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Waterlines -- A Sea Kayaking Journal, Penobscot Bay, Maine
Western Penobscot Bay water temps (one meter depth) climbed above 40 degrees F for the first time this year on April 20. It's a long climb from here -- with any luck, we'll top out about 20 degrees higher sometime in August. 545 miles down, 3655 miles to Go: Three weeks into a 6-month 4,200 mile circumnavigation of the British Isles, Sean Morley reports his spirits are high. He reports that the highlight of his journey thus far was day spent circumnavigating the Isles of Scilly. To complete the trip on time, Morley needs to average 23 miles a day for 182 days. For those of you who might consider making the trip north to the Kenduskeag River Race next spring, race results are now up at http://www.onperfect.com/~loon/kscr/raceresults04.htm I had begun scheming about getting a racing boat and competing in the K-1 Long category next year -- and now I find (in the newly released results) that I was 19 seconds off the record for K-1 Recreational. (I guess I shouldn't have paused to take that last drink of gatorade!) Maybe I'll have to race in the Rec category one more year so I can go after that record. 4-22-04: Lessons learned in the Kenduskeag race this year: (1) need to re-think my camelback hands-free hydration set-up. I haven't used these systems very much -- I had trouble both stowing the hose and I lost the mouthpiece / valve toward the end of the race. (2) Need to scout 6-Mile Falls beforehand or take the optional portage. (3) Avoid paddling amongst traffic into the falls. I got bumped into the puckerbrush by a canoe and lost valuable seconds getting back out. (4) Get a faster and lighter boat! I finished first in the rec category paddling a VCP Avocet RMX (polyethylene) , but if I want to move up in the overall results, I need to paddle something faster. If the water level is up as it was this year -- due to rain on Wednesday and Thursday before the race -- padding a composite boat is not a bad idea, as there isn't that much for a skilled paddler to hit in terms of rocks. 4-18-04: I awakened at 5:08 AM, two minutes before the alarm to what would be a flawless spring day -- blue sky, light winds, temperatures reaching 60 degrees. Few things in life go as well as we, in our highest hopes, envision they might. Yesterday's Kenduskeag Canoe Race was the exception. I ran my red VCP Avocet RMX the 16.5 mile course (mostly flatwater with some class I, II, and III whitewater, 2 portages) in 2 hours and 35 minutes, besting my time from last year by nearly 25 minutes -- good enough for first place in the Kayak-Rec division. Water levels were high. Boaters were happy. River vultures were happier. Carnage was rampant. More carnage. 4-13-04: Kayaking gear I have been extremely happy to have this winter: Chota mukluks, neoprene knee boots with a rubber traction sole and a strap closure at the top. A recent thread on the Kayak Forum focused on the merits of a low cut paddle shoe vs. a knee boat like the Chota mukluk. From my point of view, for cold water paddling, there is no contest. Mukluks all the way. The point is that unless you submerge beyond your knees, your feet stay absolutely dry, and toasty warm. If you swim, you are likely to get some water in your Mukluks, for those who normally stay in their boats, the Mukluk is the way to go. (Noticed the Mukluk is now available in "breathable" form -- but if you wear thick wicking socks and won't be wearing the Mukluks on expeditions, the standard Mukluk is very adequate.) 4-11-04: Paddling with a GPS on my lap these days as I prepare for the 16-mile Kenduskeag Stream Race on Saturday, April 17. This popular Maine race features more than 800 paddlers who strain over long stretches of flat water and a few miles of Class I, II, and III whitewater. It's always a long day -- especially this early in the season. Averaged 3 knots as I paddled north, upriver into a 17 knot wind yesterday, then averaged close to 5 knots coming back out. (By then the incoming tidal current had strengthened). Last year, while fighting overheating, dehydration, and numbness in my feet and legs (bad choice of footwear), I completed the 16 miles in just under 3 hours. If I can take 15 minutes off that time this year, it may be fast enough to win the K-1 Recreational category, which I qualify for, since I will be paddling a plastic sea kayak rather than a composite racing boat favored those who will turn in the fastest times of the day. 4-10-04:
4-04-04: As a result of the postponement of the St. George River Race (originally scheduled for last weekend), more than a hundred Maine paddlers enjoyed "The Big Splash" -- a canoe and kayak racing double-header this weekend. I paddled a VCP Avocet RM in both races -- one of only a couple of sea kayaks to compete. Still, my old red Avocet was at home enough in the white stuff to slide across with a 3rd place in the K-1 Long category yesterday. (Still waiting for results from today's Passy River race. Whitewater paddling is, quite literally, a rush. In sea kayaking, you can most often take as much time as you want to scope out a route through a rock garden or through the surf. In whitewater paddling, of course, that luxury doesn't exist. The conveyor belt of the river races you headlong into the "hazard" whether you are ready to face it or not. Got into a bit of a groove on the whitewater sections today -- starting seeing the river -- the way a ballplayer suddenly starts "seeing the ball" -- seams and rotation and all. It's a kind of speed-reading, really, with someone shining a flashlight on each set of words for only a few seconds at a time. 4-01-04: A trio of recent incidents in the news (see column right) remind that kayaking can be a deadly sport. In one incident in New Zealand, a youth group had to be rescued after embarking on a trip ill-prepared and uninformed. In a second New Zealand incident, a highly experienced kayaker was overcome by high water conditions and trapped under a rock. And, in an incident in Israel, a man was killed when a tree "collapsed" into the river, causing him to be flung from his kayak. The Canadian Park Service offers a 39 page Kayaking Safety Guide which can be downloaded in pdf format. The Trade Association of Paddlesports offers an online Guide to Safe Paddling. 3-29-04: While looking for kayak news today, I kept running into articles about Kayak Interactive, a company specializing in "mobile multiplayer gaming" that has had the audacity to take a word for something genuine and real and good and apply it to some vicarous experience involving pushing buttons and watching images on a small screen. According to a recent article, the Kayak Interactive platform" allows players to compete directly against each other across different mobile network operators and handsets." And so we're supposed to believe the world is now improved somehow? What times we live in! 3-28-04: Ice out! Spring is here at last! Ran the course of the 6-mile St. George River race today in preparation for the race next Saturday. What a joy to be on the river -- with the wind at your back, the sun on your face, and mallards skirting up at every bend. I am a sea kayaker at heart, but running whitewater is a lot of fun -- and like downhill skiing, it teaches me to be present in the moment, stroke by stroke, rock by rock, now, and now, and now. 3-24-04: Nights well below freezing and days barely above it have conspired to keep the river under ice and postpone the St. George River Race for the first time in its 26 year history (apparently the effects of global warming are being experienced elsewhere). Thhis canoe and kayak race has stretches of flatwater interspersed with sections of Class II whitewater, lots of standing waves, and one Class III drop. Canoes are the most popular craft on this first race of the Maine river racing circuit, with downriver kayaks and whitewater kayaks being in the minority. And then there are the few of us who run it in sea kayaks, which work well on the flatwater sections and run the white water pretty good too -- as this river is not very technical. It all adds up to twice as much fun for the weekend of April 3 and 4, as the St. George on Saturday will be followed by the Passy River Race on Sunday. Both races are about 6 miles in length. 3-21-04:
Water temperatures (at a depth of 1 meter) in western Penobscot
Bay today
peaked at 34.8
degrees F, up 0.7 degrees from several hours earlier.
And temps have picked up an entire 2 degrees since they bottomed
out at just above 32 degrees in mid-January. Meanwhile, the rivers
are starting to run a bit but are not yet free of ice. The St. George
River Race is scheduled for next Saturday, but as of yesterday at
least, stretches of the river were still impassible. The race
is always run on the last Saturday in March and has never been cancelled
or postponed in its 24-year history. Be interesting to see if things
open up in time this year!
It seems to me that the development of new energy resources only
means cheaper energy -- and a greater appetite for energy. So I
cannot support development of any energy resources that are non-renewable
or damaging to the environment. 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. |
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