FAST Sea Kayak Seminar

What a beautiful day for a paddle! Today I helped Rob teach the FAST (Fall All Staff Training for COE) sea kayak seminar. The students were all COE instructors for different sports -- mostly climbers -- so they were a really enthusiastic bunch! We met at East Shore Park and went over the basics (fitting in boats, wet exits, deep water re-entries, and basic paddle strokes) and then went for a short paddle punctuated with mini play-times. Most people were really excited to try t-rescues, and some people even worked on their roll. Dan got his roll on the second try! It was very exciting! Everyone was excited to hear about the tri-weekly pool sessions available to all COE instructors, so hopefully they'll be back for more.

I didn't take any pictures, but we could see Todd (COE director) snapping shots from the shore, so maybe we'll make it into next year's catalog! The strap on my camera snapped a few days ago so I'm trying to find ways to remedy that...

Yay kayaking!

Return to Ithaca

I haven't been a very good blogger lately... or kayaker for that matter. That's what school and working at the kayak shop do to you. At least I can be optimistic that when I graduate and have a 9-5 job I'll have more time to paddle!

Now that I'm back in Ithaca, Ben and I made it out on Monday morning for a solid paddle around the south end of Cayuga. A little under 9 miles. The weather was very eerie, with the sun shining through dark clouds that continuously passed over our heads. The strange lighting made it feel like the world was about to end. But we paddled through the random drizzles anyways...

No pictures... I was lazy. No map because I'd just be reposting one of the previous maps. Sorry, lame post! This weekend I'll be helping Rob teach the COE Fall All Staff Training sea kayaking seminar, so that should be fun.

I found out today that my master's project will have to do with developing a method to calculate stream flow in the inlet channels to Cayuga lake. Right now they have various ways of estimating the flow based on flow measurements upstream, but they want a way to do it more accurately right in the inlet. My adviser even suggested that I might get to take a small boat (i.e. kayak) back and forth across the channel to measure the flow. I'll post more info when I find out more about it!

Backpacking the Carter Moriah Range Trail

We (Simon, Travis, Tom, and I) met up at DEKA at 7am on a chilly Saturday morning to depart for the White Mountains. Approximately 3 hours and 1 car shuttle later, we (Memphis and Jordan included) were ready to go!

Memphis & Simon, Jordan & Travis (with his Dunkin Donuts coffee), Me, and Tom

We departed from a trailhead in a small neighborhood in Gorham, NH on the Carter Moriah Trail. It was about 4.5 miles of up, up, and up to the top of Mt. Moriah. From there the plan was to resupply on water at the Imp Campsite before traversing the three Carter Mountains (North, Middle, and South). To get to the top of Moriah we scrambled up some bare rock faces with beautiful views all around us. From the top we could see the Carters looming ahead.

At the Imp Campsite the caretaker warned us to refill on water because there are very few reliable water sources along the Carter ridge. We filled up and headed towards the Carters. It was a steep climb to get to North Carter, and Tom had to drag Memphis (who was carrying a wide pack and sometimes got stuck between neighboring rocks) up the steep sections of trail. Jordan, on the other hand, insisted on sprinting back and forth from the front to the back of the group constantly for the entire weekend.

Jordan exhausted from all her sprinting!

Somewhere between the Imp Campsite and the Carters I managed to slip off a log and step knee-deep into a hole of soupy muck. Luckily Tom had an extra pair of dry socks to lend me, so we carried on!

The hike from North Carter to Middle Carter was fairly easy. North Carter is not classified as one of the 48 peaks above 4000' (even though it stands at 4530') because you don't have to descend (and ascend) 200' before getting to the next 4000'er (Middle Carter).

We planned to stay at a backcountry campsite between Middle and South Carter that Simon had read about online, but as we were nearing South Carter, all we could see was dense, uneven, mossy forest all around us. Just as we were about to give up and squeeze our tents in between the trees, Travis, who had insisted on pressing ahead, yelled back that he'd found a great site. It was perfect! Two flat, soft clearings in the woods with a fire pit next to them.

After making camp we cooked up some beans and rice with broccoli - almost using beer since we were running out of water. Travis started a nice fire right next to Tom's tent, and I attempted to dry out my shoes and socks.

After a restful night we packed up camp and got back on the trail. We quickly ascended South Carter before descending to Zeta Pass where we restocked on water (from a somewhat sketchy stagnant stream). We climbed a very steep but short section of trail to the summit of Mt. Hight, which had a spectacular 360 degree view of the Carter Ridge and the Presidentials:

The Presidential Range from Mt. Hight -- Mt. Washington is on the left

We hopped over to Carter Dome to check our 4th 4000'er off the list (Simon's 20th!) before descending to the Carter Notch Hut and Carter Lakes:

Walking along the ridge to Carter Dome

Jordan's favorite pastime involves frantically digging in the water and picking up large, spherical rocks which she then delivers to us and expects to play fetch with.

From there we headed back down to Rt. 16 via the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail. Two days, 4 to 7 mountains (depending on whom you ask), and 19 miles later we finally reached Tom's car. We drove back to Manchester and completed the weekend with a delicious BBQ at Tom's house.

A Relaxing Evening on Irondequoit Bay

On Friday nights, Morgan leads a group called the Easy Gliders (a chilled out version of the Rough Riders) on a paddle from the shop onto Irondequoit Creek or Irondequoit Bay. Arno and I decided to join them this Friday for a nice evening paddle to the bay bridge and back. We arrived at the shop a little early and decided to try out the shop's newest addition: the stand up paddleboard.

Arno and I trying out the stand-up-paddleboards (SUPs) on Irondequoit Creek

For this trip I tried a P&H low volume Cetus. It was the most comfortable of the three boats I tried over the weekend. It's about a foot longer than my Avocet. There is a handy little hatch in front of the cockpit for easy access to snacks, cameras, water, and sunscreen.

 

We made it to the bridge!

Swans (upright and upside down) snacking on something at the bottom of the bay.

Morgan in her Greenlander Pro

Back at the shop we relaxed by the creek with a bottle of wine (carbonated grape juice for Arno!), cheese, and crackers before heading back to Dave & Morgan's house for the night. 

Date: Friday, July 30th

Distance: 5 miles

Playing in Sprinkers on Canandaigua

Jeff and I met up at Canandaigua Lake State Marine Park at 8am on Friday morning. I managed to leave my euro paddle in the back of Dave's car the night before, so I spent the morning practicing my greenland stroke. For this trip Shannon let me borrow her elegant Pilgrim Expedition. This boat was smaller in the hip area, but roomier for my knees. It fit really well!

Jeff paddling by Squaw Island

We paddled out to some-point-I-forgot-the-name-of where we snacked on plums and dark chocolate granola bars (yum!) supplied by Jeff. A few ominous-looking clouds passed over us, but luckily it only rained for about 30 seconds.

 

Playing in a water fountain at the north end of the lake. Like an on-water sprinkler!

 

An island of very squished boathouses with sketchy electrical wiring.

Date: Friday, July 30th

Distance: 10 miles

Rough Riders - Forward Stroke Clinic

After a long drive from NH with an overnight pit stop in Ithaca, I made it to Rochester in time for Thursday night Rough Riders. Due to Big Purple's poor fuel economy when suspended in the air (the fuel economy on the water is infinite!), I was without my boat this weekend. This forced me to continue boat shopping by trying 3 new boats. For this paddle, Heather kindly lent me her beautiful low volume Romany. The deck is a lot lower on this boat than on my Avocet, which made my legs fall asleep. My knees need their space! The Romany also has a much flatter hull (bottom) than my boat.

 

Racing Jeff to the lake. This must have been minutes before his boat nearly fell off the car.

Forward stroke was on the agenda for this week's session. While it may sound simple, the forward stroke is where many otherwise great sea kayakers have trouble. Balancing the correct amount of torso rotation, leg strength, and arm motion is a complex science! Dave had us practice with chunks of PVC pipes on land before heading out to the lake.

Boatloads of sea kayaks. Purple seems to be missing from the spectrum.

  

Although they looked small from shore, the swells were surprisingly large once we got out there.

After splitting into three smaller groups, we headed a ways out into Lake Ontario to avoid the brown murky water from the river. We paddled into the waves head on (paddling northwest), into quartering seas (paddling north), with a stern quartering sea (paddling south), and finally, in following seas (paddling southeast). It's definitely hardest to keep your boat going straight in a stern quartering sea! Dave had us try paddling with our eyes closed to focus on the motions of the forward stroke. Very unnerving in a wavy lake!

 

Sue surfing into shore. Ken on a stand up paddleboard in the background.

 

Sessions never fail to end with a gorgeous sunset.

Rough Riders meets every summer Thursday at 6pm at Durand Eastman Park on Lake Ontario. Go to their website for more info!

Date: Thursday, July 29th

Distance: Negligible - practicing skills!