Windy!

.THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN OPEN WATERS FORECAST...

.A LAKE WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT...

.REST OF TODAY...SOUTH WINDS 30 TO 40 KNOTS. WAVES 4 TO 6 FEET.
.TONIGHT....SOUTH WINDS 30 TO 40 KNOTS. WAVES 4 TO 6 FEET.
.MONDAY...SOUTH WINDS 30 TO 40 KNOTS.

I detect a trend!

What were the implications for the winter kayaker?

1) Excitement
2) Maybe not going so fast upwind.
3) Plenty fast downwind.
4) Launching into the wind from a concrete ramp didn't look inviting, so we seal-launched off a snow covered dock.
5) Kayaks blow across the parking lot unless you set them between 2 cars.
6) It takes 3 people to put a boat on the roof rack. Two to hold it down while the 3rd straps it on.
7) The plowed road into the Coast Guard station was drifted over with snow when we left. Good thing I got the snow tires on last week.
8) Wind-chill was strong enough that "de-icing" rolls seemed to just pack more ice on the PFD zipper. I ended up driving home in the full gear (drysuit, tuiliq, and PFD)
and finally hosed the zipper with the hot water spray at the kitchen sink to get it undone.

Still too hot

Last weekend it was about 20 degrees F, plus pretty windy and wavy.
I figured, ok, now's the time to break out the fleece. For the record, even with spray blowing in my face and the occasional roll, fleece+drysuit+tuiliq was way too hot.

Dave found the waves too big for his rolling boat and bailed out (not literally) early.

Between the heat, the waves, and something I must have eaten the day before, I only lasted about an hour. I fell in the water exiting the boat (full immersion, still too hot), crashed through some shore ice (in to the waist, still too hot).
Next time I think I'll at least skip the fleece top.

Cheap Gas

The big thing of note in last week's trip was that even though it's mid November, we saw the most motorboats of any trip this year. Correlating with that, the parking lot at the Cedar Beach boat ramp was pretty much packed.

Indian Summer

I figured with the demise of daylight savings time the midweek paddles would be done. Then we got a warm spell, pushing 70 degrees Wednesday and calls started flying about a lunch time trip, not too long, but take advantage while we can.

We ran into Bruce building a house by the shore just north of Red Rocks. Apparently he used to paddle with our gang, before my time. Then he got totally immersed in outrigger canoes. This was the first we'd seen of him since the Maloko'i (sp?) a ~40 mile race in Hawaii last month.

With the warm temperature, dry suit, and tuiliq I started embracing the concept of the back brace resting position. (the picture is not me, just to show)

For some flexibility reason it works ok for me on the left side but on the right I have to keep sculling to stay on the surface.

Button Bay

Saturday was the roughest weather I've paddled in the SOF. I suggested Button Bay as I've only been there once before. It is also on the southern end of our usual range and Sam was going to be coming north from Rutland. It is named for stones shaped like buttons originally formed by reeds growing through clay (making the holes).

It was in the high 30's and pretty windy at the put in Saturday. A dry suit seemed like the key to comfort even before we launched. Once paddling though, combined with a tuiliq, it was pretty hot.

We started with about 2 hours straight into the wind. A low volume boat with just a smidge of rocker is not in it's prime here as oncoming waves tend to wash over the bow and scrub off speed. It still seemed plenty stable, so the only problem was the speed.. oh, and the heat from exertion, so there were a few rolling and back brace breaks.

We then headed cross wind out into the lake, the best leg of the trip for this boat. The waves just rolled under the hull, not costing any momentum or causing any tip.

Downwind to home I was getting some boost from the surf, but again the low volume and no rocker worked against me. I spent a considerable amount of time with the boat completely under water, but always upright, pointed pretty much in the direction I wanted to go, and still pretty dry inside after playing submarine. All grist for what I might want the same or different in a future boat.

We stopped for lunch at the Basin Harbour Club.


In season, that would run about $25, and they probably take kindlier to folks flying into their private air strip than kayakers washing up on shore in dripping tuiliqs. But this was the off season, we brought our own lunches, and no paying guests were around to be put off.

The last couple of miles were pretty uneventful. Since I wasn't driving on the way home I could just wallow in the tired all over feeling.

The season is progressing... Killington ski area opened Sunday!

Juniper Island

The season is progressing. The water is still hanging in the high 50's where it's been for a couple of weeks. For air the high Saturday was ~45, with the wind-chill in the low 30's, but that's with dry skin, so I figured I'd wear the dry suit to keep that applicable as we would have a mid-trip excursion on foot.

Can you tell there's a dry suit under the tuiliq that needs burping? After this pic I tried rolling and the hard part was getting under water.


I made the bottom of the tuiliq to fit the keyhole cockpit on the other kayak. It bunches up on this smaller one, so leaks just a bit.

We went to Juniper Island, which features the oldest cast iron lighthouse in the country (according to wikipedia anyway.) Its electric replacement is in the background.





For foggy weather this building had a big bell on top and some sort of mechanism inside to keep it ringing.


When we got back to Oakledge there was another group of kayaks coming in and a guy we've run into a few times heading out on his standup paddleboard. So, the place is still pretty busy with paddlers.

Willsboro Bay

The Champlain valley is sometimes called Vermont's "Banana Belt" since the lake moderates temperatures (until it freezes over.) Some areas haven't seen frost yet, so you can still get local tomatoes and peppers at the farmer's market.


Yesterday we launched from the back (main lake) side of Shelburne Shipyard on Shelburne Point with a destination of Willsboro bay on the New York side.



Tom's boat is anchored in the water. Still too new for him to let it rest on the sand.

On the way we passed the Four Brothers islands. They've been taken over by cormorants. They strip all the green growth off trees for their nests. When the trees are dead they seem just has happy nesting on the ground. In the end they drive off other ground nesting birds that really have to be on islands for protection from predators.



We crossed Willsboro bay and paddled down the mainland side. Some of this rubble is natural, and some is debris from blasting out the railroad bed near the top of the picture.


We lunched on shore by this trestle.


There are some nice cliffs too..


This was the first time using my recently finished tuiliq with the Gulfstream. It keeps the cockpit a lot drier than my old spray skirt. Either I just rolled up, or the photographer caught me in a hellacious sneeze.


Here we still have about 5 miles of open water to go. Dave with Camel's Hump and 2 loons in the background: