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Had a relaxing paddle on the upper St. Marks river. North of where it goes underground at Natural bridge. Took it easy and slow. Had to pull over some trees down over the river. Eventually I got tired of that and headed back to the car. Of course I had to pull back over and under the same trees. Very pretty .
Got back about 40 minutes ago from a paddle on the Wakulla. I am really getting into this night paddling thing. I like having the river to myself. I like that it is cool and no sunburn. Don't love the bugs but it has not been bad except for the first night.
Did a slightly different route tonight. I had this theory that the reason the first half mile or so up the river was always so hard was that I was not warmed up. My plan was to go downriver for about 20 minutes warming up and then paddle upriver past both bridges then back to my car at the lower bridge. How did this work out you ask? Well the river is hard the first half mile because the water is flowing freakin fast! And it is even faster south of lower bridge, or it was tonight. I went a long way in that 20 minutes down river, and it was a hard slog back up. I am sure the stronger currents are caused by the tide. Low tide 8 miles down river was right at sunset tonight. Good workout :)
Paddled for a little over three hours, no GPS along so not sure how far. My guess would be an extra mile, so that would make the total 7.
The ZRE Power Surge paddle is amazing. It is incredibly light and strong. I have not used it enough to give it a solid evaluation but first impressions (including a 6 mile paddle) is very-very positive.
Also it is very cool, so much so I took it to work with me to show my friends like I was 6 years old and still had show and tell. I love peoples reaction to it. First they look at it and seem somewhat impressed. Then you hand them the paddle and their jaw drops. They say wow it does not weigh anything, or it doesn't feel real. Or if they are Luke they immediately try to flex it on the bumper of your car and say wow it's stiff too.
ZRE had impressive customer service on the purchase also. I ordered on Saturday and received it on Wednesday with basic shipping.
My ZRE Power Surge carbon fiber canoe paddle came in today and I could not stand giving it a try. So I sewed up (badly) the opened seam in my Klepper, put it together and went to the Wakulla. Did not put in until 8 pm so the ramp was no problem :p. Had not been feeling well most of the day so I did not think I was going to do much. Ended up paddling the bridge to bridge route anyway, just one stroke after the other. Was dark about 2/3 of the way up river. Bugs where low and I have to say on my second night paddle wow I like night paddles. I think it is even better than night sailing.
This week I have had a flurry of gear purchases. I have been trying to figure out the most important things to get the soonest. There is a little less than three months before the Suwannee river challenge. So the question is what do I need the most for 52 miles downriver on the Suwannee?
I bought:
A new expedition hull for the Klepper. This is made by Wayland and was purchased with extra keel strips. Afterall when going down the river the frame will not float that well without a sound hull.
A spray skirt. Not sure I really need this for the Suwannee. But shipping is expensive from Poland so I combined the order.
Quantum Engineering Stern Wheels Cart. Can we say "Portage at big shoals" (sounds like a cheap western)
Platypus 2+ Water Bottle. This one does not have a ziplock thing at the top. so there is nothing to pop open.
REI Outdoor Research Deluxe Spring Ring Headnet. Bugs are almost as bad a cigarettes when you have to breath them.
and last but not least (in price second only to the hull)
ZRE Power Surge carbon fiber canoe paddle
Nice paddle up the Wakulla and back. Lots of traffic on the river at first. More trucks and trailers than I have ever seen at the ramp. Current was very strong, so I got a great workout going upstream. Then a thunderstorm rolled in. I spent almost an hour on land under the bridge waiting out the storm and talking to a canoe based fly fisherman. Then being all rested I pushed hard back down river. Not a boat on the river and much cooler. Perhaps the best time to paddle?
Got busy and never posted. I paddled The Wakulla river bridge to bridge route on Tuesday. Hit dusk at the north bridge, it was full dark before I got back to the south bridge. Was the first time I have ever paddled a kayak in the dark. Was very cool. The bats came out and were swooping over the river eating the bugs. Very cool. But I think kayaking through the Everglades at night by myself is going to give me the wiggins
Friday I took the day off and spent more than five hours paddling (about 6 hours if you count the breaks) on Ochlocknee bay. I did not go fast just tried for distance. Think I did about 11 or 12 miles. Boy was it hot. About 100 degrees. The heat got me in the end.
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| Ochlocknee bay 7/20/07 1:33 PM |
Took my new Greenland paddle for a spin on the Wakulla did all 6 miles. Felt very un-energetic after working almost all night Friday and Saturday nights so it was hard to make a comparison betweeb. Paddle felt slower than my fat bladed plastic one but I really liked doing fully extended sweeps. Saw a momma manatee and the smallest baby manatee I have ever seen. Looked about 4 feet long.
I think I lost my GPS on the boat ramp. I couldn't find it when I got home. Dang. Well if I did loose it, I hope someone finds it and gets some use out of it, and it didn't just get run over by a truck. Note to self: Lanyards, Lanyards, Lanyards. The really ironic part is that I think the GPS fell out of my live jacket when I was carrying the life jacket with me to the car so no one would steal it or my cell phone. (Cell is in a small waterproof box lanyard-ed to the vest). In hind site I probably could have left it laying in plain site on the boat and no one would have bothered it.
Came home watched some tv, did an interview for furledsails.com, then still made time to go out for a paddle. Did a little bit more than 3 miles on the Wakulla river ending a little after dark. Nice time to be on the river and more fish jumping than I have ever seen.
Tried to do the six or eight miles route again on the Wakulla river last night, but thunderstorms started coming up before I got a half mile. So instead of going up the river I played around the bridge for about an hour total. Sprinting between the pilings fast enough to not be swept down onto the downstream one. Spinning the boat with sweeps to go back between the piling I just came through. Tried to scull the boat sideways, and failed again. Then practiced pulling the boat sideways in a current using a draw. Had a good time and felt at the end like I had gotten as good a workout as if I had gone up the river. Just not the two hours I had planned on.
While I was sitting on the land waiting out the lightning, I met TallTails from Forgotten Coast Kayak Anglers. Nice guy, and an interesting organization. They look like they are very active. Even to the point of monthly fishing tournaments.
In other training news I bought the Yoga AM PM DVD that Chief recommends in his article Get fit for a challenge and have been doing the AM portion each morning for about the last week. Not a bad way to start the day.
REI sent me my new pants. The REI Sahara Convertible Pants are all that I hoped for, very light weight and cool. They don't stay wet and have blocked the sun. Great pants for summer fun.
I had high hopes for these water bottles (tanks). But they were flawed in a major way. The top of the tank has a zip lock closed opening. The opening has a very annoying habit of popping open and dumping all the water out. If you grab the bag by anything but the top it comes open. And I am not confident that the weight of the water inside it would not pop it open if it bounced around lying on its side. So they are going back to REI and I am going to try some of the smaller Platypus Water Tanks.