2011: Post 60 – A non-picture paddle today

Today Tony, Clyde and I paddled from St. Philips to Portugal Cove and back.  I started out by taking a picture of the guys getting ready on the slipway at St. Philips.  The wind was from the Northwest and I could see the waves on the horizon as we started out of the cove.  My immediate thoughts were that there should be lot's of opportunity to get a few good shots of the guys today…

As soon as we paddled out of the cove it became evident that it was gonna be a bouncy ride to Portugal Cove with the waves and swell.  As per usual, Clyde stayed pretty close to the shore and I decided to follow behind him to wait for my opportunity to get a few pics.  But then I was having so much fun bouncing around that I decided to just enjoy the day and forget about pictures.  I didn’t even turn my camera on, other than to take that first picture. 

So this is the only picture I have to share…

The guys did take some pictures though.  For pics of today’s paddle you can check out Clyde's and Tony’s blogs.

It is just a short paddle (about 5 kms each way) but when the conditions are right, like today, you can have a lot of fun along the shore...

2011: Post 59 – Painting the Disko Bay

Continued from Post 57…

This week it was time to paint the Disko.  I debated about what kind of paint to use as I would be painting it inside the house; it is too cold outside now.  I thought about using latex, but from what I gathered on reading the latex would require more coats and would not be as durable as oil paint…. a quick e-mail to Sean regarding paint choice and it was clear that oil was the way to go.

Off to Home Depot (again) for paint and supplies.  I went with black.. I believe Sean offered to help me build it if I painted it pink..  But when I first seen the one on Dave Gentry’s web-site I thought the black Disko looked pretty slick.  The when I saw Sean’s Disko in person for the first time I knew if I built one I would go with the black as well.  

Before beginning to paint I 'burned' holes in the skin at the locations of the pre-drilled holes I put in the frame for the deck rigging.  I used a soldering iron and it worked like a charm… nice round holes in the polyester…

I had pre-drilled some holes in the fore-deck stringers prior to skinning.  There will be a little bit of space above the legs so I wanted to add some bungee so as to have a place to store some smaller items, like maybe my pump or paddle float.  Just a few minutes effort and I had the 1/8 inch bungee in place…

Then I closed the storage room door, opened the window, turned on the fan and heater, and put a coat of paint on the hull.  The smell was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I did get a little light-headed while painting but once I was done and left the room that went away.  The next day, once the hull had time to sufficiently dry, I flipped it over and put a coat of paint on the deck…

So far this week I have managed to paint on two coats.  There are some holes along the stitching that are being a little stubborn to fill in, so I am in the process of adding extra paint in just those spots to close them over.  Once I get those holes to close up then I will carry on and put on a couple more coats….

I hope to have the other coats of paint on before the coming weekend is over...

2011: Post 58 – Some fun at St. Philips

More wind this weekend... so, you guessed it, we opted for a couple hours of fun time at St. Philips today... Five of us showed up - Brian, Tony, Sean, Clyde, and myself.

Some pictures to share:

2011: Post 57 – Disko Bay - sewing and ironing

Continued from Post 55…

This week I finished sewing up the skin on the Disko…

stern

bow

Then I set to work ironing the polyester to get out the wrinkles... 

wrinkles in the bow (previous picture)

the bow after ironing... wrinkles are gone!!!

Here it is with all the ironing finished...

And the coaming loosely placed for effect...

So now it needs to be painted and the coaming has to be attached...

Here are a few more pics...

looking toward the stern

looking toward the bow

inside the bow

inside the stern

2011: Post 56 – Tors Cove to Lamanche

At the end of May a few of us paddled from Tors Cove to Lamanche... see post 17.  What a day that was...

Tony, Clyde, and I decided to do the same paddle again today.  It was another great day... very similar to the conditions we had back in May.

Getting ready in Tors Cove...

Getting underway in sheltered conditions....

Tony

Clyde

As we paddled further along we began to lose the shelter of Tors Cove and the islands there and the swell began to pick up, making for a little fun along the shore...

Still farther along we really began to enjoy the swell hitting the shoreline....

There is a spot along the way and when conditions are right there is a wave the rears up off from the shore... it can be a lot of fun to play around but you have to be careful and not put yourself in the wrong place... wouldn't want to have it dump on you...  We hung around there for a good bit taking pictures and playing.  At one point Tony had one hand on his paddle and his camera in the other hand and got knocked over!  I watched him do a sweet combat roll and all was good...  all the practicing in conditions at St. Philips has payed off a couple times for him this year...  

After a while we carried on to Lamanche...

 After our break at LaManche we paddled a little farther to Cape Neddick and then headed back to Tors Cove..

This location is always a great paddle, especially when there is a bit of swell to play in...