2015: Post 19 – An RG and Hammer day

Neville missed our paddle yesterday (see previous post).  He e-mailed a few of us Saturday evening to see if anyone wanted to paddle on Sunday.  I had replied that I was interested but he had missed my response.  Then later I received an e-mail from him... "my wife won't let me paddle by myself..." he said.  I thought that was quite funny.

We met at the slipway in St. Philips this morning.  Neville had his P&H Hammer that he had picked up a couple weeks ago, and a new whitewater paddle he recently bought, and I had my new Karma RG.  Like yesterday, there was some wind but it was off-land and there was very little swell; still not the conditions I wanted to give the RG a good run but it was still time on the water to get more used to my new kayak.

We followed the shoreline all the way up to Topsail Beach and back, getting into all the nooks and crooks, and playing here and there when we found a little active water.

I took a bunch of pics, but they were all of Neville, so I won't post too many... but here are a few...

I took a few video clips along the way as well... here's a couple...

Today's paddle was a lot of fun.  The Hammer and Karma RG are similar type kayaks; they are made for ocean play.  Yesterday, with the other guys in sea kayaks, at times I found myself paddling along quicker to try to not get too far behind.  They would hold up now and then for me, but the RG is not a kayak meant to be used for a touring type paddle.  It is meant to lollygag along the shore, poking into places, and spending as long as you want to in one place when it is more fun than moving on.

In sea kayaks we can paddle from St. Philips to Topsail Beach, have a break and paddle pack in about two and a half hours.  Today it took Neville and I five full hours... twice as long!  With all the poking and playing around rocks along the way we even added a couple more kilometres to the normal distance we do in our sea kayaks. I think if we would of had some decent wave action along the shore to really give these play boats a good workout we would not have made it all the way up to Topsail Beach. 

In the right conditions, and at the right features along the shore, we could spend a lot of time not really going anywhere, just paddling through, over, and around some rocks, or just sitting in some turbulent water at the shoreline getting pushed this way and that, as if it were some kind of amusement ride.

Neville and I both agreed that we are quite happy with our recent kayak purchases.  We envision having some "woo-hoo" days when we can find the right conditions.  But despite the lack of the 'right' conditions today it was still another fun day on the water, made even more fun for me in my RG, and Neville in his Hammer.

We are both hoping our sea kayaking buddies might eventually get their own ocean play boats in due course... you just never know.  Until then I guess the guys will have to either leave us behind or wait for us on the days that Neville and I decide it's an RG and Hammer type of day...