Home sweet home

Getting ready

The forecast was not very appealing so six of us decided we'd paddle a familiar shoreline that would offer protection from the 15-20 knot easterly winds, and rain. Familiarity may breed contempt but the shore from St. Philips to Portugal Cove is a jewel close to home. There are rocks to navigate around, little coves and a short channel to paddle through.

Some came a bit early and were ready to paddle, waiting for the rest of us to put-in.

And, off they go!

The start of every paddle for me is full of anticipation. Even in familiar places because no two paddles are alike. The anticipation on this day for me was when would the scheduled rain and wind kick in. It was something like waiting for the other shoe to fall but it never did; we had great weather to the end of our paddle.

Even though the forecast was wrong, we took it into account. Better to have more favourable weather than forecasted than to pay a blind eye to the forecast and have conditions change to the point of being unsafe.

Stan

We've missed Stan in the paddling group lately. Stan thought the last time he had paddled was our trip to Ferryland and that was September 26. Its hard to believe that's over two months ago. Sometimes time just slips away and other things crowd our agenda but hopefully you'll get out a bit more Stan. Stan will have some shots of our paddle too on his excellent Kayaking Dreamin' blog.

Dean

This was number 92, 92 times in his boat this year for Dean. He's got a target of 100. The number of days are in the year is dwindling but there's still a chance to make it. Even if you don't make it Dean, you're still going hit an enviable number.

Sean

Just a little bit of swell made for interesting and, on occasion, challenging situations paddling around rocks.

Brian

There was no hurry as we stopped for a few minutes in Beachy Cove. The Topsail fault runs the along the entire coast from Topsail to Cape St. Francis. The amount of displacement in the fault isn't known but the contorted rocks all show the effects of the earth movement.

Clyde

As usual Clyde was in the soup wherever he could. The more time spent amongst the rocks and surge the greater chance of getting wet but also a greater chance of developing skills necessary to paddle in those places.

It was only a shortish paddle of 11 kms on a day when the forecast suggested stay in bed. We went out anyway, the unfavourable forecast didn't materialize and we had a very enjoyable time on the water. It was a familiar place but sometimes there's no place like home, sweet home.