First club paddle of 2013

Hazen was leading the first club paddle of 2013.  The plan was to paddle from Old Shop to Chapel Arm and return.  It was advertised to be 15 kms.  Dean and I hoped for a bit more mileage but we wanted to help out so we decided to put in at Dildo South and meet the crowd at Old Shop.

The put in at South Dildo would add 7 kms in total to our day.  Half an hour later we were in Old Shop and meeting up with ...

... the rest of the merry gang that turned out for the first KNL paddle of 2013.  Once we were on the water I set out to get a shot of everyone over the course of the day.

Sue and Sue gliding along on the flat calm waters of Dildo Arm.

Doug.  There was no wind and no need for the rudder.

The husband and wife team of Sean and Cheryl in their Craig Greenham built Glacier double.  The couple that kayaks together, stays together!

Ron and Reha.  Reha served hot tea and coffee after the paddle.

Pete enjoying the calm day after our paddle the previous day in gnarly conditions en route to Portugal Cove from St. Philips.  A nice sprinkling of kayaks in the background.

Dean; we seem to be constant paddling companions.

The nice thing about club paddles is the chance to have a chat with people we might not see regularly.  Here, catching up with Jerry.

Julie in her brand new boat that I've dubbed the "Purple Pilgrim".

Toby in his "Torngat" by Eastern Island Kayaks.  Dean and I remarked on its extreme banana shape top deck.

Joy, not moving but sitting still for a change.  She was out front most of the day setting the pace.

Hazen, our fearless leader for the day and Kayak Newfoundland and Labrador President, leading by example.

Herb paddling in close where sea meets land.

On the run in to Chapel Arm it began to peck rain.  Some of us sought out the shelter of trees to have our lunch, others ate out in the open.

We had perfect conditions for a level I paddle.  It turned a bit cool and wet but it didn't detract from the day.  Fifteen kayaks, it was a good crowd.  The "official" club paddle turned out to be 17 kms, Dean and I tacked on an additional 7 for good measure.

Thanks Hazen for leading the paddle and the 16 people who showed up to share the day.

More shots on Dean's blog.

Dildo and beyond

Our track in Trinity Bay

We paddled Saturday in the bottom of Trinity Bay from South Dildo to Southern Point and back. At one point we wondered why the name of the community hadn't been changed. The name "Dildo" comes from the term for the pegs that hold an oar in place on a fishing dory. Its since of course become to mean something else. Credit the people who live here though with a sense of self-confidence to stick with the name.

Off we go

Every paddle starts off with anticipation. Every paddle is different, even if we paddle with the same people and in the same places. We three paddled here last year but this day would prove to add new memories.

Old Shop

Old Shop is a collection of houses and fishing stages along the shore of Dildo Arm. Generally I don't like paddling along populated areas but this was different today. Spring was in the air, people were out cleaning up and making repairs to damage caused over the winter. As we paddle along there were cheery hellos and comments about what a beautiful day it was. Maybe they were also amused at our mode of travel.

In the wind

We had the protection of the land from the westerly winds since leaving Dildo South. As we rounded the point to paddle into Spread Eagle Bay we had the wind directly in our faces. The wind only created small wavelets due to the limited fetch.

Clear waters

After a short lunch stop at the bottom of Spread Eagle Bay we set out again on crystal clear waters.

Exploring

Paddling up the left side of Spread Eagle Bay became more interesting with a few rocks paddle around.

Stack

And sea stacks ... OK just one, but a beauty.

Marley's Cove Campsite

On our way to Southern Point we happened upon a lovely secluded beach with a level grassy area that would make a very nice campsite. It was a developed site complete with picnic table, accessible overland but it didn't seem to be used that much because there wasn't much garbage around. A little river running through the site added to the ambiance and would surely lull anyone in a tent to sleep.

Hello down there

At Southern Point Clyde got out of his boat again to check out whether there was a suitable campsite here. Dean and I waited in our boats as Clyde scampered around to deliver the verdict.

Missed 'em by that much

Leaving Southern Point we made the 2.5 km direct crossing to Dildo Island. Dildo Island is an archaeological site once occupied by the native North American Indians, the Beothuck. We arrived to find them gone. Gone by a couple of hundred years from this area but with the teepee in the clearing we we could imagine they still existed.

Homeward bound

Having checked out another small, un-named, island for possible campsites we headed back to Dildo South and the end of a glorious day on the water. The GPS said 23.2 kms. We felt good for more but after seeing as much as there was to see in this area we were content to call it a day. And, a great day it was.

Everyday on the water is great. Some more memorable than others. This one rates an 11 out of 10!

Destination Dildo

Leaving South Dildo

OK, get your mind out of the gutter! There is, in fact, a community in Newfoundland named Dildo. Dildo was settled in the late 1700s but native Americans have lived here since 2000 BC. In 1613 Henry Crout came into contact with the native Beothuck indian tribe. So good on the people of Dildo for hanging on to their community name. The people of Fucking in Austria, no doubt, share the same snickers.

A dildo in fact (before its modern equivalent) was a peg inserted into the gunwale of a dory to lock the oars in place for rowing.

But, as the saying goes, I digress. Sunday Clyde, Dean, Tobias and I launched in Dildo South to paddle in the south end of Trinity Bay about an hour's drive from St. John's. A beautiful sunny day with no wind but excitement did lay in wait for us.

Wharves and stages

The community of Old Shop lies along the coast across the Arm from Dildo. This is so typical of outport Newfoundland where fishermen have built their our wharves and stages. Less so now but in bygone days fishermen would land their catch of cod on the wharf, carry it into the stage where it would be split, sound bone removed and salted.

No more houses

As we paddled up Dildo Arm we left the houses and wharves of Old Shop behind. It felt good to be out of the public eye.

Yellow on blue

The yellow boats of Dean and Tobias make an exclamation mark in an almost all blue picture. After rounding the point past Old Shop we left Dildo Arm and entered Spread Eagle Bay and started thinking about lunch.

The water was calm but we would find rougher stuff to play in.

Fine lines

She sure shows her fine lines in this shot looking up Spread Eagle Bay from our lunch beach.

Rollers

From our lunch beach we could see breaking waves on the point between Southern Spread Eagle and Spread Eagle. We ate our lunch in anticipation of getting out there to have a look. We weren't disappointed as the higher breaking waves reached heights of 3 metres beore toppling over. We stayed for about 30 minutes riding up and over the waves and occasionally getting trashed around by them.

Between a rock and a hard place

Just short of Southern Point in Spread Eagle Bay we ducked inside a sea stack before crossing over to Dildo Island.

Sawteeth

North of Dildo Island, land gave way to a spline of rocks that rose from the sea like the teeth of a saw. We stopped on Dildo Island as nature called and because we spotted breaking waves here we decided to go play some more. Too, Dean's GPS told us we'd paddled 14.5 kms to that point and we wanted to make the hour long drive worth our while. We needed at least 20.

Ride 'em cowboy

The grouping of rocks provided breaking waves. Getting caught on the largest of the set meant getting ridden onto the rocks about 3 metres up out of the picture just off to the right.

We played around here for a bit before paddling straight down Dildo Arm back to our put-in for a total distance of 23.5 kms. Not a bad piece of business on a beautiful day.