2015: Post 20 – Increase engines to ramming speed...

There was a solitary iceberg in Tor Bay so four of us decided to go for a visit.

We put in at Middle Cove...

There was a good swell running so we had to stay outside the danger-zone...

At one spot Clyde and I had stopped looking at the breaking waves.  Then Hazen came over to us, and unintentionally rammed me mid-ship; I think it was more of being pushed into me with the active water.  I took my hand off my paddle and tried to grab his bow toggle to steady myself, but I missed the toggle and over I went.  

I guess I have capsized enough at this point that it doesn't rattle me, for under the kayak I found myself deciding whether to roll on my best side, my not-as-best side, or even just put my hands up waiting for one of the guys to give me their bow since they were not that far from me.  It suddenly occurred to me I had not done an off-side roll in a while and opted for that...  Hazen was quite apologetic for his part in the high seas collision, but there was no harm done or (we assume) intended.  I told him I would just have to pay him back... he would not know when, he would not know where, but he just needed to remember it was coming.  Of course for the rest of the day we jokingly told Hazen to get away when he would come near us...

As we entered Tor Bay we were following the shoreline... I was thinking we might handrail the shore until we got to the iceberg, which was near the shore opposite us.  Before I knew it Tony and Hazen started making a bee-line across the bay to the iceberg.  Clyde and I turned from the shore and followed, not wanting to be the last ones to the berg...

Tony, Clyde, and Hazen

I paddled around the berg and took a few shots to get different perspectives of it... if I didn't tell you otherwise you might think they were pictures of different icebergs...

We kept a watch on the passage through the berg for a while, discussing the dangers of attempting to paddle through, but still wondering if it was timed just right could it be done safely enough....  

Of course, the danger factor was too high and so we only made the run at it in our minds... In my mind we all made it safely through, except for Hazen who was rammed, or rather unintentionally bumped, half way through the passage. Oh, he recovered with a fine roll in the turbulent water and continued to paddle though, with me just behind him apologizing profusely.  Well, I just had to pay him back for knocking me over earlier, even if it was just in my imagination... I guess there is nothing wrong with paddling dangerously in our minds... I suppose a lot of us are much better paddlers in the imaginary paddling world....

As the swells came in it was quite fascinating to watch the water spray upward as it crashed into the berg and then rebounded across the opening...

After we had our fill of the iceberg we handrailed the shore around Tor Bay and then back to Middle Cove.  The paddle was on the short side so we decided to paddle over to Outer Cove to see what was happening along the shore there... then back to Middle Cove, load up, eat our lunch, and go for coffee.

[Hazen, if you are reading this, I have not decided if you paying for the coffee, or me knocking you over in my mind counts as payback... so stay focused out there my good friend...]


I just checked Tony's blog and he has his pics posted as well... click here. 

I also just received an e-mail from Hazen with a pic of me from today, and a couple of me in my RG from last weekend....  The e-mail message simply reads "Am I forgiven?"