WHERE DID YOU PADDLE? February 2014

[alexsidles]

With bands of stormy weather passing through the region, I decided to skip a snowshoe camping trip this weekend and stay in town instead. I took a Folbot out on Green Lake here in Seattle to test a patch I'd applied last month. My girlfriend and I are going down the lower Columbia River in a few weeks, and this will be her boat for the eight-day trip, so I wanted to be sure it is in good shape.

The patch held up great—not a drop of water got in! And with a drysuit to keep the day's periodic downpours from soaking me, I stayed nice and dry too. This was my first time on Green Lake, even though I'm from here. I've always done my local paddling on other waters: Lake Washington, Sammamish River, Elliott Bay, Lake Union, Shilshole Bay, the locks, Alki Point...just never this little beauty ten blocks from home. It's fun to see familiar old places from a new, nautical perspective.




Alex

 

[dvfrggr]

This was my first time on Green Lake, even though I'm from here.

Alex

Alex, your post brought a huge smile to my face
Greenlake is where I learned how to swim with 5 of my siblings back in 62, spent a lot of time swimming, fishing, skating and riding bikes thru the years around that lake and like you spend a lot of time on all the other bodies of water around Seattle.
I think it's time to get back to my roots and get wet at Greenlake!

Thanks, Dave R

 

[chodups]

Beware of swimmers itch.

 

[alexsidles]

My girlfriend, dad, and I paddled through the Ballard locks here in Seattle yesterday afternoon. It was such a cold, rainy day that even the heavily Gore-texed crew of a sailboat that locked with us leaned over to say, "Wow, you guys are hardcore!" I certainly felt hardcore, if "hardcore" is another word for "freezing cold," because I stupidly forgot the deck to my Feathercraft Klondike.

The sprayskirt I brought. Oh yes, no worries about the sprayskirt. But the deck to cover the enormous cockpit, the thing that the sprayskirt is supposed to be attached to, that I did not have. I tried using the skirt as a pathetic little blanket to keep my jeans dry during the paddle, but that worked about as well an umbrella in a windstorm. I did have enormous fun out there with two of my favorite people— we saw a lot of cool waterfowl, and we gave the tourists at the locks quite a tickle with our little boats in the big machine—but I sure was glad to hop in the warm car when the paddle was done. Hardcore!



Sorry for the poor picture quality; the lens just would not stop fogging up on me. I would have dried it off on my jeans, but, well, no deck, you know?

Alex

 

[Astoriadave]

Alex,

Sent you a PM.

 

[Peter-CKM]

...I tried using the skirt as a pathetic little blanket to keep my jeans dry during the paddle, but that worked about as well an umbrella in a windstorm...

I am glad you had a good time and made the best of it. But I have to say it - you wore jeans when paddling!?!? We all make mistakes, like leaving some key piece of gear home, but paddling in cotton (especially in colder climates) is one of those non nos that should be drilled into everyone's minds by now.

And this is ignoring the fact that you probably should have been wearing some sort of water-appropriate thermal protection (wet suit, dry suit, or the like).

Sorry about the preaching.

 

[alexsidles]

Peter,

Oh, the preaching doesn't bother me. I know folks have extremely strong opinions about outdoor clothing. This trip was a flat water paddle for a couple hours on a windless day in the middle of a major metropolitan area, never more than 50 meters from shore. We would have survived a capsize in our underwear.

I am a terrible heretic with the cotton, though. I wear it with snowshoes, I've worn it in the arctic, I wore it up the Inside Passage, I wear it in the winter in the rain on the coast...I'm just awful! Yes, I've gotten wet, and yes, I've gotten cold, but people were hiking and paddling this part of the world for a long time before neoprene and Kokatat were invented. I bring a change of clothes, and I always travel very conservatively. I carry the drysuits and the Gore-texes and the poly-whatevers and all the other stuff when conditions warrant, but my basic outdoor uniform is jeans and a sweatshirt. If cotton was good enough for Shackleton, then it's good enough for me!

Dave, I replied to your PM, thanks.

Alex

 

[greg0rn]

Do not forget that Alex was in Klondike, which is a very stable kayak.

But leaving the deck at home was not such a good idea.

By the way, I love paddling in Klondike by myself. To make it more maneuverable, I give it more rocker by stretching lower bars one notch further. I also used to do it with my former K-1.

 

[Astoriadave]

Alex,

Sent you a couple PMs.

 

[pryaker]

It's been a few weeks but I'm finally getting around to a trip report for our long weekend trip to Cockburn Bay on the south side of Nelson Island.

As you remember we were locked into a cold and dry period so a ski trip was out for us over the long weekend. There was snow forecast for Sunday night and we thought it might be fun to paddle in the snow but I knew I'd want a south facing beach with plenty of driftwood for warming fires. Checking the forecast we didn't see any winds so figured it would be ok to get around the points between our put in at Saltery Bay and our destination on Nelson.

For those of you who don't know, Cockburn Bay has a beautiful south facing beach and as you can see copious amounts of driftwood.



The uplands are owned by BC hydro as the main power lines for Van isl. pass behind the beach and enter the chuck just to the north. The beach has a homestead cabin on it and according to signs there is leased to a family who allows public use. Seems from the visitor log that it gets a lot of visitors from Pender Harbor.



We got a late start on Saturday and had an uneventful paddle south. Looking at the high tide marks we set up our tent just on the edge of the driftwood and then lazed around in the sun. A nice quiet evening by the fire and then we woke to a sunny but frosty morning.



After breakfast we paddled down to quarry bay to explore a bit. We though we might try to find a trail up to the lakes that are close behind the bay but were surprise to find the head of the bay frozen!



After a bit of play riding up onto the edge of the ice we headed back to camp. C mentioned that I hadn't been following my habit of listening to the weather radio so I broke it out and listened as they described gale warnings, snowfall, and 40 knot SE winds for the morning! It was about 4 pm so we briefly considered heading for the car then but decided it'd suck to be paddling in the dark and cold so stayed put. We did move out tent up near the cabin to avoid the wind waves and as the evening progressed, rather than setting up our tarp, we moved our stuff into the cabin to get out of the increasing breeze. That night in the tent we could hear the bit of rain change to snow and snuggled deep into our down bags wondering what the morning would be like.





In hindsight it might have been a mistake to make a big breakfast that morning but I wanted to have the energy from the eggs and bacon to keep me warm. The only problem was that by the time we launched the winds had arrived and the chop was up. We knew we only had a short downwind ride to get into the lee of Cockburn point and we'd be sheltered so we rode the chop and tried to ignore the wind chill. It's funny how the cold made me nervous about sea conditions that I wouldn't think twice about in warm weather. The rest of the day went well and our fears about wind funnelling up the sound for our final crossing back to Saltery bay were unfounded. As we got close to the beach I made the mistake of mentioning how it was great that we hadn't had any rain all day. I'd been holding off saying that to avoid pissing off the gods and I should have waited til we were dry in the car. Within minutes of opening my big fat mouth we were hit from behind by a squall that lasted throughout the takeout and repacking. Of course a mile or two down the road the sun was shining!

All in all a great trip and a great place for a paddle.

 

[Astoriadave]

Terrific photos, great report, pryaker. Somehow winter trips seem more precious than those in summer. I would say you two pushed the envelope on this one. Good on ya!

 

[candikayak]

Looks like a great place to paddle Pryaker. How long did it take to paddle from Saltery Bay to Cockburn Bay ? The snow looks familiar to our Spring Paddle to South Pender Island about six years ago ?? What a site to wake up to

 

[pryaker]

hey Candi, I think it took us about 3 hours with no breaks or meanders, might have been a little less. There's some nice exploring along the way including the tidal rapids at Hidden basin. There are homes and cabins around most every corner so don't expect wilderness, but still it's a great area to paddle for a weekend.

 

[cougarmeat]

Alex, When I was a young pup, I didn't know nut'n about clothing. I recall trying a "conditioning" hike up Mt Defiance near the Columbia River in Oregon and found myself mid thigh deep in snow in my jeans. No problem - ah to be young. I also learned about about putting my tent under a tree. At the time, I figured the tree would offer additional shelter from the rain. It did. But once it stopped raining everywhere else, it continued to rain (drip) on my tent for several hours. These days I bring cotton to sleep in. I have silk, but putting on cotton jammys and getting into a warm sleeping situation (tent or hammock) takes away the trials of the day. I once had a Folbot kit, maybe when they were the new technical wonder (stable like a kayak, open like a canoe) in 1974. But I didn't have a place to built it. I had a friend store it for 20 years and when I finally had a place to build, he checked the supplies before sending it and found all the glues had dried and were not longer available. I told him to keep what was left and he put the wood frame together, then fiberglassed it. As you can imagine, it's pretty heavy; I think he calls it the IceBreaker.

Thank you for posting your trip descriptions and photos. They remind us that we don't need perfect weather (or perfect gear) to have fun.

Paul