Stayin' in shape

Snow means go

Winter is not paddle season for most. A growing group of us here believe it is.

Passing up on paddling in winter means having to get back in paddle shape in the spring. It doesn't take long to lose it so today I took advantage of pleasant conditions to keep myself in paddling tune. It stopped snowing just as I put-in.

Dusting of snow

Before long I was cruising past snow dusted trees and rocks at a comfortable speed of 7 - 7.5 kms/hr.

Topsail Head

By the time I reached Topsail Head I had built up considerable heat. I was burning off some of the holiday cheer!

Low ceiling

I paddled past Topsail Beach until I had 7.5 kms on the GPS. Turing back, Topsail Head was hiding in the low ceiling.

Back again

Today was a sprint. It was exercise but I enjoyed the rhythm as the paddle sliced effortlessly through the water. No shots of other paddlers and not much colour, sorry, exercise can be pretty bland but I was glad I went. 985 kilometers to go!

Composing a picture

A typical shot

Sometimes on the water I wonder if I paddle to take pictures or I take pictures of the paddle. Given my low budget camera I suffer no illusions that my pictures are works of art.

After a while the pictures can begin to look all and the same. There are, after all, a limited number of elements to include: a kayaker, the sea, the shore-scape. Still, the act of taking pictures on the water makes me "see" the environment I'm in. My eye is looking for interesting combinations and therefore on my paddles I'm not just on autopilot. That's reason enough to take a camera.

The numbers are in

Frequent paddler

Well, I've tallied up the numbers and they indicate a productive paddling year in 2011.

I was in my boat 126 times during the year. When I saw the numbers build earlier in the summer I tried for 122. That would put me in the boat once every third day, so I made that.

The 126 is made up of: 14 pool sessions, 22 pond practices, 40 practices at St. Philips and 50 day paddles.

The 14 pool sessions were probably the most valuable of the year because my roll went from sometimes uncertain to reliable and on both sides. Its easy to exaggerate so I'll say I did not less than 2,500 rolls between the pool, pond and St. Philips.

The 50 day paddles totaled 921 kilometers distance.

I don't expect to be in the boat as much this year but I will set some new targets for 2012 to further develop as a kayaker.

Top 10 paddles of 2011 - #1

Bread and Cheese

A three day, 93 km paddle around Long Island in Placentia Bay on the weekend of 25 - 27 June was the top paddle of the year. An obvious choice in my mind. A few shots and the Readers Digest version follows but links to the more detailed posts are provided.

Clyde, Dean, Hazen and I camped off the road Friday night just short of Arnolds Cove. Saturday morning early we drove to Arnolds Cove to make the 6 km crossing to Long Island. We kept Bread and Cheese Islands on our right as security.

At Long Island

An uneventful crossing saw us reach Long Island where we stopped for a short break before heading down the west side through the Inside Channel.

Port Royal

We reached Port Royal, an resettled community, after a 37 km paddle and set up camp for the night. After a beach fire and a few swallies we hit the sleeping bags for a good nights sleep.

Buffett Head

Sunday morning we left early to round Buffett Head at the bottom of Long Island. Not everyday looks as peaceful as this at the Head.

Harbour Buffett

Paddling up the east side now we entered Harbour Buffett, also a resettled community, that was a thriving fishing community in its heyday.

Up the west side

We got out at Harbour Buffett to stretch our legs. There are a few cabins there still and at one we were treated to a warm coffee and a friendly chat. They were amazed at our trip to that point given the size of our watercraft. After coffee we continued north to reach another resettled community for the night.

Quest for fire

Arriving at Haystack after a 34 km paddle we set up camp and a tarp just before it started to rain. After eating the rain slowed and we got another fire going on the beach.

Leaving in fog

We arose Monday morning to a thick fog in the cove. After reloading our kayaks we paddled north to the tip of Long Island before making the 6 km crossing to Arnolds Cove in a dense fog.

Single file

We had a bearing for Bordeaux Island at the entrance to Arnolds Cove and we each took turns leading a single file procession across the channel.

Unloading the gear

A short 21 km paddle saw us back at Arnolds Cove. We piled all our gear on a platform to sort and stow in the vehicles for the ride home. On the way we stopped at Megans for a feed of fresh fish and chips and a back-slapping chat about the fine trip we had just finished.

Well, that's it, those were my top paddles for 2011. A fantastic year of paddling to look back on and the prospect of more of the same for 2012.

Top 10 paddles of 2011 - #2

Tabular berg

On 20 September I was in White Bay to visit my sister and had a chance to get out to some icebergs. They were bits and pieces that had broken off of the Petermann Ice Island.

It had been two years since I had an iceberg sighting so I eagerly anticipated the paddle as I drove out to Seal Cove. I must have paddled around or in sight of twenty bergs and I was satisfied. It was an unbelievable experience which made it my second best paddle of the year.

Here are a few more shots in addition to the pictures I posted back in September.






Like I said, it was a spectacular day. My only regret was that I didn't have anyone to share the day with. I would have liked to at least get a few shots with a kayak in the scene. There was no one else but I get to share them anyway through the wonders of our modern technology.

Batting 1.000

The protected Quidi Vidi

So far I've paddled everyday this year.

Jim P started a tradition of wetting the boats on New Year's Day at Quidi Vidi. Some years its a challenge as it was weatherwise this year. Easterly winds at 30 - 35 knots and driving rain. Eight of us showed up to keep the tradition going but we had to content ourselves with staying in the inner harbour. The waves pounding into the entrance precluded venturing outside. No matter, we were out and we got the year off to a good start.

Some shots of the crew out today follow.

Clyde

One of da boys. All of the pictures of Clyde playing in the soup had raindrops on the lens so this is him in a more placid shot touring the different sheds lining the Gut.

Colleen

Colleen, living in Quidi Vidi, didn't have far to travel to the put-in. The only gal to brave the elements so a thumbs up on that.

Craig

Kayak Newfoundland and Labador's president, leading by example!

Gary

Gary's place overlooks Quidi Vidi Gut, was going to watch football but saw us and came out anyway.

Gerard

The G-man in Malcolm's "Dauntless".

Jonny

One of the more skilled.

Mike

Mike looks happy and not just because he's paddling on New Year's Day! I won't tell Mike.

Top 10 paddles of 2011 - #3

Turquoise waters

On August 21 Clyde, Gary, Gerard, Hazen and I had a paddle out of Middle Cove and explored a slew of caves between there and Torbay. Middle Cove is my favourite place on the whole Earth so its always a pleasure to paddle there. One of the highlights on our paddle were the large number of caves. The original post with more shots are here.

Outer Cove

We passed Ship Cove and the point on our way over to Outer Cove. Clyde lost his tow rope so we backtracked looking for it.

Middle Cove

We were quickly back in Middle Cove and decided to paddle over to Torbay.

Exit

There we explored some more caves.

Outlook

Getting right in there so to speak.

More caves

Lots of caves have been carved by the sea out of the towering cliffs.

Playing at Motion

Returning to Middle Cove we stopped to catch some surf rides as the swell washed over the rocks at Motion. While the caves were a highlight, what happened here was what made the day for me.

I got a bit too close to the surge as it reared up over the rocks. I braced aggressively into the water, had a bumpy ride sideways for a few seconds, went over and continued my sideways ride underwater. The force of the water tried to suck me out of the kayak as I used more pressure on the thigh braces to keep myself in the boat. After some distance the energy in the water was spent, I setup and made my first combat roll. More on the experience here.

After practicing many, many rolls it was gratifying to get my first combat roll versus a panic grab to release the sprayskirt. For that reason, I'm making this paddle my top 3 paddle of the year.