Waterlines Archive -- January 1 - 15, 2004

1-14-04
Buoy 44011 - Georges Bank
Last update: 01/14 6:00 AM EST
Wind: WNW at 31.1 knots
Wind gust: 40.8 knots
Wave height: 19.7 ft Period: 10.0 sec
Air temp: 18° F (-7.7° C)

Information provided by GoMoos -- a great source for information on sea conditions in the Gulf of Maine.

The Top 10 Paddling Books of All Time according to most recent issue of Paddler Magazine -- (excerpted from a list of 20)
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Deliverance by James Dickey
3.The Survival of the Bark Canoe by John McPhee
4. Dangerous River by R.M. Patterson
5. The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific by Paul Theroux
6. The Starship and the Canoe by Kenneth Brower
7. A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers by Henry David Thoreau
8. The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
9. Running the Amazon by Joe Kane
10. Wild to the Heart by Rick Bass and Crossing Open Ground by Barry Lopez

My memory of Huck Finn is that it not only makes you feel like you are there on the river, it makes you want to be there. Deliverance is written in an equally vivid fashion, but you decidedly don't want to be there. Chris Duff's On Celtic Tides, an account of a solo sea kayak journey around Ireland is a powerful read that isn't too far off my own personal top ten list. Not a paddling book, but (recent read) John Krakauer's Into the Wild is a fascinating book that delves far into the reasons so many of us keep making forays into the wilderness.

1-11-04
Land day. Before I took up paddling, I had strong legs (from soccer and running) and excellent cardiovascular fitness, but my arms, shoulders, and torso were not as strong. I sometimes felt that physically I was only half a person, and that my upper body might wither away if I wasn't careful -- this is what modern life does to us. Strengthening the upper body using weights was always an option, but it seemed an empty exercise. Strengthening my upper body for what? Not only does paddling keep my upper body stronger, but it provides an authentic motivation for training with weights in periods when I am not paddling as frequently. (Gotta stay strong for those 20 mile days. Gotta stay strong for those 20 knot headwinds. Gotta stay strong for eskimo rolls and rescues).

When the weather is nasty, the indoor rowing machine at the gym provides an intense full body workout that seems to draw on all my paddling muscles. I seem unable to "go slow" or to "go long" on those machines though -- 15 or 20 minutes is about all I can take. (Music would help me stay with it a bit longer, I suppose.) I thought my own pace on the rowing machine was pretty good until I see that the best rowers are rowing 2000 meters in the time it takes me to row 1500. Indoor rowing competitions are a big deal, apparently, but I think I'll stick to my neoprene, thanks.

1-10-04
Buoy F - W. Penobscot Bay
Last update: 01/10 8:00 AM EST
Wind: NNW at 10.1 knots
Wind gust: 13.7 knots
Wave height: 1.4 ft Period: 3.2 sec
Air temp: 0° F (-17.7° C)
Visibility: 0.7 nm (0.9 miles, 1.4 km)

Looks like another land day. -8° F at the house this morning. There are those who paddle in even these conditions, but I generally wait until it warms to up by at least 20 degrees. Little snow here, so no cross country skiing or snowshoeing -- but later I'll maybe take the dogs for a run or go to the gym. The Rocky Mountain Sea Kayak Club has an excellent set of links on cold weather paddling. A Paddlewise thread on cold weather paddling includes the following comment:

"While the air temp was around 8 degrees F, and the wind chill down around -18 F, the main problem was the ice build up on our PFDs, spray skirts, tow belts, deck lines, skeg lines--basically everything. If we'd had to use a tow line, the carbiners were frozen. Skegs were rendered inoperable by the ice build up. After we got back to shore it was quite an effort to unfreeze the zipper on our PFD for the trip home."

Sounds like fun, huh?

1-08-04
Buoy 44027 - Jonesport ME
Last update: 01/08 6:00 AM EST
Wind: NA at 25.3 knots
Wind gust: 33.0 knots
Wave height: 12.5 ft Period: 9.0 sec
Air temp: 3° F (-16.1° C)

1-07-04
Land day. Cold today. After a long, relatively gradual slide from autumn toward winter, we've finally arrived with a bump at the bottom of the slope. Thick sea smoke over the harbor this morning.

The sea kayak guides association I belong to, MASKGI, is again discussing the issue of liability insurance, which in the last year, became a problem for outfitters. Liability insurance is still available -- but from fewer providers, and at a cost. The cost of liability insurance for my small sea kayak guiding company went up 53% last year alone. Of even more concern is that insurance providers are becoming more reluctant to provide policies for smaller companies, and are placing restrictions on coverage, for example refusing to cover outfitters who offer anything more ambitious than "harbor tours."

It rankles greatly that people who know nothing about sea kayaking and nothing about the guiding industry in Maine can have so much clout.

As the Neil Young song says, "We are poisoned with protection." We are increasingly walling ourselves inside little boxes, safe boxes, but boxes just the same. A quality life is not possible without risk. To limit our risk is to limit the richness of our lives. Of course there are intelligent risks and just-plain-dumb risks. It was nice when it was still the jurisdiction of experienced well-trained sea kayak guide to differentiate between the two.

1-06-04
Land day. Posted a comment on the See Kayak Forum "No Hand Control" regarding control hand and paddling technique. My paddling style has evolved in that unless I am paddling in challenging conditions, I no longer seem to have a defined control hand. My question is, does anyone else paddle this way? Let me provide a few details. I use a 215 cm paddle with ovaled shaft (for both hands). I use a fairly upright stroke -- top hand at shoulder height and aim to maximize torso rotation (don't we all?). The paddle is a 1-piece with a 60 degree offset for left hand control --although I am right handed.

Anyway, I find it most relaxing to paddle with the hands open as much as possible. As I complete the stroke on the left hand side, I relax the left hand fingers, lifting that hand with the fingers open and the paddle shaft resting on the thumb. At this point, the right hand is also open, and the right arm is extended forward. Instead of rolling my left wrist backward to correctly orient the blade, I orient the blade by using the fingers on my forward hand to subtlety roll the paddle shaft as I reverse the direction of that hand for the "catch." In other words, I use the moment in which the paddle changes direction -- between moving forward (paddle pushed by open palm) and being pulled back (gripped by fingers) -- to rotate the paddle shaft into correct position-- all with my forward hand. The left wrist does roll back a small amount, and still plays a minor part in orienting the blade, but overall this technique results in a stroke in which I do not have a single control hand in the conventional sense -- and in which the wrists stay relatively flat. Additionally, the hands stay open and relaxed for as long as possible. A moderate headwind actually makes it easier, as the wind helps the paddle blade to rotate back on its own. In rougher conditions, I tend to keep a tighter grip on the paddle shaft and revert to a more conventional use of my left hand for control, but this "no hand control" technique seems to work very well in calm and moderate conditions.

1-05-04
Land day. In the news this week are stories of how global warming is leading to the melting of the world's glaciers. Perhaps surprisingly to most Americans, glaciers and glacial run-off are of critical importance to large populations living in various parts of the globe. The continuing shrinkage of the glaciers and reduced run-off from them will impact everything from the ski industry in the Alps to agriculture in India. According to Green Consumer Guide, an incredible 70 percent of the world's freshwater reserves are contained in glaciers. So the melting of the glaciers has huge ramifications for the water cycle systems in our planet. Remember those water cycle charts we all memorized in 8th grade, how symmetrical and seemingly absolute they were? Frightening to think that those cycles too are fragile and subject to change. To think about the implications for paddlers seems puny -- when for many physical survival is at stake. Still, the passion we have for being on the water can be a source of energy for positive change.

1-04-04
Land day. As Wayne Horodowich of the University of Sea Kayaking notes in his article, there are those who advise against ever paddling alone. Horodowich then goes on to explain his belief that paddling alone can be both safe and rewarding. I agree with Horodowich, as I suppose I would have to -- since most of my paddling between October and June is done alone. Partly because I live in a rural area with fewer paddlers to begin with. Partly because in my area there are not a lot of paddlers of my level of ability or zeal. Partly because a lot of people put there boats up for the winter. And partly, I suppose, because I like it that way. I enjoy paddling with friends. I find it thrilling to take novice paddlers out onto the open water for the first time. I also love the inner quiet, mindfulness, and attentiveness possible when paddling alone. And I love the challenge of pushing myself to my own physical limits.

Paddling solo automatically raises the level of risk of any trip, however. Paddling with one or more others provides built in redundancy (if my bilge pump is lost or broken, I can borrow one, etc.) Performing a self-rescue is almost always more difficult than an assisted rescue. So good advice for those who paddle alone might include: (1) include redundancy in equipment and gear (2) be highly prepared in terms of self-rescue techniques (3) restrict yourself to less ambitious trips than those you might attempt if accompanied by a paddling partner of equal or greater skill and experience.

1-03-04
Land day. Musing today as I wrote my article on paddling Great Wass, on how the paddling Grail changes, mostly in the form of shifting ever outward. When my wife and I purchased our first kayaks seven years ago, we thought we be ever satisfied paddling the tidal marshes and estuaries along the Maine coast. (Those slim craft seemed little suited for venturing offshore in those cold Maine waters.) Nowadays I dream of paddling to Matinicus and Monhegan, which are both more than offshore: "During my life as a sea paddler, there has always been a trip that has served as a Holy Grail, a trip far enough out of reach to make it not immediately attainable but not so far out of reach as to be unrealistic. That Grail has gradually shifted to be located in progressively more remote and challenging destinations. For the past 18 months, Great Wass Island, a largely wild Nature Conservancy island in far downeast Maine had served as my Grail. Frequent fog, cold water, 12 foot tides, a remote sparsely populated location, and rocky headlands with open exposure to the south all add to the difficulty factor for this trip." Read more.

lives a mile from the water in Belfast, Maine with his wife, 2 daughters, and 3 dogs. He is owner of Water Walker Sea Kayaks and also teaches English at a local public high school. Please write him with comments, questions, or suggestions.