Release Date 10/27/2015

We paddled across the sound from Orient Point to Stonington CT. 

We were going to to attend some BCU training running in conjunction with the Autumn Gales event run by Kayak Wavelology. 

The Weather and tides were just about perfect.

The details:
Ebb Starts at the Race 11:45
Max Ebb at the Race 14:50 4.0 Kts!

We launched around 10:30 after driving out from Brooklyn. We met at the boat storage location at 7:00AM. Luckily the traffic was light. We even had time to stop at our favorite breakfast place and get egg and cheese on a roll as well as a nice lunch to go and a bit of attitude from the salty fellows running the deli.

breakfast spot out on the north fork.

at Orient Point about to unload the boats

We knew the current would be big. They run the Gales event on the springs or as close as they can get to it. The usual path is along the island string: Plumb, Great Gull, Little Gull, Fishers. Every other time I have done it we went on the South Side of Fishers, but this time we had to be on the North side to get into Stonington. The fastest route would be to paddle East or even slightly to the North to have the current carry us toward the East. This would be a fast but boring trip since it would all be open water not near land, with no chance of a take out. We opted for the usual trip so we could land at Little Gull. My favorite island next to Raul in PNG and 3 Rooker bar in Florida.

A bunch of bird nests not occupied this time of year.

 
We got to Little Gull about 12:30. It was getting kind of rough because of the current and the wind. There were a bunch of pissed off seals on the Island. Some were these huge horse head seals. They are about size of a small cow and they paddled around in the water barking at us. There were just 4 or 5 in the water. As we explored the island we found a bunch more on the East end of the island on the rocks and the shore who didnt pay attention to us.


 

We found a really cool dead seal up on the island that was bleached by the sun with most of its flesh rotted away, just the bones and the skin. We toyed with the idea of trying to take the skull with us, but we didn't have the time or the tools. We later found out that this is totally illegal. This was just a medium one, but teeth were huge you definitely wouldn't want one of these guys biting you!

Yikes teeth. And this is a little guy.

We left Little Gull at 13:30 and headed for Race Rock.


 We pretty quickly had to take a huge ferry angle to keep from being swept way out to sea. As we got into some of the races there were waves to surf. We played a bit, but not to aggressively. We were way out at sea and any out of boat screw-up would have resulted in a mile or two of being blasted straight out to sea.  



Eventually we made it to the eddy created by Race Rock. 



We had a short rest then continued on. I broke out of the race 10 yards further up current than my friend and it 5 minutes he was 250 yards further back than me. I could actually SEE the water 4 inches higher at the top the eddy, there was a ton of current. We really had to fight to get across the 1/2 mile stretch to Fishers Island to have a rest. It was every bit the 4 knots advertised.

Once we got into Fischer's Island Sound we got some current to push us the rest of the way. We landed rigth at 17:30 which was what we planned. We found one free beer in the rental apartment and some hot showers...

You just know this boat is owned by a rich white guy...

Truth: Anticipating something annoying makes it worse.

Release Date 10/18/2015

A stunningly beautiful day up in Cold Spring




The plan was to paddle south on the ebb to the bridge then return on the flood. As the day wore on we decided instead to do a 1-way trip to peekskill and get a cab to go back and get the cars.

We paddled South in a light wind and bright sunlight. The trees were just starting to turn, the peak was probably a week or two away.



We had a great view of West Point. I once did  a race on this exact same course when I was in fighting shape 8 or so  years ago, and I paddled right by West Point chasing the guy who was right in front of me, who was in his 20's and I never caught. I never even noticed West Point!. At any rate it was cool to see the giant castle that is their main building. It pretty much says "piss off we are the USA we will kill you". A huge imposing stone castle like building hanging over the Hudson with not many windows.

We stopped for lunch at a little beach that had kayak racks and lockers.

We then continued South to the location of the "waterfall" when we got to the head of the inlet the waterfall was just trickle. This is an old part of the country. Some brick ruins had a huge London Plain tree growing right in the middle of what used to be a building.

After some discussion we decided to make it a one-way trip to Annsvile Creek in Cold Spring. This is where I took my first kayak classes with Atlantic Kayak Tours, who are still in business, but don't run the concession on the creek any more. It was probably in the 1990s when I took those classes so that's 20 years!!!

On the way we could see the top of Break Neck Ridge the hiking hill. It is super steep and you can really see how it got its name. The picture doesn't do it justice.

It was a fun trip down memory lane to go under the railroad bridge into the embayment. We got out at the paddlesport center, which was closed.

After some screwing around we arranged a taxi shuttle and I fortunately didn't need to go, so i did some boat maintenance. It got cloudy but was till in the 50s when all of a sudden it started to SNOW. It was very light and melted immediately, but was a hell of a thing so early in the year. I hope its not going to be one of those years....

Snow on the hood of the car with kayaks in the reflection.

truth: sometimes a round trip turns into a one way trip.

Release Date 8/31/2015

Went for a paddle at Breezy on the last day of August.

The surf was pretty good the day before on the beach, according to one friend who was at the same spot, but there was almost nothing to speak of for us when we got to the sandbar. We did try a bit, and got some small broken waves.

Also paddled around and tried a bit of fishing, then had a long slow lunch on the beach. It was really warm day, and felt so good to be by the water.

Did a bit of rolling and rescue practice.

Truth: Its different in October.

Release Date 8/24/2015

Went for a North Shore paddle.

We launched under the Whitestone bridge and paddled East along the shore to Sands Point. There were huge schools of small bluefish but they did not bite my large diamond lure, maybe it was too big for them??? 

We found a deserted part of beach where a few other boaters were hanging out and we had lunch and soaked-up the sun.

It was a beautiful paddle back into the sunset. 

When we arrived at the park it was FULL of people of all shapes and sizes picnicking fishing and hanging out, really popular park. 

Have been practicing rolling and re-entering and rolling on each trip and got the re-enter and roll down to about 75% success rate. The trick is to get ALL the way into the boat and start on the correct side.

Truth: Things can work backwards as well as forwards.

Release Date 7/26/2015

Brought to double to Coney Island to support the Grimaldo's Mile swim race with the CIBBOWS folks. 

It was a nice easy race to supervise. It was a bit of hassle in the double to do all the quick moves and positioning and we didn't get a chance to tow or rescue anyone, which would have been super easy in the giant boat.

After the race we paddled over to breezy point to bask in the sun. 

We practiced swamping and recovering the double. The fastest thing was to have one person re-enter and roll and then help the 2nd person in.

We did have a real problem with the swamped boat on the beach. The only way to get the water out was to drag it back out into the surf and empty it in waist deep water then bring back in. It is so big that it is really really heavy when full of water.

It actually got pretty rough later in the day as the wind picked-up and we had to paddle back over to Coney Island. It was a bit sketchy in the following sea. We took out on the far far east end of the beach. We got lucky with a good landing no surfing or dumping but had to really work to carry the heavy boat all the way back to the parking lot.

Truth: Some lost things get found.

Release Date 7/20/2015

We went out for some surfing at Breezy Point.

There was no real surf so we just paddled around and did a bit of fishing and had a long relaxing lunch on the beach.

Truth: Its cooler by the water

Release Date 7/9/2015

Went paddling under the Atlantic Highlands Bridge.

The plan was to play in the heavy current under the bridge. We arrived much earlier than the predicted peak flood and parked out on Sandy hook near the campground. We then paddled out to the East to the end of the Hook, then back the other way up to the bridge to catch the current.

There was a decent flood current, maybe 3 knots, and bridge made some nice eddy lines to fool around in, but the lack of bottom structures prevented any standing waves or other play features. 

It was a good day for paddling, cloudy early on which kept the heat at bay.

Truth: Storms go Away.

Release Date 6/9/2015

We went diving for fossils in Venice Florida.

this was a really fun dive trip. We found several hundred sharks teeth that were between one and three million years old.

Its amazing that they are so plentiful after people have been diving for them and collecting them for something like 20 years in a really small area just 4 or 5 miles long and 1 mile wide.

We were really close to the shore on all the dives!

We did two days a diving with a lot of goofing off and bbq eating in between.

At the hotel we came across the baby armidillo. It was about the cutest thing you can imagine.

Truth:
The earth is really old.

Release Date 5/22/2105 5/25/2015

Went paddling in Maine near Bar Harbor.

5/22/2015 Chilly about 50 degrees and windy. We launched from Bar Harbor and went south/west down the coast. There are some amazing cliffs along this section of the coastline. The swell was fairly mellow, but even so there was some dramatic waves slamming into rocks to enjoy.

There was some good hunting for beach trash. Do NOT know how a golfball ended up here!

Kayak with some treasure

We had lunch at the beach in Acadia park, this is usually closed to boats and used for swimming, but we were early in the season and they hadn’t set-up for swimming yet.

Launched @ 11:00 Returned about 16:15.

Low 8:45 High 15:00

Ebbs to the south/west  Floods to the north/east. So we paddled against a mild current in both directions.

5/23/2015 It was very Windy, with wind from the North and West @ up to 20kts, although it let off later in the day,  so we did a very late start around 15:00 from a little bridge at the intersection of 102 and 3 on Mt. Desert Island. There is a very long protected cut in the island which we paddled in to stay in the lee of the wind. We paddled down to Southwest Harbor and took the car back. Arrived in SW Harbor around 17:15 after a bit of exploring the coast on the way down. 

A crab shell a float, must have been picked-up on the beach by the tide.

High 15:47 Low 22:00

We paddled against a light flood to start and current should have turned by the end of the trip, but the wind made it too difficult to tell.

5/24/2015 Still windy, maybe 10-15kts. We started from South West Harbor @ 12:00 and went out around Great Cranberry Island. There was some significant swell up to 3ft, but options for surfing were limited since it was coming straight in from ocean to East and coast was just rocks.

We stopped for lunch around the back side of GC Island around 13:45 where I found some good lobster floats. We then went around Little Cranberry and Sutton Island. Reached the back of Sutton around 16:30. We then had a slow crossing into the wind back to Southwest Harbor around 17:30.

Saw some amazing coastline along the shore side of Somes Island. The picture doesn’t do it justice but this one area with dramatic cuts into the rock was really cool. If it was warmer there were some cool spots for rock jumping.

Low 10:30 High 16:30 it was so windy couldn’t really tell anything about the current.

5/25/2015 We went  from Sorrento Harbor to the South along the islands and the mainland. We stopped on the mainland for lunch and a break. As with the other places we paddled the coastline was just stunning.  Wind was fairly mellow peaked at 10kts. There was a bit of surf, but it just broke on the shore and it wasn’t possible to surf or play in it.

This dude has a nice collection!

 

Usually I am immune to boat names, but other than "Marijuana Hauler" which I saw in Florida this was pretty good!

 

On the way back we had an amazing encounter with a small seal. It kept looking at us and coming closer and closer. Eventually it started to put its head up on our boats and start to look like it was going to climb on the boat. At one point it nuzzled my paddle, and I scratched it under the chin like a dog. Another instance it swam upside down with its belly along my keel and the flippers running along the side of the boat.

Unfortunately my camera battery was dying, but I got a few nice photos.


 

It really did look like he was trying to climb up on the boat!

We launched around 11:30, we arrived at the lunch spot around 14:15, We launched about 

15:15 and returned to Sorrento by 17:45.

Truth: It always takes longer than you think to get ready.

Release date 4/19/2015

We did a circumnavigation on one of the nicest days of the year so far. 

I have been putting fake $100 bills in the bottle and offering folks $20 if they contact me.

We launched from Red Hook right at 9:30 which was high water at The Battery. This gave us only about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to Randalls Island before the current would turn against us. We had current with us, but at this point in the tide cycle it wasn't very strong. We just made at about 11:15 we landed on Randalls for a short break.

We started paddling up the Harlem River around 12:00 and made it to the stopping point at the marina on the Palisades around 13:30 to meet our friends who had come up from the Hudson. We couldn't see them at all when we crossed by the all arrived within a half hour.

We headed down the Hudson around 3:00PM and after a stop at Pier 25 arrived back in the Red Hook around 18:30 or 19:00. 

We were really unlucky with the wind since it started from the North in the Morning and turned all the way around to be from the South at the end of the day.

Truth:  Things are less expensive in the third world.