bethany

Mars was Very close that night. Precautions were necessary.

I *think* when you are in extremely cold water your blood vessels constrict and slow you down as a survival mechanism (remember how with hypothermia no one is dead until they are WARM and dead) and then suddenly go back to normal again when you are suddenly out of the cold, like having cold ice cream suddenly in your mouth and then gone. So I think it's the suddenly gone part, the sudden loosening of the constricted blood that actually hurts, kind of like when it hurts to have the blood rush into a limb you've been sitting on. I don't really think you want to learn to roll up in slow motion while your face adapts, so probably other than avoiding unnecessary rolling in the cold the only helpful thing is probably covering as much of the exposed area so it's not having as extreme a change... --b

I tarp mine all the way around, having lost one foam seat to squirrels. . . .

okay, this is bad lighting, but here's Lyra for your rolling lesson: --b

Yes, also if you were starting face up and ending face down. --b

Here's some advice for those of you who want to learn to roll your boat: Watch a four month old. Seriously, I should make a video. I'm sitting here watching Lyra who has learned to roll from back to front. It's Exactly what you should do while rolling a kayak. She whips her hips over, curls her back up and then at the very end snaps her head up and has her hands in front of her in ready-to-rock position. I practically expect to see water dripping off her! --b

Yeah, an antihistamine would also help if you were all congested in humidity on hot days -- post nasal drip on hot days is sometimes makes me queasy, and I'm not at all prone to motion sickness normally. --b

Thanks, everyone! Sleep, ha haha. She's three weeks old now, so it has to get a teeny bit better right? My inlaws are in Kittery so I'm angling for the grandparent visit/babysitting while I kayak eventually. Meanwhile, I had a c-section and somehow a 9.2 lb baby so it will take me a little while to recover. xo --b

I bring my boat up to Lake Wentworth in the summer sometimes to visit my dad's cabin. It's MUCH much quieter than Winni. There is a way through to Wentworth from Winni in downtown Wolfeboro, but I forget how it goes exactly. There's a pleasant beaver swamp on one end of Wentworth, with herons and turtles and deer around and the Nature Conservancy owns Stamp Act Island, which had bald eagles nesting on it the last couple of years. The lake usually has a number of loons as well. A short drive over to Newfound Lake might be nicer as well. --b

Yah, I'm with Rick on this. I might have a bit of an urban mindset, but in my experience most officer types don't take Preventative actions on behalf of people, so in my imagination calling and saying something MIGHT happen probably wouldn't get much for results. Though of course, it probably wouldn't hurt either. I think it sounds like you did the best you could. I've shouted to people in kayaks off of Coolidge Point while working as a ranger before and generally my experience was being told to mind my own business or to f* off too. Not much you can do then.

I bet if you got ice in there at any point it could bend it, too!

I've got one here somewhere... I'll look for if you don't get Ed's for some reason. The movie The Islander, which is at the Kendall right now is based on Vinalhaven, btw. --b+

H -- that Chinook is an excellent camping pack mule and should help you out tremendously! It's been on a number of trips, and has carried extra gear for others including large amounts of water down beyond the foot pegs. --b

Wow, that's cool. Oh man, I wonder what they scrub you with if you swim in the Harlem River area there, blech!! --b

I second the motion for YOGA. If you are flexible, you won't hurt yourself as easily trying various rolls. --b+