Release Date 10/16/2011

I went for an afternoon paddle on a weekend, and I FINALLY saw the parrots of Weehawken, after many years I finally made it there.

All the Tide Race boats were out at a show, so I took the Outer Island. Like the LV Explorer, I find this boat difficult to control because I can’t hook my knees into it well. 

It was windy from the South so we didn’t want to get too far up river, hence the parrot stop for lunch.

Truth:

Wood is softer than rock.

Release Date 10/10/2011

I went with some friends to go surfing at Breezy Point. It was another really nice day, but there was no surf, or very very little surf anyway. 

We had fun farting around in the little waves, and then had a nice lunch of Bagel Hole bagels and Bandit box wine.

It was cool to skip out on work for a day and lounge in the last really nice day of the year on the beach!

Release Date 10/9/2011

 

We went for a BBQ picnic on the piers down below the Gowanus Canal entrance. It was an afternoon/evening picnic that I extended into a sleepover in a bivy bag. 

Current turned back to flood about 3:30PM when we arrived.

I called and emailed everyone I could think of, and finally got a pretty good of about 12 people in the end from Pier 96, Pier 66, Pier 40, and Red Hook. 

I didn’t do a great job on the fire. I wanted to keep it on the “downlow” so as not to attract attention, but it was ok, and another smart person brought a campstove to take up the slack. I put the fire too close to the water so it was snuffed out during the fish cooking session, but the stove came to the rescue. 

The night was really nice, warm about 70 degrees, and an almost full moon. There is a bit too much ambient light from the neighboring piers. I watched tugs and all kinds of boats go in and out of the harbor all night. There is a perfect view of the Statue of Liberty from here.

It was a crazy warm day, it must have been 80 in the height of the afternoon.

I forgot my camera, but I got a woman to email me this picture of me trying to drown her kid by giving him a ride.

I paddled the Tide Race Xplore S, which is a nice boat, sort of like an Explorer.

I had always wanted to camp here, but it was kind of anticlimactic as a solo event. I got up early and left so I could try and go surfing on Monday 10/10/2011.

Truth: Fire is Hot

Release Date 9/30/2011

I went for an afternoon paddle in the Hudson. The original plan was to go out with some  of the folks from Red Hook, but none of them could make it, so I went on my own from NY Kayak.

I was trying out one of the Tide Race boats the “Xcape”. It was a bit too wide for me, and super stable, meaning it was difficult to get it up on edge, but when I did it felt like it would go right on over, no secondary stability, and very wide.

I paddled north in a pretty strong ebb around 5:00PM. I got up to the cruise ship terminals, and had to wait while one of the boats pulled out.

I then went around the terminal, which was very difficult in such a strong current, it totally wore me out. I rested for a bit at pier 96, then flew home in a  stiff current.

My arm that has been bothering me really hurt the next day, but after 2 days it felt pretty good again.

Truth: Its good to try everything.

Release Date 9/25/2011

The “Inlet”.

Low Tide at the inlet was 11;40, and we got into the water about 12:00PM after a leisurely trip over Bellport.

We had an easy paddle over  from a launch at the East Moriches Coast Guard Station. Soon we were in the current being drawn toward the inlet.

It was a pretty busy place with a bunch of people fishing for stripers in the outgoing tide. We got blown right out and did a bit of surfing out on the East side of the inlet on some pretty big waves.

Then we paddled over to the West side and surfed a few waves over there. I was using a borrowed boat a pretty heavy plastic Baja, and I was happy to have it but I wasn’t strong enough to kick it around in the surf, and wasn't really dressed for a swim, so I was pretty cautious. 

We surfed the waves over there, and decided to stop lunch around 14:30. It was overcast, but the wind was mellow and had very relaxing lunch and some refreshment. We started back around 16:00. We surfed a bit after we left, the waves were reduced, but still substantial.

There was a nutty guy buzzing the inlet in an ultralight and flying very close to the water and the beach, like 10 feet, and we took a bunch of pictures.

By the time we got to the inlet we were very quickly being sucked right into it. A prefect Trip. Still a ton of boats even late late in the afternoon. I was fishing but not very enthusiastically, and I I didn’t catch anything.

We  got back just before dusk and could easily find the put-in.

I'm using some borrowed pictures, my camera has gone missing, but I hope to get it back soon it has pictures and a truth...

Truth:

Release Date 9/24/2011

Release Date 9/24/2011

We paddled out from East Patchouge to Watch Hill then over to Davis Park for a drink at the Casino. It’s very definitely the “shoulder season” out here and not so many people around.

We were VERY lucky with the weather this weekend. It was supposed  to be really bad, and rained very hard all day on Friday, all day throughout the city and Long Island, but I had  planned to go to a friend’s house for Saturday and Sunday on the Island, so I went anyway, and it didn't rain at all, a bit overcast, basically perfect paddling weather.

We didn’t get on the water until about 15:15 and got over to Watch Hill in an hour.  I wanted to go to the bar there, but held-off until we went to the Casino in Davis Park, which I had been promised was "much better".

The bar really reminded us of a place in Metuchick RI out on the beach where we had been after a kayak class. There was bit of surf, but we had walked through the island from the bay side so we didn’t have to deal. When we got cold we went inside.

For the 1.5 hours we were there these guys were tuning up for a “show” but they never started playing. Just test 1 2 3 4 and a bit of wasted away in Margaritaville we never heard and actual song.

 

We paddled back across the bay into a beautiful sunset. 

We hadn’t seen the sun all day, just the sunset. It never rained on us, but we saw and incredible rainbow, and it was the first time I saw an entire rainbow. It started from the mainland of Long Island and went all the over to the South of Fire Island, and you could see both halves of it, I have never seen that before, and maybe never will again. Here are the 2 halves; it took up almost the entire horizon.

 

Then it got dark. Very dark.

We were surfing wind waves, and had a very loose compass course, by the time it  was dark we  weren’t sure where we going. We reached land, and decided to go East, when we didn’t find anything after 10 minutes we went West, then eventually we decided to go back East. After a while, 15 minutes, we found a familiar landmark and we realized we were very far East near Bellport, so we went there which is where the kayaks live and took a cab back to the put-in. 

Truth: I was cold and had been drinking, so I don’t remember.

Release Date 9/18/2011

I went kayak surfing at Breezy Point.

The tides were perfect for an afternoon paddle, high in the harbor was around noon, we got on the water around 2:00PM so we had a nice ride out in the ebb.

There was a good amount of swell and we got some nice rides.

We started off with the smaller waves, and then I foolishly went way over to the East where some big dumping waves were breaking. These waves are actually pretty big, the picture doesn't do it justice...

I got one or two ok rides off of it, then got trashed twice in succession. I drank a  bit of water on the first one, even though the water was cold and violent it was still a lot better than worrying about the rocks and reef in PNG. After that I went back to the smaller waves....

The water temp was 68 degrees, and it was  overcast, so once I was wet it was a bit chilly. I only had a reed top and and a very light paddling jacket.



We stopped for lunch after about an hour to take a break and have some wine and lunch. Then we paddled back to the car.

There was an amazing view of the sun breaking through the clouds. The pictures  were ok, but it was really amazing live.


Truth:
It is disappointing when you expect something and then it isn't there.