Is there bad weather?

This weekend past Dean and I were out for  paddle in -8C weather with the wind chill minus, minus.  We were dressed for it but even so there are small things we did to make it quite comfortable.

A friend recently told me about a conversation he had with a person working here, originally from Norway.  When asked how he felt about the weather he replied "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing."  Very insightful I thought and so true.  Regardless of the weather we can always dress for it, be it cold, wet or whatever.

Cool runnings

On the premise that its better to paddle familiar waters than not at all, Dean and I met for a Sunday morning paddle out of the familiar put-in at St Philips.

The first order of business was getting into open water.

It was -9C with the wind chill at -15.  At those temperatures its always a challenge to start the paddle warm.  Once underway it doesn't take long to warm up but its a while before the hands are toasty warm.  I solved that problem with a thermos of hot water that I poured into our neoprene mitts.  It made such a huge difference.

We paddled this coast a week ago.  It seemed like the extended cold snap added more snow and ice to the cliffs.  Familiar yes but always something different to see if observant enough.

 One of my favourite passages at Sailing Point.

Seawater freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water.  We are thankful for that as it gives us a chance to paddle all year round.  But it will freeze.  The average temperature seawater will freeze is -2C and it did so today.  At Beachy Cove I noticed I couldn't read my compass through the coating of ice.  Good thing we were handrailing.

Back at St. Philips the frozen salt water covered everything ...

... including the skipper of the vessel.

Dean and I washed off in the fresh water of the river as a passer-by stopped to watch.  Refreshing but as I would find out, with consequences.  After I took the boat out I discovered the day hatch was frozen solid to the kayak.  Thanks to Brian, who happened by and got a bucket of hot water at the restaurant, we got the hatch cover off.

Changed into civies, my hands appreciated being wrapped around a mug of hot coffee, as did my insides!  Thanks Dean for the paddle and Brian for the help and coffee.

Time travel, the easy way

We have agreed to do a presentation of our six day Merasheen trip last August and I'm putting the picture part of it together.

Each of the five of us took pictures.  If all of our cameras were synchronized for date and time, all I'd have to do is watch out for duplicate file names but otherwise just combine the pictures in one file and sort on date and time.

Simple enough except Hazen modified his pictures and they all have out of sequence dates.  My first attempt at changing the dates was to turn back the computer system clock and save the files with the right date and time.  That worked until I copied the files into the combined file when the system somehow changed the time stamp.

A little research discovered Microsoft Photo Gallery.  It makes it simple to change a picture's date and time.  Now I have Hazen's shots aligned with Dean's and mine.  So far, looking good.

Above, Hazen's picture of Clyde on a beautiful day at Merasheen.

Sean finishes another project

Sean built a stitch and glue Point Bennett a couple of years ago.  Last fall he decided he didn't like the back deck so he tore it off and installed a new, lower one, strip built.  He just finished it in time to join Dean and myself for a paddle on Sunday morning for its second inaugural relaunch.

Here's a link to his blog for details on the rework.

One impossible thing is to see yourself in the boat so Sean, here you are in action.

When we got back to St. Philips he wanted a shot sitting still to get an idea as to trim.  Not quite flat water so ...

... I took another in the harbour where the water was calmer.  Looks good to me with a nice green colour for the deck.  I think Sean might be finished building kayaks for a while.  Maybe I'll put in an order for some lawn furniture *lol* to keep him busy woodworking.

Paddling with Jack Frost

We arrived at St. Philips this morning with the snow of two days ago on the slipway, ice pans in the harbour and -8C.  The trick to paddling in cold like this is to come to the put-in with the drysuit already on and spend minimal time getting on the water so as not to cool off.

Usually getting out of the harbour is not an issue.  Today the ice pans floating in the harbour made it more challenging where there was very little open water.

Our first stop and look-see were these impressive icicles draped over the entrance to this cave.

There was a bit of a breeze in our faces that made the wind chill feel like -12C.  Water started to freeze onto everything, including my paddle shaft, which was a bit disconcerting, and ...

Dean, and ...

Sean.

The camera got coated in ice making it a handfull to handle with neoprene mittens on.  All the while we paddled along side of the snow and ice encrusted cliffs oblivious the the cold.

We decided to go as far as Portugal Cove where we'd turn around but not before ...

... stopping in the cove for a chat.  What northerly wind there was on the way up started to drop off making it a most pleasant day.

We returned to St. Philips.  Sean decided against coffee but Dean and I had our java which capped off a fine winter day paddle with Jack Frost.

Dropping in on West Aquarius

Today there was no wind and the temperature was 6C.  When I got home from the gym I decided I'd go pay the semi-submersible drill rig West Aquarius a visit.

The semi-submersible Henry Goodridge was in Conception Bay for about four months from September on.  It was joined by the West Aquarius about a month ago.  The Goodridge has gone back to drilling and the West Aquarius will soon also so I wanted to get out an get some close up shots.

It was sunny and calm.  There was just a little movement in the water that caused the reflection of the rig to dance on the water.

As I came up on the rig a voice through the PA system said "For your own safety, please keep away from the rig".  I waved my paddle to signify I received the message.  She's a monster and I guess she could do me some harm if she rolled on me but the chances of that happening are none, and none.

So I moved off a bit.  No need to cause a fuss I thought.  Interesting looking through the space between the caissons.  She's riding low at near drilling depth and would have been a thrill to paddle through.

This rig is able to drill exploration wells in 10,000 feet of water.  She's going to be drilling a well or two(?) in the Orphan Basin off of our coast.  I hope they know what they're doing because a blowout in that depth of water, we know form experience, can cause catastrophic environmental damage.  What the hey, all in the pursuit of big oil.

The rig is about 2/3 the distance to Bell Island so I decided I my as well go over there too.  I got out to stretch my legs and in this perspective seakayak "Stardust" looks the match of West Aquarius.

Again, on the way back I stayed well clear.

I left in full sunshine but there was a line of clouds coming in as seen in the first shot.  The forerunners of a low pressure system I think.  An hour later the front had marched on and the day got to looking grey.

I find these huge drill rigs are interesting things, at least something out of the ordinary.  I was happy to get the chance to drop by before she too had to go back to work.

Keeping it watertight

Hazen sent me this photo.  It was the last picture he took before the camera died.  Its pretty interesting what the camera has done breaking up the picture.

The watertight seal failed and the camera is toast.  I had the same thing happen to my first waterproof camera that lasted just under two years.

My current camera, an Olympus Stylus Tough 6020, is just over two years old and functioning fine.  I think the main reason for that is because I leave the battery compartment door open when I'm not on the water.  Keeping the door closed I think keeps the gasket compressed and then it looses its elasticity allowing water into the internal workings.