Seal Launching

There was ice on shore at Kingsland Bay Saturday, so seal launch was mandatory.



So we got to try the nailboards Tom cobbled up for us. They mate together like this so you don't spike your kayak while not in use. You pull them apart, and use them to push yourself along the ice.



In the video, note attempts showing that a) paddling on ice doesn't work, and b)if you try a "walking gait" (one hand at a time) with the nailboards it just spins the kayak in place. You have to push with both hands at once. Dave was taking too long to finish, so the especially astute will notice that the kayak changes color just before sliding off the ice into the water.



EDIT: I don't know what's up but when I view this blog, often the video isn't loading. IF you just see an empty space above, you can see the video (and in a little better resolution) at http://youtube.com/dongallery , titled "seal launch"

After exiting the bay, we headed upwind, taking a break in the lee of Diamond Island, home of one of the weather reporting stations. Judging from the spin on that anemometer, I'd say the wind is around 20 knots. Actually, that's what I got from the station's web page later.



Tom sucking on his insulated water pipe:


On to the New York shore, north of Wesport. This waterfall is around 150 feet high (50 showing in the pic, notice the kayaker at the bottom) We went under another that was more free-falling into the lake.

The way the waves were bouncing, I noticed that I was actually getting pushed upwind while taking this.


Further up, near Snake Den Harbor, we saw maybe 8 eagles soaring.\

After a lunch stop we headed to the middle of the lake to ride back on the waves (a lot of trips lately feature this move). Back at Kingsland, the wind coming off the shore had blown all that ice away so we didn't have the opportunity for "seal landing", though I did run up and over a sheet about plywood size earlier in the day.

I checked a few minutes before reaching shore. Both my PFD zipper, and the zip pocket holding my car key were solidly iced up. A roll was in order to melt the ice off, and that did the trick.