Sunday, March 01, 2009

Wet exit and ice boat (but not one from the other)

4 and sunny this morning. I figured I wouldn't want to pull off my mitts so I didn't bring the camera. The starting point was Shelburne farms. We're still in the mode of a spotter driving around early AM looking for a clear launch, then phoning around.

Dave's kayak decided to start the seal launch before he was quite ready. He ended up flipping without his tuliq attached to the cockpit and did a wet exit. Isn't that why we wear drysuits?

We headed north, skirting some ice packs and threading through others, keeping an eye on the wind which could blow the ice to inconvenient places between us and our cars.

There was also a lot of skim ice, 1 or 2 mm thick, that you can still paddle through, the kayak making a zipper sound. Water displaced by your boat shoots up like little geysers through holes in the ice.
For some extra wake-up effect, try rolling in that; kinda neat feeling your face crash through as you come up.

On the way to the farm, I noticed a car at Shelburne Bay with an iceboat on the roof, so I stopped on the way back. He was just sailing in, don't know if he was done for the day or just swapping passengers. There was also an ice windsurfer, but not close enough for a good view.



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