On the Water And In The Woods

Kayak Sailing Rocks!

2011-10-14T22:12:00.004-04:00

I spent a long weekend at the Born To Raise Sail event in Cedar Island NC with Balogh Sail Designs recently. Learned a lot about how to use the sail better, and came away with more parts and knowledge.

Formation kayak sailing:

Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival 2011

2011-10-02T14:28:00.003-04:00

While cooler and rainier than last year, at least we had strong wind! The Kruger Seawind with it's Balogh Sail Designs Sail and Folbot outrigger system spent almost all of Saturday on the water in 10-20 knots of wind. Everything performed well, including the reefing system. Hint: when going down wind and coming over the tops of waves if your bow is far enough into the air that the amas are losing touch with the water you should have reefed long ago. It was exhilarating!

The balogh sail attracted a lot of interest - many had heard of them, but never seen them.

2011-09-18T21:11:00.003-04:00

I had a long sail today with the Seawind and the BSD sail. Taking Mad Dave's advice I cleaned and waxed the mast to help the hoops move, and loosened up the battens some more. I also had more wind - 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 were forecast. I suspect I got 10-15, with the rare gust. The sail performed better in tacks with the heavier wind and the adjustments. I continue to be very pleased with the sail, especially upwind. It's also nice having more visibility with the angled wishbone boom.

Balogh Batwing 36HP Sport - First Sail

2011-08-21T15:28:00.010-04:00

This weekend I was able to take the Balogh Batwing 36HP Sport sail out for its first sail on my Kruger Sea Wind. Weather predictions were for winds becoming south 5 knots Saturday, and 5-10 south going to small craft advisory with late thunder storms on Sunday. A little less wind on Saturday than I would have liked, but I also didn't want to much, as I needed a low key sail to give me time to start figuring out the operations of the new sail.

My favorite locations for kayak or canoe sailing are places with low key sand beaches, preferably not near boat ramps. I needed time to set up, adjust the set up, and load the boat for the weekend. I headed for the Pax Pirate's Solomons beach.

I had previously set up the kruger with its new sail in the backyard so I knew that all of the parts fit, and after about 30 some minutes of fiddling and packing I launched with sail up for the weekend.

The 36HP is just a little bit bigger than my standard cruising sail but what sets it apart in performance are two items. First, it's battened with four full sail width battens. My cruising sail only uses one batten. (Score one for th cruising sail - the 36HP is a lot more sail on deck when you've dropped sail and have to paddle.). The other difference is that the sail is very professionally designed, cut and assembled. The panel cuts and geometries give the sail much smoother lines and surfaces than my homemade cruising sail. (Score one for the 36HP). The effect of the better design and cut were evident as I gathered speed in what little wind was around Point Patience. While my light air sail might have done as well or better, the 36HP cut kept head knocking on the boom to a minimum and gave me increased visibility as I sailed my way through the sport fishing fleet.

I spent about the next nine hours sailing around, mostly between the Jefferson-Patterson and the Greenwell state park shorelines. The center of effort on the 36HP is higher than on my cruising sail, but in light winds this put more sail up in the winds that were above the surface drag of the water. I was pleased to find the sail pointed well upwind. It's not a purpose designed sailboat, but the 36HP combined with the new 48 inch leeboard (my kayak leeboard at 38 inches wasn't long enough on the Sea Wind) impressed me.

A couple of items presented themselves for further study. Most importantly, in light air when tacking (yes, the Sea Wind tacks, unlike the Vivianne, which wears) the batten hoops did not cleanly rotate to the other side of the mast. Sometimes shaking the sail helped, sometimes nothing got them to move over. I don't know if this is due to the light winds, or a sticky mast, or what. Later, I discovered that if I gave the rear sail edge a downward yank that flexed the mast the batten hoops would all move into position. I will have to try this some more, and also remember to ask Dave at BSD.

Above is a photo of my current rig. How many different part manufacturers can you identify? BSD sail, struts; Folbot amas and akas; CLC mast (strongest sectional aluminum mast I've yet found); Welker mast/aka connection, leeboard.

One other item I noted was that the downhaul on the sail kept developing slack. I have never had this occur before. The downhaul is non-stretch line, so I'm thinking either there is some initial stretch in the sail or the line that came with the sail for a halyard has some stretch to it. It doesn't appear to be a normal marine grade halyard line. This really isn't a big deal though.

Overall I am very pleased with the sail and it has alleviated my one concern that the BSD sails would not perform well in the typical late summer light airs of the Chesapeake.

Shot from the boat as I come out of the night's bivuac location into the Sunday dawn. Wind was just around the point.

Pine Creek Trail

2011-05-31T21:52:00.005-04:00

Pine Creek Trail!

3 days, 80 miles, wonderful bike trail!

We'll be going back!

Kruger Seawind tent - first trial

2011-05-21T22:20:00.003-04:00

One of the projects that I worked on over the winter was constructing a custom tent for the Kruger Seawind. The tent allows me to sleep in the cockpit. This was it's first field test and it worked very well. I remove the seat, put down a thermorest prolite full length pad, and then my sleeping bag. I have Northwater cockpit side bags attached inside to lines along the cockpit sides. When using the boat as a tent these store my personal items like headlamp, watch, etc.

The bug netting is supported by two pieces of starboard plastic wood I had left over from a sailboat project. It is attached to the starboard by velcro tabs. At the bow there is a neoprene punch through that allows the use fo the bug net when the sailing ama setup is in place. The headroom is enough to sit up inside the boat.

The rain fly attaches at the front of the boat to the deck lines with plastic clips. The bottom section of my sailing mast (about 1 1/2 feet) acts as a post in the front. The sides are held out at the starboard arch with pvc pipe struts that swivel on the arch pieces, allowing me to have ventilation, or to seal up the boat tighter if needed.

I enter the tent by undoing the bungee connection at the rear of the cockpit and redoing it once I am inside. In nice weather, I can attach the bow portion of the rain fly, and leave it rolled up over the top of the arch to allow star gazing and better ventilation. On this first night of use I had no condensation inside the hull or inside the rainfly.

Tiny Little Boats Have Arrived!

2011-05-15T20:51:00.003-04:00

Two 13 foot Hornbecks for creeking and the 'dacks. Can you backpack out of a canoe?

Finally, Spring!

2011-04-03T17:48:00.005-04:00

On several occassions this winter I wasn't too sure that spring would ever arrive. Finally, today JP and I had a chance to go on a nice spring paddle.

My orientation cruises with the Kruger Sea Wind continue. This is the second day of using the spray skirt. Some minor tweeking in order.

Still cold water, but the lunch beach was sunny and almost warm!

Sitting backward in the cockpit of my kayaks is my favorite lunch eating spot. In the Kruger, I almost dissappear inside!

New Years Day Paddle

2011-01-01T14:43:00.002-05:00

Nice to be out with friends to start the new year.

Mostly ice free!

Sea Kayaking 101 (SK101) Class Announcement

2010-12-08T09:27:00.002-05:00

The Chesapeake Paddlers Association is again sponsoring Sea Kayaking 101. This is a one day classroom course aimed for those of you new to sea kayaking, or who are interested in getting into the sport.

The flyer with more information is available here: CPA SK101 Flyer

Kruger - First Sail

2010-11-21T17:34:00.003-05:00

A day with consistent and light winds - an excellent day to take the sea wind for it's first sail.

The cleat block worked well. Could do with a two foot addition to the mast height.

And need a jam cleat for the leeboard uphaul.

Light air sail. Will have work out the main halyard rear mounting better - this won't work with the spray skirt in place.

Cruising sail, with two reef points. Not enough sail for today.

Kruger outfitting part 2 - ama and aka connections

2010-11-02T16:23:00.004-04:00

Performed the work to attach the aka to the Sea Wind hull. Used Balog Sails struts and fittings. My ama/aka system is from Foldboat. I made the center connection piece. It's sturdier than some of the commercial pieces, and gives me room to mount the leads and cleats for the various lines.

kruger practice

2010-10-30T20:01:00.005-04:00

Paddle float setup

Paddle float rentry at cockpit stern

In the cockpit, now to turn around.

Bailing, Bailing, Bailing...

I've been spending some time getting to know my new to me Kruger Sea Wind.

One of the reasons I bought it was because I would be able to sleep in it. The other night I tried it out in the back yard. I removed the seat, put the thermorest pad in the bottom, added my sleeping bag and a fleece jacket for a pillow and climbed in. I used one of the North Water under deck side bags as a storage area for my glasses, watch and headlamp. After getting in, I put on the storage cover, and left it partially undone on one side for ventilation. I slept with my head to the stern.

There was plenty of room for sleeping, and for the half of the boat that was ventilated no condensation issues. The bow end had some condensation. I'll need to make sure the boat tent will have adequate flow through ventilation.

The next test was to try a self rescue. I had installed float bags in the boat (see last post), and we went paddling in 1 ft seas with 10-15 knot winds. I was set up for a paddle float rentry like I do with my sea kayaks. A double blade kayak paddle, paddle float, tethered bailer, and hand pump.

I paddled out, flipped over, then righted the boat. with about 4 inches of water in it the boat floated pretty high with the float bags. I tried a cowboy rentry from the stern, which would have worked except for the stored double blade paddle halves on the rear deck. Once past them, the boat was rather unstable, but it would have worked in calm water.

I then tried the standard paddle float rentry. Trying to get back in amid ships the boat proved to be too high sided. When I added my weight on the gunnel the boat rolled toward me and took on more water. Best method was to do the paddle float rentry at the rear of the cockpit, where it is lower to the water. Then the bailing began. What a lot of water that boat can hold! My paddling partner was doing the photography and timing the event. The dump, paddle float rentry, and bailout to a stable boat position was 4 minutes.

Lessons learned -

1. Tether everything! The pump repeatedly tried to float away.

2. While the double paddle worked, I still had to assemble it in the water. Could I do this at night in bigger seas? The Sea Wind has those nice connecting tubes fore and aft in the cockpit, I wonder if I could make a floating rod that would fit into those and lock in (keeper swivel at the end) and attach the paddle float to that. Store the road in the boat or along side the cockpit coaming?

Will need to try this in the future with the sprayskirt and ribs in place.

Kruger Sea Wind Outfitting - Part 1

2010-10-25T22:03:00.005-04:00

Float bags from NRS arrived today. Fit perfectly.

Removable seat back held in place by fastek buckles. Seat and backband remove for sleeping area.

Line from padeye on outside of seat support to first padeye under rear deck - used for securing dry bags.

Method of attaching float bags to under deck pad eyes.

Bow float bag from NRS - large size kayak bag

Stern float bag.

Fall paddling

2010-10-24T22:40:00.003-04:00

We've been paddling in more protected waters until the Kruger air bags arrive. Nice fall colors showing up now.

The Kruger outfitting continues. Sun awning in the works, North Water side under deck bags arrived as a present. Pattern for sailing rudder arrived from WaterTriber. Loaded the boat with 600 lbs of me and dead weight to find the water level for setting the akas and amas. (600+ lbs and it didn't even get the water to the deck joint).

We've been doing some more protected water paddling until the air bags come in for the Kruger.

Meanwhile, the Kruger outfitting continues:

Kruger

2010-10-03T18:33:00.003-04:00

This weekend I became the second owner of the Kruger Sea Wind #217.

Patuxent Water Trail Kayak Camping

2010-06-20T20:35:00.004-04:00

A few memories from a recent kayak camping trip on the Patuxent.

Morning from campsite #1

Rescue practice - textbook perfect!

Packing up at the last campsite - head for home.

Wishing it would go on forever.

My thanks to the trip organizer.

And to the people who have worked to preserve this river.

Mystery Home

2010-06-17T19:24:00.005-04:00

In my paddles around the eastern shore of Virginia I have encountered about 3 or 4 of these structures. They are all located in Va, on the bay side, in coastal marsh grass lands. I have not found any in Maryland, and none in the marshes on the ocean side of the Va eastern shore. They look like they are configured for some large bird. Anyone know what bird, or where I can get any information about them?

6/20/2010: Mystery solved - They are Peregrine Falcon nesting boxes!

Parramore

2010-06-09T22:56:00.003-04:00

Finally had a time when calendar, tides, weather, etc all aligned to let me get out to Parramore Island on the Virginia Atlantic coast. Interesting island, but BUGGY!

Bass

2010-05-31T19:43:00.004-04:00

Ok, so it's not kayaking, or sailing, but it went along with a few days of camping, hiking and being outdoors: my big bass of the year:

Sailing on the Chester and a cozy marina

2010-05-27T19:04:00.008-04:00

Our annual sailing trip with our West Wight Potter 19 "Wight Magic" took place this year on the Chester River, on the upper eastern shore of Maryland.

We started and ended our six day trip at Rolph's Wharf Marina, several miles down river from Chestertown, Md. Several years ago I helped with a swim support held at this marina by Joe Stewart. It was nice to see the improvements over the years, and that the marina and it's owners Chip and Sandy are doing well with it. It's a comfortably sized marina with a pleasant atmosphere, friendly slip holders, reasonable rates, and very very clean facilities. I think it would appeal to many small boat owners.

The owners also run a Bed and Breakfast on the property, and transient slip holders receive breakfast at the B&B as part of the slip amenities. Very nice!

Wight Magic at Rolph's Wharf Marina getting ready to set out.

The Chester River has very little development - mostly farm fields and forests along the river shore. There are several sizable "creeks" and the Corsica river to explore and anchor in for the night.

We saw more Osprey and eagles than boats or people.

View from one of our anchorages for the night.

On the second to last day we saw a short mast potter, with bimini, blue roller furling jib, and with the V berth bunk windows on the river also - but too far away to gam or better identify.

Sunset from the beach at the marina.

Where The Wild Still Is.

2010-04-04T19:42:00.003-04:00

With three days of pretty good weather I headed out to visit some places that have been on my "get to" list in the Chesapeake. All of these places are relatively wild and remote stretches of marsh and sand. My access to these places is limited by work, weather, and opportunity. One of the reasons these places will stay wild is the viciousness of the insect life in the warmer months.

Sand bars and beaches shift with the seasons storms.

Look closely. I landed, the bird walked over, looked around on the boat,

was unimpressed, and left. Then I got out of the boat.

Heading down wind I heard heavy breathing behind me,

and was overtaken by a group of about thirty porpoises.

Get Out!

2010-03-28T15:00:00.003-04:00

Get outside and get dirty!

Who put winter on weekends?

2010-01-18T21:52:00.004-05:00

Finally got a weekend without winter weather.

I went and found some aloneness.

Jenny and the Kayak

2009-10-05T22:09:00.000-04:00

Jenny and I attended the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival in St.
Michael's, MD this weekend. Several hundred people, and over a
hundred boats. Jenny entered her skin on frame kayak in the
competition. She did a display with a photo book showing the
building process, a power point slide show on her netbook, and took
great pains to "spiff up" the kayak and paddles for the show.

During the show on Saturday Jenny almost talked herself horse
explaining the boat and how she built it to visitors, the judges, and
other boat builders. That night at dinner, the awards were given out.

Jenny won first place for the category of skin on frame
kayaks. What was really a surprise though was that the judges
thought so much of her kayak that they also put it into the class
that consisted of " traditional boats built with traditional methods
and materials." This is the class that has the most competition, and
the highest level of competition in that these people are really
intense about accuracy and detail. Jenny won first place in this category too!

Sunday Jenny was invited to go on a sail on the private yacht catboat
"Silent Maid", a 1920s style racing catboat from Philadelphia. You
can see it in some of the photos. She took me along too :)

Here are some photos of Jenny and the kayak and getting the
award. There are more photos of the whole event up at my flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdwelker/sets/72157622401033847/

The Best Beaches

2009-09-07T17:16:00.000-04:00

The best beaches have two sides. One is the open water side -
exposed to wind, wave, and endless horizons. The other side is
accessed through marsh and tidal gut, quiet and secretly.

To come in from the marsh, protected from the wind and waves. To
gaze at the whitecaps rolling in. To paddle around the point to
splash and play in them!

Rounding Black Walnut Point

2009-08-30T22:23:00.000-04:00

This is a thank you to my paddling partner.

Western Maine Paddling

2009-08-12T23:39:00.000-04:00

Back and unloaded from western Maine. A few notes:

Lakes paddled: Flagstaff, Mooselookmeguntic, Cupsuptic, North
Richardson, Chain of Ponds.

Ralph's non-skid keel tape works great at protecting fibreglass from
hiding rocks.

The CPA's rash guard logo gear shirts worked great - lived in two for
the 6 days of paddling.

Glad I took the wetsuit and paddling jacket.

More Later.

Islands like ice bergs

2009-07-26T18:26:00.000-04:00

Jenny walks along the perimeter of the new little island.

When I was here sometime in the early nineties the island stretched
long and narrow.

A visit in the mid nineties found the island breached in the middle,
with a sand bar and two sandy beaches reaching out to each other
across the widening gulf.

Today's visit finds three islands, with no trace of the connecting
sand bar, and just a few small sand beaches.

Do islands calve like ice bergs?

Rudder pedal modifications

2009-06-21T14:21:00.000-04:00

The Kayaksport Vivianne that I am paddling came with "gas pedal" type rudder pedals. While some people may prefer the way that these give them a more solid foot position within the kayak during forward strokes and rolling, I found a number of disadvantages with them.

I could only move the rudder through about a 90 degree arc, about 45 degrees to each side of center. This was not enough to turn the boat in as tight a radius as the boat would be able to turn without this restriction.
When kayak sailing, there are times when you need to hold a rudder in a set position off of center. Since the gas pedals required you to let up with one foot, but press with the other, this became uncomfortable for long periods of time.
When paddling in confused seas, the slap of the waves against the rudder blade would cause the gas pedals to "twitch". A strange feeling to try to get used to.

I ordered a replacement sliding pedal set from NRS.

The sliding pedal set consisted of a plastic channel in which the aluminum sliding channel travelled. The pedals are attached to the aluminum channel and adjustable.

Removal of the gas pedals was straightforward, involving only minor bodily contortions to get to the front bolts by climbing headfirst into the cockpit with a ratchet set. The new plastic channel aligned pretty closely to the holes in the gas pedal channel, and only a slight elongation of one hole was needed to accomodate the glassed in bolts in the boat.

I decided that I would rather have the sliding pedal type of set up. A friend of mine had recently had his CD boat converted from gas pedal to sliding pedal, and the outfitter doing the conversion had difficulty due to the length of the glassed in rudder bracket bolts being too long and interfering with the pedal slide piece. I believe that they ended up making shims that lifted the plastic channel away from the sides of the boat. This allowed the sliding aluminum channel to clear the bolts. I didn't want to use this method, since it would move my foot positions closer to each other, giving me less foot room. Instead, I shortened the aluminum channels by about 50%, allowing the plastic channels to fit against the side of the boat and giving the aluminum channel enough free room to travel back and forth and still clear the boat when the rudder swung an arc of 180 degrees.

The Vivianne uses non-stretch line rather than steel cable to connect the rudder to the pedals. Reattachment and adjustment was easy with a couple of knots.

The new pedals now allow a much greater range of motion for the rudder, give me better control over rudder position, and have improved the handling of the boat.

Porpoise on the West River

2009-06-20T13:01:00.001-04:00

Paddling on the West river I came across a pod of porpoise. There was a group of about 6-8. First time I've ever seen them on the West.

kayak sailing on the Pax

2009-06-14T21:45:00.005-04:00

It was a great day to get on the water. With a north wind, and a shuttle arranged, I did a 21 mile trip down the Patuxent river with the sail rig.

Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEZ9wUajTL8

Doing the Dismal

2009-04-20T19:47:00.005-04:00

About a year ago or so some members of our local paddling club, the Chesapeake Paddlers Association, took it upon themselves to convince the Army Corp of Engineers to not close a paddle in campsite in Virginia's Dismal Swamp. This month we had an excellent opportunity to use the campsite. The songbird migration was in full flight, and we were treated to great birding and great weather.

Sea Kayaking 101 Sea Kayak Design and Construction

2009-03-15T09:26:00.001-04:00

Our local sea kayaking club, The Chesapeake Paddlers Association, recently presented a one day course we call Sea Kayaking 101, covering the basics of kayak history, construction, materials, paddles, gear, safety, and local places to paddle. It was once again a full to capacity event. I did a presentation on sea kayak design. Below are jpegs of the powerpoint presentation I gave on the topic. Email me if you have any questions.

Find your island and escape!

2009-03-08T22:09:00.002-04:00

This weekend is a number of firsts.

First time camping out of the new Kayaksport Vivianne.

About the same volume as the Pisces, but while the Pisces was flatter storage, this is more vertical. Thus, a need not to put heavy things on top.
Storing platypus bladders of water in the bottom of the day hatch works well. Four fit in easily, with plenty of room for any day gear.
Need to figure out what stores best back around the skeg box area. At least with the Vivianne's skeg design I don't have to worry about knocking the skeg control sleeve loose and sinking the boat!
Loaded, it didn't loose as much freeboard as I had expected.
Stiffened up well when loaded - good secondary.
Rearranged the gas pedal rudder controls to be more vertical this trip. Still not sure if it's the pedals, the low stretch cord, or the amount of rudder in the water, but rudder control isn't where I want it to be yet. More adjustments to come. I know from other owners that for sailing a rudder blade change will be needed.
Cruised pretty well - my dawdle pace got me 3.4-3.6, and a cruising pace with my narrow greenland paddle got me 3.8-3.9. With the single blade I was dawdling at 3.4.
Still need to work on the back paddle park - the far rear one keeps laying down and is hard to get the paddle under. I need a whiffle golf ball.

First time really playing with the new camera, Optio W60.

The view screen is polarized! Wearing polarized sunglasses, if you turn the camera 90 degrees the screen blacks out - full polarization blackout!
Interesting to hold the camera at the waterline and shoot.
The small lense allows a lot of foreground to be included in horizon landscape shots. Adds some sense of scale. And wonder.

First time remotely posting to the blog!

More photos at flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdwelker/sets/72157614924819803/

Hypothermia in the water - first person account

2009-02-20T21:33:00.003-05:00

As sea kayakers our greatest cause of death on the water is through hypothermia. Here is a first hand account of a long distance open water swimmer who went hypothermic on one of her swims. In particular, note as her internal reasoning declines during the event:

http://www.10kswimmer.com/2009/02/keep-swimming-hypothermia-scare.html

Keep warm out there!

SK101 - Sea Kayaking 101 - Is Coming!

2009-02-06T20:42:00.004-05:00

The Chesapeake Paddlers Association will sponsor SK 101, a one-day seminar on sea kayaking. The seminar will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2009, at the West River Center, West River, Maryland. Presentations will include types of kayaks, paddles, safety equipment, and gear; where to paddle; and other topics of interest. There will be boats and gear on display, and knowledgeable people will be available to discuss different aspects of kayaking. This event is primarily for the new paddler; however, everyone is invited to expand their paddling horizons. Cost is $20 and includes a continental breakfast, lunch, and handouts. Registration is required.

Dave Biss, Coordinator of the CPA, stated, “SK 101: An Introduction to Sea Kayaking is a great opportunity for people who are just getting started or are new to the sport of sea kayaking. Here is a chance to meet and listen to others talk about their experiences and their love of the sport. Interested newcomers can gain hands-on understanding of essential gear, get indispensable advice from experienced kayakers, and see demonstrations of techniques. This is a winter kayaking event not to be missed."

More information and SK 101 registration forms are available on the web at http://www.cpakayaker.com/sk10109.php, at many local outfitters, and from Gina Cicotello at 240-305-0922. Space is limited and available on a first come, first serve basis. Applications received after the workshop is full will be placed on a waiting list.

The mission of the Chesapeake Paddlers Association is to help people safely enjoy sea kayaking and to promote safe paddling practices through the education of the local sea kayaking community and the interested public. Club activities may include, but are not limited to, kayak trips, kayak camping trips, instructional workshops, informal weekday evening paddles, and any other activities consistent with the mission that members of the club wish to organize. The club sponsors a website, newsletter, and on-line forums. The Chesapeake Paddlers Association has over 600 members and is a completely volunteer-run organization. More information is available at http://www.cpakayaker.com/.

Fitting out the new boat - part 1 - rub protection

2008-12-02T22:36:00.003-05:00

Now that the new Kajaksport Vivianne has arrived, I have been working on a number of alterations to make it ready for use. First on the list is a keel rub strip. While I had used dynel fabric and polyester resin for the rub strip on the Pisces with great results for durability, it was not exactly esthetically pleasing.

One member of our kayak club has used non-slip boat deck tape with good results - see here for the thread. There might be some drag from the non-skid, but it goes on easy and looks good. Appears to be durable too. However, I was looking for something a little "slicker" that would blend in better too. Plus, I was looking for some material to protect key areas of the deck that often end up being scratched - like where the spare paddles stay, or under the bungees, or where you put the paddle behind the cockpit coaming when entering or exiting the boat.

I remember hearing about using helicopter edge guard tape, which is a product originally developed to protect the leading edges of helicopter blades from abrasion. I had seen a sample, and it was indeed durable and tenacious. However, the military grade was high cost. Searching about for an alternative I came across a product used to protect racing car body surfaces: ISC Helicopter-OG Surface Guard Tape from www.findtape.com. The tape is supposed to be durable, and is clear. I bought the 2 inch wide tape, 30 foot roll.

Applying the tape was pretty simple, maybe just a little bit harder than doing the non-skid tape. You have to work a bit to perfect your technique of smoothing it out to keep the air bubbles out, but you can lift it back off in a short area and reset it. Two downsides: it's not quite as forgiving on the rounded surfaces of the bow and stern sweeps as non-skid, and the tape holds finger prints amazingly well!

I did the keel, and then also did some key areas on the deck, such as under the paddle parks (see next blog entry to come), under most bungees, and on the deck at the rear of the cockpit coaming where I rest my paddle when getting in or out of the boat.

We will see how the product holds up over time.

Current Design Pisces for Sale - Parting with the first boat.

2008-11-23T20:39:00.008-05:00

I don't believe in owning a big fleet of boats, and I don't change boats very often. I believe you should do the research, take test paddles, and then buy a boat. Once you have it, learn all you can in that boat. Take the boat and you to its limits. Then, many years later, you may want to think about another boat.

I bought my first boat in 1991. Now, almost in 2009, I finally feel that I have learned as much from her as I can. I bought her new, after a lot of research, but never having seen another sea kayak on the water, or known anyone who had paddled one. I had my first wet exit (unintentional) and my first roll (very intentional) while paddling her. I used her for photography, fishing, camping, swim supports, surfing, and hurricane paddling.

She was my first pawlatta roll. That led to offside, reverse sweep, butterfly, shotgun, crook of the arm, behind the head, front deck, scull, and every other roll I know with a paddle, or half of one.

She floated in waters from Delaware south to Florida, and northern points too: Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, and Canada.

I led my first club trip in her, and she made it possible to rescue a heart attack victim at the Bay Bridge swim one year.

As a sailing kayak, she evolved over the years from a tiny square sail to rigs that got her photo in magazines. She opened the world of sailing to me.

I was paddling her when I met my best paddling partner, and she was on the Canadian trip when I realized my paddling partner should become my wife.

Her distinctive Egyptian eye guided me home from many an adventure.

But now I feel she has taught me everything she knows after hundreds of trips and thousands of miles. I move onward from here, and she will need a new person to wet her hull in salt water.

FOR SALE:

1990 Current Designs Pisces.

17' 4" long overall, 24 " beam

Rare model.

Rudder eqipped

Swede form hull (great for surfing boat wakes)

Very high volume - 209 liters of storage, not including the area in front of the foot pegs.

Large rear hatch - can fit a two burner Coleman stove through it.

Front round VCP hatch.

Large cockpit; easy to get legs in and out.

Dynel full length keel strip

Reflective perimeter deck lines

Heavy duy deck bungees

Paddle parks bow and stern, and painter.

Rigged for sailing (mast step and hand control line fittings)

Fitted with foam seat, but comes with a new original never used equipment seat uninstalled.

New sliding foot pegs for rudder control installed 2008.

Asking $700 OBO. Contact me at gdwelker (at) verizon (dot) net or 301-249-4895.

Why manufacturers should answer their email

2008-11-04T21:50:00.003-05:00

Not all manufacturers take the time to answer questions from potential customers. It takes time, and it's not a sale. However, sometimes it pays off - not only in selling to that customer, but in getting a new retailer involved in selling your products. Below is a short email chain I had with Northwater:

From: Greg Welker

Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008

To: northwater@northwater.com

Subject: question about your deck bags

Hi,My wife and I own some of your kayak safety products and find them tobe very high quality products.

I am looking to purchase a new deckbag. I don't like deck bags that are "waterproof", preferring to letmy equipment in the bag get wet, but then be able to dry out, ratherthan steam and get all clammy when a "waterproof" bag takes onwater. I am looking at two of your products and have a couple of questions.

1. On the Expedition deck bag, is the fabric just nylon, or is itwaterproof coated nylon (I would like it to be just nylon, not coated).

2. On the Mesh deck bag, is the opening secured with a zipper?

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, andhopefully I will be owning some more Northwater products in the future.

Greg

At 12:14 PM 9/29/2008, Will Davis wrote:

Greg -You have come to the right place for non-waterproof deck bags. We do notbelieve in waterproof as well. I find it to be quite the misnomer even onproducts that claim to be 'waterproof'.Our Expedition Deck Bag is not coated with anything with any sort ofsealant. And yes, the mesh deck bag is secured by a #10 YKK zipper.Let me know if I can be of any more help.

Cheers,Will
DavisNorth Water Customer Service

Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:49:38 -0500

To: "Will Davis" northwater@northwater.com

From: Greg Welker

Subject: RE: question about your deck bags

Will,Just wanted to let you know that I got one of our local kayaking stores to order me your bag and they are now also carrying your deck bags and some of your rescue gear - they are Annapolis Canoe and Kayak Company http://www.annapoliscanoeandkayak.com/.

The deck bag is what I expected - well made and well designed. I've been using it on my Outer Island for several trips now and it is working well. The velcro attachment system under the bungees provides a pretty solid attachment (wondering how it will work in surf?). The zipper that allows the full opening is good, as is being able to zip it from either side. Haven't figured out a use for the mesh section yet - too small for many things - so far only used as a place to store granola bar wrappers. I paddle greenland paddles, so the webbing on the bag sides work as the rear half of a paddle park for a paddle on the front deck. I've been using it without the plastic insert - it allows me to cinch down the bag using the webbing straps if I don't need all the volume, and keeps the bag lower on the deck.

One potential improvement for you to consider - I keep my water bladder in the bag, and snake the hose out by leaving the bag unzipped about 1/2 inch. Perhaps you can consider adding a water bladder hose pass thru like you see on backpacks on the left side of the bag as it is facing the kayaker? Locate it low down in the lower left corner just under the zipper. Otherwise, great bag!

I really enjoy dealing with a good gear manufacturer - I'll add Northwater to the list with Impex and Kokatat. And it's great having a responsive and obliging local kayak company like Annapolis Canoe and Kayak - thanks Dave and Manuel!

Boat Test: Kayaksport Vivianne

2008-10-29T08:19:00.004-04:00

Introduction and considerations:

For several years I have maintained a short list of boats that I would consider as replacements for either of the two boats that I own. I never anticipate owning more than two boats - I want one for day paddles/playing, and one for expedition use. Any more and I don't feel that I would really learn the characteristics of the boats. Besides, I don't have the space or money. And if I went to three boats, Jenny would get to go to three boats, and the storage problem compounds from there. That being said, I have this list. For expedition boats, the list looks at my critical factors:

1. Rudder for sailing, and especially now since I use a single blade for about half my paddling.

2. Storage capacity. Since Jenny and I do not paddle two boats of equal volume, mine will always need to carry more of the stuff. So volume of the new boat must be in the same ballpark as the Pisces, which is capacious.

3. High quality construction. I know that I am tough on boats. I like fully fibreglassed deck/hull seams, very waterproof hatches, and believe that a kevlar layup should achieve the same strength as the glass layup.

4. Sea keeping ability - will I be comfortable in the boat in the conditions that I consider safe to paddle.

5. Speed - Speed equal or greater than what I can get in the Pisces.

6. Comfort - Be able to sit in the boat for a 12+ hour day. And do it again the next day.

7. Be able to sail the boat.

The short list was put together from boats I've read about in Sea Kayaker or other places, product searches, friends recommendations, etc. Since I have access to basically all of the SK boat reviews, I have also used those for their paddling effort tables and review data. One of the things that has been interesting was to plot boat paddling effort at different speeds by model against each other. I had expected to see large differences betwen new and old designs, but found very little difference at all in effort to paddle graphs between boats designed in 2004 and 1994. Brian Blankenship and I have discussed this some in the past, and his view was that while paddling effort may not have changed much, the handling of the boats may have drastically improved over time. Could be. I have found that to be true in the day boat/play boat area, but not so far in the expedition boat arena. I don't have all 7 of the factors filled in for all the boats on the short list yet. As I get a chance to see or paddle the boats, more factors get filled in on the list. One of the boats on the short list is the Kayaksport Vivianne, which made the short list for volume, rudder, speed, and quality construction.

One weekend recently I had the opportunity to spend several hours paddling the Vivianne. It was a great weekend to test the boat. Winds were on the low end of a Small Craft Advisory out of the north and I was able to paddle the boat in an area that had pretty consistent 15 knot winds with one foot breaking waves.

Construction.

At 19 feet long, the Vivianne is a long boat with little rocker. 21.75 inches wide, with a rounded hull shape that does have some secondary stability. The boat is fitted with two large oval Kayaksport hatches front and rear. These are a bit bigger than the oval VCP hatches, by about two inches in length. I was suprised how loosely the hatches fit, and that they were not stiffer. However, after much rolling, only a very minute quantity of water had entered the front hatch and none got in the rear. The front hatch leakage may have been due to a compass mount in the hatch cover. Newer models have a day hatch as standard. The volume of storage is very high, only about 4 liters lower than the Pisces. I actually stored my single blade paddle inside the front hatch compartment at one point and it fit easily.

Deck rigging is very sparse, but the fittings are there on the boat to easily upgrade the rigging.

The boat is manufactured with a skeg, which uses the typical cable control. It has one of the best skeg box designs I have seen, eliminating the issue of the skeg cable to box fitting being a potential below waterline leak. A rudder can be mounted on the boat, and there is actually a pretty ingenous locking mechanism where you twist the rudder stem around to unlock it and take it off. The foot pedals were gas pedal type.

The seat backstrap had been removed, and the six inches or so behind the seat filled with closed cell foam. Were this my boat, I would have removed the foam and kept paddlefloat and pump and bailout kit in that space.

Quality of construction was very high - nice glassed seams, and the insides of cockpit and hatches were finished well. SK reports the balance point at 48%, and that feels about right when you lift the boat. The owner indicated it weighed in at 55 pounds. Deck and hull seemed sturdy enough for me. The bow is large and has a lot of volume, reminding me of a surf ski bow in shape and dimension.

The cockpit has a unique coaming that is extended and curved at the rear, allowing much more comfortable lay back rolls so that you don't have the cockpit coaming edge digging into your back. This is a very nice feature. The cockpit is large enough for me to bring my knees up. Seat design was comfortable. With the rudder on the boat, the rear toggle could not be used as a carry point.

Paddling the boat.

I used both a single blade and a large greenland paddle to test the boat. The boat moved well, and going up wind or across the wind I was comfortable in the 4.0 to 4.5 mph speed range. I was amazed at the performance going down wind. Using the rudder, I was able to run downwind for a measured mile at an average speed of 7.1 mph. I think this is the fastest I have ever gone for a mile in a kayak, even granted going down wind.

You do want the skeg or rudder in use to go down wind, as the boat seems to skitter a bit in the small waves I had that day. In general, boat tracks very well once you get it set on a course. However, it takes some fiddling to find the right setting with the skeg to get everything balanced. This was probably impacted some by having the rudder in the up position on the boat which affected it's balance some in the wind. For a big boat, it responded well to outside leaned turns. An extended paddle sweep turn without leaning was not very effective even with the skeg up.

The rudder is a cassette type rudder, that does not require centering to retract. The mechanism worked well, but had no way to hold the rudder in the down position as is found with some other rudder systems. Since the Vivianne was made to use a skeg, and the rudder is an add on, the boats' stern was not designed with a rudder in mind. The rudder sits significantly high up on the stern, and it appeared that less than a third of its length was in the water when I was paddling the unloaded boat. On my Pisces, and other boats designed from the beginning to use a rudder, I expect to see that 50-75% of the rudder is in the water. This lack of rudder blade in the water affected the performance of the rudder by not having enough "bite". The other drawback of the rudder system was the gas pedal type foot peg controls. I have now paddled three boats with gas pedal rudder controls and have experienced the same issue on all where the gas pedals did not have enough travel to allow the rudder to swing through a significant steering arc. On the Vivianne, there was enough pedal travel to only allow the rudder to swing about 30 degree to each side of the boats centerline. This made course corrections with the rudder very gradual. This would be okay if your intent was to use the rudder like a skeg to offset weathercocking. However, when sailing a kayak you want the rudder to be able to have a much greater effect on the boat and to actually turn the boat without needing to lean. I now understand why some other owners have installed larger rudders on these boats, and sometimes modified the stern to allow the rudder to sit lower in the water.

The large volume bow gives a very dry ride. The cockpit felt secure. I suspect I would add some minimal thigh bracing as a supplement. Secondary stability was evident and predictable, although this would be an "intermediate" or "expert" type of boat from that point of view. The boat rolled easily, owing to the rounded cross section and the high depth to width ratio for most of the boat. I felt comfortable in the boat in the existing conditions, and would have been okay in worse conditions, except if the need arose to turn the boat in the opposite direction quickly. It would be a slow turn.

Boat Review Summary

In summary from my point of view, this is a large fast boat that carries a lot of gear, but has some control issues. It would probably not be a great sailing kayak and I'm not sure I'd want to paddle it in challenging conditions where boat handling became important. Were I to own this boat, I would:

1. Add a rudder with a larger underwater volume.
2. Replace the gas pedal footpegs with standard yakima rudder pegs.
3. Seriously upgrade the deck rigging.
4. Move the rear toggle forward to eliminate conflict with the rudder.
5. Add minimal foam for thigh bracing.

Fall Paddling Gear Check

2008-09-25T21:16:00.005-04:00

Well, I knew it was getting close to that time of year. The last two evening/night paddles I did this week found me paddling in my fuzzy rubber rapidstyle top due to the cooler air temps. Even though the water temps were pleasant, coming up from a roll found me feeling the fall nip in the night air due to evaporative cooling. The top I have has the fuzzzy rubber body, but "insulated" cloth arms (don't do much insulating). That's enough for fall paddling when I'm still in just my bathing suit. But those two nights were a warning that colder fall temps are ahead for me.

So tonight, with the wind and rain blowing around outside the house, I emptied out the mesh travel bag that carries my backup kayak gear in the truck when I paddle. I didn't take anything out of the bag for the season, but I did do a check up on the carried gear, and added a few things for the fall:

Checked:

Replace batteries and check functioning of Strobe light carried in the pfd pocket.
Replace batteries and check functioning of the night lights. I like to use Tektite Mark III Marker Lights as my rear white deck light, fastening it to the boat with the suction cup, which is pricey but works. I carry another of these lights - the one LED version, as a spare white light in my deck bag or day hatch. Both of these have dummy cords to try and make sure I don't lose them overboard. I've started using a red/green bow light made for inflatable motor boats on the foredeck. Although the rule is to be able to "show a white light when approached by another vessel" for kayaks, I have decided to err toward too much visibility while still keeping within the nautical rules for boat lighting. I also carry a waterproof Princeton Tec headlamp, which I dummy cord to my pfd. I can head mount it, or let it lie on the spray skirt to use as needed. This headlamp also has a strobe function. Unfortunately, none of my stobing lights are the SOS type.
Verified that the paddling jacket still fits and functions. I like the no frills versions, with neoprene cuffs on the arms, a very solid neoprene waist to seal with the spray skirt, and a fairly open neck that allows good venting. Since I wear the paddling jacket under the pfd, I've yet to find a use for a paddling jacket that has any kind of pocket. My paddling jacket is one of two items of clothing I like having in bright colors - the other is my drysuit. If the weather and water have me wearing either I want to be visible and FOUND!

Added:

Pulled out the NRS Mystery top, checked it over and added it to the bag. I like this shirt as a paddling top for cold windy fall conditions. The outer neoprene type material solves the problem of wind chill that some other fall paddling tops suffer from. Unfortunately, sizing of these tops is truly weird. I take a large/extra large in my other tops, but take a XXL in this and could maybe use a larger one if they made it.
Added the farmer john wetsuit. Not that the water temps are down there yet, but I'd rather have it at the launch site if I need it than not.
Added the neoprene hood. Mine is an old BARE model, and will one day need replacement. When I do, it may be this one for fall paddling, and this one for serious winter rolling.
Added the traditional style neoprene mitts I made. These are loose enough to get off the hands quickly during a rescue, but warm enough to cut wind chill. Generally, I am opposed to the use of mitten type neoprene gloves for cold water paddling, as I have yet to find any that allow me to safely complete a self rescue.
Well, really didn't add this, but many of you will - neoprene booties. I use mine when paddling the Outer Island since my typical summer footwear won't fit.

CPA Gear Day 2008

2008-08-25T12:30:00.003-04:00

Our local sea kayaking club, the Chesapeake Paddlers Association recently held a "gear day". A gear day is when club members gather together to show off their boats and favorite pieces of gear. Some members had displays on greenland paddle building, some on skin-on-frame kayaking, some on navigation lighting. It gave people a chance to see and touch other peoples gear, and hear the honest pros and cons. People also tried out members kayaks on the water, and took short kayak tours along the creek we were located on.

The day also proved to be a good way to get new club members to come out and meet the other club members. Since it was a "show up when you want, and do what you want" kind of day, there was no pressure to paddle X number of miles, or to have a certain skill set. On the other hand, eating was required - members did a potluck meal, which had at least one member doing a post lunch snooze in the camping hammock they had brought to show off.

What did it take to organize this? The idea started in some email exchanges last winter, and two people in the club put it on. They made the park reservation, and posted a couple of notices on the forum and calendar, and invited everyone to participate. It snowballed from there, with over 50 people showing up.

Here are some photos.

Island Time

2008-08-17T18:09:00.004-04:00

This has not been the summer for kayak camping. Heck, it's not been the summer for kayaking! I did finally manage to get away this weekend. Although I had the permission of the island owner to camp, I had a chance to try out my "stealth" tent - a Golite Hut 2 and Nest bugscreen. It worked well. I pitched it high to let the breezes in, and kept the door open. I do need to use bigger stakes for sand/dunes, as the golite ones were a bit small to hold well. The Nest isn't made for the Hut, but it works well enough for one person. As a "stealth" tent it was great - blended right into the vegetation.

One particular harbor...

The end of a 27 mile day in the trusty old Pisces.

One day there will be a replacement for this boat.

Dry storage for flares

2008-03-24T23:21:00.005-04:00

A prudent sea kayaker carries hand fired flares on trips, and carries them on their pfd. I typically carry SkyBlazer hand launched flares by Orion.

One of the problems with flares is that their reliability decreases drastically when they are repeatedly exposed to submersion, as in a kayakers' pfd. The failure rate for flares goes up dramatically, as proven at the Sk102 flare demonstrations, where I have tested flares that were stored in a pfd pocket for one year versus flares stored dry for one year.

What can you do to try and keep the flares dry? A number of suggestions have been suggested and tried over the years:

Keep the flares in a small dry box in the pfd - hard to store due to bulk of the box, and not all pfds have pockets of a suitable size. Also, when you open the box, you risk dumping all of the flares.

Seal the flares in a "seal a meal" type plastic, either using a commercially made machine that does this, or the home iron. My experiments have found the seals to rupture or fail after repeated stuffing in the pfd pockets. Also, some of these plastics are difficult to rip open without a knife.

Store each flare individually in a commercially available latex product, and tie a knot in the end. Sorry, haven't tried this one myself, the it is reported to not be particularly sturdy over the years.

Recently at a SK101 intro to sea kayaking class put on by the Chesapeake Paddlers Association, Todd showed me a new way to store the flares. He stored his flares in a dry pack bag.

Here's how to do it:

Materials needed:

Dry Pak Cell Phone Case, small, Clear/Blue, product #DP-46.

SkyBlazer hand launched flares by Orion - Four pack

Make sure the flare expiration dates are far in the future.

Directions:

1. Insert three of the flares in the dry bag. Put the fourth flare in your emergency bail nalgene bottle.

2. Close the dry bag, and use the lanyard to lash it to one of the lash points in the pocket of your pfd.

Chesapeake Paddlers Association - Greenland Paddle making class

2008-03-23T22:27:00.002-04:00

The Chesapeake Paddlers Association held our third annual Greenland Paddle Making class this Saturday. Participants arrived with basic tools, were given a blank piece of wood previously roughed to their dimensions, and by the end of the day most of them were putting the finishing touches on them. Thanks to Gina for organizing this! Photos here.

Praise for Folbot!

2008-03-05T16:00:00.002-05:00

Prior to today, I have dealt with only one company that I would recommend to people solely based on their warranty policy, irregardless of gear quality. That was Kokatat, who volunatiry replaced my old beat up dry suit several years ago with a brand new suit for free, when I was ready to have to buy a new one.

Now, I have another company that I would recommend based on their warranty.

Folbot. In about 2005 I purchased their outrigger system for my sailing kayak. The system included two inflatable amas, which are plastic inflatable bladders inside nylon ballistic cloth fabric. This outrigger system has been stuffed in kayaks, lived in the back of a pickup in the heat of summer, and had some "interesting" shore landings over the years. This winter I discovered that one of the bladders had developed two small pinhole leaks. The bladder material was not one I had ever worked with, so I emailed Folbot for their recommendations on how to make the repair.

Their reply was that, having purchased the equipment directly from them the warranty (I didn't know there was one at time of purchase) would cover it, and they are now sending me a replacement bladder, at their expense.

It's nice to find a company that has that level of warranty!

3/11 update - The new bladder arrived very quickly. It is made of a heavier gauge material than the original bladders - more like the vinyl used in inflatable boats. Should be very sturdy, and likely easier to field patch.

CPA does SK101

2008-03-01T23:13:00.003-05:00

The Chesapeake Paddlers Association put on a one day seminar for people who are in the process of buying their first boat and gear for sea kayaking. Lectures during the seminar included kayak history, boat design, paddle selection, gear choices, and places to paddle. The event sold out, with over 100 people registered. Photos here.

In April we will hold SK102, a weekend event of kayak instruction in a heated lake, aimed at the first time kayakers.

Need vs Want, or the annual gear check

2008-02-28T08:45:00.003-05:00

"I want to figure out what I need as opposed to what I want. Could it be a new tent? A new backpack? Some paddling accessories? I don't know."

A friend posted this on our club paddling web site.

Need versus Want!

What a great lead in to the annual gear check we should each be doing as the warm water paddling season approaches. Do this: take all the gear you normally take on a paddle and put it in a pile on the floor. Now take each piece, one at a time, and ask this question: "will this piece of gear function as I need or want it to function through the upcoming paddling season?" If the answer is no, you need to replace it. If "maybe", you should start looking for good sales. Here's a couple of examples:

PFD:

The obvious one: Does it still fit? Like neoprene, PFDs sometimes seem to shrink over the winter. Can you still zip it up, and bucklet it?

Is the fabric ripped?

Can you see the floatation through the faded, sun worn fabric?

Hold the pfd up in front of you by the two shoulder straps. pull the pfd like you are trying to rip it in two. Without using too much force, do you hear ripping sounds? That means the fabric is deteriorating. If you were in the water in this pfd, and the coast guard had to haul you up into their boat by grabbing the shoulder strap of the pfd, would it rip on them and drop you back into the water?

Check the pfd pockets. Are they intact enough to hold your gear?

Are the lash points still firmly attached to the pfd? You'd hate to loose that expensive radio you've tethered to a weak lash point.

Paddle float:

Blow up each chamber. Yours only has one chamber? Go buy a two chamber paddlefloat.

Does the float still hold air when you press on it?

Is the lanyard to attach it to your paddle in good condition?

Sprayskirt:

Inspect the material, looking for holes and wear points. If water can get in, either patch with neoprene and aqua seal, or buy a new skirt.

Look at the bungee around the rim. Is it still intact?

Look at the seam between the sprayskirt deck and the tunnel. Any places where the seam has come undone? Repair or replace.

Flares:

Take out your pack of flares and check the expiration date. Will it expire this season? Replace.

Can't read the date? That means the flares have probably spent some time getting water soaked. Consider replacement. We know from SK102 flare demonstrations that flares that have spent time getting wet have a significantly lower chance of working when needed.

Bring your old flares to SK102 to fire off, or donate them to CPA for our flare demo.

Strobes, flashlights, and other electronics:

Open up the equipment and take out the batteries. Look at the batteries. Are there signs of corrossion? Are the batteries wet? Replace.

Inspect the inside of the battery compartment. Is it wet? Are the contacts for the batteries corroded? If so, replace.

If the batteries are rechargeables, rechage them. If disposable, consider replacing with rechargeables.

Does the electronics operate correctly?

I think from these examples you can get the idea of how to do this. Do it for each piece of gear, and then do it for the boat.

The Passing of Cyndi Cole

2008-01-06T21:22:00.000-05:00

Dear CPA members,

I am saddened to inform you that Cindy Cole passed away on January 1, 2008.
Cindy Cole was a sea kayaker extraodinaire. She and her husband, Charile Cole were instrumental in introducing many people to sea kayaking in the Maryland, Delaware, mid-Atlantic region, and in introducing sea kayakers to Greenland paddling. The Coles organized the first Delmarva Paddler's Retreat (this coming DPR will be the 20th). Cindy was a board member of Qajaq USA. She performed an amazing sequence of rolls set to music at a Delmarva Paddlers Retreat and inspired other paddlers to perform kayak dressage at subsequent retreats. They owned Millpond Paddlers, a sea kayak outfitting store, in Ocean View, Delaware. They particpated in CPA's paddle fests.

Cindy Cole and Greg Stamer were the first two USA citizens to compete in the Greenland National Sea Kayaking Championships in 2000. Greg Stamer wrote an article for Sea Kayaker regarding their experience, February 2001 (Issue 80, page 34). Cindy wrote an article, "The Throwing Stick Roll" in the February 1997 issue of Sea Kayaker magazine (Issue 56, page 36).

Sincerely,
Jenny Plummer-Welker

Gone exploring...

2007-10-03T17:09:00.000-04:00

I took three days recently and went exploring. I like to get away and paddle water I've never been on. Nothing like the thrill of seeing what's around the bend that you've never been around before. Once you've paddled 90% of your local waters, this means you need to go afield. Fine with me. As long as the time on water exceeds the time on the road, I'm happy to drive.

I had a great time exploring two new waterways that were about a 3-4 hour drive from the house and did close to fifty miles of paddling new water. I had tried to get some others interested in coming along, as I have on previous longer range trips, but no takers. Not everyone likes to travel.

On the way back home I made a few detours to check out some launch sites at some other places I have my eye on for future trips. I thought "this would be great for a club trip - we could paddle from here, to that historic site, then over there...." But I'm not sure I'd get much response. As I said, not everyone likes to travel and explore.

My last stop I got part way in to the site, then decided that it looked so good I wouldn't spoil my suprise with it now - I'd wait and come back with at least one person I know who likes to explore with me.

Holladay Island, Chowan River NC

2007-08-10T21:56:00.000-04:00

Kayak Camping on the Chowan River, North Carolina

By Greg Welker

A swampy, forested river that is still relatively remote and undeveloped, the Roanoke River at the Virginia/North Carolina border has been on my places to paddle list for several years. The Roanoke River Partners (http://www.roanokeriverpartners.org/) have established several paddle in camp sites along the Roanoke River. Reading through the information about these campsites it appeared that almost all would require a car shuttle due to the typical river current.

However, recently the Chowan County Parks and Recreation Department opened up five new campsites on Holladay’s Island, in the Chowan river. This island is located about 20 miles upriver from Edenton, NC. (http://www.roanokeriverpartners.org/Platforms/Holladay/Directions.pdf) A check of the chart revealed this was within a section of the river where current would not be a factor in an out and back trip. All of these island campsites are platforms, or “chickees” in the swamps, and sit about two to three feet above the typical water level. The island has essentially three places to camp. Two of these are single platforms, on the east and west sides of the island. At the south point, there is a group campsite composed of three interconnected platforms. I made my reservations and payment by email for the Holladay West platform.

I arrived at the Chowan river around noon. The launch location I was using was a paddle launch site at Cannon Ferry, slightly downriver from the island. The launch area has a boardwalk along the river, a port-a-pot, and a gravel parking area easily visible from the road. The area looked ok to me for leaving my vehicle overnight. I loaded up the Pisces while swatting mosquitoes and wondering if a mid July camping trip in a swamp was a good idea bug wise. It was an easy launch from the sand beach. The river is about 1.5 miles wide at this point with a long South/Northwest fetch , and I would imagine that in windy conditions there would be whitecaps out here in the open. I took a leisurely 1 mile course to the south end of the island. Almost all of the river shoreline is cypress swamp, and from my position the island also looked to be heavily forested in cypress. Arriving at the southern end, I paddled into the cypress and found the dock for the southern group campsite. These sites are made more for canoes than kayaks, with a wood step about 8 feet long being about 1 foot above the water, and then a loading platform about a foot or two above that. In a kayak, this means that you pull up along the platform step and do a dock exit, which is not always the most graceful of maneuvers. A quick exploration of the site and I got back in the boat to circumnavigate the island. I enjoyed quietly paddling in and out of the cypress along the edge of the island. It was apparent that “island” was not going to mean dry land. While I saw a deer and signed of otter and raccoon, I did not see anything I would consider dry land. All three of the sites sit back from the river about 100 feet into the swamp, which provides some privacy and protection from wind and waves. They are well marked with yellow signs if you are observant.

Completing the 3.5 mile circumnavigation I backtracked to Holladay West and examined the landing platform. Some poking with the paddle revealed that there was a sand shoal along the back corner of the landing platform that was only about one foot underwater. I stood on this shoal while unloading the boat. Having platform camped from a kayak before, I figured out a way to prevent individual items from dropping overboard during the unloading. When loading the boat’s front hatch, I took a line with several plastic clips strung on it. I tied one end of the ling to the item that would go furthest up into the bow of the kayak, and then proceeded to clip the other items in the order they would go into the boat. This way, during the platform unloading and loading if I dropped an item into the water I would be able to retrieve it by the line.
Better than watching your camp stove sink out of sight!

Holladay West platform consisted of three platforms connected by wooden boardwalk. The first platform was the landing platform, and this connected to a boardwalk that ran back further into the swamp to the camping platform. The camping platform was about 16’ x 24’, with a toe rail along the edge and six vertical posts along the edge. The posts were about seven feet tall, with eye bolts on top. These would work well if you were looking to rig a tarp during rainy weather. The platform is also equipped with a wooden counter for doing your cooking (so you don’t scorch the platform). Between the landing and camping platforms a short T takes you to a privacy screen that conceals a wooden thunder box (aka privy). This was somewhat unexpected, as the site instructions on the web indicated it was total Leave No Trace. Looking at the spiders, I decided my portable facility was a better choice! Since the camping is all on wooden platforms, a free standing tent that does not require staking is essential. In windy conditions, you could tie off the tent to the toe rails. The platform could easily fit two 2-3 person tents, and you could squeeze three tents on it and still have some room to sit, eat, etc.

All of the platforms were well shaded by the cypress, and there were amazingly no mosquitoes. However, there was a healthy population of biting flies, and I quickly changed into long pants and long sleeved shirt. Dinner, to the sound of distant thunder, involved swatting a few flies. Once dark came, the flies went away, and I spent a pleasant evening listening to the swamp sounds – again, not a single mosquito! The island was reported to usually be a good spot to listen to owls, but during my circumnavigation I had noticed several crows in the trees. Typically, crow sightings mean that the owls won’t be around, and I heard only a few owls off on the river shoreline.

Next morning I woke early and quietly packed up. The river air was still, with patches of fog. I quietly paddled along the western edge of the island, watching for wildlife in among the trees. At the northern tip I headed east to the river shore, and explored Catherine Creek. This is a very nice, pristine creek, and well worth a day paddle. Following the river shore south, eating lunch in the kayak, I eventually ended up back at the launch site in mid afternoon.

I imagine this island would be very nice in the fall, perhaps as part of a trip downriver from Winton, about 16 miles upstream, with a take out down at Edenton, 22 miles downstream. With a wind from the north, this would be a very enjoyable trip. With a south wind, you would reverse the trip, but being careful of the large fetch between Edenton and Holladay Island.

2RU

2007-07-15T20:04:00.000-04:00

Friday night the Saturday forecast called for winds 0-5 out of the west, changing to 5-10 out of the W changing to S. My favorite paddling partner had a business committment, so I was on my own. I took my state atlas off the shelf, and looked to see what areas where not yet colored in, which is how I mark where I have paddled. I found a likely looking spot of about 15 miles of bay coastline and checked the tides. There would be a hight tide at the northern third of the area by 10 am, and a low at the southern end by 3 pm. There was a launch point at the bottom of the top third of the area. So the plan was get up early, launch, paddle north to catch the top third on a slightly incoming tide, turn around and do the whole area southward. Arriving at the southern limit of the 15 mile stretch I would convert to sail and sail back to the launch on the south wind and rising tide.

I was on the water by 7 AM, paddling my Pisces (17'x24") loaded with sail rig, lunch, and about 1.5 gallons of water. I headed north using my greenland paddle, but at the top end of the area I turned around and switched to the borrowed single blade I have been using (see my 5/30/07 post). I paddled south to the southern limit.

A trick I have discovered to keep up my pace is to customize one of the screens on my Sportrak GPS. I set part of the screen to show my average speed for the trip so far. Under this, I set it to show my current speed. Then I tell myself not to let my current speed drop below the average speed of the trip. If you think about this, you'll realize what happens. Let's just say you don't slow down. By this time I had logged about 21 miles on the trip. I beached and ate lunch for 15 minutes, then back in the boat. I was still feeling pretty good, and the wind hadn't materialized so I started single blading north. At 26 miles, not much wind and I was setting my sights on a 30 mile paddling day. Still feeling ok. At 34 miles, I was on a mission. I got back up to the launch point, kept going north several miles, side tripped to a tidal creek, then back out onto the bay and ended up back at the dock 11 hours 52 mines after my start and with 40.48 miles on the GPS (later verified by software and chart at home). And I was still feeling pretty decent, like after about a 20 some mile day.

Now I know that there area people out there who do much more than that in a single day. In fact, that individual just completed a circumnavigation of Calvert County this weekend, a distance of 80 - 90 NM in 34 hours and 45 minutes, including sleeping for a few hours. My previous best daily distance by paddle has been 28 miles, and my best day distance for a paddle/sail combination is 32.8 miles. So doing 40 miles is a personal best.

An elderly couple was taking their powerboat out at the launch when I got back. The lady asked me if I had paddled all the way down to the mouth of the creek. I told her I had just done 40 miles. "Oh my God!" she said. :)

NRS Paddlefloat Recall!

2007-05-31T18:45:00.000-04:00

NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs Washington, DC 20207

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2007
Release #07-201 Firm’s Recall Hotline: (877) 677-4327
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Kayak Paddle Floats Recalled by NRS Due to Drowning Hazard
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of product: NRS Sea Kayak Paddle Floats

Units: About 1,000

Distributor: NRS, of Moscow, Idaho

Hazard: The plastic tubes used to inflate the paddle float could break and deflate, posing a drowning hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: NRS has received five reports of paddle floats breaking and deflating. No injuries have been reported.

Description: The NRS Sea Kayak Paddle Float is an inflatable device that is attached to one side of the paddle to help the kayaker re-enter the kayak in open water. The paddle float is yellow and black and measures 15” wide by 28” long, before inflation. The NRS logo is on one side. This recall involves those paddle floats with inflation tubes that are clear or translucent. Paddle floats with black tubes are not included.

Sold at: NRS stores nationwide and NRS catalogs from July 2006 through March 2007 for about $40.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the paddle floats immediately and contact NRS to determine if you have one of the recalled models. NRS will provide a free replacement paddle float for consumers with recalled units.

Consumer Contact: For more information, consumers should call NRS toll-free at (877) 677-4327 between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. PST Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.nrsweb.com

Single Blading

2007-05-30T11:06:00.000-04:00

During the last several years a friend has completed two of the watertribe challenges, including an ultimate florida circumnavigation. One of the items he used during the last trip was a single blade canoe paddle modified for use with his kayak. The theory is that using a single blade paddle for very long distance days reduces fatigue since you are only lifting half a kayak paddle, and don't have really any windage issues from an upraised blade. Intrigued by his comments, and what I have been reading on the long distance paddling networks, I have borrowed one of his paddles to use for a while.

The paddle I have been using is a Power Surge FW-Z Light. Weight is listed as 8.5 ounces. The actual paddle is less, since the owner has reduced the shaft length to allow for easier paddling from a kayak seated position. The paddle is bent shaft, 12 degree angle, and constructed of carbon fiber.

Sea Kayaker Magazine's June edition has a nice article on how to paddle a sea kayak with one of these. I read the article a couple of times, then took the paddle to the water to give it a try. Here were my first impressions.

This is a very light paddle. When changing sides, I feel like I have to be careful not to accidently throw the paddle away. I'm wondering how this would feel in very high wind situations. But then again, I'm not sure I'd use this in high winds and waves, as there might be times when the paddle is on the port side, and the brace needs to be on the starboard. The paddle is very well made; sturdy, with no noticeable give or flex.

I normally paddle with a greenland paddle, and the stroke distance (how you put the paddle in the water, and where you take it out) feel very similiar between the greenland and single blade paddles. The rapid cadence of the blade stroke will feel very familiar to greenland paddlers. So far I've only used the paddle in my Outer Island(http://www.impexkayak.com/outer_island.html), which has a skeg and no rudder. Without the skeg, in flat water with no wind I'm taking about four strokes per side before I veer too far off course. With the skeg down, I'm at about eight strokes per side before switching. You lose time, momentum, speed, and rhythm by having to switch sides, which I suspect I'm doing badly. I suspect that in a ruddered boat the course correction issue will improve and I will be able to paddle longer, if not as long as I want, on one side before switching to relieve my muscles. Using a GPS, I can comfortably cruise for many hours in the Outer Island at about 3.2-3.4 mph in flat water with winds 10 knots or less on the beam. At an excercise pace I can average about 3.6-4.0 mph. I suspect my speed will go up with a ruddered boat. In a semi-serious sprint, I can hit and hold 6.0 mph for a couple of minutes.

J stroking does not appear to be much of an option with these paddles. The bend in the blade/shaft connection seems to drop your speed quickly when you rudder. Sweep strokes work well. Side sculling strokes work well. I can roll with the paddle. It is similiar to rolling with half of a euro blade. Use an extended arm sweep from a Pawlatta roll. Rolling with the power face down is easier than with the back of the blade. The paddle works much like a traditional kayak paddle as an outrigger when entering or exiting the boat.

I could see myself using this paddle for day trips where I am trying to go very long distances on windless days, or to use in the last third of a very long paddle as a change of pace from my typical greenland paddle. All in all, something that I will be experimenting with further in the coming weeks.

The Southern Bay

2007-05-23T14:58:00.000-04:00

RB and a couple of others did a recent trip with me to the southern end of the Virginia eastern shore. He did a great trip report: http://www.cpakayaker.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2183. This is a very intriguing area, but definitly watch the tides and weather.

Skin Boat Saran Test Night

2007-05-09T23:16:00.000-04:00

Tonight at Pier 7 we did the saran wrap test for two new skin on frame boats. Photos are here.

SK101 Introduction to Sea Kayaking Class

2007-02-17T22:29:00.000-05:00

The Chesapeake Paddlers Association held a day long course today: SK101 - Introduction to Sea Kayaking Class. Photos at www.flickr.com.photos/gdwelker/

Greenland SOF Bow

2007-02-10T20:22:00.000-05:00

JP's working on her Greenland style skin on frame kayak this winter. Me, I'm learning to use my digital camera and Paint Shop Pro 9.

SK101!

2007-01-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

January 7, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHESAPEAKE PADDLERS ASSOCIATION
GREENBELT, MARYLAND

The Chesapeake Paddlers Association will sponsor SK101, a one-day seminar on sea kayaking. The seminar will take place on Saturday, February 17, 2007, at the West River Center, West River, Maryland. Presentations will include kayak and paddle design, how to choose boats and gear, basics of safe paddling, where to paddle, and other topics of interest. There will be boats and gear on display, and knowledgeable people available to discuss different aspects of kayaking. Weather permitting, there will be an on-water demonstration and cold water gear checks. This event is primarily for the new paddler; however, everyone is invited to expand their paddling horizons. Cost is $20 and includes a light breakfast and lunch. Registration is required.

Dave Biss, Coordinator of the CPA, stated, “SK101: An Introduction to Sea Kayaking is a great opportunity for people who are just getting started or are new to the sport of sea kayaking. Here is a chance to meet and listen to others talk about their experiences and their love of the sport. Interested newcomers can gain hands-on understanding of essential gear, get indispensable advice from experienced kayakers, and see demonstrations of techniques. This is a winter kayaking event not to be missed."

The mission of the Chesapeake Paddlers Association is to help people safely enjoy sea kayaking and to promote safe paddling practices through the education of the local sea kayaking community and the interested public. Club activities may include, but are not limited to, kayak trips, kayak camping trips, instructional workshops, informal weekday evening paddles, and parties. The Chesapeake Paddlers Association has over 500 members and is a completely volunteer-run organization. Numerous volunteers work to support all aspects of the group, including paddling trips, workshops, web site, newsletter, and online community.

More information and registration forms are available at http://www.cpakayaker.com/, at many local outfitters, and from Gina Cicotello at 240-305-0922. Registration will be accepted through February 1, 2007. Applications received after the workshop is full will be placed on a waiting list.

####

The Virginia Coast

2006-11-07T21:09:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine has been steadily exploring the Virginia barrier islands over the years. I recently had the opportunity to paddle in them a little more, and enjoyed it very much. It is an interesting area of wide open spaces. When a good weather window happens to coincide with tides at just the right time of day it can be very enjoyable paddling. However, it is definitly an area that takes some weather/tide/paddling sense or you'll have a dissapointing trip or worse.

Dave Burren of Southeast Expeditions in Cape Charles City informed me that the area is now developing a water trail guide. See the online version of Navigating Virginia's Easter Shore Seaside Water Trail. My appreciation to Southeast Expeditions and the other partners who put together this effort. My understanding is that more is to come.

This owl was having a bad day with a flock of crows.

An interesting sunset from Kiptopeake over the old concrete ships that serve as breakwaters for the harbor.

The next traditional kayaking skill?

2006-10-31T19:30:00.000-05:00

This is a photo from the 1987 fall issue of Sea Kayaker. John Heath was probably the world's foremost authority on North Polar culture skin boats. Note the single blade paddle. The King Islanders used single blades, and large, wide, deep boats. And rolled them. With the single blade kayaking, there is much in common with the water ballet/freestyle that occupies a small nitch of canoeing. Single blades are now available commercially for kayaking, and would be simple to make as a do-it-yourself project. After all, you don't have to worry about making two blades that match!

Dubside

2006-10-23T21:38:00.000-04:00

I generally stay away from the commercial side of kayaking. However, having known Dubside for many Delmarva Retreats, I will pass on this recommendation for his Greenland Ropes Video and Kayak Rolling. He has a nice site, with information on the rolls and ropes, and the names in english and greenlandic. www.dubside.net..

Delmarva Paddlers Retreat 2006

2006-10-11T20:46:00.000-04:00

I don't always attend the Delmarva Paddlers Retreat each year, for a variety of reasons. Often, the retreat falls on an October weekend that is packed with other boating events - the Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival at the Saint Michaels Maritime Museum with its sailing canoes and kayaks is a large enough attractant that about half the time I attend that instead. And of course there is the Annapolis Sailboat Show.
However, this year I decided to attend the Retreat because there was a good chance JP would have her skin on frame kayak complete, and I was ready to find some new rolls to work on in my Outer Island. Both JP and I have taught at the retreat in the past, and looked forward to doing so again this year.

Some of the guides (aka instructors) were arriving a day before the event began, to get set up and network, so JP and I headed off with truck fully loaded to join them. Noon that day found us driving down US-1 in Delaware. When JP asked what I wanted for lunch, one choice stood out. Dogfishhead is a pub/microbrewery that we discovered the first month it was open, and have enjoyed ever since. A great place for really good beer - particularly, IMHO, pale ales. I was not disappointed. A six pack left with us for the weekend revelry. Nothing better than handing a good beer to a good friend while talking kayaking!

The event is held at Camp Arrowhead, Lewes, Delaware. There are cabins, tent camping, or TREE HOUSES! We tried them last year when they were new, and liked them. Same results this year.

The weather predictions had been degrading all week long, and the pre event day found spatterings of rain and some wind. By the next morning, the first official day of the event, the bay was bouncing, and my wrist mounted anemometer read a solid 34 mph wind directly onto the beach. Seas were a two feet with the occasional higher wave, all closely spaced as is typical for a northeaster in this area. You can see the conditions on the photos. The northeaster combined with a full moon to provide some very high tides. This was the highest tide I have seen at any of the retreats, and it put the dock underwater. JP had to hold on to the pilings at the end of the dock as she did guard duty during the weekend to keep people from getting upwind of the dock and carried into it. Needless to say, the pool saw a lot more usage for rolling class than in past years. We were however, able to give some people their first experience of rough conditions in a very controlled environment, and were able to do the on-water classes on Sunday.

Some general highlights of the weekend:

Friday evening lecture on kayak camping the Oregon coast in a SOF by Brian Schulz.

Saturday evening lecture by a Danish kayaker (name escapes me right now) on his club's trip to Eastern Greenland to help the fledgling east Greenland kayak club learn to build SOF boats. Good sense of ironic humor there.

Saturday, making sure I still could do my rolls in rough conditions. Everything seemed to work, though I didn't try my hand roll in that stuff!

Catching up with Keith Attenborough, former CPAer and fellow paddler. Keith does helicopter rides :). And willingly wrote about it afterwards in a way that has benefited many of us -keeping all of us safer out there. Thanks Keith.

Having fun at the benefit auction - where else can a couple of people run up the bids against each other and have so much fun? Much appreciation and thank yous to the manufacturers and people who donated items for the auction - locally, Chesapeake Light Craft made some donations via JP for the games that we thought were so good we put them on the auction table instead. Anyone know what the "scum rises" bumper sticker brought?

Seeing some of the Chesapeake Paddlers Association members who were there for the first time figure things out - making paddles, learning rolls, discovering SOFs.

Bay conditions on Saturday. That's the dock under water.

Carly doing a balance brace in a Skin on Frame kayak.

Dave setting up to do something. Note the looks of the onlooking CPAers. Dave, paddle?

Harvey Golden Greenland kayaking in historic replicas

2006-10-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

Found this nice video by kayak researcher Harvey Golden:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce4QaNaoDN8

Harvey has done a lot to bring the kayaks in museums out into the paddling community by his plans and measurements. Some of you may be aware of him through the Delmarva Paddler's Retreat. I'll get a writeup and photos on this year's event up in a few days.

Western Maryland Landscape

2006-09-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

A recent business trip to Western Maryland yielded this landscape shot from a highway overlook. 18 mm.

Tall Pines, rain and shine!

2006-09-20T21:04:00.000-04:00

I was recently able to join several fellow kayakers at Tall Pines for a three day weekend there. We had rain, wind, and sun in equal amounts. On the way down and back I was also able to do some photography at Blackwater NWR and Chincoteague NWR.

This Pine Warbler was a campground find. Shot at about 60 feet, 210mm.

A pan shot of a bald eagle near sunset, taken at about 200 feet, 400mm. I was losing light fast!

This egret did a water dance for the camera. 100 feet, 400mm.

This whitetail came out at sunset on Assateague. About 500 ft, 400 mm, shot from truck window mount.

Skills Training at Greenbriar State Park with the Chesapeake Paddlers Association

2006-09-09T13:48:00.000-04:00

JP and I recently had an opportunity to do an overnight at Greenbriar State Park with the Pirates of Sugarloaf, a chapter of the sea kayaking club Chesapeake Paddlers Association. We helped out as instructors for their yearly skills training session. Greenbriar is a small spring fed lake with wonderful clear water. Cold too - my wetsuit and mystery shirt felt good (although I need to say that NRS needs to rethink it's clothing sizing. I "have the XX large, which is supposed to fit the 6'3" - 6'5" person weighting 230-260 lbs ( I am 6'1" at 230) and my forearm seams are ripping.).

JP had her first opportunity to try out her tuliik. A couple of photos from day two:

Balance brace with hands free of the paddle.

Smiles in the Tuliik

Setup position for the norsak roll

The afternoon and evening were spent teaching rolling, bracing, strokes, etc, topped off by a good potluck supper and a nice cool night in the tent. Thank you Deb and Sugarloaf pirates for the invitation!

Old Posts from the Old Blog

2006-09-09T10:23:00.000-04:00

Monday, August 28, 2006Pamunkey and Mattaponi weekend - where the locals tan.

Another weekend where JP has non-kayaking obligations. So I paddle the Pamunkey river - doing the West Island/Thoroughfare circumnavigation, and explore some of the creeks.

It was a hot day, and I took a break in the river by getting out of the boat mid channel and floating for a while with the boat tethered to me with about eight feet of line. Just lying there cooling off. Had several bass boats go by, but none even looked twice at the guy in the water and the empty kayak.

The area around West Island is a very nice area. Especially up Big Creek. Paddling up on the remains of the ebb tide I saw what I thought was an animal swimming across the creek, maybe muskrat, beaver, etc. Getting up closer to it, it turned out to be the tip of the tail fin of the biggest Gar I have ever seen. It was working back and forth in the ebb current facing upstream. I paddled up alongside, and with it's snout about at my bow, the tail was at my water bladder on the front deck, making it conservatively six feet long, and swimming in about 4-6 feet of water. I watched it for a bit, then couldn't resist - I reached down with the paddle tip and touched it. Kabloom! The fish reacts, bites my greenland paddle, and takes off in a huge wash of wake.

I'm upright, but looking at the tip of my paddle, which is now missing a small piece on one edge and has teeth marks in it. Guess I'll write an article for the club magazine on how to repair bitten paddles...

Night at Rainbow Acres, and the next day a paddle from Walkerton downstream on the ebb and back on the flood tide. Two more well timed paddle trips and I'll have done all of the Mattaponi from VA 360 to West Point. Coming back into the ramp at Walkerton ($3 to launch, owned by the Vol. Fire Dept and a very nice set of ramps), I spotted a aluminum boat coming into the ramp with me. Three nice locals, who liked the idea of me taking this photo of thier boat:

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Monday, August 14, 2006 Lower Mattoponi and Poropotank rivers, VA

With JP working on her skin boat all weekend I decided to throw the camping gear in the pickup and go explore some new water. I had always heard that the Mattoponi river in VA was a strongly tidal current river, so a check on the tide charts and I was good for a launch at the mouth, heading upstream on the flood. Chris Conklin's SeMap program helped me locate a ramp across the river from West Point. A roundtrip of 25 miles had me passing several early 18th centurey homesteads and plantations, marshes, and relatively few houses. The north shore of the river, which is King and Queen County, has a couple of Va. Game Dept public ramps for use. No launches on the south side except in West Point at a busy ramp.

A consultation of gazetteer and books and I found Rainbow Acres Campground. Mostly summer long RVers, but there is a tenting area in the woods. This would be a good place to paddle in to camp while doing the Mattaponi some time.

Next day I met up with a fellow club member, Ellen, and we paddled the Poropotank river, which comes off the north shore of the York a few miles south of West Point. I found this in Andrea Nolan's Sea Kayking Virginia book. We launched at Tanyard landing and headed upstream at the low slack. As the tide flooded with us, we poked into the swamp, the upper end of the creek, and several side channels. Much wild rice and Ellen finally saw wood ducks. Then back down, past the put in, to explore another creek a mile or so south. Abut 21 miles of paddling and the sun was setting, the tide was in full ebb, and it was time to make the drive home.

Monday, July 24, 2006 riprap quick trip

The plan was to get out Sat/Sun into the SNP, but Saturday's T storm and rain prediction kept me local - and doubting weathermen until the storms hit Saturday night. A check of conditions near SNP and I was glad I had stayed home. Sunday I headed out, but needed to be back by noon on Monday. So, a quick loop around the riprap/wildcat/AT loop, including a swim in the creek and a night in the hammock.

Sunday, July 16, 2006 Boathouse Door Replacement

The long promised replacement of the boathouse sliding door occurred this weekend. Having a professional remodeler with a truck full of pro-grade tools made the work go smoothly. Thanks Rich, Sue, and JP for your efforts on this! Now we need to have a contest to come up with the best way to decorate the new door. Seems like no one liked my idea of a can of white spray paint :)

Thursday, July 13, 2006 Bob Zelley's list of Recommendations for Blue Water Sea Kayakers

Bob Zelley, a very experienced local paddler, recently sent JP and I a list of "recommendations" he has compiled through his years of sea kayaking. I'm willling to bet that he learned most of these through the School of Hard Knocks. Reading through these I noted quite a few that I had also learned "after the fact".

Here is the list, published with Bob's permission:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BLUE WATER KAYAKERS TO CONSIDER
Collected by Bob Zelley Yard1ey, P A

~ Know what time the sun sets when you paddle; you do not want to paddle in the dark.

~ There is no better substitution for paddling improvement than time spent on the water paddling.

~ Do not depend on your equipment covering up for any short comings you have in experience, skill or physical fitness.

~ A supply of drinking water is more important to your physical well being during the first three hours of paddling than a snack

~ Except for your kayak and maybe a paddle, never put anything on the top of a vehicle as you are packing or unpacking. You will forget and it will be lost.

~ Rain hats and sun hats are not the same'. A proper rain hat is lOOt waterproof and will cause sweating on sunny warm days. After experimentation, always take one of each. Gore-Tex may enable one hat to do both jobs.

~ Carry sun block and insect repellent in an outside pocket of the lifejacket. Zippered or buckled pockets are best.

~ A nice morning can turn into a windy, cool and even wet afternoon. A long sleeved paddling jacket that is wind and rain proof should be included on any paddling trip of an hour or more. The jacket should be accessible to you without getting out of the kayak. The same is true of a rain hat, drinking water and snacks.

~ When paddling with a group, find out what their on water plans are. Paddle with kayakers whose on water interests are similar to yours. Hooking up with a group you do not know very well can produce an unpleasant and even unsafe situation.

~ Do not expect your paddle mates or other boaters to be responsible for your safety. No one can paddle your kayak for you. You cannot get out and walk if problems develop. Know your limitations. You are on the edge of you limits when fear sets in.

~ Learning and practicing self rescue and group rescues in a pool or small pond is fine. But, it is only a start. Rolling, paddle float re-entry, and group rescues most also be tested in turbulent conditions. Take advantage of warm water to practice in conditions that are most likely to cause a problem.
~ If you plan to paddle in cold water be sure your clothing will do the job. Put on your entire cold water outfit boots to hood and wade into the water. Then go into chest deep water and flop around in the water. If you feel relatively okay, no cold water shock and no leaking, you are set to paddle'. Stay close to shore just in case'.

~ Keep the inside of all water containers clean. Resist putting anything other than water in your containers. Do not use "old water". Dump out each container at the end of a trip. Do not fill fresh water book into the containers until the morning of the day they will be used.

~ When bringing a kayak to shore in a current, head upstream into the current as you beach. In doing this, the stern will not be brought around by the current.
~ Physical fitness is not a skill. Skill is not physical fitness. Neither one is experience. It takes all three to have an enjoyable and safe paddle on interesting water.

~ It has been a long day. You had a good time and you are tired. As you approach your vehicle you realize the keys are missing. This can become a horror show. I have two options worth considering. Have a key attached to the outside of the vehicle. The underside of the vehicle is a good place to wire the key in place. Another alternative is to carry the key in a zippered or buckled pocket in your paddle jacket or life jacket. The key should be carried in such a way that rolling and wet exits will not shake it loose. Do not trust Velcro closed pockets.

» Straight line paddling a problem? Have a compass mounted on the foredeck of your kayak Be sure you can read the numbers and letters on the compass while sitting in the kayak before securing the compass to the deck. When on the water, practice paddling by the compass heading.

>.. If you would not do it while paddling alone, do not do it when-paddling in a group.
Rough water, high wind., or a long crossing will get every one's attention. Few, if any, of your paddling partners will be watching you. The most one or two may be able to do is point out to the guys in the Coast Guard where they think they last saw you.
» Have a place for all of your paddling gear' at home and in the kayak. Run a visual check before leaving home. If you pack the vehicle the evening before, pack everything. Remember, "out ,of sight, out of mind". Everything has a place and everything is kept in its own place.

» Bring a watch along on all paddles. How long you have been paddling, how often you feel a need to rest, the time to start back to the put in location and when to start to look for a tent site for the night are all important. The watch must have a strap long enough to fit around the outside of a paddle jacket wrist seal or a dry suit's gasket. I have gone one better. A water resistant watch without a band is contact cemented to the outside top of my spray skirt. Whenever I want the time I just look down at my skirt.

» Knowing your average rate of paddling speed is important. Use your chart to locate easy to find features that are one to five miles apart. Paddle these distances as normal a paddle effort as you can. Keep track of the numbers with a china marking pencil. As time goes by, you should be able to establish average paddling time between many locations on your home waters.

During the first ten or twenty minutes after launching from a new location, turn around and note landmarks and water marks that you will be able to ~ upon your return. Water and radio towers, stacks, steeples, and bridges are good. choices for long distance dead reckoning. Marinas, boat shops, and the numbers on buoys are useful as you near the take out.

~ As you paddle with a group of kayakers, suppose you decide you wish to leave the group. If the group has a designated leader, tell him or her you are leaving. If it is a thrown together group with no leader, blow your whistle to get their attention and announce your plans. If you are sick you may get one or two from the group to paddle back with you. If you need towing, say so. If you and your equipment are all right and you want to do a different paddle that day, tell the group your intended plans. If you get back to the take out before the rest of the group, leave a note on one of the vehicles belonging to the group on the water announcing that you have returned safely. Never leave a group activity without notifying someone in the group.

Sunday, July 9, 2006 7 days and 7 new waters

In the last nine days JP and I have paddled 7 days, and each on a piece of water new to both of us: Cat Point Creek, VA; lower Nanticoke, MD; lower Wicomico, MD; upper Blackwater, MD; Belle Isle State Park, VA; middle Piankatank, VA; and new portions of Winter Harbor, VA. Select photos:

Woody and I take the immediate method of solving the kayak blocking blowdown problem:

Thursday, June 29, 2006 Back to the original idea, almost
A long time ago I was working on wildlife photography as a hobby/possible second career. That led to sea kayaking, and eventually to getting several articles and photos published in magazines. I hadn't gone back to the writing/photography scene in quite a few years. However, a recent foray back into the field in a minor way did manage to get some writing and photos published in the August issue of Sea Kayaker. Personally, I was pleased that I could still work at that level of competence.

Thursday, June 22, 2006 Good Friends leaving, but won't be forgotten

Our local paddling group thrives because of the people who volunteer their time and efforts to keep it running, providing food, leadership, help, and friendship. Two of our best are moving out of town, but they won't be forgotten. Going away cake:

While searching through my sea kayaking literature bookshelf I came across the notebook holding old editions of the Chesapeake Paddlers Association Newsletter, The Chesapeake Paddler. Some of those articles are still enjoyable or educational to read. From time to time I'll post some here for download. The first one is ready at http://mysite.verizon.net/gdwelker/id48.html

Thursday, May 11, 2006 Kayak Launch Site Website

Here's a useful website for finding kayak launch sites in the MD/VA/DE area:
http://www.hi-techboats.com/Page14_KAYAK_PADDLING_SITES_all.html

Sunday, April 30, 2006 CPA SK102 2006

The yearly SK102 skills training weekend by the Chesapeake Paddlers Association was held this weekend. 90 some students, 30 some instructors, and 85 degree F water at Lake Anna. JP and I did instruction - greenland paddling, rolling, strokes, kayak design, rules of the road, and kayak gear.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006WhiteBlaze - an Appalachian Trail Community

WhiteBlaze is a website about the Appalachian Trail, thru hiking, backpacking, etc. A very good source for local information on backpacking in the east, and for information and opinions on gear.

Sunday, April 16, 2006 Assateague Island kayak camping April 14-16, 2006
An extended weekend with great weather found JP and I at Assateague Island's paddle in campsites with a friend and his daughter. Temps of 50s at night, and 70-80 in the daytime, with wind that was low velocity for Assateague norms. A few ticks, but no bites. Terrapins, Bald eagles, herons, egrets, ponies, etc. JP had her digital camera:

Saturday, April 1, 2006 Doyles River Overnight

A short circut using the AT, Doyles River trail, and Jones Creek trail allowed me to get the second March overnight in. Great hammock weather. The waterfalls were interesting, although the water levels were signficantly lower than a normal spring. I saw no one else on the trails. Wildlife: very large stag, grouse, opossum, and one very scared racoon who sniffed my pack at night, and then suddenly realized I was ABOVE him in my hammock!

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

NOAA integrates free BookletChart for the Chesapeake with the Notice To Mariners

A while ago on the cpakayaker listserve there was discussion that boaters, even casual ones, had the responsibility for knowing, understanding, and keeping current on the nautical rules of the road, exclusion areas, etc. It was pointed out that the changes are published in the Notice to Mariners which is updated just about weekly on the web.
Also, a while ago, I posted about NOAA now providing free booklet charts for the entire Chesapeake Bay area. These are free, downloadable to your PC, and can be printed on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.

Now, NOAA has incorporated the Notice to Mariners into the BookletCharts, which will be updated weekly to include all the notices in effect.
The NOAA bookletcharts are available via www.NauticalCharts.gov/bookletcharts

Sunday, March 26, 2006 AT hike today
After a day at home yesterday - JP working on her skinboat and me outback aerating the yard with the atlatl and darts, we took a hike on another part of the AT today. Quiz for today: What connections exist between Bowie and this rock?

Saturday, March 25, 2006Navigation Quiz

About two years ago the navigation class that I was supposed to teach at our club's kayak class weekend was rained out. So I put together several navigation related questions and posted them to the CPAKayaker list serve. I was recently asked if I still had them around, so here they are:

Ok, so the navigation and rules of the road classes got washed out at LakeAnna this year. If you would have attended, you would know that aides tonavigation come in different colors:

Question #1

Cans, which mark the port side of channels, are green.Nuns, which mark the starboard side of channels, are red.

Some aides are green and red, marking branching channels.

Aides that are white and red mark safe water.

Aides painted black and red mark isolated dangers.

Yellow is for special use.

But do you ever see blue on an aide for navigation?

Answer #1

Yes, those are the two applications of blue in the US.

One is the Francis Scott Key Buoy is shown at approx 39 degrees 13 min 30 sec lat x76 31 30 long, just north of the spot where the key bridge crosses the FortMcHenry channel. It is labeled on most charts as N Bu R W, which means Nun,Blue, Red, White.

Question #2

When we go to paddle across a river or channel, or a lake, we generally pickan object on the far shore to paddle toward. If there is no wind and nocurrent, and we paddle straight, we will arrive at the object we picked viathe shortest distance from our starting point. However, in real life thingslike wind, current, waves, and other factors can cause us to paddle a coursethat is not a straight line from start to finish. One of the methods toinsure that you are paddling in a straight line to your destination is touse ranges.

A range is when you can see one object at your destination point, and canalso see a second object DIRECTLY behind the first object. As long as youare able to paddle toward the first object and keep the second object linedup directly behind the first, you are paddling the shortest possible courseto your destination. For example, let us say that you want to paddle acrossthe Potomac river from the Maryland side. On the Virginia shore you can seea white house along the shore. By shifting a few yards one way or anoher youcan get a water tower to line up directly behind the house. Now as long asyou paddle your kayak so that the water tower stays directly behind thewhite house you will be paddling the shortest course to the white house fromyour starting position on the Maryland side. The farther the distancebetween the two objects that you are using as ranges, the greater accuracyyou will be able to maintain on your paddle toward your destination. If thewater tower is only 200 feet behind the white house, your course will not beas accurate as it would be if the water tower was 1000 feet behind the whitehouse. When picking objects to use as ranges, try to pick one object atyour destination point and try to find an object on the horizon to use asyour second point. This may mean shifting your starting position a hundredfeet one way or another to begin with, but it will shorten your overalltrip. Near objects can be buildings, docks, or a tree. Far objects can beradio towers, water towers, smokestacks, or the notch of two hills or mountains.

When using a range, you will sometimes find that the second object willappear to move out from behind the first object you are sighting on for yourrange. This means that you are no longer on the direct route to your firstobject and need to correct your course. In our example of crossing thePotomac from Maryland we made a range of a white house with a water towerthat lined up directly behind the house. If, as we paddle across toward ourdestination, the water tower appears to move out to the right of the house,do we need to paddle to the left or to the right to correct our course andget the house to line up with the water tower again?

Answer #2

To get back in line with the range that we have established using the houseand water tower we would have to paddle to the left. This would put us backin line with the two objects we are using for a range and allow us tocontinue our paddle as planned. Our drifting out of alignment was probablydue to wind, waves, or current. To stay in alignment with the rangeobjects, we will need to angle to kayak slightly into what is causing us todrift. Your kayak will now be pointing slightly to one side of the rangeobjects, but you will be travelling toward them. The angle between thedirection the kayak is pointing, and the direction of your intended courseis called the ferry angle, which you may have seen discussed in some of theposts about Navigation Question #2 last week.

QUESTION #3:

Before setting out on your trip, you can actually calculate what the ferryangle would be in general situations.

Let's say that the potomac crossing is six miles. You can paddle at 3 milesper hour. You know that the incoming tide will have a predicted speed of 1mile per hour during the time you will be on the water.

Take a compass sighting on the range made by the two range objects weselected by using your deck compass. Point the kayak at the range. Readthe compass. Let's say the compass heading is 270 degrees. Note that thiscompass reading is when you, the house, and the water tower are all in linewith each other and the boat is pointing at the range objects.

Paddling at 3 miles per hour, you will be on the water for two hours.

The current, at 1 mile per hour, will push you upstream (directly north) twomiles if it takes you two hours to do the crossing.

If you start paddling directly toward your range objects you will end up inVirginia two miles upstream of your range objects, and have to paddle twomore miles than your planned six to reach the Va. landing point. You needto compensate for the tidal current.

On your chart, draw a line from your Md. starting point (label this point A)through the two range objects you will use. Where the line intersects theVa shore label this point B. Draw a line perpendicular to line AB throughpoint B. Measure this line to find a point two miles south of your line ABacross the potomac. Label this new 2 mile point as C. You now have twosides of a triangle. Complete the triangle by drawing a line from C to A.The angle that is between the lines AB and AC is your ferry angle. This isthe angle that you need to keep the bow of the kayak pointed in to cross thepotomac along your intended course of AB.

This angle is slightly less than 20 degrees. Round it off to 20, sincecompass navigation in a kayak is rarely more accurate than plus or minusfive degrees. Your course from Md to VA along the range line was 270degrees by the compass reading. Subtract 20 degrees from this to get 250degrees. As you paddle across the potomac, you should keep your boat angledto read 250 degrees on your deck compass, and keep your boat in line withthe two range objects. This will get you across along the line AB.

That's the theory. Real life is a little different. Wind, tide, current,and waves vary and our 250 degree heading is a best guess before startingout. Still, I'd rather use a best guess than find myself two miles awayfrom my intended landing point! In practice, I always try to end upslightly "above" my intended landing point. In this case, since the currentis pushing me toward the north, I'd like to end up over near the Virginiashore slightly south of my landing point and be able to drift down easily toit, than paddle against the tide. This is particularly important ifpaddling against wind and waves. It's demoralizing to make a bumpy crossingonly to find that you now have to paddle against the wind and waves to getto where you were trying to head in the first place. As you paddle across,keep an eye on your compass and the range, and adjust your angle andpaddling speed as needed.

Back to theory. Given:

Compass heading to the va shore from md is 270.

It is 6 miles from MD to Va.

Paddling speed is 3 mph.

There will be incoming tide for the first 1/2 of the trip.

Incoming tide will be 0.5 mph heading north.

There will be outgoing tide for second 1/2 of the trip.

Outgoing tide will be 1 mph heading south.

What should your compass read as you paddle across?

Hint #1: The range will tell you when to change.

Answer #3

On your chart, draw a line from your starting point in Maryland to youranticipated landing point on the VA shore. This should line up with thehouse and water tower we are using as ranges. This is line AB, A being onthe Md shore.

Since the tidal current will change half way through the trip, mark a pointhalfway along this line. This is point C.

For the first half of the trip, the tidal current is going upstream at 0.5mph. Trip length is 6 miles / 3 miles per hour = 2 hours.0.5 mph current x 1 hour (halfway) = 1/2 mile for how far the tidal currentwill try to push you upstream.

Draw a line perpendicular to your planned range route from the halfway point.Measures off 1/2 mile DOWNSTREAM along this line.Mark this point. This is point D.

Use your NAVAID to calculate course along this line from point A to point D.This would be your ferry angle compass reading to hold for the first half ofyour trip.It should be about 260 degrees.

The tidal current will change at the time you are in mid river and beginflowing out. It will flow out at 1 mph.

From point B on the Md shore, draw a line perpendicular to line AB.

Outgoing tide of 1 mph x 3 miles distance / 3 mph paddling speed = 1 milecurrent push downstream. You will need to compensate for the current by aiming 1 mile upstream FROMYOUR POSITION AT THE TIME THE CURRENT CHANGES. This is important.Let's assume your have done all your calculations and paddling correctly,and that the current for the first half of the trip was as predicted. Youshould be at point C in your kayak.

Measure 1 mile upstream from point B along the line perpendicular to AB.Call this point E. Draw a line from point C to point E. This is your newferry angle course. It should be about 290 degrees.

In theory, you will paddle off the Md shore using a ferry angle compassreading of about 260. Halfway through your trip, when the tide changes, youwill change your ferry angle course to be 290 degrees, and end up at yourdestination on the VA side.

Why did we do this navigation calculation along a route that had a range?

The range will act as a double check for our ferry angle caculations andwill tell us when the current changes. As you paddle along, keep checkingthe range. Adjust your planned ferry angle to keep the range in line. Thiswill compensate for errors or variations in the tidal current data, and windeffects. As you reach the point where the current begins to reverse, therewill be a period of slack current, and then the reverse current will beginto occurr. Keeping your range will allow you to compensate for these periods.

As a good general rule, never rely on only one way to navigate. In thiscase, the range acts as backup to the ferry angle calculations you made.

Question #4

How fast do you go in your kayak? This is a question to ask whether you areracing or just out for a casual paddle. If you know the answer to thisquestion, then you will start to be able to apply the principles of deadreckoning to your kayak trip planniing and navigation.

In marine navigation, distance is measured in nautical miles (NM), which are6,076 feet, or about 15% longer than a statuate mile as measured in yourcar. Time is measured in minutes and hours, and speed is measured in knots.One knot equals a speed of one nautical mile per hour. The formula lookslike this:

speed = distance/time

If you paddle 8 nautical miles in 4 hours, your speed would be:

8/4 = 2 knots.

How can you figure out your typical paddling speed? Some of us keep logs ofour kayak trips, where we record the duration of the trip, and the milesthat we covered. You can measure the miles off of a chart after you gethome. You can keep track of the duration by using the stop watch functionon most digital watches. Whenever Jenny and I paddle, we start ourstopwatch functions when we are both on the water at the launch point. Wekeep the watches running through lunch stops, water, and shore breaks. Whenwe return to the launch point at the end of the day we stop the watches.Over several trips this gives us data that may look like this:

5/14/00 10 miles 4.3 hours

6/3/00 14.5 7.0

6/11/00 11.0 4.5

Over these three trips, we have paddled 35.5 miles in 15.8 hours. Ouraverage speed, including breaks, was 35.5/15.8 = 2.25 miles per hour, or 2.3knots. As we add more trips to the list, our calculation of average speedfor the two of us paddling becomes more accurate. If you know your averagespeed you can figure out how long it will take you to paddle somewhere. Sayyou want to launch from your favorite put in and paddle across to a countypark. You measure the distance from a chart, and it is 10 NM. 10 NM x 2(you have to get home) = 20 NM. 20/2.3 = 8.7 hours of paddling. Can youpaddle for almost 9 hours? If not, doing this bit of math just saved youfrom a really long paddle back to your launch point.

Let's say you shorten the trip to a closer lunch spot that is only 6 milesaway. Roundtrip is now 12 miles, and will take 12/2.3 = 5.2 hours. Thislooks reasonable for many people. It's good to know the estimated durationof a trip before you start out for several reasons. Of course, there arethe dinner reservations you made, and perhaps you prefer to get back to thecar before dark.

If you keep track of your lunch break times, you can add another importantbit of data to your personal paddling navigation. Let's assume that on thethree trips listed above each had a 30 minute lunch, and no shore breaks.Our on-water speed is now:

35.5/14.3 = 2.5 knots.

What can you do with this information? Remember problem #3 where we wantedto paddle across a 6 mile wide river and we knew our paddling speed was 3knots? If you know your on-water paddling speed you can figure out how longit will take to get from one point to a second point. Note that thison-water speed includes any breaks you take on the water to drink, rest, etc.

Paddling from Pier 7 to the Thomas Point Lighthouse is about 7 NM (don'tquote me on that). If my on-water paddling speed is 2.5 knots, and sunsetis at 7:00 pm, when do I need to launch in order to get back by sunset?(Don't worry about currents or wind)

Answer #4

To find the answer:

7 NM x 2 (it's a round trip) = 14 NM total

2.5 knot speed

14/2.5 = 5.6 hours

5.6 hours = 5 hours 36 min.

7pm - 5 hours 36 min = 1:24 pm.

You need to launch by 1:24 pm.

Question #5

In Question #4 I explained how to use the speed/distance/time formula tofigure out how long a trip, or segment of a trip would be. This informationcan also be used to help you figure out where you are at any point on your trip.

If you have an typical paddling speed on the water of 3 knots, you know thatyou will probably travel 3 nautical miles in one hour. So if you and afriend launched your kayaks from Pier 7 on the South River and paddled downthe river for an hour, you can figure that you have probably paddled 3nautical miles. This is a ballpark estimate of your location on the river.If you know what the tidal current is doing at the time of your trip, youcan increase the accuracy of your estimated position by adding orsubtracting the tidal current velocity to your paddling speed. So, if thecurrent is going out (ebbing) at 1/2 knot at the time you are paddling, youwill have travelled this distance:

1 hour x (3 knots paddling + 0.5 knots current) = 3.5 nautical miles fromyour starting point.

If the current was coming in (flooding), your distance would be figured as:

1 hour x (3 knots paddling - 0.5 knots) = 2.5 nautical miles from yourstarting point.

If you have a record in your log book of the effects of wind on yourpaddling speed, you can add or subtract the wind effect in thesecalculations. Note that a 15 knot wind does not move you in your kayak at15 knots! Let's say your records show that a 20 knot headwind reduces youron water speed to 1.5 knots. Our distance paddled for one hour with a 20knot head wind and an ebb tide of 0.5 knots would be:

1 hour x (1.5 knots paddling speed in 20 knots headwind + 0.5 knots current)= 2 nautical miles.

This system works well on a small river or following a shoreline, but it isstill only an estimate of how far you have travelled, and where you may be.When I wrote about using a range to help cross a river, I also used acompass heading. The two methods, which work independantly of each other,give me two different ways of navigating on my course. The same idea of twoindependant methods also works when trying to figure out where you are.Method #1 is the speed/distance/time formula discussed above. Method #2 isto determine your position by the use of compass bearing fixes.

Let's say you've been paddling along, and slowly realize that you're notquite sure where you are. You know your speed/time/distance information,but that only tells you how far you have paddled, not in which direction.You look around. You see a lighthouse, a green navigation aid marked "41"and a green aide marked "1MH". Assuming you have a deck mounted compass,point your boat at each item and note the reading on your compass. This isyour bearing to each item. You have:

lighthouse: 240 degrees

green 41: 90 degrees

green 1MH: 0 degrees

Get out your chart plotting device. You should be able to figure outroughly where you are on the chart and find the three objects on the chartthat you see around you. If a person was on the lighthouse looking at you,they would read a compass bearing that is called the recipricol to the oneyou read looking at the lighthouse. Think of it as the reverse of thenumber that you read when looking at the object. To find a recipricol, addor subtract 180 from your bearing. You add 180 if the bearing is less than180, and subtract 180 if it is more than 180. (Frankly, I just think of itas what is on the opposite side of the compass from me). Here's therecipricols:

lighthouse recipricol: 240 - 180 = 60 degrees

green 41 recipricol: 90 + 180 = 270 degrees.

green 1MH recipricol: 0 + 180 = 180 degrees

Now, you can draw a line from each of these objects using the recipricols.If you do this, the three lines from the objects should form a triangleinside the larger triangle formed by the three objects. You are probablysomewhere inside or very near that small triangle. The more accurately youdo each of the steps involved (taking the bearings, drawing the lines) thesmaller the triangle will be, and the better idea you will have of exactlywhere you are. Here are some hints on how to get better accuracy:

1. Whenever possible, pick objects that surround you. In this example, wehad objects north, east, and southwest of the kayaker. If you don't havethis, try to pick objects that are not all close to each other. The fartherthe objects are from each other the better your accuracy.

2. Pick objects that are discrete. Pick navigation aides, radio towers,water towers, the center of bridges, etc that are shown on your chart. Trynot to use hills (hard to define where the top is on the chart), points ofland (if you're really lost, they often all look the same - especially inthe Chesapeake), or groups of buildings.

3. The farther the object is from you, the greater the accuracy of yourcompass reading.

4. Take all of your bearings, then do the math and chartwork. This willhelp keep drift error smaller than if you take one bearing, calculate andplot the recipricol, and then do the next. Between bearings you may bedrifting.

Now, remember I mentioned using two methods independantly? Is the locationyou just plotted in rough agreement with your speed/distance/timecalculation? If you plot your location as 10 miles from your start point,and your speed/distance/time calculation says you've travelled 3 miles, oneof the two is definitly out of wack. Recheck each. If they still do notagree, and the difference could not reasonably be due to wind or currenteffect, you are not out of luck yet. There is at least one thing you andand your buddy in your kayaks can do to try and figure out where you are.Assume you each have only a compass, chart, plotter or Navaid, and don'twant to paddle any more than you have to in order to determine yourposition. What can you do?

Extra credit for the experienced navigator and navigation geek: what is theheight of the lighthouse?

Answer #5

Possible things to do to verify the accuracy of your position fix:

1. Get both boats side by side, about 3 feet apart, and both aimed at oneof the objects on which you can take bearings. Each paddler shouldindependantly read their boats' compass. Do the two numbers agree to within5 degrees? Repeat for the other two bearing objects. Do the bearings fromone of the compasses make more sense than from the other compass? If so, itis likely that the one compass is in error - either it is broken, or thereare ferrous or electrical items packed nearby it in the boat that areaffecting its performance.

2. Are both charts the same? Jenny and I often paddle with two differentmakes of charts or maps. Often one chart will show details that the otherdoes not. For instance, we have used marine charts in conjunction with MDEfishing charts; or marine charts in conjunction with topographic maps.Also, check the reference dates of the charts. Use the newer chart!

3. Put a greater reliance on the objects that can change the least.Lighthouses are rarely relocated by man or mother nature. On the otherhand, buoys and day marks may be relocated by man, ice, or storms. BrianBlankenship and I paddled the Core Banks area of North Carolina severalweeks after the hurricane passed through the area and noticed that manybouys were well off their charted positions, if they could be found at all.In question #5, I would place a greater reliance on the location of thelighthouse than any of the other bearing objects.

>>Extra credit for the experienced navigator and navigation geek: what is the>height of the lighthouse?52 feet. There is only one spot on the bay where this combination oflighthouse and navigational aides exist.

Sunday, March 12, 2006Cold Mountain, Virginia Backpacking

Three days before the weekend I had a choice to make - go to the kayak club trip planning meeting on Saturday, or go take advantage of the predicted 70 degree weekend temperatures and go backpacking. When I learned the trip planning session was at noon on Saturday, which was going to deprive me of being outdoors both days (I had thought it was Saturday night) the decision to go backpacking was the obvious choice.

I chose the loop formed by the AT trail over Cold Mountain and the Hotel Trail which comes back along the eastern side of Cold Mountain. After the climb to the top of the mountain, the AT travels across about a mile of balds (wide grassy areas with no trees) with spectaular views.

It was a great spot to eat lunch, read a book, and watch the scenery. Unfortunately, it was also very sunny and I had just gotten a short haircut - and now had the first sunburn of the season. A nice night in the hammock using the WM Apache bag and the CCF pad (High 72, low 59). I had planned for the catabatic winds with my hammock pitch, and slept well. A couple of sprinkles during the night, but not enough to wet things down. Day two was an easy hike back out on the hotel trail, past a couple of possible future campsites.

Monday, February 27, 2006 Three Ridges, VA backpacking trip

This weekend was a loop hike of the Three Ridges Wilderness area in Virginia. the trip took us up and across the peaks or ridges of the area, totalling about 1900 ft of climb on day 1 and 1800 ft of climb on day 2. Total horizontal distance 12.2 miles.

The night found us camped at a nice stream, with a campfire at the AT shelter, then off to our sleeping arangements: 1 tent, 1 hammock, and 1 tarp. Low that night of 21 degrees, with wind gusts. All slept warm. R. used a truck windshield screen, thermorest camp chair,

space blanket and butt pad with a zero degree synthetic bag in the hammock. I used byt 15 degree Western Mountaineering Apache SMF bag, with tights and fleece pants, thermal top, and down jacket and beanie under my tarp. Part of the night the wind blew up the valley and directly into the tarp opening.

Day 2's hike out was up a tumbling stream valley - very nice, and a likely future camping spot during the summer.

Thursday, February 23, 2006 Broken paddles and carrying spare paddles

The breakage of an expensive graphite lightweight paddle at a recent practice session generated some discussion cpakayaker recently (http://www.cpakayaker.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2902#2902 for the thread), prompting me to put a few thoughts down on broken paddles and why and how to carry a spare paddle.

One of the issues with any type of cutting edge technology product, such as graphite/carbon paddles is that the margins of error in the manufacturing process are often not well understood or defined. And I've never even heard of an engineering design guide standard for paddles.

In the quest for weight savings, we need to be cognizant of what we are potentially giving up. It's like light beer - it can't be less filling and still taste great. When you buy a very lightweight paddle you should understand that you are giving up some of the strength that would be in a heavier paddle of the same material. Over the years I have seen numerous graphite/carbon paddles break - always in the shaft away from the ferrule. As Woody noted, all of the breaks I have seen have been catastrophic - no warning signs. I have also seen several wooden paddles of euro and greenland design break. Wood is a material with inherent inconsistancies in its structure (such as knots and grain) and a well made wood paddle minimizes these inconsistances, but again, just like a graphite paddle, the closer you push the limits on weight the less margin of safety you have for possible breakage. I have yet to see a glass paddle break in the shaft. I have seen one very light glass paddle break in the blade when the extended grip was used and the paddler didn't know how to properly brace. Perhaps backup paddles should be glass.

Last year I experimented with building a number of foam and graphite paddles. I could come up with very very lightweight paddles, but I pushed the margin too close on them, and they all (except one so far) have ended up failing - almost always catastrophically. In the case of one paddle, I was surfing along on a wave, dug down with a stroke, and suddenly realized the lower half of the paddle was missing. Surfing the remainder of the wave with the short half of a paddle was invigorating! But, as always, I was carrying a spare paddle and was able to finish the trip using the spare.

I have one wood paddle that I made out of an extremely light piece of cedar. The paddle is a joy to use, but the lower the density of red cedar the lower the breaking strength. I would not trust that paddle in surf or rough conditions. It only comes out for calm protected paddles, and as always, I carry a spare paddle.

How close you cut that margin of safety is a personal decision, but you need to be cognizant of the consequences, which, in this case, could include the breakage of a paddle at a very awkward or dangerous moment.

I have mentioned the idea of carrying a spare several times, and it has been referred to in some of the posts in this thread. My personal rule is to always carry a spare on any kind of trip. But simply carrying the spare paddle is not enough. You need to be able to get the spare out of the stored location on your boat while you are on the water, in your cockpit, and by yourself. I look at many of the spare paddle storage setups on manufactured boats and can not figure out how I would get the spare out while on the water without someone paddling up to me and doing it for me. Some of these storage positions are too far toward the stern of the kayak to be reached from the cockpit. Many storage systems are rigged for the paddle blade to be the end of the spare paddle nearest the kayaker. I have tried to use spare paddles from positions where the blade is closest to the cockpit, and have either been unable to get the paddle, or had difficulty. This is especially true when the euro paddle is stored so that the tip of the blade is curving down to the deck and not up away from the deck - there is nothing to grab to get the blade, especially if you are wearing gloves for cold water.

My strong preference is to carry the spare take apart paddle with the shaft ends toward the cockpit. I have practiced getting my spare paddle out from this position and can do it easily from on the water, and from an upside down position to roll up with half a paddle. I suspect that for most people the best place to store a spare paddle is on the deck IN FRONT of the cockpit with the shaft ends facing the cockpit. This would eliminate having to turn around to get the paddles - often an area where you can not see what you are doing and are relying on feel. However, most of us, myself included, carry a bunch of other stuff on our front decks, precluding keeping the paddle here unless it's a greenland paddle.

The photo above shows a sea kayak with rear deck rigging that almost forces you to store your spare with the blades toward the cockpit, and the shaft ends going under the two bungee sections aft of the rear hatch. People then turn the blades downward so they don't dig into their backs when rolling, making it harder to recover the spare blades.

This sea kayak is rigged to more easily allow you to store a spare paddle with the shaft ends toward the cockpit. The blades slide under the set of bungees to the rear of the aft hatch (stern on this kayak is to the right - stern on the previous photo is to the left).

At this point I get to put in a plug for carrying a greenland type paddle. The greenland type storm paddle is shorter than the standard greenland paddle, and will fit on most kayak stern decks without significant overhang of the stern. Carrying a storm paddle as your backup allows you to grab a paddle that is already assembled and ready to paddle with when you need it. Can you assemble your take apart paddle while bouncing around in bad conditions? Can you roll up using only half of your take apart paddle? If you know how to roll, you can roll up with a storm paddle almost as easily as with a full greenland paddle, and we know rolling with the greenland is easier than the euro.

End of greenland plug.

Spare paddle don't need to be the same model you normally paddle with, and can definitly be less expensive models. My first spare paddle was a sevlar screw apart kayak/raft paddle - but at least I had a spare! My second one had a metal shaft and plastic blades - but I had a spare!

Oh yeah, and when was the last time you put together that spare paddle and actually paddled with it?

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 Site Migration - Starting Now

I've run up against the limit of the 10MB of free server space that came with my dsl subscription with Verizon. I've started to teach myself real HTML coding, and have begun to move portions of this site over to a new site at:

http://welker.atspace.com

The new site has 500 MB of free server space, so if you'll bear with me in the move, the new site will eventually allow me to post larger and more photos, and include much more information about the topics.

However, until I figure out how to move my blog over there - and make it as easy to upload to as this site, I'll be keeping the blog at this location.

Sunday, February 5, 2006Assateague backpacking, cold weather hammock, WM apache bag

Spent the weekend backpacking at Assateague http://www.nps.gov/asis/ Four of us on the trip, two trying minimal gear. I slept in the cold weather hammock and 15 degree bag with fleece clothing. Low of 43 with 20 knot winds that shifted around and spent the night blowing right through the open ends of the tarp. I felt like I was sticking my head out of a car moving about 20-30 mph - I woke up with my eyes tearing, but plenty warm. Very pleased with the WM bag. First time in a compression bag and worked very well on relofting in about 5 min.

Wednesday, February 1, 2006 More cold weather hammock experiments

Slept out last night in the latest incarnation of the cold weather hammock setup. Worked very well at a windy 38 degrees F.

Monday, January 30, 2006 Western Mounteering Apache Super MF sleeping bag

I've started the testing and review of the that I got on sale recently. More testing to come in the next week or so.

Sunday, January 8, 2006 Assateague Backpacking in January
I got up Saturday knowing I really didn't want to hang around the house for the weekend. Jenny wanted to work on her skin boat project, so I checked the weather and loaded up the backpack and headed for Assateague.

Backpacked into one of the beach sites, and spent the night under the stars. Saw loons, and a surf scoter on the way in. And the obligatory ponies and sitka. It was a great sunset. Used the bivy bag, winter sleeping bag, and the tarp from the Hennessy. Lots of condensation when the fog rolled in, both inside the bag and out, and the underside of the fly, which then froze as the temps dropped to 27.

A nice quick night in the woods to start 2006!

Sunday, January 1, 2006 South Carolina Mountains and Foothills

I just got back from a couple of days of hiking in the South Carolina foothills and mountains around Clemson. Life isn't too bad if on the last day of the year I'm hiking in a t shirt in beautiful mountain scenery on the Foothills trail : http://www.foothillstrail.org/ Here is a five minute sketch of Lower Whitewater Falls:

Friday, December 16, 2005 Thoughts on kayaking watches.

I wrote this in response to a friend looking for a kayaking watch:

I got the Weather Pro watch from Speedtech for Xmas one year:http://www.speedtech.com/asp/product.asp?product=73&ph=search&keywords=watch&recor=1&SearchFor=any&PT_ID=all

Tells wind speed peak, average, in knots, m/s, mph.

Barometer - variable units of measure, with nine your history trend (good for predicting weather changes)

Altimeter - variable units of measureAlarms - multiple.

Stopwatch - normalSail race countdown timer

Normal countdown timert

emperature - variable units of measure.

Compass showing magnetic north.

Works on wriststrap or lanyard

From my experience, very waterproof and pretty rugged. A little bulky. Bright backlight that I've used on occassion as a flashlight in my sleeping bag to find things. Wind meter is pretty accurate.Only downside is it eats a battery a year. The company has a very good reputation for service and product reliabilty in the sailing community and from tests in Practical Sailor.

I refer to it as my "spy kids" watch :)I've had a couple of expensive watches sink into the deep blue sea when bands broke during rescues, so you do need to ask yourself what your risk/cost ratio is in this situation.What do you want a kayaking watch to do? Here is my list of must haves:

1. Timer/stopwatch. I like to keep track of time on water, time of trip legs, etc.

2. Countdown timer. Good for a number of things - naps, lunch breaks, timing a distance/time navigation run. Snooze alarm.

3. Waterproof. Read the specs. Some I've looked at are only waterproof if you don't push the buttons while they are underwater or wet. that won't work for me.

4. Non rusting. The fewer metal parts the better - stainless or otherwise.

5. Able to be read in the dark - all functions. Whether by backlighting or Indiglo.

My thoughts on temperature functions - useless in most cases except: 1. At camp to see how cold it is. 2. with watch fastened around paddle shaft and stuck down into the water a couple of feet and held there for about ten minutes to detect water temps. Most of the temperature functions of the watches I have seen have a really slow sampling rate - some 1 sample ever 5 or 10 minutes, others only when you push a button. The temp is not accurate if the watch is wet and exposed to wind, or under a coat, etc. Many watches also use a bimetal band of metal that by flexing register the temperature. These, if exposed directly to the water, may rust.

Tide guages I have seen only account for tide at one location. You will still need to look up the variance from place to place as you travel in your kayak, and remember the offsets from the location you set for to the location you are paddling. I had one watch with a "tide ring" on the bezel that you could set. that did not work particularly well.

I go to a chain discount store, find a timex or casio in plastic that has functions 1-5, and usually pay under $50. My current one is a Timex Atlantis 100. I still have a Timex Reefgear that survived for many years (has temp) that finally lost one of the buttons, but is still watertight and workable.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Test #1. 11/18/05. Hung the HH with underquilt under the deck at home. Equipment used: HH hammock, Kelli's underquilt, REI zero degree synthetic sleeping bag, Pickup truck windshield reflector placed between the quilt and the hammock, silver side up. Wore midweight fleece pants, and expedition weight thermal top. Light fleece balaclava. Low temp of 30 degrees. Wind of 0-5 mph. Slept warm. Slightly less warm at my one calf - legs were pointed in the direction of the wind. If I leaned against the upper sides of the hammock, they were cold above the underquilt level. Future underquilts should rise higher along the sides of the hammock.

Sunday, October 23, 2005 Best quote of the weekend:

"Well, I guess drownproofing myself is a better use of a Saturday night than sitting in some smokey bar..." From the kayak rolling session.