“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
The forecast for yesterday was mid 40s, so I decided to take the afternoon off for a bit of paddling. As some of you know, I have been very disappointed in winter paddling gloves. Every combination I have tried have kept my hands dry, but not warm. The last couple of years I tried the NRS Hydroskin gloves and NRS Reactor gloves. A couple of weeks ago, I tried the Hydroskin gloves with NRS glove liners and still nothing. So, yesterday I wore the Reactor gloves with the glove liners.
After loading the CD Storm GT and some gear, I proceeded to the causeway. I considered going around La Framboise Island, but it was a bit windy, so I launched from the gravel area near the American Legion cabin and headed towards Dump Island (between La Framboise and Pierre).
On my way down, the gloves performed very well. When I was about 200-300 feet from Dump Island, I noticed the water around the island looked a bit odd ...and shiny. Thankfully I did not go around La Framboise, because the river between Pierre and La Framboise has began to freeze. As I tried to capture some decent pictures of the ice, the wind pushed me into the "ice field". I had to claw my way out with both my hands and my paddle. My hands did get cold on my way back to the Legion, but the Reactor gloves with the glove liners has been the best option for winter gloves thus far. The high in Pierre hit 51 degrees according to NOAA.
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.
I went out paddling today despite the wind. The temperature broke 60 degrees, but the wind was gusting up to 30 mph. I put in near the American Legion cabin and paddled along La Framboise Island down to Dump Island (around it) and back. The trip totaled 3.8 miles and felt refreshing... the breeze and water in my face... could be similar to actually paddling in the ocean :)
I went out paddling this morning after church but before kickoff of any football games. It was a nice paddle around Dump Island, about 3.7 miles. I used my new paddle; an Onno paddle and I really enjoyed it. It is definatly lighter than my Bending Branches Slice Carbon Plus. Similar power, maybe a little more I need to paddle with it more to know for certain.
The day turned out even better after Jake Delhomme's last second TD pass to Dante Rosario. Go Panthers!
I managed to get out paddling Thursday evening and twice on the 4th. On Thursday I just did a short jaunt up the main channel in my tandem with Scruffy, sorry no map but there is a youtube video at the end of this post.
On the 4th, I paddled as far up the Bad River as I could make it... not as far as in April though. Totaled 6.5 miles. Then in the afternoon/early evening I paddled with my mom and Scruffy (they had my tandem) about 4.2 miles around Dump Island. Due to crazy wake from all the boaters I decided to try my skirt with the Carolina. It worked and even supported Scruff when he swam over to me!
A mink or something in the Bad River.
A lone horse up on top of the hill.From Thursday...
Two recent paddles I went on that I have not posted about were a renewing of my normal after work paddle around Dump Island and back to the beach near the Legion Cabin and investigating a creek the Lewis and Clark Trail crosses.
The first map is of the Dump Island paddle; it is approximately 4 miles round trip and is a very good quick, evening paddle.
Next I decided to find the river side of a creek that the Lewis and Clark Trail crosses. This was another quick evening paddle ending up being 3.3 miles. I used the boat ramp where the trail widens into a gravel road on Farm Island (near the polo fields). Scruffy (my dog) had a blast running along a sandbar spooking a few geese. A few pictures from the Farm Island/creek paddle:
