“Spend as much time as possible on mountains, in small boats, or otherwise out in the weather; if you never get wet, cold, exhausted or scared, you won’t properly appreciate being dry, warm, rested and safe.” ~ Peter Jay

"I’m an adventuring river rat at heart. Put me on a floating piece of driftwood and I’m happy." ~ Christina Glauner

"There’s folly and foolhardiness on one side and daring and calculation on the other." ~ C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels

Monday, April 12, 2010

Maiden Voyage

When the winds calmed down yesterday, I was too tired from my drive home to take the Current Designs Storm GT out for it's maiden voyage. Tomorrow is looking to be very windy, so I elected to deal with today's wind to get the boat wet. The temperature was in the mid 70s and the wind was ~20mph with gusts of ~30mph. I chose to launch from the gravel beach near the American Legion cabin in Pierre. I paddled into the wind down to Dump Island, came around the island and returned to the beach. I failed to turn my gps on when I first embarked , but I know from experience that it is roughly 4 miles. Once I had the gps on, I noticed that I was traveling as fast into the headwind as I could paddle my Perception Carolina 14 on a normal day. I fiddled around with the rudder a bit, but I felt more comfortable edging the kayak. I figure I will use the rudder in worse conditions or when I am too worn out to edge anymore.

From 2010-04-12
From 2010-04-12
From 2010-04-12
And my garage with all  three boats...
From 2010-04-12

2 comments:

  1. All are the very marvelous and adorable destinations and the beaches are clean with beautiful sand and blue sea water for sure.

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  2. Nice looking boat, Pat. Perhaps you will come to enjoy the ease of paddling with the rudder. I look forward to seeing you underway in the new boat on a cruise in the coming months. I like the fleet stored in your boathouse, err garage!

    Jay

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