Kellys Island evening paddle

Monday evening, little wind, longer evenings ... a perfect evening for a paddle out to Kellys Island in Conception Bay. Dave joined me at the put-in in Long Pond for the paddle. We weren't alone on Conception Bay on our way over to Kellys Island. Here a Penney Ugland tanker waits its next assignment as its riding high and empty.

There was a bit of wind lop from where I don't know. There was very little wind, at most 10 km/hr.

There was a good swell (totally unexpected) on the south side of the island where the water was shoal.

Dave showing good form in planting the paddle in prep for a forward stroke. I've been reading Doug Alderson's book on Sea Kayak Strokes too much! I'm starting to sound like Doug.

And, we're round.

The orange and green reflected from the tanker on the water was striking.

Dwarfed by the Penney Ugland oil tanker, but we're both orange.

Blue line

Every year icebergs drift down to Newfoundland shores from Greenland. Last week Stan and myself paddled by this one in Bay Bulls. Its the first time I've seen a blue line like this in an iceberg and there was some question how it formed.

Icebergs are white because air gets trapped in the snow as it falls and remains trapped as the snow compresses under weight to form into ice. The air bubbles caught in the ice reflect white light.

I thought the blue line was formed by icewater refreezing in a fissure in the ice. The icewater contains less air like ice that forms on a pond or lake, which you can see through if its not too thick. Like an icecube. In any case it was pretty cool - literally and figuratively.

Tony :-)

To ballast or not

Malcolm mailed me earlier in the week with a comment that I could benefit by ballasting my Nordkapp. He told me Doug Alderson felt all kayaks should be ballasted. Makes sense, as people of different body weights are paddling the same model of kayak.

At 65 kg, I don't carry enough weight to properly nest the boat in the water so some ballast is required to optomize handling. More weight - more stability, but also more water displacement and consquently more work to move the boat forward.

Its a balancing act and I think it depends on the individual. My friend Stan outweighs me by 25 kg and puts another 25 kg of gear in his Nordkapp. It sits considerably lower in the water. But if I added 50 kgs I'd be working way too hard just to keep up with him. The right amount seems to be somewhere about 10 kg for me. Now all I have to do is get the lead ballast and make up something to secure it behind the seat.

Thanks for your help with this Malcolm (above paddling with his new wing blade) and I always appreciate your advice on all things paddling.

Tony :-)

Bergin' in Bay Bulls

Last Saturday Stan and myself paddled around Bay Bulls harbour when this berg was grounded. Its always a thrill to paddle close to a berg but also a risk. Its a gamble. I've paddled close but only just to paddle by and I don't linger close by too long. A group of paddlers were here a few hours after us and told us the berg calved a piece of ice the size of a city bus so in a sense, we dodged a bullet.

Theory of codes

Kayakers to the rescue. Looks like the fisher- man is helping us but looks are deceiving in this case.

There are codes for everything. Building codes, code of ethics for professionals and, aptly today a code for conduct at sea. As we paddled out of Bay Bulls this morning we came upon two fishermen whose boat was disabled by rope around the propeller. We stopped to ask if we could help but they only asked us to ask a zodiac, out by the berg we were going to, to come in and give him a tow. When we got out to the berg the guy in the zodiac took off so we had to double back to see what we could do again. Stan tried a call on the VHF radio and then a try with the cell phone. Eventually, someone did come out from Bay Bulls to give a tow and we went on our way.

Stan and myself were amazed that these guys weren't wearing PFDs and didn't have anyway to communicate with land if they had to. Not even a spare set of oars. We were in much smaller boats but much better prepared.

In any case, we did what we could and there's always something that can be done to help. Stan wondered if we could have towed him ourselves. I didn't think so but we lived up to the code of conduct at sea and we resumed our paddle.

Tony :-)

Stan paddling past the iceberg in Bay Bulls. He's further away from the berg than he looks. The berg has been around for a while and has been melting so its a candidate to roll. This was our third berg for the year, will we bag anymore?

Stan in happy salute to being on the water.

Making our way along the south side of Bay Bulls with the iceberg in the distance.

Stan exploring the south side of Bay Bulls. There were a lot of sea gulls perched on the cliffs behind him.

Stan paddling at South Head, the headland between Bay Bulls and Witless Bay. The rocks here are mainly red sandstones of the Signal Hill Formation. These rocks outcrop at Signal Hill (couldn't see that coming huh?) the type location for the Formation.

Stan at South Head with numerous sea stacks that makes it very scenic and a great place to paddle through.

Sea stack at South Head, a safe refuge always for birds of any species.

Theory of the present

Washing up in fresh water after an evening of kayak practice at St. Phillips (Doug Adams picture)

The day before yesterday I learned a relative had passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Every time there's a death I hear people say that you have to take advantage of the time while you have it. I couldn't agree more, except that I try to remember that every day and not just at times like this.

Last evening was one of those moments to live in the present. A group of 10 were on hand at St. Phillips to practice self-rescuse, assisted rescues or just paddle stroks. After, we paddled up the river to wash the salt off our gear and motorcyle rider Doug Adams stopped on the bridge to snap this picture of 8 of us. Yes, there are 8 in the picture. Stan is in all black and just in front of the overturned yellow and his visibility was the subject of a chuckle earlier. All good fun.

We had a great time and motorcycle rider Doug also took advantage of the day. Its not so much sieze the moment as it is to enjoy the moment. I enjoy this "present" of life and I live it in the present.

Tony :-)

Theory of guerrilla gardening

Flowers blooming in a forgotten garden in Tickles

Guerrilla gardening is a form of environmental activism where activists take over a piece of abandoned land and grow crops on it, usually under cover of night. I think it can also be loosely applied to taking plants out of abandoned gardens and replant in ones own garden.

Last year near the end of June a group of us were kayak camping at Tickles in St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland. Its an old resettled community and these flowers were growing there wild now that there was no one there to attend to it. I don't know what the name of the flowers is but obviously someone had taken care to grow them as a source of enjoyment because they aren't wildflowers, at least not here.

I liked them and even though I didn't know what they were I took a clump, put them in my kayak and planted them in my garden. A winter passed and when spring came I wondered if they would come back. Well, they did and judging by how early they're blooming, we must be almost a month ahead of the season compared to last year.

Tony :-)

And here it is growing almost a year later in my garden at home.