Release date 10/23/2016

I havent been paddling, but did manage to go on a hunting trip in florida.

Late October and the weather was just perfect no bugs, some windless time, and warm weather, but not really hot

 

 

 

 There had been a huge storm and there was a lot of damage to trees and debris way up in the woods.

 

 

 

 

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It was black powder season.

I spent about half my time up in a few different trees. 

On the second day in the mid morning was able to shoot a hog. A group of 4 or five of them came by. I heard them from a ways away and had to wait until they came into the clearing where I was able to shoot a large female.



The monarch butterflies were on their way south for the winter, and I saw a lot of them on the goldenrod.


We buried the head to see if we could get the skull in a year or two.

The boat ride back on the last day was really spectacular with the sunsetting over the gulf.

A great break from the busy city life.



Truth: you don't want to stop traditions.

Release Date 4/18/2016

We were kayaking  in Newport Rhode Island.

We had gone surfing at Napatree in Stonington the day before.  I mostly just watch the surf, but there was good swell and some really large waves that the others went out on.

There was a bit of swell and some opportunity to do rock hopping, but I avoided that.

We put in at King Beach and paddled along the "Cliff Walk". It was warm and this will be the last trip for the drysuit. I wasn't feeling well, my arm was really bothering me, and I had to take it easy and keep the trip short.  

This is a beautiful coast that contains a huge number of really dramatic mansions, so of which date back to the turn of turn of the century. We found out later that many of the largest ones are owned by the town and conservation organization and are open for tourists, although at really high prices. We sneaked into "The Breakers" Cornelius Vanderbilt's summer home. We couldn't really get inside, but got a good view of the yard and the outside of the building.

Truth: You must pay your taxes.

Release Date 3/27/2016

It was the third leg of our North Shore of Long Island Tour, and also Easter Sunday.

We went from Reaves Beach to Cedar Town Beach. 


I was trying out my new compass. I was able to read it, and get good general headings from it.

It was a perfect day for paddling we had the tide, the flood started around 09:30, we launched at 10:20. There was a NW wind of between 5 and 10 knots so that helped us along our way. Weather was in the low 50s and sunny.


We went past the old Shoreham Nuclear Plant. We had trouble understanding why there weren't any guards around and people had built their beach houses right next to it. Turns out it was never activated and was fully decommissioned years ago!

I saw people with dogs on the shore and paddled over to check it out. One dog, a huge black lab, was biting a lobster float and trying to drag the trap to shore. He was really struggling and his master was trying to get him to "RELEASE", but he wouldn't. I pushed him with my paddle and he wouldn't let go. I then came back and was going hook my towrope to it to have the people drag the trap to shore, but I was able to grab his jowls and make him release. I was afraid he might drown he was trying so hard and his head was going under sometimes.

We had a nice lunch out of the wind behind some rocks for about 45 minutes then were back on our way. 

I went out almost a mile to release the bottle so hopefully it doesn't go right back to the beach.


Some bad erosion for some of the beach houses.

We arrived @ Cedar Beach around 16:30. 

We did manage to find some oysters on the way home at PJs lobster house. It was nice enough, but the oysters were very small, expensive, and not really opened with precision.

Truth: Dogs can be Tenacious

Release Date 2/21/2016

We went for a short paddle in the harbor on a windy warm winter day.

Low water at the battery was around 13:00, and we launched from Red Hook just after that. Air got up into the 50s, but the water was in the high 30s and with a wind that grew to about 15kts it was pretty chilly on the water.




We paddled North against a strong current almost to the battery, then met some friends who came south from Manhattan.

We then went south and across the harbor into some pretty big wind against current swell. 

We went around to the South of the Statue of Liberty and had a short snack and stretched our legs on the beach below Liberty State Park.

We came back across the harbor around 15:30 at almost slack tide and then landed at Red Hook around 16:30.

Truth: Food tastes better if you heat it.

Release Date 2/7/2016

I released the message in the mouth of the Suwanee River in Florida.

I was on a Sasquatch/Skunk Ape hunting trip. We had Sasquatch Pizza, but could not find any creatures in the woods.

This is a really pretty part of Florida, and we had all kinds of weather. It was cool or cold the whole time, and one day it really rained pretty hard.  The next day, Super Bowl Sunday was sunny and bright, but it was very windy, and I think the Skunk Apes may have scented us, so that may have been part of the problem.

The tide was lower than I have ever seen out here, and some areas that a normally creeks were completely dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did knock off a bit early to watch game.

Truth: Today is a Super Day.

Release date 1/31/2016

We paddled from Goldsmith's inlet to Reeves beach on Long Island's North shore, about 14 statue miles.

It was an amazingly nice day. Virtually no wind at all, bright sunshine, and it got up to almost 50 degrees later in the afternoon.

At the launch site we saw a sticker from our old friends at Kayak Waveology, which was fun. They must have run a trip from here sometime in the past. 




We left about 11:30 and arrived right at 16:30, took about 45 minute lunch break a mile west of mattituck inlet.

There is still current in this part of Long Island Sound. On the flood it starts all throughout the sound at the same time that the "Flood Starts at the Race" time way out at The Race. On the Ebb it actually starts in the sound about 1 hour before hand. The Flood Starts time was 10:45 so it was already moving when we got on the water. This far in the max, even on the springs, is less than a knot, but it still made a difference spread out over the whole day.



When we went back to the start to pickup our car we were treated to a really amazing sunset.




After the paddle we backtracked to Little Creek Oysters in Greenport for dinner. On our last trip they had run out of oysters so we had to pre-order. It was really nice to have such a good meal waiting for us.




Truth: Everyone has fans.

Release Date 1/17/2016

Paddle from Orient Point to Mill Lane beach in Greenport.

Start of our paddle along the North Short of Long Island, doing one hop each day.

Current in Race: 11:30 Flood Starts

We dropped the first car off in Greenport around 9:30 so the drive from Brooklyn was only about 1.5 hours, really fast because it was a Sunday morning.

We launched at the ferry at Orient Point around 11:15 it was already flooding pretty good around the point and a very small tide race starting. 

We made really good time going up the coast as the current picked up, it was at least 2 kts in some places.

We had a very small weather window, which we timed perfectly the wind was less than 10kts all day, it lay down just as we launched. It was still pretty cold. The sun never came out, and the weather staying in the mid to low 30s all day. I paddled the whole day with my greenland paddle, which didn't cause any problems with my tennis elbow. It was so cold I had to use the poggies with the greenland paddle, but they worked fine, and my hands stayed warm. Water temperature was a very cold 35 degrees.

We stopped for lunch around 13:15, but didn't stay long. It was windy and cold and we were worried about running out of daylight or having the the weather get back.

 

It started to snow very lightly around 15:00, and was really picking up snow by 16:00 when we landed. The drive home was awful in a light snow and the dark. 

We collected the cars and headed over to Little Creek Oysters for a post paddle treat of oysters and beer. Unfortunately they were OUT OF OYSTERS. We saw the folks finishing the last dozen when we arrived. Otherwise it was a fun day. 


Truth: If you do some of the work you can save money.