Phil Allen

Hey all, Just wanted to say it was a pleasure to paddle with folks on Sunday, and to hear tales from the "more adventurous" group afterwards at dinner. It's thanks to NSPN and the mentors we found here that are skills are where they are today. Lorrie and I were thinking we'll have to organize some similar trips later in the summer. best Phil

Yeah, it doesn't take long to get that 1 in 100 wave. Common periods around here for swell are in the 9-10 second range (very different in the Pacific). At 10 second period, it only takes about 20 minutes to have 100 waves pass by the boat. best Phil

Leon and Andy, A couple of points of clarification (which I'm sure Leon knows). There's a wave forecast and actual wave measurements from a buoy or satellite. In the absence of a buoy or satellite measurement, Leon is correct in that the wave forecast is based on the wind speed over deep water and the probability distribution of wave heights is presumed to be somewhat of a bell curve. As swell and wind waves interact with the bottom, things change significantly. Those that like to surf enjoy that change. The article also uses some common nomenclature and often forgets to add the word distribution to frequency. The frequency and period are just the inverse of each other, but the frequency distribution describes all the wave-lets, short period and long period, that interact to give the final result on the water. Unlike the plot of distribution of sizes versus number, where increases on the X axis indicate bigger numbers, when it comes to frequency, longer periods (with often bigger waves) come closer to 0. best Phil

It's been a while since we've had a discussion of wave heights, periods and the like. http://www.mxak.org/weather/pdfs/waves.pdf is a nice short, clear (IMO) article about waves with a good explanation of why, even though the significant wave height forecast might be X, you're sure you got hit by a wave 2X big. Enjoy. Phil

http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/natl.html http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/Northeast.shtml The first link is a variety of near shore sampling locations; the second to the regional buoy measurements. My take home: head to RI this time of year if you plan on getting really wet. best Phil (and today's Boston measurement coincides with Lisa's singing beach measurement)

Oh, I hit the wall in my own way Pru. First time in a long time that the sea sickness got me bad. Bad enough to be dry heaving over another boat. Luckily I recovered quickly so that we all could play at the Bitches and they didn't have to tow me home. And just to be clear, the pictures are from our paddling cohorts from the West (Kim Grandfield & Santi Berrueta) and Midwest (Peggy O'Neal) as well as some of my own. JohnC has a bunch as well, but he's been too busy to sort the out yet. best Phil

hand sanitizer (clear purell brand in my experience) is an excellent fire starter. The alcohol version of napalm if I recall. Phil

Josko- It wouldn't be my first item to use to light a stove, but given you're going for a month I'd also take one of the metal fire sparkers (The ones that give off sparks when struck with another piece of metal). No mechanical parts to fail, no "fuel" to run out or get wet. best Phil

Ok Leon- I'll entertainingly disagree with the two articles you cite above The first one makes sense only in the context of a left or right control hand. If the air hand mostly acts as to position the fulcrum of the paddle in 3space, then a high angle almost no feather paddle stroke works well. I think that's what Lisa confirmed in the rain. And while you are in detail correct that a 90 degree feather will give the least amount of wind resistance when paddling directly into the wind, it would be absolutely the worst position for a cross wind. As everybody seems to agree that muscle memory is a significant factor with the efficiency of a particular feather angle folks won't change their feather angle for conditions and therefore the plus and minus contributions should average out. Lastly,and unrelated to the two articles, while the forward stroke is much of what we do, particularly for those that race, it's not the only stroke I use on a daily basis. Having ~ zero feather makes my left and right side brace, my back paddle and my left and right hand rolls ~ symmetrical. That to me is a real plus in conditions. best Phil (who still won't be able to keep up with you) ;-)

Lisa- Great description. Your words describe what I aspire too in my forward stroke. My apologies for some of the leading questions trying to draw out what made sense to me. Now if I could just apply it well enough to keep up with some of the "fast folk". Best Phil

Hi Leon- I get the quote, but still think it's an important question. Why use something so far away from the task "at hand"? I'd suggest that the upper hand is most useful in controlling the angle of entry by its position in space more than its grip and angulation on the paddle. best Phil

Hi Lisa- Maybe I'm missing something, but why should the paddle be turning in the lower hand? That's the hand that's controlling placement and applying force through the paddle to the water. I think I'd want that to be firmly connected to the paddle shaft. Wouldn't the upper hand seem to be the one that should be loose? best Phil

Warren- You'll enjoy that tarp. As far as I'm concerned you can't have enough tarps on a kayak camping trip. Next question is have your figured out how to attach bug net to it? Pru- As I've said before, you writing makes me smile. I'm not sure how a lifetime of filling in reports didn't destroy your creativity, but I'm glad it didn't. best Phil

Hey Josko- It's your thread, so take it where you will (or start another one for more responses). High angle feathers came out of the slalom racers, who needed to get the paddle by the gate without hitting it. Clearly in that activity, getting a ~9 inch paddle face around the pole versus the ~ 0.5" face made a huge difference. As for the wind and lump, I'd bet it's just what you've trained your body to work with. The amount of exposed surface area on the paddle face is small compared to that of the paddler and boat. If you're racing, maybe that extra drag is important. But I don't race so can't say. And in conditions (water conditions I assume) it shouldn't matter at all except in the context of muscle memory. I learned with 45-60 degree feather, and have worked my way down to 0-15 degree. I like having a paddle face in the ready position on either side without substantially changing my hand positions and it's easier on my body. It did take some time to get there though. best Phil

Congrats Lisa!

work towards using a paddle with less feather? Then there will be less rotation of the paddle shaft on the surface of the glove. Phil

Maybe I've spread some confusion with the word rebranding. Ricoh bought Pentax a few years ago and is now distributing some of the pentax models (mostly point and shoot models) under its name. If you see it advertised as pentax, its probably old stock. Phil

Richoh is the rebrand of Pentax. Some folks love them; some hate them. I'm waiting to see if Nikon gets the bugs worked out of the AW1 in the next version. Phil

Pru- Your trip reports always make me smile. Glad everyone had a good time. Phil

Hi Janice- I love my synmat. It's heavy and bulky compared to some of the modern backpacking lite versions, but I've never slept better on the ground. I don't think it's a good idea (or even easy) to use your mouth to blow up the synmat or downmats, as water vapor from your breath will get trapped in the insulation and nasty things might grow. My variant has the internal pump, which as MC says can be a bit difficult but manageable in the tent. I've used the inflate-bag and it works much more quickly to inflate the pad, though its one more thing to carry or lose. best Phil

Hi Les- I'll bite and make a guess. Given your prep, I'll assume things like operator error, clock changes, etc have been excluded. If so, what comes to mind is wind moving water more than "average". Since the islands and reef around them work as barriers to water flow, all the water moving from shallow to deep and back with the tide must squeeze through the cuts. If a persistent wind either encouraged, or slowed, the amount of water moving with the changing tide through the cuts then the times of slack and max current would be off. This could also explain the lack of water in what was supposed to be a deeper channel at low tide. For Exuma, a persistent westerly would reduce the amount of water that could get through the gaps during the rising tide, lowering the water depth on the shallow side. Sounds like it was fun if a bit frustrating. Phil

Interesting analysis from the new cheap drysuit company in town. While it's marketing, it might help folks understand the real costs of a drysuit purchase when utilized over many days and many years. Simple (simplistic?) analysis, but still useful I think. best Phil http://www.mythicdrysuits.com/blogs/the-mytholog/13101025-what-does-it-cost-to-wear-a-drysuit

Calling Scott Camlin, Scamlin, are you listening?

Hey Dan- I think that there are numerous folks here who including me who, in hindsight, think they should have skipped the wetsuit and gone directly to the drysuit. Usually I keep the drysuit on until its time for shorts and t-shirts. best Phil

A "rule" I've heard is less than 60o water, wetsuit, less than 50o drysuit. As other's have pointed out there's lots of personal variability to this. I've worn the drysuit on expedition type trips with waters in the high 50's but air in the 50's as well. Phil