2016: Post 5 – A Fun Morning

Today we paddled from St. Philips up to Topsail Beach.

Some pics to share...

St. Philips marina with a skim of ice

Derek and Brian

Cathy

Tony and Derrick

Shane... high and dry

Brian and Terry

Terry stretching his legs

Tony, Derrick, and Cathy

 

Shane practicing towing Cathy (with Terry helping out)

And a few video clips...

Tony

Shane crossing over to whitewater

Cathy doing her second ever saltwater roll

(I missed her first one back in December)

Derek doing his very first salt water roll

Well, what else is there to say... the pics and video clips kind of says it all!!!

2016: Post 4 – The Austrian gets back on the water

Tony suggested we paddle over to Bell Island this morning.  It's been a little while since we paddled there... click here for that paddle.  

Seven of us were gathered at the slipway in St. Philips for the prescribed meeting time.  There were a couple more people that were to come along... one did and one did not.  Cathy showed up a little late; we surmised she slept in a little but she protested far too much to the contrary.

We weren't delayed to long and soon we were underway.

The Austrian (Tobias) and The Tardy Teacher (Cathy) at the slipway

We crossed over to Dominion Pier...

Brian

... and then turned east to follow the shore.

Tony

Tobias

We sat at this spot for a while, mesmerized by
the swell crashing into the cliffs

We didn't have any set plan in mind but decided to go as far as Eastern Head to get a look at the sea state on the outside of the island.

Derek rounding Eastern Head

Tobias

Tony and Cathy

We hung around at Eastern Head for a while watching the swell and waves.  Cathy tried to talk us into paddling around the island, but we explained we were lacking proper supplies for such an excursion - not the least of which were a good supply of tissues.  She reluctantly conceded to a circumnavigation of the island for another day.  So we turned our bows around and headed back the way we had come.

Tobias

Cathy

Tobias

You may have noticed I have a few pictures of Tobais from today's paddle... he used to paddle with us quite frequently a while ago until the stork deposited a few little future paddlers on his doorstep!!!.  Today was the first time in about fifteen months since he had been in his kayak!!  It was good to see you out on the brine again with us, Tobias.

2016: Post 3 – Calling all kayakoholics...

There were no paddle plans for this weekend!!

I woke up this morning and laid in bed for the better part of an hour before I decided to get up and have a cup of tea. I looked out the window and then checked the weather... looked like a decent day to get on the water... 

The weather forecast was calling for west 20 km wind this morning and I guessed there should be some residual energy in the water from the bit of a storm we had on Friday and Saturday.

I thought I might just go for a little solo water time out of St. Philips, but then decided to send an e-mail to see if there were any kayakoholics that were available to get ready on short notice and paddle in the chilly -8 C (-11 C with the windchill) morning temperature.

Within a few minutes I had an e-mail from Derek that he would be there.  Then Tony called the house wondering about the meeting time.... Then I sent a text message to Shane that woke him up, and he replied back that he would be there as well.   Yep...  there sure were a few kayakohlics up this morning!!!

When I arrived in St. Philips Derek was already there.  Shortly after Brian showed up - one more kayakoholic to add to the group.  Before very long Tony arrived, and the four of us busied ourselves with preparations while we waited for Shane to arrive.

Tony elected for a seal launch off the slipway...

... and then Brian followed.

We decided to head down to Topsail Beach.

When we arrived at Topsail people and kayaks were slicked over with ice...

... but everyone was all smiles.

We didn't stay on the beach too long in the chilly morning before getting back on the water and heading back to St. Philips.

I think that some of the memorable paddles tend to be the ones that just happen without planning... they are like a surprise, or a gift, that you did not expect to receive.

Thanks to Tony, Brian, Derek and Shane for getting ready on such short notice and joining me on a fun morning paddle on the last day of January... you guys all get a star beside your name in my kayak book!!!

2016: Post 2 – Second paddle

For the second weekend in a row of this year we paddled... Six of us met in Holyrood this morning for a paddle up to Indian Pond....

When we arrived at the slipway in Holyrood it was pretty much packed in with ice, but Gerard had picked out a much better spot from which to launch from and so we jumped in our cars and met him at the put-in... 

It was a little chilly but as everyone readied themselves they were all smiles in anticipation of some water-time...

Gerard

The shoreline along this area is not exactly spectacular, but I didn't hear one complaint from anyone...

Cathy nearing the jetty near the Holyrood
power generating station

Dave passing under the jetty

As we came abreast of the generating station there was some fog over the water...

As we neared the entrance to Indian Pond there were a few good sized swells that came in and curled as they neared the beach.   We wondered if we would be able to get into the pond for our planned lunch break, but once we got near the entrance we sized things up and we made our way in one by one...

We had our lunch against some rocks that made an effective break against the bit of north wind that was blowing...

Gerard, Tony, Dave, Cathy, and Derek

By the time we ate and had a few laughs we were chilled, and so we got back in our kayaks and took a spin around Indian Pond to warm up before heading back out to open water...

Derek

Gerard

Tony

I didn't take any pictures on the way back to Holyrood.  But just before we got to the take-out I noticed Gerard had something on his back deck.  As I got closer I asked what it was and he picket it up, held it in front of himself and proclaimed... "I was framed"

The G-man

Another successful paddle...  Thanks guys, and gal, for a fun few hours on the water today.

2016: Post 1 – First paddle

On January 2 a few of us got together for a paddle from St. Philips to Topsail Beach... I've not made the time to look at my pictures until tonight... so here's a few I selected to share.....

It was a good day for paddling.  Better still, it was the first time Shane had his new Nordkapp RM on the salt water.  When we got back to the cove in St. Philips he had to do a first saltwater roll in her...

Shane in his new Nordkapp, 

which he has named Jucy Lucy

[Tony has a write-up and pics on his blog entry... click here.]