2010 Earth Day Paddle

The forecast must have been enough to deter most paddlers, because only 7 paddlers showed for the South Dakota Canoe and Kayak Association's kickoff paddle/Earth Day cruise. We had a little rain early on, but were greeted with sunshine and blue skies for most of the cruise. We put in at the pow wow grounds north of Flandreau, SD. The small rapid/ripple that is normally there was completely submerged today. The banks, as normal, were quite muddy. We took out just above the low head dam in Flandreau proper. We covered just shy of 9 miles by my gps. It was a very enjoyable cruise. Lots of discussion of the upcoming SD Kayak Challenge too. See you on the water!

La Framboise Lesiure

The winds around Pierre finally decided to subside today. I sent an email out to the Pierre Paddlers email group, consisting of three other paddlers around Pierre that I know and three identities I have no idea who they are. I also sent an email to a paddler that should soon be adding himself to the email list. The plan was to meet at the causeway at 6:30PM for a La Framboise circumnavigation. Only Dave P. was able to make it down. We took one of the most leisurely cruises around the island I have ever had. I normally try to work on speed. We came across two different groups of young deer playing along the channel/chute that runs along the island. We also saw a pair of bald eagles in a tree (and nest). But, alas, we did not get a glimpse of the La Framboise moose.

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

Lazy Paddles

Sunday was a beautiful day, but I was short of time due to other commitments. I managed to get out for about half an hour. Which isn't too bad since my house is only a mile from the causeway. A few pics from the day:

I also got out yesterday after work. I felt obligated to go out when the high hit 81 degrees! Again, I wasn't out very long, about 45 minutes. I did take Indy out for the first time this year though. He did OK, but he is not like Scruff was yet. Scruff was fearless in his jumping into the water while Indy is happy to lay on my spray skirt the whole time. He gets in the way whenever he tries to sit up. We need to work on him sitting further forward on the deck or dust off the tandem. A few pics:


And lastly, we came across the fabled Missouri River rock gardens... the dam wasn't releasing enough to make them at all similar to real rock gardens though!

From 2010-03-30

Paddleswap.com

I found another site to find used gear or sell old gear: http://www.paddleswap.com/index.html Besides their own listings, they also show paddling.net classifieds and ebay listings.

Kevin Callan is the man...

March 21 Cruise

Chuck and I met at the causeway at noon today for a paddle. It was 40 degrees with the forecasted high to be over 50. It is 58 degrees as I type up this blog. The winds were calm and the sun was shining. First we paddled over to the Bad River for a look and it was flowing decent and was very dirty.

From 2010-03-21

We then continued downstream along La Framboise Island. We noticed a few people fishing from the shore of the island. A week or two ago, an ice jam on the Bad River broke and there was plenty of debris downstream from it.

From 2010-03-21

From 2010-03-21

In the next picture, notice how low Chuck's boat is sitting in the water... more on that later.

From 2010-03-21

We continued down to the end of the island and turned around and headed back upstream since the other side is still frozen. There were a few times on the trip that either Chuck or I heard running water. On one of the occasions we discovered a "waterfall" coming down the west river bluffs.

From 2010-03-21

When we got back to the causeway, Chuck checked his stern hatch and found a fair amount of water! The gel coat repair he did last summer apparently didn't hold up.

From 2010-03-21

From 2010-03-21

I didn't take my gps along today, but from past experience I figure we did between 5 and 6 miles. I had hoped for a glimpse of the fabled La Framboise moose. Best we could muster was a bald eagle. Click on any of the pictures to go to the Picasa Web Album to see more pictures.