kattenbo

By the way, if you want a lot of info on Greenland kayaking, try the Qajaq USA website: www.qajaqusa.org (disclosure -- I'm vice-peon, I mean vice president, of that group). Qajaq USA is the "local" US chapter of the Greenland Kayak Association, one of only two chapters outside of Greenland. Keith ---- Still paddlin' Romanys -- the best boat on the water (for me) Still usin' skinny sticks -- 'cause their so much fun Still think folks should use whatever makes them smile

Silly may be a bit of an stretch...different yes, though there is a growing minority of us "twiggers" who also wear tuiliqs on at least some occasions. As stated by others, they do originate in the Arctic North and are particularly used in Greenland (don't know if used other places), especially in the colder months and rougher weather (Greenlanders also have what we would recognize as a "spray skirt", called an akuilisaq or tuiitsoq). And by the way, they actually did have a dry suit, but it was apparently not used as a paddling garment but was worn when flensing a whale (an activity that seemed to involve frequent immersion). And the tuiliq makes a lot of sense in their waters (and around here in the winter as well). Keep in mind that the water temperatures around Greenland in July run about 34 degrees to 36 degress, so full body protection simply makes sense. And if you're at sea for hours, contending with very large (400-800 lbs) seals, even larger walrus and narwhales who are cranky (after all you've just stuck them with something sharp) in all weather conditions (no paddle, no eat, no light or heat), you probably want a garment that's going to provide that kind of coverage. The long one piece garment provides an excellent seal (no pun intended) to the boat (oh yeah, no floation in the boats) excluding all water. The length of the garment provides tremendous flexibility and ease of motion, which we exploit for helping with the various capsize manuevers but have two even more practical values. First, remember these folks were out there making a living -- they carried an astonishing amount of gear on their decks that they had to be able to get to, had to be able to throw harpoons, lance wounded prey, retrieve the prey, fasten it to the boat to be towed home, etc., etc. The combined flexibility, tight seal and protection provided by the tuiliq helped with all that. Second, the long skirt actually allows the performance of what has come to be known as the "Petrussen maneuver" after the teenaged Greenlander who is most frequently associated with it. Imagine you've capsized, you can't roll up, and if you leave your boat you will die -- whaddya do? If you're wearing a tuiliq, you drop your butt out of the seat, reach up, grab you overturned hull and pull your head above water, all while maintaining the seal around the cockpit (and incidentally, your life). Sooner or later your friends come by, help you get upright and you're still in your dry boat, ready to paddle home. By the way, that bit about staying in the boat at almost all costs -- it's kinda hard to learn to swim if the water is always close enough to freezing as to make no difference. And if you think about it, the thing on the water with you that has more floatation than anything else is your boat, might as well use it. Nice for the Greenlanders you say, but on Cape Cod? Admittedly you kinda have to be in the Greenland mode to be intrigued by the modern tuiliq (by the way the neoprene ones by Brooks -- probably what you saw -- have their biggest market in Greenland -- cheaper and easier to maintain then sealskin). But there are a lot of advantages, particularly in colder weather. They are incredibly warm, the built in hood means never having to worry about bringing one along, they add a lot of bouyancy (so that's why we can balance brace, eh) and the additional flexibility does come in handy during rescues, and other activities. I do wear mine over my dry suit in colder weather (call me chicken of the sea), and you can wet exit and re-enter wearing one (not really any harder that with a normal skirt). And besides, worn with wrap around sunglasses and with the white hood cords hanging down your back, they look really kewl. The 3mm neoprene Brooks gets a little warm in the summer for touring (I'll occasionally pull mine out for demos), but there are Gortex available for those who want them. So, should you get one -- hard to say -- if you're a year round paddler and have a dry suit I'd certainly look at one. If you get into Greenland paddling and particularly into the rolling aspects of that speciality, then I'd look even harder. But first I'd beg, borrow or make a Greenland paddle -- they are even kewler. Keith

Well, it was a kinda fun paddle today. Drove up to Portland's Eastern Promenade this morning with the long Romany. I had checked out Dorcas Miller's Kayaking the Maine Coast again, so took advantage of it saying I could pull down beside the "facilities" to unload (and brought it along so I could point to the paragraph in case challenged), shortening the carry to the beach considerably. Brought the boat down and found four other paddlers getting ready to head out. We exchanged pleasantries and the first good coincidence occured -- they told me the Amistead replica, built at Mystic Seaport and home ported in New Haven, was docked at City pier next to the Casco Bay Ferry terminal. I decided to alter my planned paddle a bit to swing by. The other group launched while I was pulling on the dry suit, so I reversed off the beach and headed downwind -- wind was out of the north blowing between 10 - 15 knots so it was pretty much behind or rear quartering, a nice push at the start. Cruised around Fish Point and along the waterfront to the City pier where the two mast-er was pulled in bow first, catching up with the other group there. Clearly tours being given so we stayed quiet and took a good look -- for some reason I'm always surprised at how close to the water and frankly small these trans-Atlantic ships are -- they look great for a coastal cruise, but wide open blue water? After some careful looks, I went on my way, crossing to South Portland quickly -- while there was light traffic today this is normally a busy channel. Continued to head a bit south of east out around the oil pier. Note -- it looks like it would be easy to cruise along the shore under this very tall pier with widely spaced pilings, but at least today there were log booms strung between the pilings very low in the water -- you don't see them until you're close. Once past the pier it's a SSE cruise down to Portland Head light. With the wind out of the North there was a following set of wind waves to push the stern around with occasional white caps. I kept the skeg up but leaned back a bit to sink the stern to help maintain direction. Again very light traffic -- the Coast Guard came in and a couple of working boats. I did see two more kayakers heading up harbor against the wind but they were well in shore so we didn't meet. I hadn't realized the number of fortifications along the coast and on the islands -- watch for the matching set on the mainland and Cushing I. Just short of Portland Head is 3 Ship Cove, a nice protected spot except for northeasters. Beach is gravel to rock but would be landable (a hard land but doable). It's in the park area so there were folks out enjoying the sun. After a brief (in the boat) pause, I continued on to the Head. Classic Maine rocky promentory, granite, lighthouse, sea birds, waves, tourists. A very small swell running so not much action on the rocks. Around the point is another exposed rock beach that under the right conditions could be landed (I don't know if it's legal), but don't look for sand, and if there is any swell going it would not be accessible. If you don't divert into City Pier, its about 3NM to the light from the Promenade. From the light I made the 3/4NM crossing to Cushing I. There's an interesting light out on Ram I Ledge, which is about 1NM from Portland Head, but I decided to save that for another trip. The crossing was a bit N of E, but the side wind wasn't really a problem (glad I wasn't using one of those feathered spoon looking thingys I see so many of :-)). It picked up a bit as it wrapped around the SE tip if the island, but quickly went quiet as I closed in on the shore line. The folks on the island were doing some sort of controlled burn there, so I had the interesting experience of paddling through the smoke for a bit. I had never before paddled the ocean side of Cushing I and so had no idea of the treat I was in for. This is a varying height granite wall (no landing here) running the entire length and wrapping around the NE tip. In the sun and out of the wind it was a beautiful sight, and about halfway along there is a grain pattern about 2/3rds of the way up the cliff face that was flat gorgeous in that light on this day. The NE tip is tall with some grottos cut back in that surged and emptied with a clear coke bottle green that looked like it was lit from below. I suspect this is a low tide phenomenon, but it was great. From the tip you enter Whitehead Passage between Cushing and Peaks I. This was a preview for the rest of the trip as it was pretty much straight into that 10-15KT wind. A low stoke leaning forward over the cockpit (made me glad I'd been stretching those hamstrings) made good progress and I spotted a group of kayakers ahead of me in the Passage. They also headed up wind as I got close and turned around the corner. I followed and sure enough they were headed to the same place I was, Maine Island Kayak Company's (MIKCO's) beach just past the ferry pier on Peaks I. When I pulled in the second nice surprise occured -- Jed Luby was helping Tom Bergh with what turned out to be a BCU 2/3 Star training class. I hadn't seen Jed in a while so it was good to catch up. Tom invited me to join them for lunch, so I grabbed my sack and headed into the barn. I'd taken my BCU 3 star with Tom so listening to him go over the types of questions the class could expect brought back memories. Tom's one of the folks organizing the Gulf of Maine Sea Kayak Symposium in Castine (July 11-13). After lunch and some conversation with Jed I headed out on the final leg, a 2NM slog almost directly into the wind back to Eastern Promenade. I knew it was coming when I started out, so it was mostly a matter of putting one blade in front of the other. I did notice two other kayakers pulled out at Fort Georges, a tug hooking up and taking a barge out and a couple of sailboats in the distance, but other than that it was just a classic into the wind trip. These aren't all bad -- you get a nice sense of progress as the wind blows by, it's probably the most stable direction to paddle a kayak and the whitecaps weren't really anything to talk about. Back at the beach there was a party of three on their way out, making a total of nine pleasure kayakers and six class members for the trip -- highest count so far this year. Packed up, loaded the boat (why is it so much heavier at the end then the start?) and headed south. A good day on the water. Keith ------ Still paddling Romany's -- the best all round boat (for me) on the water Still using skinny sticks -- 'cause they're so much fun Still think folks should use whatever puts the biggest smile on their face.