Top 10 paddles of 2010 - #3

Sundown

On August 26th, a Thursday when we'd normally hold our practice session, we had a full moon. At the end of August the evenings were starting to get short. I don't recall who came up with the idea to have a moonlight paddle but it made sense. The evening started out clear but as it plunged deeper into darkness some cloud cover started to creep in. Would we be rewarded with moonlight? Only time would tell!

The light begins to fail

With the sun gone we paddle out of St. Philips in failing light. It wouldn't take long before we were in total darkness.

Deer in the headlights

We had glow-sticks so we could keep track of each other in the darkness. The flash of the camera catches the reflective tape on our gear as well.

Now, where's my snack?

As we approached Topsail Beach in the dark we could see and smell the bonfires people had going on the beach. We saw them first because no doubt they weren't expecting to see kayakers in the dark. As we got closer they could see our glow-sticks and they started hooting.

We pulled out for a break congratulating ourselves on a great idea and a great night even though up to this point we hadn't seen the moon.

Clyde under the moon

We were in luck. The moon graced us with its presence near St. Thomas Cove and then only for a brief period behind some light cloud cover. It didn't matter, we had seen the moon and we could call it a success. It was a great idea, it was different, its why its on my list of top 10 paddles.

I've tried to post pictures not previously posted in my countdown but this was the only decent shot where I captured a guy in a kayak and the moon. So, I have to use it again. Just like we'll have to do this kind of thing again in 2011.