The last winter paddle

What a day

Winter is over on Wednesday so today five of us had our last winter paddle for this season. Hard to put this forward as a winter paddle because it was such a beautiful day.

Its still winter

But it was as we were brought back to reality, by sheets of ice, that it was still technically winter.

How sweet it is

No wind, flat calm water and temperatures hovering just above zero gave promise to warmer days ahead.

Not today

Low tide made it impossible to get through some spots that are navigable in higher water.

Room here

There was room here either side of the protruding rock.

Muscle power

Sometimes its marginal but guys with plastic boats will give it a try anyway. Here Dean puts his Greenland paddle to good use *lol* to pry himself over the rocks.

Reflections

Clear water reflected icicles hanging off the cliff face above the greenish grey rounded pebbles of the sea bottom.

Seaweed

Bright sunshine penetrated the surface to highlight seaweed growing on submerged rocks.

Slob ice

Fresh water floating on the surface of the briny seawater was frozen into slush. No icebreaker needed today though.

Front row seat

Another fine display of icicles that begged a look.

Going round

Gary rounding a rock in the last little cove before we finished for the day.

It appears that winter is going out like a lamb. We'll look forward to warmer weather but look back on a productive and enjoyable winter of paddling. As the weather and the water warms up more paddlers will come out of hibernation. We will welcome them back after a long absence.

Hiatus over

At the put-in

Its been three weeks of atrocious weather so there's hasn't been any ocean paddling. Today, I put the bad weather behind me and joined Clyde and Dean for a morning paddle.

Both Clyde and Dean seal launched. I have video but Blogger wanted to put the video at the end so I couldn't put it in sequence. I decided to post in a day or so.

Little alcove

The wind had a bite to it in the -5C temperature and the sea had just a little lop. Here in this little alcove there's protection and a rock to paddle around.

Lots of ice

The cliffs were covered in ice and snow.

Comin' thru

The little lop there was made scooting between rocks interesting.

Gotta go around

Some rocks we had to paddle around as we couldn't get through on the inside.

Daggers of ice

Clyde checks out a shallow cave with overhanging icicles.

Wash up

A river flows into the harbour at the put-in. Its so much easier to rinse the salt out of our gear in the fresh water here than in the laundry tub or shower home.

Dean has a few shots of today's paddle on his blog. An enjoyable paddle guys, thanks.

And, guess what? Crappy weather is back tomorrow so I'm happy to get out today. Carpe diem in other words.

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!

Paddling at last

Dean waits for me to put-in

Its been 4 weeks since I had a day paddle. A couple of weeks suffering with a bad cold and then weather was against me. I was chomping at the bit yesterday to paddle but as I was getting ready to put the boat on the car I found my brake peddle went all the way to the floor. That put the boots to those plans as I took my car to the repair shop.

Today I had the good fortune to have a friend who wanted to paddle and who was kind enough to pick me up. Dean didn't care where we went and I certainly didn't under the circumstances. We decided to put-in at Topsail Beach and paddle down the shoreline in Conception Bay South and play it by air. We ended up paddling 9 kms to Kelligrews where we stopped for a break before heading back.

On our way

Paddling from Topsail Beach down to Kelligrews takes you along the municipality of Conception Bay South. Its the result of a forced amalgamation of a bunch of smaller communities that grew along the shores of Conception Bay. Its not very exciting in terms of scenery but its another face of sea kayaking. Its close by and its a few hours on the water. One thing for sure is that there are lots of people to keep an eye on any paddler that gets into trouble.

Crowded together trying to keep warm

The prevailing winds in the winter are NE which blows right onto these houses. Dean and I commented that we wouldn't want to pay the heat bills here. But, image is everything isn't it?

By the time we reached this point we had worked up enough heat that we were comfortable.

In Foxtrap marina

We stopped in Foxtrap marina to check out the expensive yachts and day cruisers. I couldn't afford even the cheapest on the wharf but I rationalized it away. I figured I'm on the water in my little seaworthy craft whereas the captains of the pleasure boats on he wharf can only dream of summer days when they can enjoy their craft. And, I don't need to buy those fancy white-soled deck shoes!

A threatening sky hovers overhead

It was overcast all day except a few times when the sun tried to force its way out. Off and on we had flurries but its only added to the ambiance of a winter day's paddle.

Bouys at the entrance to Long Pond

As we weren't entering the harbour we paid no mind to the marker bouys at the entrance of the harbour at Long Pond except to take a picture. I stopped to take out the camera when I was to the right of the red bouy but the current carried me well past it in the matter of seconds. Its one of those challenges of taking pictures from the seat of a kayak in motion. It still captured the perspective I was looking for.

Almost back at Topsail Beach

Topsail Head looms as we neared Topsail Beach where we had put-in almost 4 hours ago. A fantastic day to be on the water, thanks a lot Dean.