2013: Post 55 – Paddling to a rainbow

The forecast was good for a morning paddle today.... So Julie and I paddled from St. Philips to Portugal Cove.

Julie bought a new kayak earlier this year, a kevlar NDK Pilgrim, and Tony dubbed it the "Purple Pilgrim."  The kayak fits her much better than her previous one and we've noticed her skills and comfort level have been elevated since she got it... Just goes to show the importance of having a kayak well-fitted to it's paddler....

Anyway, here's some pics... 

The Purple Pilgrim at the put-in

There was a rainbow with one end near Portugal Cove...

... and the other end at Bell Island.

The water was calm allowing easy passage at Sailing Point

Beachy Cove

Having a snack at Portugal Cove

Back at St. Philips

I don't mind doing a solo paddle now and then, but I much prefer to have a paddling partner or two or three... Thanks for the company today, Julie.  It was a very enjoyable morning on the water. 

2013: Post 54 – Chores can wait...

The weather looked good for another weekend paddle. Today it was just Tony and myself again, others had chores they could not ignore.  But we both decided to put our chores aside and paddle when the weather was good.

I checked my log and the last time just the two of us paddled was back in July... that was a Sunday as well... Anyway, we paddled our routine location from St. Philips to Topsail Beach, adding another few kilometres to the years total.

Although these will look familiar to any avid readers I may have, here are a few pics from our paddle this morning...

It was lunchtime when we were loading the kayaks back onto the cars, and I asked Tony how he felt about having some fish and chips.  He said he was just thinking the same thing...  Well you know what they say about fools and great minds...  those who know us may have an opinion as to which of the two we may be, those who do not can hazard a guess...   

Mmm mmm, good

Now c'mon people, wouldn't you much rather paddle and eat fish and chips than do chores?

2013: Post 53 – Geological paddling

On Thursday past, Tony suggested a paddle to Gallows Cove with the put-in at Indian Pond.  Of the other people Tony e-mailed, only Neville and I were able to join him. Tony and I have done this paddle before (new territory for Neville) but Tony had a special reason to want to do it again.  

Tony has already done his blog entry so no need for me to reiterate things... Whew! There was no way I would remember the geology stuff he explained to us today!!!.  See his blog entry and you'll see what I mean.... click here.

I'll just post some pics from my perspective to add to those of Tony's...

The put-in

Neville 

I was ahead and think I was the only one to get a pic of this eagle

The guys nearing the jetty

Crossing over to Chapel Cove

Paddling along an interesting shoreline 

Tony

Neville
Much to my dismay he switched over to his Euro paddle
since he was paddling so close to shore and amongst the rocks.
I kept telling myself it was all for the benefit of preserving his
all-cedar Greenland paddle....

Tony ran out of water in a few places along the way...

Lessons in geology at Gallows Cove

Tony trying to get as close as he could to
cobbles embedded into the cliff face

More lessons in geology

Salmon Cove Point

Neville

Tony

Neville playing on the kelp covered rocks, letting the bit
of swell push him back and forth in a little slot 

The take-out

I did a geology course in high school but it's all just mostly rocks to me.  But Tony has a university degree in Geology, and I have to say it is very interesting to have him along to explain to us some of the geology that we see on our paddles. 

Thanks Neville and Tony for the paddle today.  

2013: Post 52 – A monumental paddle day

At the end of our trip around New World Island and Twillingate (see post 31 at the end of June this year), Tony and I each had slightly over five hundred kilometres accumulated from our day paddles.  We do not count distances that we put under our bows during Thursday practices; we only count actual paddles...  

On a paddle shortly after our trip Tony suggested that maybe we could shoot for one thousand kilometres for this year.  Tony came pretty close to hitting the thousand mark a couple years ago; and I think that same year I had just over eight hundred (my highest in a year).  A thousand kilometres seemed quite monumental to me. But we decided we would just keep paddling and see where we would end up.

Today we paddled from Tors Cove to LaManche, by way of outside the islands, and early on in the days paddle we each crossed the one thousand kilometre mark since January 1st!!!  I had seven kilometres left and Tony had eight. Since we paddle so much together we thought it fitting that we should hit our lofty target at the same time.  So, just to keep things official-like, Tony jumped into his kayak and made up the one kilometre deficit before I got on the water... 

Anyway, it was a very good day to be on the water.  The wind was low, there was some swell, and the air temperature was cool.  And we had some good paddling friends to share the day with.

Some pics to share...

Tony

Hazen and Ron

Julie

Ron and Tony

Hazen and Julie

Tobias

Hazen

Julie

The group

I was watching my GPS and when I hit my 7th kilometre of the day to put me at my goal I held up my hand in triumph... Tobias was near me and snapped this pic of the moment...

Hazen and Tony were paddling to my port side and I took a picture of them at the point that Tony and I reached our target...

Then Tony came over and we congratulated each other on our reaching our goal...

We then we carried on to LaManche....

Tobias

Tobias (at LaManche River)

Lunch at LaManche

Tony

Julie, Hazen, and Tony

We hung around at Bauline and I got a few pics of Tobias playing...

... he was nearly pitch-poled on this wave!!!

Tony caught a really good wave but I missed the shot... 

Tony just before he got his wave...

Here is the wave he was on, but I was in too much of a
hurry to get the pic and I missed him (he was
to the right) and blurred the shot too

All hands back at the cars

It was another really good day to be on the water.  Thanks to Ron, Julie, Tobias, and Hazen for sharing this monumental day with Tony and I.