Today I remembered

The tikes of Paradise in the Remembrance parade

I attended Remembrance Day ceremonies today in the Town of Paradise. I had usually watched the ceremonies from the National War Memorial from Ottawa in the past but today I went in person.

A lot of the talk today was about the sacrifices Newfoundland (pre-1949) and Canadian soldiers made for our freedom. I can't get my head around that - freedom in Canada so far away from the wars in Europe. It had a more direct impact on me, however, being born in Holland. Without the undescribeable sacrifices made by Canadian and other Allied soldiers, I would never have seen the light of the earth.

My Uncle Ad was taken to Germany to work as slave labour. "De Moffen" (Dutch term of endearment for the Eastern neighbours) also came for my Dad to be pressed into slave labour but he escaped into the countryside before they arrived.

My parents never spoke of the hardships during the war but my Mother did speak of the Canadian soldiers who lodged with her family when they liberated the City of Tilburg. No wonder so many Dutch people came to Canada after the war.

So, today I remember. I remember how lucky I am and I bow my head in gratitude

Children of Paradise Elementary School lay a wreath

While there were "dignataries" on hand to present speaches with the usual November 11 themes, the poignant parts of the ceremonies for me were the kids. Why? Because a lot of veterans are passing away and its going to be the children of tomorrow who will be left to remember the sacrifices made by the soldiers of today and yesterday.

Another resettled community

Stan with Great Island in the background

Today Stan and I put-in at Tors Cove and paddled south along the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula to the site of the resettled community of LaManche. Its the site of a provincial park now but in its heyday 54 souls called it home. Its only the size of a hole in the wall really with very little flat land and for that reason the population peaked at that number.

It was founded by a George Melvin in the 1840's and was inhabited until 1966.

Between a rock and a hard place

On our paddle up to LaManche we noticed a notch in the cliffs and we went over to have a look.

A river runs into it

We paddled around Bauline Point and into LaManche Bay. At the bottom of the bay there was little indication that there was any kind of a protected cove. We kept paddling and at the bottom of the bay a cove opened up that curved to the right. At the head of the cove we found a river tumbling over a falls into the sea.

Stan coming in for a landing

There's no beach to land on in LaManche but on the left the rocks slope gently enough to take out. It would have been tough to prosecute the fishery from this place. Old photos show the hard work of fishermen to erect stages, flakes and wharves. Memorial University of Newfoundland has a maritime history archive with lots of pictures of how LaManche looked prior to resettlement. Check it out here: http://www.mun.ca/mha/resettlement/lamanche_1.php

A room with a view

Well, there's no room here anymore but whatever structure stood here, it would have had a great view looking out LaManche Cove.

I was struck by the trouble people went to in order to make a place to live and a community. The community grew in what can only be described as a notch in the hills and cliffs. Foundations were still standing and put in every-which-way. The key for the people that lived here was the access to the sea and it seemed that it didn't even matter that there was no beach to land boats.

There were no sidewalks

There's not much level land where the resettled community of LaManche used to be. This looked to be a trail that would have been walked often by the people who lived here. Forget sidewalks, houses were connected by trails. Everyone in a community this small would have had to be on good terms with each other because there's nowhere to go to avoid neighbours who had fallen-out.

At the top of the picture, the foundation of some sort of building that still stands.

A little of the old ... and a little new

The new bridge constructed for the east coast trail spans LaManche cove where all that's left of the former community are foundations.

Figuring it out 4 yourself

Stan the day we picked up our new boats

The day Stan and I picked up our new Nordkapps we went to Long Pond to try them out. It was blowing hard - constant at 50 kms/hr with gusts to 70. I put-in and the wind just blew me sideways down the pond. Try as I might, I couldn't get the kayak turned into the wind. Sweep, sweep, sweep; the wind was too strong and I kept going sideways. Lucky I wasn't on the sea in an offshore wind.

I did eventually get the boat turned into the wind by what I thought were unorthodox means. I did a couple of reverse sweeps on the upwind side trying to get the stern to drift downwind as opposed to trying to turn the bow into the wind. It worked.

Now I feel sort of vindicated after reading Gordon Brown's book "Sea Kayak". That's not Gordon Brown the British Prime Minister, its Gordon Brown the Prime Minister of Scotish kayaking. He writes "Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you are facing downwind and no amount of sweeping will turn the bow of your kayak into the wind. Hopefully you will have read this section before heading off into the great blue yonder." He goes on to describe reverse sweep (upwind side) - forward sweep with bracing component (downwind side).

I hadn't read his book but I figured it out by necessity and now I have authoritative weight to support my approach. Sometimes its a matter of doing what ya gotta do.

She's cooling down

Birch trees, Topsail Pond

Today was my first time at Topsail Pond for a couple of weeks. I'm sure some of the residents must have wondered where "that kayaker" was. I've been pretty regular on Tuesdays at Topsail Pond over the summer.

Strong SE winds meant it was a good chance to practice turning into the wind without waves to contend with. That way I only had to deal with one piece of the puzzle. Even so, I found I needed considerable speed before sweeping and planting the bow rudder to counteract the wind. Otherwise the wind just balanced my attempt to turn by blowing the bow downwind. Making progress though.

Along with the wind it was cold and its really evident where the season is going. 3 degrees C and -3 with the wind chill. I checked the water temp and it stood at 5 C. I found it colder than at some paddles I did with Stan last winter. I'm getting acclimatized for the coming winter.

Dogberries overhang Topsail Pond

The change of season has happened so fast. It seems like it was only a couple of weeks ago the yellow leaves were still on the trees. Now they are completely nude. Here only the red dogberries are left on the trees.

Stuff happens

The title says it all

Kayak Newfoundland and Labrador purchases kayak books and contributes them to the public library system for the benefit of all kayakers in the province. I checked this one out to have a read. Its a bunch of short stories of kayak incidents from which we can all learn.

One of the common threads that runs through most of the incidents is that mostly inexperienced kayakers are involved. Some of the mistakes they made include:

• not wearing a PFD (can you believe it!);
  
• paddling in conditions in which they were inexperienced ;
  
• going out without thermal protection;
• paddling without a spray skirt;
• failing to to check the weather forecast before putting in;
• overestimating their ability to deal with challenging conditions;
• paddling without a means to signal for assistance such as a VHF radio or flares;
• failing to practice realistic rescues in conditions.

Some, and there are more, of these mistakes were not limited to inexperienced paddlers. Some paid for their mistakes with their lives.

I think this is a must read for all paddlers and particularly for people doing basic kayaking courses. I occurred to me, however, if someones is dumb enough to go paddle in cold waters without thermal protection, they're not likely to take the time to read this material. We see them on the water from time to time and have found that they are pretty touchy about having safety issues pointed out. But, we should continue to preach the safety gospel if for no other reason than to fulfill our responsibility as experienced paddlers. Maybe we'll save one life.

A safe harbour

St Philips harbour

Yesterday Malcolm, Stan and I paddled out of St. Philips harbour, around the point and south for Topsail. The wind was blowing at 15 knots with a forecast to increase to 20. The sea was fully developed at 15 knots and it was something we felt comfortable in. We paddled into the wind for 30 minutes when the wind did strengthen.

We turned back. An increase in wind speed would have meant a corresponding increase in wave height and complexity and the forecast may have been wrong on the low side. Discretion is the best part of valour.

Paddling into the wind is a bit like beating your head against a wall. So why bother? For me its a chance to measure fuel consumption. I mean, I know by the conditions how much I'm good for if I absolutely need to paddle when the wind comes up.

The amount of work I was doing wasn't apparent to me until we turned and paddled with the wind at our back. The first few paddle strokes felt like I didn't have the paddle in the water.

Back at St. Philips we had the opportunity to stick our noses out into the conditions and still get some respite inside of the point.

Book value

Stan doing a bow rudder

Most kayak instruction books tell you to get some good forward speed going, edge, sweep and bow rudder in order to turn upwind when paddling in a beam sea. Gordon Brown's book "Sea Kayak" also suggests doing a stern draw at the end of your last forward stroke before edging to sweep. Either way, its very easy on calm water. I'm working on moving that skill up into more challenging conditions.

That's the funny thing about books, in some ways the instruction is overly simplified. They don't address the complications that waves and wind introduce into the equation. This is where you're on your own to figure it out or obtain qualified instruction.

What follows are some musings (OK, I'm thinking out loud) what I think will work.

We are told to turn right upwind in waves: edge left, sweep left and bow rudder on right. Edging left (away) from a wave coming from the right increases the possibility of capsize. I intend to edge left and sweep on the backside of the wave and quickly switch to the bow rudder on the right, front face of the next wave. The bow rudder can be held as the kayak crests the wave to keep the exposed bow from being blown downwind. Repeat as necessary until the kayak is facing upwind. There will be some protection from the wind also in the trough.

To turn upwind before substantial waves can form can also be tricky. Edging and sweeping downwind can lead to a capsize in strong winds or a gust. I intend to edge less and compensate by doing a couple of sweeps before putting in the bow rudder and not hold the bow rudder too long causing a loss of speed.

Up to now I've used brute force and ignorance to turn into the wind. I'm going to try and apply what I've reasoned out in my mind the next chance I get. I'll keep ya posted.