One day last October

[lhunt]

Last October, I borrowed a wooden boat with an eye to building a similar one someday. I wanted to see how it performed in rough water. Luckily, the weather cooperated, dishing out nice bumpy-but-not-too-bumpy conditions in Salem Sound. Afternoon winds were forecast at 14-18 kn steady, and seemed about that. Beam waves were not that big (2-1/2 - 3 ft.?) but were sharp and unpredictably choppy.

Leon and I paddled west out of a calm and foggy Manchester and stopped for a quick lunch as we waited for the predicted winds to blow up. Then we continued to hug the shore for about 3 miles, stopped for a little rest, and headed back.

The hull design performed very well. The boat was outfitted for flat water racing (knees up only, high seat, no backrest, short rudder), but it took the waves predictably and sensibly. Leon had his deck cam going and kept it pointed in the right direction for much of the time, which is very difficult in those conditions, especially as he took on some water during the launch for the return trip and decided to paddle on regardless. In short, we had a blast.

Recently I dug the video out to share with the boat designer and waxed a little nostalgic, so I'm sharing it here, too. It is spliced to show snippets from both the outward and return journey. If the paddler looks a little stiff, well, as they say, practice, practice, practice. Looking forward to more practice when the "dog days of winter" are over!

Video here

Lisa

[Gcosloy]

Lisa,

Your paddling form looks most impressive here. Thanks for sharing.

[leong]

Leon had his deck cam going and kept it pointed in the right direction for much of the time,

Here’s an earlier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO6ujyZhvlo'>video where I’m following Lisa with a camera. About 1/2 of the way into the video it will show why it’s not always a good idea to stay too close or to point in the “right” direction. No, I wasn’t trying to kill Lisa; especially since she was paddling my Epic 18X Ultra at the time.