to mean we could stick our tents in any number of spots along the camp road that were just big enough for a tent. CC, BH, and RB set up near a parking lot where a fire ring and picnic table were situated. E&H’s site was occupied by a “lingerer” so they too set up near the parking lot for the first night. (They would not arrive until after midnight so we also wanted it to be obvious where they were to drop their palatial tent.) Lisa and I set up in a tight gravelly spot between the quarry pond and the camp store. Fortunately we would spend very little time in camp and most of our time on the water.

In an interesting twist of desire, L,P,E,&H were content to car camp and eat fancy meals instead of packing all our boats and lugging stuff out to the islands. (We had done plenty of that in AK.) B,C, and R were more adamant that island camping was in the cards. As a compromise it was agreed that we’d explore potential camp sites the first day and return to the most desirable site (if we found one) the next.

For breakfast Monday morning Lisa and I cooked pancakes and bacon on the Coleman stove. We all carried our boats to the launch and set out in exploration of the islands. We were quickly greeted by a small pod of porpoises (well actually we saw them from a few hundred yards away.) C was nominated leader and map reader. H seemed determined to follow along also. We meandered around a number of islands C&B stopped at one to look for a camp site while Rick picked muscles from his boat. We stopped for lunch on a long sand spit off an island that was occupied by a couple with a friendly black lab. He stayed with us looking for food handouts the whole time (Bob obliged him often.)

After lunch we crossed Merchant Row to Harbor Island. There we found three nice camp sites that would comfortably fit our 5 tents. It was agreed, assuming the weather was good, that we would return with tents the next day. We paddled back on a different route through the islands and explored another potential camp site. For dinner Rick cooked the mussels he gathered as well as a delicious shrimp dish.

On Tuesday morning Carole cooked eggs and home fried potatoes. We packed our boats, this time with tents and fresh water, and headed back to our island camp site. Although we got off to a late start we arrived to a vacated island and had our choice of sites. Choosing the right site was a balance between picking a prime location visually and avoiding being near the snorers of the group. Although L and I were interested in the meadow on the west side of the island we offered it to E&H. Instead we set up as close to the rocky shoreline prominence on the south east side as we could. C,B, and R spread out in various other spots with similar great views. Shortly after we got our tents set up a family group of about 8 showed up. They set up their tent city in the meadow around E&H. Boy did L & I luck out!

After setting up camp we headed over to Isle au Haut. C was expecting a little town but all we found was a general store. We descended on the store in search of ice cream. But six dripping wet kayakers was more than the store keepers could take (they were stocking shelves with their recent delivery). They kicked us out and locked the door behind us, asking us to return in 15 minutes when they were finished (and presumably we had dried off!) We never returned. My sunglasses were a casualty of the short landing. Lost somewhere in the melee of getting out and into the kayak.

For dinner back on the island H&E created a Mexican dish on the ultra light camp stoves. This was much more difficult than cooking on the Coleman stove. The temperature was dropping and the breeze was blowing over the meadow. We were all bundled up in as many layers as we had. After dinner we headed to the lee side of the island and lit a fire by the shore. We shared our fire with a couple from Brookline NY who had set up near Rick. We all settled into our warm sleeping bags relatively early. In various late night extra-tent excursions L, C, and B all mistook the anchor light of a near by sailboat as a celestial curiosity!

Wed morning Bob cooked an oatmeal dish with various fruits to liven it up. We talked about what the plan might be but really we all just sat in the sun on the rocks like little lizards absorbing the heat. I gathered more mussels for a pre-lunch snack. Then we all shared very soft cheese and other snacks for lunch.

About mid-afternoon Eric had a plan to paddle back along the eastern side of the islands. This route offered us some beautiful views toward Acadia over open water. One of us was a bit under the weather so the rest of us took opportunities to practice our towing skills in a non-critical situation. We found that the double-I-tow was the easiest. The V-tow seemed to have a lot of drag from the tow ropes being pulled sideways through the water (although it was reasonable when the tow-ers were close together).

For Wednesday evening’s meal we went to a restaurant in Stonington. Thursday morning we all fended for ourselves with breakfast, packed our stuff, and headed off in our own directions.

The coast of Maine is a beautiful place to paddle. Our pod of 7 kayakers was great from a safety point of view and it made for plenty of laughs and interesting conversation. But it was a little bit difficult to find sites that could accommodate such a large group. The camp sites are primitive and you have to carry EVERYTHING out. We were fortunate to have beautiful albeit cool weather. Rainy days would make it far less enjoyable.

Water temperature mid-50s, air 60-80 days, 48-55 nights, winds light, seas <1 foot.

Lake Champlain

2007-08-12T21:31:00.000-04:00

Lake Champlain has been on my list of places to kayak for a few years now. I was excited about paddling on this fresh water lake that is over seventy miles long and as much as 15 miles wide. Lisa and I headed up on a Friday evening and arrived at a hotel a little after dark just south of Burlington VT. We were planning on paddling the next day from St Albans to the “Cottonwood” site on Knights Island. The 185 acre island has only seven sites on it, all spread out on the shore.

We paddled the 6 miles from Kill Kare Point by Woods Island to our little private site on the Northern most point of the island. The winds were light and the boat traffic was light relative to what I would expect on Narragansett Bay for the same weekend. It was a very pleasant crossing

Upon arrival we set our tent up facing west on the pea-gravel beach. We could swim and sunbath “very casualy dressed” with the warm fresh water and the pleasant air temperatures. We were so relaxed we were thinking about staying a second night on the island. We walked a half mile of shoreline to the Ranger’s Station to try and pay for our site and inquire about it’s availiability for an additional night but there was no one to be found. We walked back by a trail down the center of the island. Our pace was quick as there was a preponderance of mosquitoes given the significant wetland acreage on the island.

We swam some more and cooked a lovely dinner on the camp stove. The sunset was beautiful and the stars were plentiful. I was awake to see a large and bright shooting star. It was part of the Perseid Meteor showers.

The next morning we woke to a stiff breeze. Our site was on the lee side of the island so it didn’t look like much. We made coffee and cooked breakfast (boiling water twice because some uninvited guests had slipped into the first pan of water). We hiked a 1.5 mile loop to the other side of the island and saw that the exposed side was experiencing a short wavelength 2 foot chop (and some more wonderful views from the thirty foot high cliffs).

We loaded the boats and paddled in the protection of the island as long as we could. We stopped and paid the ranger and talked with him and his family for a while. We decided to make the 5 mile crossing directly to Burton Island so that we’d take on the seas more directly with our bows. The loaded boats have the advantage of mass that keeps them from being knocked off coarse by the wind and the waves. I was extra careful to load them with the weight low to keep them uber-stable. We had chosen to head out early to avoid the seas building any more but as it turns out we would have been better off waiting as the breeze subsided a bit as the day went on.

We landed on Burton Island and relaxed and ate lunch. We were entertained by dozens of small frogs hopping around on the shore. One more mile of paddling got us back to the launch point in the mid afternoon.

The section of the lake we visited is a beautiful place to paddle. (It’s the only section we explored.) If you can get reservations through the Vermont state campground system to one of the islands (Knight or Woods) you’ll be delighted. Membership in the Lake Champlain Trails Association ($35) will get you information about a number of other first come first serve sites. We did not visit any of these but I’d be leary of these on a summer week-end.

Air 80, water 75. Sat winds light. Sunday winds 15+

Glacier Bay Day 5

2007-07-09T20:28:00.000-04:00

Let the rains begin… today was the day we were to be picked up by the day boat and head up the west arm of the bay. Lisa and I loaded up the perforated double we had acquired in the safety trade. It did not pack as well as our two singles and it was as wide as the row boat I had in my teen years. E and H were a step more organized than us and were ready to go before us. We headed to the pickup point and saw a plethora of campers settled in an area that was off limits for camping. The rangers definitely don’t want to encourage bears to expect food in an area where people will frequent. All had their excuses but frankly I think they were all inconsiderate. We were greeted by a too friendly fellow who confided to us that he had left his girlfriend 30 miles up bay because they couldn’t agree on where to paddle to. He claimed he was sacrificing the trip to save the relationship. (I think both were cut short.)

The day boat is a 100-ish foot catamaran that pulls directly up to the beach to pick up and drop off boats. Upon boarding I was overwhelmed by tourists who thought we were mountain men and women for camping “in the wild”. They wanted to hear of our stories and adventures. I didn’t want to tell my story. I just wanted to be back where I came from in the peace and quite of the bay. I retreated to the cold and rainy back deck of the boat where only an occasional guest would wander. I missed the bay already. Fortunately I knew I was better off leaving while it was still a good experience. It would rain for this and the next two days straight. We were leaving on a high point.

The tour boat afforded us some great views of a half dozen glaciers. The boat stopped in front of one that was calving. We could hear the ice cracking and watch it dropping into the sea. We also saw a seal or two, a family of three bears, and an orca. I was slowly settling into public life.

When the boat landed back at the ranger station we had to rush about and empty our camp fuel, return the boats, return the ‘thankfully un-used’ bear spray, pack our stuff, pick up E&H’s stored bag from the lodge, return the bear canisters, and close out our float plan. We had less than an hour and a half before our flight left. Fortunately we made the flight. It was delayed by the weather.

The trip was simply delightful in its entirety. We all suffered a little anxiety about being alone in the wild (in a way three of us had never been before). Lisa’s expertise made it very comfortable and the company of E&H and their agreeable and relaxed demeanors made it very fun. It was definitely a trip I’ll never forget. It just has me yearning for more. After all, I still haven’t paddled with whales!

Glacier Bay Day 4

2007-07-08T20:14:00.000-04:00

Although the forecast was for strong southerly winds and rain we woke up to sunny skies and a light north wind. All this concern to beat the weather and it turned out to be a beautiful day all day with temperatures at times in the seventies!

We had no paddling planned but exploring in the east arm was an option. But the boats were just not that comfortable and we decided to just hang out and play on the island. Lisa and I had our hearts set on catching a fish. We had seen Salmon jumping on the east side of the island so that was our destination. Travel to that side of the island required disturbing the already quite disturbed Oyster Catchers. It would also sometimes incite a dive bomb attack by the terns. We knew that the Oyster Catchers were nesting on the beach and tried to give them their space. We did get a chance to see their eggs when they were off nest. They blended amazingly well with the rocks and were arraigned in no obvious “nest” structure. They were just laid on the beach above the tide line. I can make no excuse for the terns.

Lisa and I both have little interest in fishing but a huge interest in eating fresh fish. We made two forays to that side of the island during the day. The first time Lisa did have a fish almost landed. We did see fish jumping each time we went over there but getting a bite proved difficult. In a last desperate attempt before committing to turkey fettuccini for dinner Lisa tried a few casts right by our tent. (She had wanted to fish there but Eric and I insisted that the other side was better. It was the only side we saw fish jumping.) On her second cast she had a fish hooked. I went into coaching mode. Keep the line tight, just drag him to the shore… (she would have done just fine). Before the fish had a chance to know it was out of the water Lisa was ready to release it. I would have nothing to do with it. Besides, it was hooked in a funny way. Convinced that we were keeping the fish the focus turned to a humane death. She was suggesting dropping a rock on its head! Two indirect hits on a crazed flipping fish convinced me that we were far more likely to get hurt than the fish was. I quickly beheaded it and cleaned it in the water to avoid attracting bears. Our dinner would be Pink Salmon!

We also spent time on the island exploring the woods and the geology of the shoreline rocks. At one point Lisa stopped for a little nap on the shoreline and within 10 minutes the water had risen to the point where her boots began to fill (funny thing about 20 foot tides).

Lisa and I were also approached by a couple in a double kayak with a little problem. It seems as if the guide service had dropped them off in a boat with a hole in it. They had fixed it with Duct Tape but it seemed a little foolish to head out on a 6 day paddle with a patched boat. Eric and I used our hand held marine radios to try to hail a nearby boat. Our radios would not reach all the way back to the ranger station but we assumed we would be able to communicate with a boat or cruise ship that we could see on the other side of the bay. We finally talked to a chartered 50 foot sailboat that relayed a message back to the ranger station. We had offered to let the couple trade their double for a couple of our singles. We only had about a mile and a half to paddle to the point where we would be picked up and were comfortable we’d be able to make it with the patched boat.

It was a very relaxing lay over day on the island. We appreciated not having to tear down and re-setup camp for one night. It all worked out quite nicely.

Glacier Bay Day 3

2007-07-07T19:01:00.000-04:00

The first half of our trip was within the protection of the Beardslee Islands. The second half was to be up the east side of the bay along the Beartrack Mountains. This section was exposed to the most open section of the bay. It also was a section with limited shoreline camping because a significant portion was closed due to high bear activity. This gave us few fall back opportunities is something was to go wrong. Our plan on paper was to paddle about 10 miles to Sturgess Island on day 3 and then 6 more to Garforth Island on Day 4. But with a forecast was bad for day 4. I was wondering if the right thing to do was head back along a different route within the safety of the Beardslee Islands. Back home, on a day with 20 knot winds and rain predicted I’d tend to stay home. Here, in Glacier Bay, miles from help, in uncomfortable and fully loaded kayaks, why would it suddenly be a good idea? Lisa and I discussed it a bit in our tent and then opened it up to Eric and Heather. It was decided that we’d go for an epic day and try to go all the way to Garforth.

With full agreement we all suited up in our Drysuits for what would include two 5 mile open water crossings. While making the first crossing we were fighting a light headwind (the forecast was for a push). But a little liveliness in the water and sweeping views in every direction as we paddled in the open water was exhilarating. We stopped for a snack at Leland Island which looked to us as if we were in the middle of Glacier Bay. We had distant views of Mt Fairwether at over 15,000 feet. We were also in a zone where the glaciers were approximately 150 years earlier. Our next crossing brought us to Puffin Island which was where we would begin to paddle against the shore and search for a much needed re-supply of water.

Our long paddle didn’t allow us to explore this shoreline as much as we would have liked to. It was a shore with mile high peaks and in spots dropped from about 2000 feet of elevation to 500 feet of depth over less than a mile. Some of the streams would disappear into the coarse rubble within the last few hundred feet of the shore. I finally located a stream where I could just step out of my boat and fill the dromedary bags.

We were now in clear sight of our destination but it was still almost 4 miles away. We paddled on with the long twilight beginning to start. I was starving and tired so I quickly jumped out of the boat and began to search for a place to camp.
I was excited to find zero sign on bear but the first spot was not ideal. Lisa and Eric continued to search around the island for a good spot. There was a boat camping on the north end (this island is often used as a staging point for the guide boat drop off spot which was less a mile away). We settled on a beautiful spot on the west side of the island that had almost 360 degree views.

It was still clear and comfortably light outside when we retired to our tents at 12:30 (We never used a flashlight during the whole trip). We had completed our “epic day” and were prepared to hole up for a windy rainy fourth day.

Air Low 60s, clear, light North wind, 16.2 miles

Glacier Bay Day 2

2007-07-06T16:41:00.000-04:00

We launched our boats about 1.5 hours before low tide. The day started overcast and warmed and cleared up as it went along. We headed to the west of Eider Island and skirted west of the outer Beardslees. This brought us over deep water where I thought there might be potential of seeing a whale. It was pretty and relaxing but uneventful. We did see one tent but no other boats. We stopped on a rocky beach for lunch. I perused the horizon with binoculars for a whale but only saw seals and sea otters. After lunch we tucked between a couple of islands and continued our journey up the middle of the Beardslees into a stiffening breeze. Here it felt more protected and visually the islands all looked like interesting places to explore but the wildlife spotting was limited. We were in no rush so we rafted up frequently to trade stories and snacks and debate whether the map was indicating that we could pass between the last two islands or whether a portage would be required. We avoided making the wrong call by going around the islands instead.

We only had ten miles under our boats for the day but we were surprisingly tired. The wide boats loaded down were deceivingly slow. We were at the top of the Beardslees at the entrance to Beartrack Cove. A squall was looming ominously to our west. It was time to find a campsite. I jumped out and was pleased by the first spot I found. It was a small knoll surrounded by beach on the front and marsh around back. I returned to the boat and discussed it with Lisa but her feeling (from a distance) was it was too wet. The second spot I checked was loaded with bear scat. The third spot was ideal from a tent point of view but was fairly close to the second spot and looked too “bear-y” to me. Lisa and I returned to the first site and with the two of us looking the debate about wetness was dismissed as we found multiple piles of both bear and moose scat. We headed further back towards where we had come from and finally settled in on our fourth choice. We had passed it initially in favor of sites with deeper water access but otherwise it was a beautiful sight! A lightly treed point facing straight up the heart of Glacier Bay.

Our camp site quickly became magical as the wind died down and the squall passed us slowly in the distance playing hide and seek with the sun. The marine mammals started to play right in front of us. Throughout the evening Sea Otters, Seals, and Sea Lions passed just off shore. In the quiet air we could hear the otters cracking shells on their bellies. Lisa spotted a baby on top of mom. The Sea lions rolled over each other like unruly teenagers wrestling.

We set up our tents (a little further apart than the first night) and began to cook dinner well down on the shore. Just as we were getting started a double showed up on shore with two slightly freaked out young men we had seen back at the ranger station. They said that they had seen 6 bear and 2 moose as they paddled up through the Beardslees along the mainland. Everywhere they had stopped had too much bear sign. And in fact we had a bear walking along the shore right now only some 500 yards to our south. I ran up to alert E&H to make sure they had their food packed away properly and have them join us on the beach for safety in numbers. I wanted to go see the bear but didn’t want to abandon cooking duty so we continued to cook. Given that we had not found any favorable sites for at least another half mile we invited them to camp near us.

Just as we were finishing up dinner our neighbors stopped by and told us there was a big bull moose just behind out tents. The four of us went off to explore and saw the huge animal a few hundred yards away and slowly approaching. He disappeared from view too close and for too long so we all retreated back to the beach.

Lisa and I walked the shore and I could hear what sounded like an elephant in the distance. I asked Lisa what it was and she said it was a whale she had heard before (or a whale with a similar atypical breathing sound). We searched for it until Lisa finally spotted its tail. It was not just diving but flipping its tail repeatedly at the surface.

What had been up until now just a nice paddle in a beautiful place had turned nothing short of breathtaking as the sun set and the animals continued to frolic out in front of our tents.

Each day at 8:45am and 5:45pm the Ranger station reads the weather forecast for the bay. The forecast for our forth day of paddling was rain and winds 20 knots from the south. Hmmm… I needed to sleep on that. Sleep that is until I woke to the sound of wolves howling and barking in the distance.

Air temp Low 60s, Winds light-10 North, water 45, 10.2 miles

Glacier Bay Day 1

2007-07-05T18:20:00.000-04:00

It was nearly 6pm before we were on the water. It was raining lightly. E&H had donned their dry suits. Lisa and I were in our Helle Hansens. We passed our only kayak of this day by the dock. A double clearly rented for the afternoon by a camper. We were greeted by our first seal almost instantly. We were later than we had hoped and were already fighting the tide. Glacier Bay has tides of 15 to 25 feet so they can be a significant factor. Within a half hour the going was already slow against the tide. We were all uncomfortable with the fit in the boat. The loose foot pegs of a ruddered boat were unfamiliar. The wide boat altered our strokes (as did the load).

Suddenly I noticed a large “brown” bear on the shore. I pointed to him to alert the others. Lisa rafted up with her binoculars and we debated whether this was a brown “Black Bear” or a “Brown Bear” aka a Grizzly. The most notable feature is the hump on the back of the brown bear but when feeding with their heads down the distinction is not as clear. It was all very cute and comfortable until it looked up at me as I was focused on it with the binoculars. Sure I was fine in this kayak but the face gave me chills when I realized I was going to be camping with this beast in just a few hours.

Because of our late start, the tides, the rain, and the fact that this was all new to three of us we decided to look for camp fairly quickly. We found a small island with a limited amount of bear trail and only one large pile of bear poop. It was small enough that we were fairly certain that there was no bear on it at least at that moment.

We all set up our tents without fighting although they were pretty close so no one was far from the bear spray. The procedure is to set the tents away from a bear trail. Store the boats empty in one location, the food in a different location, and cook in a third location. 100 yards is the recommended separation. Add to this the fact that a 20 foot tide puts the low tide line an awful long way from the high water line and you have a recipe for a lot of walking.

The misty air gave us limited visibility. Light rain made it less than “perfectly comfortable”. At this point we were happy to be on our way and the quietness and isolation we found a mere 4 miles from our launch point was the excitement.

We cooked our first meal and watched as the receding tide connected our little island to the much larger neighbor. So this is how the bear gets over. Shit! Fortunately Lisa explained that the nesting pair of Oyster Catchers on the beach would be our security system. If a bear walked over they’d go nuts protecting the nest. True I’m sure but Oyster Catchers are just nuts in general and made a racket at random times causing me to think a bear might be approaching when none was in sight. (I know this because I got up once just to check … well I had another reason also.)

The next day was less misty and we could see mountains to the east and a plethora of islands to the northwest. We could see salmon jumping, porpoises, and more seals. We ate breakfast, broke camp, and patiently waited the turn of the tide to get our second days paddle under way. Four happy campers were beginning to relax, Alaska style.

Air Temp 60, water temp 45, winds light, 4.3 miles

Glacier Bay Day 0

2007-07-04T13:00:00.000-04:00

Lisa and I were planning a kayak adventure in Glacier Bay Alaska. We decided July would be the best time, after Eric and Heather’s wedding. We knew that they were planning their honeymoon in AK so we invited them to join us. I was not surprised to find them interested but was surprised that they would agree to participate in a 5 day un-guided adventure. There is significant planning and preparation to be done for a trip like this and they were already planning a wedding and buying a new house.

We located 17-foot singles from Glacier Bay Sea Kayaks. We could take these from the ranger station in Gustavus. We planned to paddle 30 miles up through the Beardslee’s into the east arm of the bay. There we would be picked up by the day tour boat and continue into the west arm. The plan would maximize our wildlife exposure on our kayak journey. The up close (and much colder) glacier viewing would be had from the heated tour boat. This doesn’t sound like a lot of miles but we wanted to go slow and take in the sights. The trip was about wild nature not exercise on the water.

Collectively, there were almost a dozen trips to REI/EMS involved in the preparation. Half that many to the grocery store. But we were well equipped and ate well!

Alaska air had a direct flight from Boston to Seattle and then a jump to Juneau. We chose a small plane for the hop to Gusatvus for schedule reasons. We also hoped the views would be great from the little plane but as it turns out we traveled over in the rain.

We arrived at the ranger station for our back country camping orientation and then our kayak orientation. This left fueling our camp stoves and the bear spray. Two items that can’t make the flight over in a plane. The fueling went well but the lodge and the hardware store in town were out of bear spray. Now if you can’t fly the spray over you can’t fly it back either. Where was all the bear spray left behind by the campers? Do bears like Cajun? No one knew. But Lisa managed to talk (someone) into letting her borrow theirs. It could have been an empty canister but it was peace of mind. (Yes Heather, it was full. I shook it.)

Combined we loaded two large wheelbarrows with equipment to pack into the boats. The boats were so large that they packed easily. Each boat held two bear resistant food canisters (did I mention we ate well?). Although L&I took a lot of grief for having three times as many bags as E&H, when the boats got packed theirs were just as full as ours.

And so the adventure began…

Weather or Not

2007-06-13T06:11:00.000-04:00

Saturday’s bike ride was cut short by misty air that turned to soup. It then rained all day without even the excitement of thunder. The forecast for Sunday was not looking darling either. And the two suggested paddles, a level 2 in the bay and a Barking Crab excursion were just not all that appealing. I left a message with Eric that sounded more like Eeyore than my usual “we’re going come hell or high water” self. I begged to put the decision off till the morning and to seek an alternate launch point.

We rarely explore the North Shore of Massachusetts and usually stay away in summer when the parking becomes even more tenuous. Lisa wanted to visit Gloucester so I was predisposed to head in that general direction. The morning phone call to E&H had P&L leading them by an hour or so and finding a good launch point. The fall back would be Plum Island Sound.

Our first stop was the Gloucester High School boat ramp. It looked promising with the tide running gently in the right direction at the proposed launch time. And those seniors in caps and gowns? How bad could that be?

Lisa and I headed into town for some exploring and some breakfast. Most of that time was spent dealing with an amnesiac waitress. When we returned to the high school it had been descended upon by siblings, parents, and grand parents. Parking was … well… typical north shore. We slipped the 4-runner into a trailer spot knowing that we could share the slot with E&H. It’s always a bit scary to guess whether the kayak racks will be considered a trailer. Fortunately the ramp police officer, who was guarding the lengthy parking spots from the graduates with determination, looked fondly on us.

We paddled out along the SW shoreline. The shore was rockier than the usual south shore marshes. There were large houses and even castles and castle envy houses. As we moved along the shore the swell was increasing and Eric and I poked tentatively around the rocks. Lisa and Heather, who thought they were keeping themselves safe, found themselves pushing through some rogue growlers over the bar behind Norman’s Woe Rock.

We made the 1.5 mile crossing to Eastern Point Lighthouse. The long wavelength swells made it a bit exciting as they stood up over bars and against currents. Not to the point of loosing visibility of the horizon but tall enough to take notice. We landed on a beach that I assume we would be kicked off of in July. We relaxed in the sun (or the shade of a boat) and kept an eye on the kayaks as the rising tide attempted to liberate them. It was a “4 pull up” break as H did it twice, I did it once and I think E did also.

The final leg on the NE shore was along the gentrified houses from an earlier prosperous time in this seaport. (It is still a commercial fishing port and we noticed more commercial traffic than we ever see down south.)

OK, so now’s the point when I work a roll into this story. E was using his new handmade Greenland paddle that H had gotten him as a wedding gift. He tested it out with a successful roll near the put in. Let’s hope he will roll so successfully with the ups and downs of marriage!

It was a great relaxing low key paddle filled with plenty of good conversation. And the weather turned out perfectly with sun and light winds. Next came the search for the perfect seafood restaurant. We asked some locals and they recommended we leave town! They pointed to Essex Seafood so that’s where we went. Although we were a bit critical of the batter it was one of the better post paddle stops we’ve made.

6/10’2007 Air, low 70’s, water upper 50’s, winds light

Narrow River

2007-05-09T21:03:00.000-04:00

It was raining in spots on my ride from Northborough to North Kingston. At the launch the wind was stiff, blowing straight down the Narrow River. But this was all part of the plan. I’d prefer to ride my bike on the nicer days and kayak on the lesser days. Especially in spring when dressing for the water can leave you overheated in the air. This day had me back in my fleece one piece suit, AKA my PJs.

The paddle was a level 2 and I was thrilled to see Mary show up with Bill. There is no better way for the less experienced paddlers to get a feel for how comfortable they are in the sea kayak world. At some point you might find your paddling skill limit but it would be irresponsible to find it on a level 3 if you didn’t first try a level 2. In the case of Mary it’s great to see her stretch herself from flat-water to the 2. She did just fine!

I was looking forward to this paddle partly to get out on the water, partly to give my elbow an easy workout, and partly to paddle with Tim, who I haven’t paddled with since November.

We headed up river into the wind at a slow comfortable pace consistent with a level 2 paddle. Tim tried to herd the group to the more protected shore as much as he could to minimize the wind exposure. And he stopped frequently and paused for a few minutes even when we were all grouped up. This gave those who might have taken an extra minute or so to catch up their own minute of rest time. This gave me the opportunity to slip in a roll or two. I’m trying to put myself at ease to roll more spontaneously. Not just at lunch or at the end of the paddle.

The Narrow River gets prettier the further you go up river. The houses get less dense and the water widens into decent size ponds. At the head of the river, in the lee of the trees, it was quite warm and comfortable. We stopped for lunch out of the wind and frankly I was convinced that a sea breeze might be fighting the North wind and my prediction of a head wind in both directions might come true. But when back on the open water after lunch the North wind was still there and as strong as ever. In fact many of us were holding up our paddles to the wind and almost keeping pace with those who were paddling.

I was impressed that Bill was aware that I was lagging behind and checked a few times to see that I was OK. These are very positive attributes in a paddle partner. I was also impressed by a number of paddlers who were working on skills on the little breaks we were taking. I think Tim has a way of bringing that out in people.

All the practicing during the paddle left us with little desire to practice back at the launch. Instead we focused on packing up the boats and where to get coffee.

5/6 Air 52, water 50, NE20 G25

Knubble Bay, Maine

2007-04-23T21:54:00.001-04:00

In my kayaking plans for the year I was planning a spring time Lake Champlain paddle and a fall Maine Island paddle. But when I saw that the Knubble Bay AMC club was holding a spring paddle I couldn’t resist. I signed up instantly and it didn’t take much coaxing to get Bob, MA and Carole to join me. We carpooled up together Friday afternoon to the lodge just south of Bath Maine. We arrived just in time to meet Gail, Dave, Dave and Steve and head back into town for dinner. The conversation over dinner was very comfortable as we traded stories about kayaking, our professions and hobbies. As we left the restaurant our group leader asked us “where did you park” even though we had followed him and parked right beside him. Was this a sign of things to come? (It wasn’t.)

The first day we caravanned to the put in at the top of the New Meadows River. We were joined by Leah, Cathy, Barbara and another Dave. The tide was just about dead low and the mud and rockweed were everywhere. We paddled down stream and then up into Back Cove for lunch. We ate on the shore which MA dubbed the “muddy butt spot”. The group shared food and jokes and took pictures. After lunch we poked north into a narrow cove lined with steep rock walls and tall trees. It had the prettiest views of the day. With so many new people to paddle with there were no shortage of stories. I was yak yak yakking about the Maine Island Trail Association with Steve when there was a Puffin sighting. I missed it. A seal was spotted somewhere along the way also. I missed it. I did see the pair of Bald Eagles in a tree however. And the Osprey were everywhere. On the way back I managed to slip in a few rolls and then a few more at the launch. I just had to do that in the cold Maine waters! Dave had done a few before lunch without a hood on. Ouch!

Back at the lodge the feasting began. Wine and cheese and crackers and snacks. Then pork and carrots and potatoes and peach cobbler and carrot cake. The RICKA crew, sans me, helped with the dishes. I yak yak yakked about where we might paddle on a future kayak camping adventure. (Stonington, Deer Island, and the dozens upon dozens of small islands off the coast was the recommendation.) Then, the RICKA 4 went for a walk in the dark to help the huge quantities of food we ate digest. When we returned Carole and I engaged Mary, Dave, and Gail in a little speed scrabble game. I do not recommend you play scrabble with a woman with a PhD in English. (Unless, as Steve said, you are honored to loose to her!)

Day two was scheduled to be a half day paddle directly from the lodge. We paddled out of Knubble bay by Goose Rock Passage and across the Sheepscott River to Barters Island. Here we explored some nature trails and some beautiful views from the observation benches. We crossed back with the group and then the four RICKA members headed out the Little Sheepscott River towards the Ocean.
We successfully navigated a small tidal rip at the end of the river and were treated to “5 Islands”. The quintessential Maine fishing village. It was absolutely beautiful. We ate lunch on a rock, careful to pull our boats up high, away from the grip of the rising 12 foot tide.

Back in our boats we continued south to the start of Reid State Park. Here the on-shore breeze was just beginning to liven up the seas that had been smoothed by a couple of days of light north winds. On the way back we saw a seal and explored a huge crevasse that although only about 3 feet wide was deep enough to fit all four of our boats end to end and rose straight from the high water line for another 30 feet.

Another tidal rip in Knubble Bay entertained us with its dancing water and a small whirlpool that MA and Bob avoided. And we returned with the second 15 mile day under our hulls.

The ride home included a nearly mandatory stop at the LLBean store. A wonderful dinner at “The Muddy Rudder” finished the adventure.

The lodge and the associated Beal Island Camp both provide a launching point for miles of protected water paddling plus access to a number of reasonable distance open water paddles. Plus, if you play the tides and winds right there are a number of places with some interesting tidal rips. Some with names like “Hells Gate” which I think is a little more self explanatory than Goose Rock.

4/21-4/22 Light winds, 74 degrees and 60 degrees, water temperature 40 degrees.

Soaring Seals

2007-04-08T07:36:00.000-04:00

It’s been an unseasonably cool week in the area. The natives need to get out and play. And a paddle from the Bay Campus seems like the right solution.

The participants were Paul B, JoeS, MA, RickTj, BillR, CatR, BobH, CaroleC, and CarleenM. The wind was forecast to freshen from the north and the tide was ebbing so we decided to paddle up bay instead of out to the ocean. The cold morning temperatures and the breeze had most of us complaining and all of us dressing warm. I find that my hands are the first thing to get cold on a day like this but still I always forget to bring gloves to wear while packing the boat for launch. The result is I start paddling with fingers already numb.

We started by crossing the West Passage and passing around Dutch Island. Cat pointed out some very interesting undulations in the rock beside the lighthouse. I had never noticed this before. It’s funny how you can explore the same area multiple times and always discover something new.
The body heat I built while crossing and the wind protection of the lee shore of Jamestown allowed my fingers to warm up in the pogies. From Dutch we headed straight to the base of the new bridge and hugged the Jamestown shore. A few of us, MA excluded, spotted a couple of seals.

The next crossing was back towards Fox I. We made this as a long 2+ mile diagonal and passed the number 10 nun which was a mere 4 miles off station. Based on last weeks extended radio conversation, Joe decided there was no good reason to report this to the GC. We made numerous attempts to keep the herd of 9 kayaks together with limited success. One of the pleasures of paddling at this time of the year is the lack of boat traffic. The largest concern being the fast ferry. We stayed paired up and were always within shouting distance.

We stopped for lunch on Fox. We were escorted to shore by a pair of curious seals. Rick had already rolled about a dozen times starting at the launch point so I felt a compelling need to roll myself. Normally I would pass on a lunch time roll in cold water but my confidence in a “prepared” roll is building. I accepted the risk that it would be a chilly lunch if I had to bail out of my boat and set up for a roll. 2 for 2, lets do lunch!

Again I regretted not having cloth gloves to put on on shore. I wore some dry Sealskinz out of my hatch. While eating lunch we were entertained by seals leaping through the air 300 yards away by a pile of rocks known as The Clump off Rome Point. I had never seen this behavior before. I don’t know why they do it but I’ll choose to think they were just playing. Carleen was the first to launch after lunch and let herself drift between the rocks and Rome. She had a seal surface near and swim right under her kayak. The rest of us had to settle for distant leaping and a plethora of curious seal heads popping up.

We were all hoping that a forecast snow squall and 20 knot tail wind would materialize. Instead the wind just died and our bodies heated up. At least the ebbing tide performed as predicted!

Back at the launch rolling-Rick made a surprisingly quick exit. I set up and made 4 rolls in succession and found myself dizzy and a bit disoriented. I paddled around a bit expecting the feeling to pass but it didn’t so I went ashore. When I mentioned this later MA yelled at me (in a “nice” way) for not informing someone. She was right.

Meanwhile Bill attempted a roll and found himself in the water. He experienced the same dizzy disorientation and had some difficulty getting back in his boat. Joe pointed out that this is a common effect of cold water in the ears.

Both Bill and I were wearing neoprene head wear. While both of us were fine in the controlled circumstances we were in, both of us would have had difficulty if we happened to be doing this while bobbing around by Whale Rock. It’s another example of why we choose to winter paddle with friends who are skilled, cautious, and prepared.

Why do Eric and I share these little stories of cold water difficulty? I think we want to share, through our perspective, the risk we accept and the risk we choose to mitigate while extending our kayak season to year round.

4/7/07 36-40 degree air, 10mph N wind, 42 degree water

Same Paddle, Different Day

2007-04-01T07:27:00.000-04:00

I’ve held this theory since I was in High School that you can’t do the same thing twice. What I mean is: If you have a lot of fun and try to set up to do the same thing again it just won’t be the same. How does this apply to paddling? Well, I claimed that a paddle I did out of Westport in June of last year was the best paddle of the year. Here we were again 10 months later. What would happen?

BH suggested a paddle from some mysterious “Gooseneck” place I could not locate on the map. I think he meant “Gooseberry” and right away I had visions of a paddle we did just about 12 months ago. A very exciting “Surf” paddle off Allens Pond. JSc suggested that the winds were more conducive to a Rt88 launch so that’s where we met. EricJ,BillR,PaulB,MA,CarleenM,CaroleC and BobH all showed up. We had a slow start for reasons I don’t fully understand. But it allowed me to poke around in an eddy by a rock just off the launch.

When we all gathered up we rode the out going tide through the mouth of the river. As we passed The Knubble we were facing a fairly stiff SW breeze which was quite away from the north wind that was forecast. (There is probably some lesson to be learned from that but it turns out to be inconsequential to this paddle.) We all agreed that we were going to head in the direction of “Goosewing” beach. As we headed west CM and I were greeted by a couple of seals.

The paddle west was calm and easy. BH, EJ and I caught a few open water surfing opportunities. The small waves were amazingly pushy in a few spots. We stopped for lunch in Little Pond Cove. This was about a mile short of Briggs Beach, the more logical destination because of its more sandy beach. It was my vote because I was hungry and I was thinking about the group and the SW breeze that we had not paid much attention to because it was behind us.

Lunch included the usual relaxing conversation and food sharing. The high point being HC’s “healthy” bran brownies. (Honestly I have no idea what was in them but she said they were good for me!) I was a bit cool again in the breeze despite the warm sun. It is difficult to stay toasty in the drysuit at lunch time. I think it’s due to evaporation. How can I prove that to myself? Hmmm?

When we headed back it became clear that the breeze had softened and my concerns about slogging back into the wind on an early season paddle were unfounded (this time). The group spread out a bit more than we probably should of. The clear water at a depth of about 6 feet over Tripp Ledge, a ½ mile off shore, made for a very pretty paddle. Some unnamed rocks off shore were asking for exploration and provided the focus for us to group up again.

We rafted up together near shore by Acoaxet. Here, with the heat built up in our drysuits from paddling, we were very comfortable, just basking in the sun. The conversation turned to seals and interestingly, CM and I realized we were the only people to see the seals on the way out of the river. Apparently, the seals must have popped up behind the main group in that characteristically seal way.

JohnS met us on the end of Horseneck Beach with his wife and dog. He had not joined the paddle due to flooding issues in his basement. The timing of his beach stroll was perfect!

Back at the launch CC, BR and I made some roll attempts with various degrees of success. The water has lost a bit of its winter bite but exposed hands are still chilled very quickly.

So as I would have predicted, the paddle was very different from my favorite paddle of last year. It stands as a very enjoyable early spring paddle. But the story doesn’t really end yet. I seem to have forgotten to discuss the “post paddle” activities in recent blogs. This day was to end with a very enjoyable gathering back at CM’s house. Hours of snacking and stories and laughing. Finished up with a showing of “This is the Sea Volume 1” and talk of our own kayak adventure plans.

3/31/2007

The First Paddle of Spring

2007-03-25T20:06:00.001-04:00

The calendar says spring. The air says spring. But the water still says winter. My response to all this talking is to continue to watch the weather carefully. I was tempted to postpone my paddling until Sunday but it was forecast to be sunnier on Saturday and at this time of the year I hedge my bets in favor of the most comfortable day I can find. Plus, Saturday was the RICKA club Soiree. Why make the commute twice?

JoeS, JohnS, EllenS, PaulB, CaroleC, and BillR arrived at Compass Rose Beach in Quonset. We said our spring hellos and discussed how many layers to wear. The wind was dead calm as we launched and temperatures were in the mid 40’s. We were greeted by a solo seal that turned and followed us for a bit. This was a great show for E. It was the first seal she had seen from a kayak. (And I've been describing winter seal sightings to her for 3 years now.)

Our first destination was the north side of Jamestown. The paddling was smooth and easy. We discussed Joe’s knee, Joes’s memory, Joes’s dinner… and movies, mostly Bill Murray! We passed Jamestown and turned north towards Prudence. We were entertained by a large container ship moving at a crawl and two tugs creating surfable waves, unfortunately not in the direction of interest.

As we approached Prudence we choose to head up the west side. This was an area I’ve never explored. We passed waterfalls cascading over the rocky shoreline and some very nice houses. We chose to stop for lunch by a rock jetty about 1/3 of the way up the island. By this time the breeze had started out of the south west. It was gentle but we all found that we quickly cooled off as our dry suits passed some built up moisture through evaporation. Again, the Kelly kettle was conspicuously absent. Fortunately we had all packed our favorite hot beverages in thermoses. It’s interesting that despite the warm sun and warm forecast temperature, we packed up from lunch more because we were chilled than anything else. It just helped to confirm my decision to paddle on the sunnier, warmer day of the weekend.

We then headed west towards Hope I. This was the destination of a very memorable paddle we made last November. Today however it was just a rest spot. And an opportunity for me to trade my Boreal Ellesmere for B’s Riot Aura. This sleek, 17’10"x. 20.5" is a full 10 inches longer and 1.5 inches slimmer than my boat. It was however very comfortable. It would not turn flat but responded well to a bit of lean. It had a definite point of secondary stability despite its slim profile. My only gripe was that it needed inside knee or thigh bracing to keep me in contact with the boat. I stayed in this boat all the way back to Quonset so I got a pretty good chance to try it out. I didn’t push it too hard however because of the cold water. I really didn’t want to end up up-side-down.

We paddled around the north side of Hope and tucked just inside of Despair I. Here we spied another handful of seals. Just as we were ready to peel away from Hope we saw what looked like an abandoned inflatable boat. Joe pulled out his hand held radio and called it in to the coast guard. They seemed to chat for quite some time about the details of the discovery.

Only in retrospect do I realize that the final crossing back to Quonset had a very different feel. Back in November this crossing was a bit somber because we all new that the “nice” paddling weather was over. This however was the first paddle of spring. The best of the season is yet to come.

3/24/07 air temperature 46 degrees, water temperature 40 degrees. Photo courtesy of Bill R.

Paddling the Oregon Coast (in my dreams)

2007-03-13T19:55:00.001-04:00

I just spent a week on the Oregon coast. LisaB and I explored 140 miles of coastline from Rockaway Beach to Florence. Yes, this was done in a rented Ford Taurus on the coastal highway as opposed to a kayak but it is clearly a beautiful place to paddle. We had views of the ocean from the highway almost 50% of the time.

The coastal terrain varies from rocky headlands to wide flat beaches. These are punctuated with numerous small bays that can be explored in and of themselves or as put in points to access the ocean. There are also many sea stacks and arches to explore.

We did not paddle on the ocean for numerous reasons. All related to safety. This is no place to go with out skills and proper equipment. There were very few areas where the sea could be accessed without negotiating surf. And once “on the outside” there were many areas where a safe landing could not be done under any expected circumstances.

Once on the water however it is scenic viewing, surfing, rock gardening, and wildlife viewing heaven. We saw seals, sea lions, bald eagles, ducks, and gray whales. The gradual slope on the beach provided multiple breaks with plenty of opportunities to get off and back on without washing up on the beach. Rock gardening was down right dangerous in many places but out from the rocky headlands you could pick and choose your challenges.

I think we can find similar experiences here on our New England coast but I don’t think they are nearly as ubiquitous. And everything was “just a little larger” than I’d expect to find here. March 3-11, 2007

The Salmon River, Otis Oregon

2007-03-06T21:22:00.000-05:00

I was longing to get out in a kayak in Oregon. I considered packing my dry suit for the trip and had contacted a local about boat rental options in the area. But in the grand scheme of things the logistics seemed a bit much. And LisaB had arranged to borrow a pair of recreational Dagger kayaks that we could use on the Salmon River estuary that is just below her studio.

This adventure began with packing them in the back of a Volvo wagon to get them down to the water. They stuck out about half of their length. On the water we both put on vests that were too big for us. If there was any question about us staying in the safety of the estuary the decision had been made for us.

We paddled gently against the receding tide. Tides in the area are close to 8 feet so we were cautious about getting stranded on a mud flat. In many ways the river was typical but the seals near the mouth were just a little more curious, the ducks were everywhere, and there were HUGE trees washed up on the salt marsh everywhere.

Compared to my usual paddles this was very uneventful. Just a relaxing cruise that allowed me to feel like I’d gotten out on the water. And the scenery was beautiful with distant mountains and nearby hillsides.

We explored a few branches that led to nowhere. Snacked on Hummus and trail mix. And let ourselves drift with the tide.

We paddled back comfortably with the tide and with waning sunlight. Arriving at the ramp with light to spare but beginning to feel the cold of the evening. We loaded up the kayaks and headed back up the hill to return them. OK, so I mentioned hill and I mentioned the kayak sticking half way out. Yep, as we parked in the up-hill driveway and untied them one of them decided to do a little tar surfing. Thank god for plastic kayaks!

March 6, 2007

Winter Season Paddle Planning

2007-02-24T09:01:00.001-05:00

Paddling is paddling. Throw the boat on the car and go paddling. It sounds so easy. And it is that easy. But there are a lot of little things that make this more complex than you might first think. Winter, adds to the complexity.

I seem to be satisfied if I paddle once a week. I like to have an hour or so of excitement. I think I grow when I get at least a small shot of adrenaline in the process. I like to spend a little time improving and perfecting my skills. And I like to spend time with my friends learning and supporting each other while doing something we love. The great thing is I usually get all those things on any given day!

In the summer there is a great pool of interested paddlers and a trip can be posted way ahead of time knowing that the odds of getting “weathered out” are slim. In the winter you are unwilling to commit to a paddle until you know the weather because the mixture of sun/clouds/wind/swell/temperature/rain can really change the paddle. In the summer there are multiple paddles offered of various difficulties on most weekends. So you can pick and choose. If you choose the 3 over the 4 then you’re satisfied with the “3-level” adventure. In the winter it’s a “this might be my only chance to paddle for 4 weeks” situation. And the level of the paddle can be greatly affected by who shows up.

I’m trying to set the stage here for how to plan a winter paddle. A number of us have had some lively discussion about this. We generally agree that there are three basic approaches.

1) Post it on the web page and see who comes.
2) Post it RSVP and screen who comes
3) Plan via e-mail inviting those who’s JUDGEMENT you trust.

The negatives of these approaches.

1a) someone unprepared for the conditions shows up and endangers themselves and possibly the group
1b) someone with limited skills shows up and the paddle must be tempered to their capabilities in the name of safety.
1c) “The leader” might need to decide on the beach to exclude someone from paddling because they are ill-prepared for the paddle

2) “The leader” still has to exclude people or alter the paddle plans based on who wants to join the group but at least it can be done before everyone show up on the beach.

3) Very capable people get left out because they didn’t make the email list etc…

In the context of RICKA, a paddling club, I personally think the “post with RSVP” for winter paddles is the sweet spot. It is the most inclusive approach, allows the paddle group to maintain their expected level of difficulty, and the group’s appropriate level off skill and judgment should equate to safety. Or course we should not forget “You are ultimately responsible for your own safety. You alone should make the decision to paddle.”

Now I’ll jump into my own context. I want to be inclusive, I tend to be aware of the groups capabilities, and I do have an eye towards safety (all positive check marks). But the negatives are, I live a long way from the ocean, I have limited opportunities to paddle, I want to challenge myself with each paddle, AND I don’t have the personality to confront someone and tell them they can’t join the group. These things will drive me towards pulling the group to “my” capabilities and what “I” consider an adventure. These are not strong leadership qualities. These qualities draw me towards option 3, planning a paddle where I know who is being invited and we all have a fairly cohesive goal for the level of challenge and adventure.

So that’s my winter paddle planning dilemma. I tend towards getting the ball rolling with invitation only, knowing I should be more inclusive, hoping a more assertive leader might step up and be willing to provide the RSVP screening.

Comments on this post are strongly encouraged…
Winter 2006/2007

Buzzards Bay in February

2007-02-23T20:03:00.000-05:00

I like to say that I paddle all year long but to be honest with myself that means at least once in every month. Last year I paddled in late January and early March but I’m just not certain that I paddled in February. The weather was forecast to be mid 40’s on a Wednesday and I had a comp-time day in the bank from working the Monday holiday. There was nothing that was going to stop me from taking the day off and paddling.

CR and I met at Ned’s Point in Mattapoisett on a day with the clouds clearing, the tide rising, and a steady breeze from the north. From Mattapoisett you can go west towards Fairhaven but I had paddled off west Island in January. So we chose to go east towards Marion which was also slightly into the wind which would make the return paddle a little easier (and warmer if that happened to be an issue).

The combination of tide and wind was liberating slabs of ice from the shoreline and floating them out to sea. We were very quickly paddling amongst this ice. Of course (with apologies to my Alaskan friend) I was describing this as paddling amongst icebergs. It was an excitement we thankfully don’t get in summer!

As we rounded Angelica point we could see Bird Island lighthouse in the distance. We were both dressed comfortably warm for the conditions so we just paddled generally in that direction. I think the good conversation and the thrill of being out on a nice Feb day made us a bit oblivious that the land was drifting away from us on our left. We ended up making a 2+ mile beeline crossing to the lighthouse. The conditions were fine and not at all challenging but in hindsight we probably should have stayed a bit closer to shore in the name of safety given the cold water. (Did I mention ice floating around?)

At the lighthouse we made an assessment that we wouldn’t be disturbing any nesting birds so we landed on the beach. Pulling the boats up was easy over the 15 feet of slush along the shore. We ate our lunch and sipped on warm green and ginseng tea soaking up the sun and in my case at least warming my feet. Neoprene boots over my dry suit booties and one pair of hiking socks is not enough to keep your feet warm when they are sitting on 3/16ths of an inch of fiberglass and 38 degree water.

On the paddle back we headed toward Converse Point to stay closer to land. We stopped a few times to hear what we think were matting pairs of Eiders. I was determined to see a seal so attempted to turn every dark lobster pot into a “Bouy”seal.

I usually don’t like returning on the same course as I went out on but I was so mesmerized by Bird Island light on the way out that the shore was unfamiliar to me on the return. As we passed back over Angelica point the tide had receded enough that I could scrape over with the round bottom hull of my Ellesmere but CR couldn’t get the V of her Sirius over. In the next cove I finally spotted my seal. He was a lone Harbor Seal and not particularly curious.

With the put-in in view and our boats back amongst the drifting ice I started discussing the photo opportunity of doing a roll amongst the ice. CR looked at me as if I had two heads although the more appropriate conclusion would have been that I had less than a full scull. A little bit of sense and a lot of doubt about my roll success percentage kept me pointing upright. As it turns out we were still a mile away and I would have been awful cold had I popped out of my boat.

Back at the launch I went for my usual test swim. I had been wearing a full neoprene hood all day long. (I have funny tan lines on my face to prove it.) My body was sufficiently comfortable in the water but my bare hands which had been so comfortable all day in poggies were numb within 15 seconds in the water. Again a reminder to me that you can’t be too cautious in cold water. The day had been comfortable, in every way as enjoyable as a July paddle if not more so because of the lack of power boats and activity. But we were paddling with the ever present danger that if something went wrong the cold water would quickly become a major contributor to the difficulty of recovery. 11.2 miles Feb 21, 2007

Practice makes … better

2007-02-20T21:32:00.000-05:00

It could be six years ago when I took my first rolling class. It was at the YMCA in Worcester. They taught a screw roll and in two sessions I was capable of rolling. But at the time I was still paddling a Perception Carolina and rolling it was nearly impossible at my skill level. The following year I bought a Necky Elaho. With that boat I took a basic sea kayaking class at The Kayak Center. During wet exit practice at that class I attempted to roll expecting to have to wet exit but instead rolled up successfully… twice. A third roll that day made me think I knew what I was doing and it had just been the kayak. But subsequent attempts were largely failures. Lack of confidence led to lack of attempts which resulted in any sense of skill passing me by. Years went by, no rolling.

Last year I took the RICKA rolling clinic. I told my coach that I had rolled before I wanted to start from scratch and figure out what I was missing. The clinic was teaching the sweep roll. With Bill Luther’s guidance I was quickly rolling again. I headed off into the deep end to try and build muscle memory. I left feeling good about my future. A properly executed sweep roll is absolutely effortless from a strength point of view. The body just unfolds into the upright position. CC when she’s on can demonstrate it as a thing of beauty. Slow and graceful. On the second day of the clinic I headed directly towards the deep end and rolled some more. I wasn’t 100% and did wet exit a few times. But 40% of them were smooth, and 80% of them got me up. I was on my way.

But I had rolled before and lost it. I was determined not to let that happen again. So last year, once the water warmed up enough so that I wouldn’t freeze, I committed to rolling every time I paddled. It might have been only one roll, sometimes more. Sometimes at lunch, more often at the end. Again, the results weren’t perfect. They were sometimes frustrating. But with each day I got more and more confident. When I couldn’t paddle I’d watch “The Kayak Roll” by Performance Video. Each time drilling into memory the things I need to think about… setup, sweep, and hip flick. Body forward and to the side on the setup, reaching wide with the paddle during the sweep and following the blade with my eyes to keep my head down.

Then came surfing. I bought a whitewater boat for surfing and on my first day out I got thrashed. I managed to roll once (or maybe the same wave that dumped me over was kind enough to flip me back up when it sensed my flailing arms). So I committed even more to practice. Over the next two weeks I spent about 5 evenings on my local lake. Sunny days, rainy days, no matter. I’d stop on the way home from work, toss the boat in, do 8-10 rolls, paddle for 20 minutes, and do 6-8 more rolls. Some of those days were very frustrating. I found it easier to roll my sea kayak than the WW boat. Colder weather and boredom sort of stopped these practices but the repeated drills did re-build confidence. I know that rolling in the surf will still be a challenge but I was now more comfortable that I could roll in that WW boat.

All fall and into winter I kept up my “at least one roll per paddle” practice. Sometimes self motivated, sometimes motivated by the attempts of my peers (thanks Bill R).

At this winters rolling clinic I practiced in the deep end. The first day I worked only on the sweep roll on my good side. Muscle memory. The second day I tried a few C to C rolls and made a few attempts to sweep roll on my off side. I succeeded at both but they were not natural. On the third day I was sweep rolling on both sides and C to C rolling on both sides. Feeling almost as good on the off side as good side. Yes, I know I’ll be a frustrated yard sale when I attempt it again on the bay this spring but I’ll know in the back of my mind that it can be done and it will just be a matter of time before I get it again.

I’ve been thinking about what happened in the pool and I realized that I spent MORE THAN 9 HOURS practicing over the three days. Practice makes better. Success builds confidence. Confidence in turn leads to success. I improved in the pool because I spent a lot of time in the pool.

I hope someday I’ll have forgotten what it was like to struggle with a roll. Right now I know that practice and repetition to build confidence and muscle memory are the things that I need.
1/21, 1/28, 2/18/07

2007 Paddles

2007-01-01T20:18:00.000-05:00

1/7 Fairhaven, West Island
1/13 Narragansett Pier 5 - Scarborough Beach
1/21, 1/28, 2/18 RICKA rolling clinic

2/21 Mattapoisett, Bird Island
2/24 Osprey Sea Kayak Clinic

3/6 Oregon, Otis, Salmon River
3/24 Compass Rose Beach, Jamestown, Prudence, Hope
3/31 Westport, RT88-Little Pond Cove

4/7 URI Bay Campus-Fox Island
4/21-22 Maine, Knubble Bay

5/6 Narrow River
5/25 Bay Campus/Whale Rock
5/27 Quonny Pond

6/2 Dartmouth, Slocum River
6/10 Gloucester Harbor
6/17 Fairhaven, West Island
6/23 Groton Long Point to Stonington CT

7/5-9 Glacier Bay, AK
7/19 Seattle, Lake Union, Badarka
7/22 Ft Wetherill, Mackrel Cove

8/5 Sakonnet Point
8/11-12 Lake Champlain, St Albans Bay-Knights Island
8/18 Westport RICKA training
8/20 Maine Stonington-Harbor Island
8/21 Maine Stonington-Harbor Island Camp-Isle au Haut
8/22 Maine Harbor Island-Stonington
8/25 Maine Orrs Island
8/26 Westport Tim Current Practice

9/9 Narragansett Pier 5 - Point Judith, Harbor of Refuge
9/23 Bristol to Prudence Island
9/29 Stone Bridge current playtime
9/30 Westport Paddle Party

10/7 Barking Crab
10/13-14 Freeport Maine to Bangs Island Camping
10/21 Sakonnet Point Surfing
10/27 Stone Bridge 5.6ft Tide
10/28 Bay Campus to Rome Point (almost)

11/10 Charles River Boat Demo (Impex Force 4)
11/24 Third Beach to Second Beach

12/8 Fort Wetherill towards Beavertail
12/22 Slocum's River, Winter Solstice
12/26 West Island to Ram Island
12/30 Bay Campus to Beavertail

51 Paddle Days!

Best Paddle of the year.

2006-11-14T19:38:00.000-05:00

The best paddle of the year for me was a Friday back in June. Carleen had planned the paddle as I recall but only Tim, Eric, Bob H and I showed up. It was a perfect paddle in so many ways. First, it was a vacation day for me. Others had more flagitious excuses. Then there was the weather. Sunny, just the right temperature, wind and swell. There was the company we keep. The four of us make kind of a rag tag bunch with so many differences. Yet I think we all revel in the comradery of the paddle and our love of little challenges without the pressure of competition. In a group of four each person really is looking out for the other three. A concept we needed once and were hair-trigger ready to utilize a second time.

We had a late start waiting for Carleen but we were all very relaxed and maybe not uber-timely ourselves. We paddled from the boat ramp in Westport out through the mouth of the river. From there we headed South-West into the wind and swell. The miles added up steadily as we made our way by Elephant Rock and South Shore to the large rocks off Briggs Beach in the shadow of Warren’s Point. Before Lunch I made good on my commitment to do some practice rolling “even when I didn’t really want to”. (I think this was my first paddle without a wetsuit and I’m not a big fan of having to bail out in anything but bathtub water.) The rolls were nearly effortless. That made lunch all the more enjoyable.

After lunch we were a bit more frisky and Bob and Eric poked about in spots where the swells were standing up a bit. Mysteriously Bob was suddenly upside down. Eric went in quickly to get him into his boat. I saw that they were precariously close to a rock so followed in and hooked up to tow them clear of the rock. Tim kept watch to make sure everything went well. I imagine that he was happy to see how things played out but too humble to realize that it was his tutelage that made it all possible.

With a few more miles under our boats it was Eric’s turn. He got caught up in a growler and started surfing towards a rock. Somehow he managed to get the wave to pass under him and I distinctly remember seeing him slide down the backside of the wave sidewise and out of imminent danger. I also distinctly remember seeing him put his paddle into high gear and boogie out of the area. Once Eric was clear of the danger it was easy to do a little teasing. Kind of the way three guys say “nice job” to the fourth.

We of course were in no rush to finish up so we did some rock gardening outside of the Knubble. On the way into the harbor we toyed with some standing waves that form in the fast moving current. It was just a wonderful day on the water. Relaxing, punctuated with some excitement, yet nobody hurt. Just the way I like it!

6/9/06

2006 Superlatives

2006-11-13T22:32:00.000-05:00

I’ve managed to get out at least once a month for almost 2 years now. Averaging somewhere near 2 paddles every three weeks over the last year. There is not one paddle that I didn’t enjoy. Some, however, were better than others. This is my list of all the paddles I can remember from 2006 more or less in order and the superlative I associate with each. Thanks to all the leaders and paddling friends for helping to make this a truly enjoyable year on the water.

URI/Bonnet: Rescue adventure
Fogland: Thanksgiving paddle
Jamestown: Drysuit tour of Newport
BayCampus: Soap opera paddle
Hope Island: Most pleasant weather
Barking Crab: best of three tries
Westport/Potluck: Best post paddle entertainment
URI/Bonnet: Backward surfing
Isle of Shoals: Most open water AND Most sleepy!
Delaware Water Gap: Eagles and Bears
Monomy: Seals and Rescue
Boston Harbor 2: Kayak Camping
Narragansett Town Beach Surfing: Most frustrating (but still fun)
Colt State Park: Most exciting 2 paddle since my first RICKA 2
Fort Wetherhill/Joe: breakaway group
Barn Island: Fiddle Faddle Paddle
Boston Harbor 1: Gilligan’s big adventure
Prudence: Marianne’s Adventure
Bungay River: This was supposed to clean the kayaks?
Westport River P&M: A great start to paddling
Wed Paddle/Carole,Eric,Paul: paddle to nowhere (OK, Whale Rock)
Gould Island: Christy’s addiction… Ice-Cream
Slocum River: Pretty but not enough adventure
Bay Campus: Sick of the rain paddle
Westport/Tim,Bob,Eric,Paul: BEST PADDLE OF YEAR!
Gooseberry Neck: Welcome Becka and the building surf
Wickford Spring Paddle: Naturalist Ray
Wickford Town Beach/Tony,Carole,Paul: Best Stories
Ft Getty/Tony and Paul: Most pleasant winter paddle
Ft Wetherhill/Tony and Paul: Why was I out on such a windy cold day?
Various Cochituit and Whitehall Practices: Just great to be on the water.
Lake Chauncey Solo Rolling Practices: Most Determined practices
Rolling Clinic: Most confidence building.

A summer day in November

2006-11-12T17:43:00.000-05:00

Friday November 10th, mostly sunny, temperatures in the mid sixties, Narragansett Bay, kayaking. Is Paul writing fiction now? Nope. It was forecast early in the week and by mid week I was making plans. Strangely, there didn’t seem to be too much interest so by Thursday evening I had given up on the paddle. But a call by Heather and a weakness in Tim had us back on the water Friday morning. We were joined by Lisa, Rich, and Joe at the Wilson Park launch with intention of paddling to Hope Island.

We were on the water at 10AM just as planned. There was a moderate breeze out of the Northwest. The weather was warm enough that I opted to wear the wetsuit instead of the drysuit. I find it difficult to keep cool in the drysuit with warm air and sun. It was packed in the boat however. I’m sure I would have put it on as soon as I reached land had I gone over for some reason.

We had an easy paddle out of the Harbor. Joe regaled us with the history of Wickford fish pressing factories, distressed yachts, and lighthouses. I think most of what Joe said was true. This is in sharp contrast to Ray, our naturalist guide this spring. Ray was however, much more funny!

We became exposed to the wind as we rounded Quonset point. This initiated the predictable sequence of adjusting and un-sticking skegs. We adjusted our apparent heading so that we’d pass just south of Hope and paddle around in the lee of the island to our lunch spot.

As we approached the island we were surprised in an odd sort of way by the brown vegetation. The day was like a late spring paddle and the expectation was green and lush. But it was November. I had to keep reminding myself about that.

We landed on a coarse sand beach on the North east corner. It was still before 12 as we landed so we snacked on a cookie and explored the island on foot. There were plenty of poison ivy branches sans leaves bounding the path, a decaying paved road of military use from days past. Before long the path was obscured by overgrowth and we headed back to the beach.

We sat on a rock facing south east with the sun warming us and the breeze blocked by the land. It was wonderfully warm and relaxing. Tim described the view as the “best view of the bay”. We discovered that we had been attacked by tribble-burrs while exploring. I was befriended by a yellow jacket that passively licked the jelly off my thumb and toured my arm. When the contagious “get up from lunch” happened we headed over to the boats. But we quickly found ourselves lying on some more rocks in the sun telling still more stories. It took discipline not to call Eric or Carole and tell them how nice it was. The only miscalculation I can think of was Tim’s failure to pack the Kelly Kettle!

We all got back in our boats and rounded the north side of the island. Tim and I stayed very close to the rocky shore to play in the zone where the waves were interacting with the reflected waves. Hope Island is a significant distance up the bay so it’s the best fun we could find.
The paddle back was uneventful. We had a few periods of paddling six abreast which I find kind of cool. Kind of like “The Mod Squad” times two. The group took a break in the shadow of Quonset. Tim decided he wanted to do some power paddling to warm up for some rolling and sculling back at the launch. The rest of us just sat and drifted wishing the day would never end. In fact we sat so long that Tim thought something might have happened to us.

Boat traffic was of course low on the bay. But somehow a rude fishing boat felt obliged to pass behind Lisa and I at half throttle sending a large wake our way. Presumably he thought we wanted to surf through the break wall, @#&^%.

Back at the ramp Joe was packing quickly to get through Providence before the traffic (it was a Friday afternoon after all). The others were moving at a more leisurely pace. Tim was still in the water rolling left and right in the cold water. I was game for some bracing and sculling but my choice of the wetsuit and Tim’s description of the feeling of cold water on his inner ear kept me within 90 degrees of vertical.

While loading the boats I broke out some lemon cakes that Lisa had picked up at the Seven Stars Bakery on Hope Street in PVD. http://www.sevenstarsbakery.com/ They were phenomenal. I’ve never had a “cake” that melted in your mouth the way these did.
When the boats were packed we wandered off to Wickford Gourmet Foods for coffee. Carole joined us there and allowed us to tell the stories of the day with our glowing sunburned faces. And finally we went for sushi and dinner at Seven Moons. 11/10/06

Paddling on my home turf

2006-10-22T19:20:00.000-04:00

It was another paddle where the weather was to play a part. A front was moving through Friday evening and the forecast was for 15-20/gusts to 30. And this was a Carleen paddle. There are rumors of days gone by when a Carleen paddle was sure to …. Now I’ve paddled with Carleen many times and can’t verify the rumor but this is her turf too. Anyway, I was picturing myself slogging my way to Little Compton against a small gale. But it was also her pot luck dinner. And I already made a pie. I had to go.

The brave paddlers all gathered at the Rt 88 boat launch in Westport. Things were blowing around as we untied our boats. Normally I’d wait till the last minute to get into my drysuit but today I wanted to wear it as a wind breaker. Carleen arrived shortly afterward and announced that it was small craft warnings and that we would be staying in the river. Pheew, it might be a miserable paddle but I wasn’t going to be blown to Bermuda! But inside I wanted to go to the mouth of the river. I always go to the mouth and take a peak out at ½ mile rock. I’ve repeated that 100s of times in my motor boat and dozens in my kayak. It was like tradition. It was agreed we’d paddle to the back side of East beach and take a peak at the ocean there.

Twelve of us headed out. I had an auspicious start. My paddle, although attached to my boat, blew out of my reach. (Linda saved me.) Then I was blown into the dock and had my stern got wedged. Then Bob pointed out that I had launched without my PFD on. (I had my tow belt strapped on. I guess that felt like a vest to me!) Then, putting my vest on in the boat left my water pack tube hopelessly tangled behind me. (Linda again.)

The paddle down wind to East beach was easy. Walking over to the ocean we saw relatively calm seas. But we were in the lee of Gooseberry and could see the water a little lively further out. Then we paddled along the east shore or the river and meandered through the marshes to Ship Rock for lunch. This is another one of my favorite places. I spent many afternoons here in my youth. In the lee of the rock and with the sun it was quite comfortable here. On top of the rock was another story. And although Bill and Lisa looked quite comfortable climbing up to eat lunch, many crevasses were left unexplored as neoprene boots were simply not made for climbing. Mike and Joe spread out tarps and parachutes to sit on. Rich climbed up for a view. Carole, Kevin, and the others stayed low.

After lunch we headed into the open part of the harbor. The wind was really making itself felt here. As we approached the harbor entrance it was decided that we wouldn’t chance fighting the wind AND current coming back into the river. However, I think just to appease me, Joe and I rounded The Knuble just to take a peak! We returned in the eddy that forms along the big rock. Half the group then made a ferry crossing back towards the launch. I think that the tide started to slow in the time it took us to wait for Mike to finish his exploring because as the second contingent made the crossing the ferry angle was small.

Back at the boat ramp Kathleen decided to entertain us by WALKING her boat around the dock in water that was notably over her head. Finally she tried to put her boat on her roof with the bow facing backwards. It was sooo wrong. Mike would have nothing to do with it and managed to coax her into switching it around before she left the parking lot. Who knows what would have happened. I’m sure the earth’s magnetic field would have reversed or something!

We then headed off to Carleen’s. Eric, Heather, Tim, Christy, Jerry, Ray, Alison, and even Carl Ladd met us there. We all shared some wonderfully delicious food and laughter. Any attempt at seriousness was quickly quelled. Funniest of all was three quarters of us trying to boil water in Carole’s new Kelly Kettle. http://www.kellykettle.com/ It’s a pot with a water jacket and a hollow center which acts as the burning chamber to heat water fast. Fast, that is, once you get a fire going. Eric, Lisa, Paul, and Mike all made attempts on their bellies to get a fire going. Once a fire was established boiling water percolating out of the hole put the fire back out. Somehow, Tim managed to get a couple of cups of tea out of the endeavor.

It was another wonderful paddle. The wind never reached the forecast levels (or at least it calmed down ahead of schedule). I think I drove home more tired from laughing than paddling. Photos courtesy of Mike K. 10/22/06

Bay Campus to Bonnet Shores

2006-10-20T18:32:00.001-04:00

Half of the fun of paddling is the company you keep! My long commute makes it difficult to judge my arrival time. When I got to the Bay Campus at 9:20 no one was there. Was I at the right place? Had we moved to a winter start time of 11? The weather was nice so I jumped on the trampoline of a beached hobie cat and laid in the sun to wait. Along came Tony (great I was in the right place). Then Tim (it was his paddle) excusing himself for not being at the launch site hours earlier. Before long Bob, Rich, Carole, Eric and Heather had arrived and eight, the perfect size in my opinion, were ready to launch. Where were “the others”? It was a perfect day.

Our goal was to explore the west shore and Bonnet Cove which we usually ignore in the summer. We poked along the rocks, all eight of us looking for that sense of adventure seeing just how small or shallow or rough a spot we were comfortable putting our 17 foot boats. Tony had his sit on top up in the air on the rocks. He just hopped out and put it back in the water. I lodged mine on a bed of barnacles. (Less gel coat makes boat lighter.) The water was so clear. One of the advantages of late season paddling.

Bonnet shores was virtually deserted. Two people, two dogs was all there was. The waves were very small but that didn’t stop us from trying to surf. Unfortunately we were missing some of the surfing wanabees (you know who you are). It was a perfect opportunity to catch your first wave. Just enough push to say you surfed a wave. Nothing scary and nice sand when you ran up on the beach. Tim and Eric chose to do their surfing backwards. Tim was proficient. Eric has so little buoyancy in the back of his Q-boat that he managed to bury his stern and roll over a few times. Then he had it working for a few rides until he backed his boat up over Bob’s and into his lap. It was quite entertaining.

We lunched a bit further south. The considerate paddlers brought AND SHARED their tea. (Thank you.) The best we could do for cookies was very hard ginger snaps. Funny thing is, that cookie brought back childhood memories in about half of us.

After lunch there was some call for Whale Rock. (Only because it’s there.) But the group poked around a bit and headed back. The wind was from the west so it really wasn’t pushing us as we would have liked. At the Bay Campus there was a infectious break out of kayak rolling. Tim, wet from rolling, volonteered to swim so I could get the feel for paddling with someone hanging off my bow. This was a rescue that I was uncomfortable performing in the surf a few weeks earlier. It was a bit de-stabilizing. I would still like to try it in a gentle surf some day so I know what to expect. I also tried to paddle with Tim hanging off my stern. The result was similar. Paddling in both cases is very slow. Finally we put Tim on my back deck. I can’t imagine how we’d ever get someone large up there in the surf but, the boat moved much faster without the drag of a body in the water.

The day ended with coffee at a local coffee shop and then dinner and a nice visit with my daughter. A very relaxing way to spend a Sunday. 10/15/06

Isles of Shoals, an open water adventure.

2006-10-14T20:52:00.000-04:00

I’ve paddled for about six years but had never done a long open water crossing. I’d had a number of excuses in the past, some good, some bad, but things seemed to be lining up to do this one. My number one concern is the weather. I’ve been on the water long enough to know how quickly the weather can whip things up and how mistakes and problems compound when something happens on the open water. But I have confidence in my abilities and even more respect for the abilities and the judgment of my friends so what the heck, Game On.

I had Carole to cajole me. This could be another installment of the Gilligan’s Island adventures. The plan was to camp at Salisbury beach and JoeS,MikeK,BillL,PeterH,PaulB,CaroleC and CarleenM gathered more or less at the same time, set up tents, and went out for dinner. This was followed by a little walk to the beach and some pleasant conversation but NO FIRE! What were we thinking? You call this camping? As always with good friends, we persevered.

Sleeping in a tent on a clear night in October has its plusses and its minuses. For me it was more minus as I just had a terrible time sleeping. Too hot in the mummy bag. Too cold on the outside. Too hard on the pad. (And maybe a little apprehension about the next days paddle.) I didn’t wake up (assuming I slept) well rested.

CC and MK tended to the morning cooking. I tried to find the right balance of caffeine intake to keep me awake but not require me to answer natures call while paddling 5 miles off the coast.

We arrived at the boat launch to a $10 dollar parking fee so scouts were sent North and South in search of an alternate launch point. This delay, plus copious debate over wetsuit vs. dry suit and an uncooperative photo shoot had us passing through the Rye Harbor break wall almost 50 minutes late. EricJ, HeatherC, RickT, and JohnS brought the total to 11.

The winds were light and there was a 2-3 foot swell on the way out. Ideal conditions, calm and easy to deal with but the swell kept reminding you of the power of the ocean. The paddle was to be about 7 miles launch to lunch. 2 hours of paddling to view the light house on White I., then a quick stop on Star I., followed by lunch on Smuttynose I.

RT kept himself cool with repeated rolls in open water. JS, who had been pulling his customary lure for most of the way out, hooked into a nice Stripped Bass as we were rounding Star. Unfortunately the legal sized fish was returned to the sea in a flubbed handoff of the landed fish over to CM’s boat.

By this time the lack of sleep and overheating in my wetsuit had me longing for a 1 hour nap to regain my strength. But there was eating and exploring and joking around to be done. I of course tried to do all those things.

As we were ready to head off around Appledore I. for our return trip, Carleen provided me with a handful of chocolate coated coffee beans as a caffeine infusion. How did she know I was going to need her to bring them? See what I mean about having confidence in my friends!

The forecast played out exactly as predicted and the paddle back was livened just a bit by a gentle south breeze of 6kts. Just enough to mask the swell which made itself apparent again as we were approaching the break wall. The debate on the return trip was centered around “where’s home?” From six miles out it is very hard to recognize distinct features. But Joe got us back on a track that GPS verifies was more or less a straight line. (Did I mention confidence in my friends?) Somehow, with 24 square miles of ocean to wander around in at least two of us managed to run over lobster pot buoys. (Yes, I was one of those people, and only after teasing the other!)

All and all the trip was great and a lot like I expected. The long return paddle really tries your patience with out the clear goal of an Island that does get bigger as you approach it. (Albeit, always looking closer than it really is.) Being miles from shore heightens your concerns about safety and just how important it is to keep an eye on the weather and avoiding things like rock gardening and breakers. And when you return home it feels really good to say you did it and be able to share your story. Photos courtesy of Mike K. 10/8/06

Who’s laughing at whom in Monomoy?

2006-09-16T19:20:00.000-04:00

I’ve been wanting to do the Monomoy paddle for a few years. Last year I think it got canceled due to weather. This year I made the 120 miles commute from my house and I wasn’t disappointed.

We launched on a beautiful day as the air cleared of the morning mist. (Actually it was fog but I’m doing the writing so I’ll call it what I want.) The put in was some random seeming location near Chatham light. MAB and I were entertained by the directions Mike provided. They were detailed and we made no wrong turns.

Before we left we were all reminded of the guidelines regarding observing marine mammals. We had only paddled out a few miles and the sightings began. Before we knew it seals were popping up all around us observing us! As a group, we basically stopped paddling and just drifted. These seals weren’t the Sea Dogs (Harbor Seals) that we see in Newport mid-winter. They were much larger Gray Seals whose scientific name translates to "hook nosed pig of the sea". Clearly they hadn’t read the Marine Mammals Act because they were much closer than 100 yards and making some of us a bit nervous! They would typically pop up behind us and we’d hear their snorting breath. It was very satisfying to know that they were as interested in seeing us as we were them.

After about 20 minutes of seal observation we continued to paddle in the protection of South Beach towards Monomoy Island. There was very little agreement between the charts, the satellite photos, and what we were observing in front of us. The sands here are constantly shifting. At one point I was pushing my kayak along with my hands on the sand and the sand was liquid in nature. I assume something about the size and smoothness of the sand allows it to almost flow like water.

As we approached the break in the dunes out to the ocean we discussed whether to have lunch in the protected zone or pass through and have lunch on the ocean side. The relatively flat paddle so far had many of us wanting for a little excitement. We could see a small surf as we rounded the corner and thought lunch on the ocean would be fun. But as we continued it was obvious that what we were observing was the third break. There were two more bars with progressively larger waves breaking on the second and growling on the third. The outgoing flow kept us moving and gave us little time to select the best path through the surf zone. There were also various skill levels paddling so the more experienced kept an eye on the others as we passed. At one point I watched a paddler being lifted diagonally up a wave that was starting to become top heavy. I expected a capsize and headed in that direction unable to see the paddler on the other side of the wave which was easily standing up to about 4 feet in that area. About 10 seconds later I could see the top blade of her paddle and I knew she was still going. Great job. As most of the group gathered on the far side of the bar we realized that a few paddlers were missing. It became clear that Joe was helping a capsized paddler and Mike was standing by to help as needed. A few minutes passed and it became clear that Joe was not going to get him back in the boat in the surf. Some quick coaching was given and we all headed back in. The less experienced were directed towards the beach. A few went to the north side which was probably the safer side. The rest went south which was the livelier side with the surf breaking square onto the beach. Two of us headed to help Joe.

When we arrived Joe had given up on getting the paddler in the boat and had determined it was time to get him to the beach. He asked me to put him on my bow and paddle him in. It was a rescue I had never practiced. Joe was tiring and had been recovering from a bum shoulder so I wanted to help but I knew the gentleman I was with in a sit-on-top was more comfortable in the surf than I was. (It was his surf boat.) And his bow looked a heck of a lot more buoyant than my Ellesmere’s. I hesitated and tried to communicate that to Joe. Joe was determined to use me simply because he knew my abilities. He quickly changed plans and put the paddler on his own bow and had me recover the paddle and hook on to the wayward boat.

Knowing that the boat was far less important than a person, I took my time to wait for Joe to clear the area and the surf to settle a bit before hooking up to the boat. I didn’t want to surf into them and once a wave catches you there’s not much you can do but ride it. Then I had no idea what to do with the paddle. I tossed it in the cockpit but was uncertain as to whether it would stay there. I hooked to the deck line and began paddling toward shore. The load from the boat in tow varied if it was pulling on the back of a wave or surfing down the face. Just as I was preparing to ride a wave into the beach I felt the load release on my tow rope. I thought that my tow belt had just rotated around my waist. But as I looked behind me the boat was free. Mike was watching and thought I had set it free deliberately so it wouldn’t surf itself into me. Actually, the deck line had snapped. I hooked up again to the bow toggle and continued my mission. As I gathered up the boat on the beach I could see that everyone had made it safely to shore or was paddling inside the break. With time to let my focus wander, I could see three seals frolicking in the breaking waves watching the rescue and us fumbling land mammals trying to play in their element! I felt sure they were laughing at us all.

Safe and sound on the beach we all enjoyed lunch and the warm sun. We were entertained by some motor boaters who had filled their motor’s water pump with the Chatham sands and seemed clueless as to what to do with the boat and the motor. Some of us helped them drag their boat against the current into calmer waters. As lunch ended a few of went back out to try our hands in the surf. The surf had died down considerably from before lunch. Presumably related to the level and the flow of the tide.

The paddle back was relaxing. The tide had receded and there was a lot more sand to be seen (and avoided). As we passed through the “seal zone” we were visited by fewer seals but one in particular was far braver and more inquisitive than all the others. He would pop up very close to the boat and hang out at the surface for an extended amount of time.

At the launch I tried a roll but it was not to be this day. Linda rescued me (she does that a lot). We loaded our boats on the cars and headed off to dinner. But the adventure was not over yet. As we pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant one of us had a blown out radiator hose. A successful search for an open auto parts store on a Saturday evening was performed at the dinner table with the miracle of the cell phone. Another rewarding day on the water. 9/16/06