2014: Post 35 – Thanksgiving Weekend Paddle

Gerard (a.k.a.The G-man) took it upon himself to organize a club paddle for this weekend.  He posted to the newsgroup to see if there would be any interest in a fall club paddle in Bay Bulls on Thanksgiving Day Weekend...

So yesterday six of us showed up to meet The G-man for what I think was one of the most interesting and fun club paddles I have been on in a while.   We paddled out Bay Bulls, around South Head, and into Witless Bay where we had lunch in Bear Cove.

 Some pics to share...

Here's a short video of The G-man coming out of one of the many caves in Bay Bulls...

The day was a blast.  We had sunshine, a bit of wind, some swell, plenty of caves, an otter, and a dog to play fetch with during lunch.  It was a small group to watch over which allowed paddlers to push themselves into elevating their line of comfort.

I am thinking this was most likely the last club paddle of this year.  Thanks to Chris, Sharon, Dale, Ekaterina, and Janet for sharing the day.  And a big thanks to Gerard for organizing this club paddle. 

2014: Post 34 – A finished stretch of coastline

A while age we paddled form Pouch Cove to Bauline... click here for that post, and I have paddled a few times from St. Philips to Brocks Pond Falls.  But I had not paddled the coastline  between Brocks Pond Falls and Bauline.   So for today's paddle Tony suggested we paddle to Bauline, with our start point in Portugal Cove, thus covering the portion of the coastline I had not seen...

Tony, Lev, and I met in Portugal Cove this morning and were soon geared up.  

We had just got on the water and were about to paddle away when we heard a voice calling out... Old Wobbly had decided to join us and so we had a delayed start while he geared up.  

Before long we were a pod of four kayakers heading up the shoreline...

Along the way an eagle flew ahead of us.  I took a bunch of pics, trying to get a good one, but this pic below was about the best I was able to manage...

We were supposed to have wind all day and some rain by lunch time but the weather person was a little off.  There was some gusty spots along the way and the skies remained clear...

We pulled up onto the slipway at Bauline and had our lunch...

A tour bus showed up and one of the ladies came over for a chat.  She was very friendly and quite interested in us kayakers.  She told us of the wonderful time they were having during their visit, how great the weather had been, and how everyone wanted to live here...  Tony gave her a link to his blog and I took a picture of them chatting... and promised she would see herself on my blog if she followed a link from Tony's....  

We finished our lunch and got back on the water for the return trip....

It was another glorious day for a paddle, and the first time I had been in my kayak for two weeks!

2014: Post 33 – St Philips

The weatherman called for wind today, so a few of us went to St. Philips to try to catch some surf rides this afternoon.  

Instead of pictures, here's a couple video clips to share...

After a couple hours of playing around the cove we went to the nearby restaurant for a coffee and a chat. 

2014: Post 32 – Aquaforte Club Paddle

Yesterday was the annual Aquaforte Club Paddle.... I thought I heard someone say they had counted twenty-two kayaks, but my count was only twenty-one... Sure hope we didn't lose anyone yesterday!!    

Here's a few pics of the day...

Group chat before heading out

It was high tide and going up the nearby river was very easy

After the river excursion we floated for another
group chat before heading out the harbour

Gerard

Hhazen in front of another waterfall!!!

Lev 

Heading in to the beach for lunch

Fueling up 

Some of us paddled up just a little farther around the headland

Lev, Julie, and Terry

I had not planned to attend but then made a decision later Friday night to make the drive down.  I was glad I went... it was a relaxed paddle and the weather was very cooperative, making it another great day to be on the water. 

2014: Post 31 – Update of the Foam Seat Replacement

I installed a foam seat in my Nordkapp a while ago (click here for my post).  After I had glued the velcro pieces to the hull of the cockpit I let it sit for a week in my shed waiting for the marine goop to cure.  It didn't fully dry during that week though.  

I do not know if it was the humidity or if I just put too much goop on, but each day I would go to the shed to check on things and I would roll a piece of broom handle over the pieces to keep squeezing out the excess goop that just did not seem to want to dry.

By Friday I had some ridges that had formed...

But I figured there was enough of it that was dry so I stuck the seat down to mate the two velcro pieces and went on the Friday night paddle.  

Things did not feel quite comfortable when I was paddling around waiting for the others, so I made some adjustments to the foot pegs and the back band.  It felt better, but not quite right.

The next day I moved the seat forward about a half inch or so and readjusted the back band.  The next time I paddled (click here) it felt very comfortable.  One thing I did notice on that paddle was how warm the seat was.  It is solid foam so obviously will provide a warmer platform for the butt as compared to the thinner plastic seat that came out of the kayak.... and sitting on the cool ocean water this is an advantage.  I look forward to paddling with this seat under me on winter days.

I paddled a couple more times after re-positioning the seat forward, one of them in some decent swell and waves (click here for that paddle) and things seemed to be staying in place.  One thing I really noticed was that I was able to drop my butt into the seat and more easily swing my legs into the cockpit.  The original seat that came with my Nordkapp was higher than the foam seat and this height difference made for a little more room when getting in and out of the cockpit.  

You can see how much lower the foam seat is (on the
right) compared to the original ABS seat (on the left)

Then came the first camping trip that would really give the foam seat a good test; three consecutive paddling days in Placentia Bay  (click here for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3).

Like most people, when packing for a kayak trip, I put things in front of my foot pegs and behind my seat.  Compared to the original ABS seat, the foam seat has a smaller footprint, as you can see from the  following pics...

A side-by-side comparison of the original ABS seat
and the foam seat.  As well as smaller, the foam
seat is noticeably lighter as well

The outer markings show the extent of the
original seat and the inner markings
show the smaller size of the foam seat

With the foam seat my foot pegs are closer by one notch form the position I had them in with the original seat, but yet there is still me more space behind the seat and back-band to store camping supplies...  another decisive advantage of the foam seat.

Here's a shot of the foam seat and back-band in place. 

So am I a happy paddler?  Well, I was always a happy paddler.  But now with this foam seat I am even more happier than I was before...  this foam seat is smaller, lighter, warmer, and more comfortable.... And if you want to talk dollars, the foam seat is about one-fifth the cost of the ABS replacement seat (based on prices I was able to find at the time of $45.00 US for the foam seat and $227.50 US for the ABS replacement seat).  

What is there to not be happy about?

2014: Post 30 – The Julie Show

I had ordered a new drytop (Koatat Hydrus 3L Stoke) and it had showed up a couple days ago.  I wanted to try it out so last night I was half-contemplating a short paddle out of St. Philips this morning.  The wind was forecast to be low in the morning, picking up in the afternoon, increasing in the evening.  

When I checked the local paddling newsgroup, Julie had put on a post to see if anyone was interested in a short paddle in the morning before the wind came up.  Well that was the little kick I needed to make up my mind.  So I e-mailed her I was interested.

The plan was to meet at St. Philips at 9:30 am.  I had everything ready to go by 8:30 and a few minutes later my cell phone rang.  It was Julie.  I thought she was going to cancel. She said she was all ready to go and wanted to know if I was interested in getting on the go earlier than planned... As I was going out the door I thought to myself, "yep, she's a kayakoholic too..." 

I guess nobody else responded to her posting because only I showed up for the paddle... so most of my pictures have Julie in them.  Along the way I said that since there was only her to take pictures of that today's paddling episode was The Julie Show...  

We paddled from St. Philips to Topsail Beach in calm waters and just as we started back the wind picked up a little to give us a push from behind.

Some pics to share...

The put-in at St. Philips

Take-out at Topsail Beach

Back at St. Philips

Here's a short video I took on the way back to St. Philips of the star of The Julie Show...

Thanks Julie, for sharing the water this morning.