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Friday, March 7, 2014

Paddling cancelled

Its been bloody cold around here the past week with the temperature close to -20C and -30C with the wind chill.  It has caused the salt water in Conception Bay to freeze.  I've lived overlooking the bay for 25 years and have never seen it caught over like this year.  I went to St. Philips to have a look.


The ice in the cove was thick enough to walk on and there's no way we'll be able to force out way through in kayaks.


Ice right up to the shoreline.


The channel from the harbour out into the cove can barely be seen with it also covered in ice.


There was an almost imperceptible swell.  Imperceptible as in if this was open water a paddler wouldn't even notice.  But, there was enough to make the ice creak and groan.

Bell Island, 4.5 kms in the distance is a place we often paddle to.  This weekend we may be able to walk over there with enough daring.  Kidding!  So, sadly it looks like there's no way we'll be paddling this weekend.  That is disappointing.

7 comments:

  1. Wow. Big difference from last weekend when we paddled out of SP. Time to take up ice boating?

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  2. Ya Dean, huge difference. Didn't look like there as any open ice on the Tickle. Hopefully some warmer weather will melt it before next weekend.

    Tony :-)

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  3. That's impressive! I was down at Middle Cove on Friday with my daughter, and lots of open water there, and the water as flat as a pond on a calm summer day. The icepack was maybe 10 km offshore, probably muting all the swell. Very interesting to see it like that...

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  5. Spelling corrected *lol*

    Damn, I thought the sea was frozen all over. I didn't want to jump in the car to drive all over not knowing where I'd find open water if at all.

    Tony :-)

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  6. Didn't see your post until yesterday, but I should have e-mailed you on Friday... Let me know next time you need a pair of eyes looking at the water on the east side of the peninsula :)

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  7. Thanks Tobias, maybe the protection offered by Conception Bay meant the water was able to catch over whereas around Middle Cove the water was more active making ice formation more difficult.

    Tony :-)

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