2011: Post 6 – Let's do it again

I was going to call this post "Hit me baby one more time" but after a little chuckle to myself, I just couldn't do it; there is only so much of Ms. Spears a fellow can take...  However, I must admit that I do like the rendition of this song that was done by Marty Casey on that show Rock Star a couple years back.... If you google it you can probably find it.... Anyway......................................

Yesterday was a nice day.  Temp was -7 C when we put in at Cape Broyle.  We decided to do a paddle we did last year about this time.  I checked my log and last year we had myself, Tony, Stan, Gerard, Neville, Sean, and Clyde.  Stan and Sean weren’t with us but Tobias was.  I do not believe Tobias had his drysuit at that time last year….

We had to do a little ice-breaking through thin ice pans off the launch for a couple hundred feet to get to open water.  We paddled up the north side, picking our way up, exploring nooks and crannies.   Some of these nooks we have explored before, but with little wind and swell in the bay some were accessible that you cannot get into every day.  Same paddle route + different conditions = a new experience….

We made our way up to, and around, Brigus Head.  As expected we encountered swell and clapitos around the Head.  I paddled a little closer than I sometimes normally would.  I am becoming more comfortable in the ‘bouncy’ stuff .  We pulled up on a beach and sat in the sun to eat our lunch while a seal kept watch over us.  I wonder what the wildlife think of us kayakers when they watch us like that… probably the same thing non-kayaking people think of us…

After lunch we retraced out path around Brigus Head.  My mind wondered someplace other than on the clapitos and I found myself quickly snapping back into the moment with a little brace on the left and a pulling up with my left knee to bring my kayak back.  It was all sort of subtle, nothing big at all, and I doubt it was observed by anyone, but I remember thinking “not this day...”  Things like that let you know the practice in the pool and at St. Philips pays off. 

We then paddled across the bay to Church Cove.  It was me who suggested to our group that we try to cross as a group and stay together.  We did that well for about half the way over and then, as always it seems to be the case with groups on crossings, we split away into three smaller groups.  On a gnarly weather day that would be more of a concern, but then on a gnarly day we likely would not have crossed the 2.5 km, but would have came back the way we went.  Like in all outdoor pursuits there are levels of risk in our sport.  On a nice calm day like we had a few hundred feet separation was acceptable. 

We made our way down the shore, exploring the nooks and crannies we had all explored before; it just never gets exhausting going into the same cave again and again…  When we reached the take-out the ice pans were now gone so landing was uneventful.  We consulted the GPS’s that took the trip with us.  Mine read 23.81 kilometers, moving time of 4 hours 43 minutes, stopped time of 1 hour 11 minutes.  A six hour trip in Cape Broyle with a sunny, minus temperature, on the 5^th day of March, with little wind and a great bunch of paddling partners...  I suppose I could have stayed home instead, maybe cleaned up my rather messy storage/laundry room in the basement.  Yeah, right!

You will see pics on the blogs of the other guys...  I think I will go check them out myself.]