2013: Post 5 – Another Sunday Paddle

For the fourth Sunday morning in a row we met at St. Philips.

The slipway was blocked with ice pans.... 

So I put in on the beach in front of the restaurant.  But Tony decided he would put in over the side of the wharf....

Once Tony was in his kayak we paddled to Portugal Cove, taking our time...

At Sailing Point passage I let Tony go ahead, hoping to get a few good pics with the swell coming in... I only took this pic...

I tell people that if you don't capsize now and then you just aren't trying hard enough... Well, I don't know if i was trying hard enough today or not, but.... I paddled to just before where you see Tony above, to get another pic of him. I had the paddle in one hand, the camera in the other, and Mother Nature seen an opportunity.  The swell came through the opening to my left and promptly knocked me over.... Well, no swimming today, but to make the whole thing a short story, I paddled out after a minute or two with my hat in my teeth and an indentation in the nose of my kayak...

And so we continued on to Portugal Cove...

When we arrived in Portugal Cove we pulled up on the beach...  

We each had a granola bar, and then contemplated continuing on to Brocks Pond Falls... but decided against it since it would add another hour and a half to the day. So then we took our time paddling back to St. Philips.

A quick rinse in the fresh water of the river...

   
... and then made our way through the ice pans in front of the slipway...

As usual, we headed into the restaurant for coffee, another little paddling adventure behind us...

2013: Post 4 – Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...

Today was the third Sunday in a row that I paddled...  

Tony sent an e-mail out but there were no takers for a morning paddle.  It seemed that it would be just the two of us... again. But Brian was pulling into the St. Philips wharf just ahead of me when I arrived.  

Tony pulled in shortly after… and the three of us set off for Topsail Beach….

When we arrived at Topsail Beach the little river was flowing nicely so we played a little where the fresh and salt water meet...

We pulled up in the beach for a stretch and a snack... 

Then decided we would carry the kayaks the short distance up to the pond and ride the river back out to sea... 

And then we headed back to St. Philips….

Arnold, who looks after the little harbour, was mulling around the slipway when we pulled in.  He always comes over to have a little chat with us whenever we are there....

Well, that's three weekends in a row that the weather has cooperated and allowed us to get on the water....  Thanks Tony and Brian for a fun morning paddle...

[see Tony's blog for his pics from today's paddle}

  

2013: Post 3 – To Portugal Cove again

Before the weekend came we got the weather forecast… it was calling for wind.  Sunday looked a little better so we decided that would be our paddle day…  An e-mail went out to the usual folks… meet at 9 am at St. Philips...  Only Tony and I showed up.  It was -9 deg Celsius when I pulled in, more with the wind chill.  But we've paddled in colder temperatures. 

The slipway was full of ice pans when we arrived... 

That bigger one looked like it could give us a little trouble...

but we managed to slip between it and the side of the wharf as it as it ebbed with the water…

I started heading out through the channel as Tony was putting on his spray-skirt.  I heard him saying his skirt was frozen as I paddled out.  After a minute or two there was no sign of him in the cove so I figured the skirt must have given him trouble.  So I paddled back in and it took the both of us to get the skirt over the coaming.  We laughed, thinking it was funny… how many paddlers does it take to put on a spray skirt on a chilly Sunday morning?  Whose idea was it to paddle this morning anyway…

We finally got down to paddling business and headed for Portugal Cove, playing in the clapitus along the way…

We hung around in Portugal Cove for about ten minutes talking kayak stuff and then headed back, thinking how good a coffee was going to be when we got back to St. Philips….

When we got back to the cove I looked over and Tony’s helmet was covered in a layer of ice…

There was more ice in the channel as we came in, and the marina had more ice in it than I remembered when we left...

But we pushed our way through without much difficulty and went into the river to rinse off…

Tony keeps his car keys in a dry bag which he puts in his day hatch.  Today his day hatch cover just would not come off after we dragged the kayaks up off the slipway to the cars. We pried it with a stick, a paddle, and cold fingers but we just could not get it to budge.  We suspected the fresh water from washing up in the river was the cause... 

I told Tony maybe he should pee on the hatch cover… that would have been a funny picture and story.  Brian happened to be at the marina when we had arrived back in St. Philips. He brought a bucket of hot water form the nearby restaurant and Tony poured it over the cover and it finally came off…    

Well, it was a chilly morning for a paddle.  But despite frozen skirts and hatch covers we had a good bit of fun.  We had a good laugh at ourselves and the iced up gear...    

... and Brian paid for our coffee afterwards, which was greatly appreciated.

We’ll remember today when the warmer weather comes… we’ll be complaining about being in our dry suits on a warm summer day and one of us will say “remember that morning back in January when…”

(See Tony's pics from the morning here...)

2013: Post 2 – Second Paddle

Once again Tony and I headed to St. Philips for a paddle... we e-mailed a few hands... thought we would get a couple more, but only Sean decided to join us.  He had recently finished re-doing the deck of his Point Bennett and was looking for an excuse to get it on the water....

Anyway, Tony has a write up on the mornings adventure, but here are a few pics from the seat of my kayak....

The guys parked on the road and dragged
their kayaks down over the snow

Ice pans in the marina

Tony

Sean

Both of 'da boys heading to Portugal Cove

Heading back into St. Philips

Passage blocked!

We almost always rinse off the salt water in the river before taking out at the slipway but today it was blocked with ice from the cold we've had the last few days...  This was the first time I've not been able to get past the bridge into the river due to ice... and I believe Tony said the same thing... Oh well, the salty water will just have to stay on the kayak and gear until next time...

2013: Post 1 – The First paddle

Today I had the best paddle of the new year.  I know...  it's the only one so far for 2013... But it was a fantastic little paddle....   

The ground and trees were snow covered and there was some sunshine as Tony and I started out from St. Philips.  The temperature was just below 0 deg C and there was not too much wind in our face going to Topsail Beach.  Along the way there was some swell and icicles clinging to the cliffs.  

There was wind behind us coming back to St. Philips so there were some little surf rides along the way.  We seen an eagle and the snow fell in big flakes for most of the trip back.  And of course there was coffee afterwards.  

Some pics to share....

It could only have been better if there was a whale and some seals, and a few more paddlers to share the day.  It was just a great way to start the new year.

(Tony's pics from the paddle)

2012: Post 39 – Last Post for the year

This year has come to its calendar end.  In 2010 and 2011, as part of my kayaking goals, I had decided to be in my kayak(s) at least one-hundred times for the year; this would include paddles on the ocean, on a river, in the pool, on ponds, and practice/play days in the cove at St. Philips. 

  

Although I achieved the one-hundred numbers in both years, I had found that by the end of 2011 that in reaching my numbers goal I was sometimes going out just for the sake of hitting my target at the expense of setting aside other non-kayaking activities.  This is not necessarily a bad thing; sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to meet set goals… and all the time spent in the kayak served me well to become a more relaxed, and therefore a more improved, paddler. 

When 2012 started I decided I was not going to set any goals other than to keep up my numbers for my ocean paddling (typically on weekends), and to get in as many summer camping trips as I could.  One problem that had become apparent was that I was sharing my vehicle more and more with my daughter, so my ability to get to pool sessions and St. Philips practices during weekdays was diminishing.  So I decided to go to pool sessions and practices when I was able, but to give weekend paddling the higher priority. 

Despite lesser access to my vehicle, a few poor weather days, and the usual bouts of cold and flu during the year, I still managed a respectable sixty-six times in the kayak for 2012.

My totals for this year are:

43 days paddling on the ocean

14 times at St. Philips

9 times at Tuesday pool sessions

Compared to the last couple years, I only managed to get to half as many outings at St. Philips and only a third of the pool sessions. But my ocean paddling remained on par with the last two years (41 in 2010, 44 in 2011).  My ocean paddles have totaled 725 kilometres this year (687 in 2010, 802 in 2011).  But in order to keep up my weekend paddling adventures I often had to rely on the generosity of paddling friends to transport me and my gear for paddles; a big thanks to Clyde, Hazen and Neville for the rides…  

I was blessed with three memorable camping trips this past year; a two day trip to Great Sandy Harbour, a three day trip to Irelands Eye, and a six day trip around Merasheen Island. 

Some of the people I paddled with during the year of 2012 include:

  

Tony

Clyde

Hazen

Neville

Gary

Tobias

Sean and Cheryl

Gerard

I am not setting any goals for 2013.  I intend to just continue my paddling efforts as I had done during this past year… I am just going to get out there when I am able and will have to see where it is that I will find myself in my kayak.

But I do think it will be a good year as I will be able to spend the latter part of 2013 in a new kayak… a few days ago I placed my order with our local Valley kayak dealer for a Nordkapp.  Yeah!