billvoss

smoother water a few meters away would make better time/less effort

I didn't see the conditions, and I don't know your guide's motivations. However, personally I find it much easier to paddle downhill, which requires bumpy water.

I'm referring to the technique of adjusting your strokes to the waves, trying to insert your paddle into the water near the top of a wave, then completing the stroke as you go down the wave. Though I'm not certain how much of the effect is psychological, and how much is physics. Matching your strokes to the waves is certainly more interesting than imitating a metronome, and I find it less tiring.

As I recall, Brian Schulz told my kayak building class that in short-steep-chop he could paddle an F1, the 14 foot skin-on-frame that Brian designed, faster than long surf skis which would easily pass him in smooth water. Brian described the technique as repeatedly momentarily surfing the waves.

If one was trying to paddle like a metronome regardless of conditions, then I would expect smoother water to seem easier. I personally try to always have my smooth water paddling heavily seasoned with good companionship.

I just stumbled on this Greg Stamer post about Sticks versus Wings, and thought it might be of interest.

http://www.gregstamer.com/2012/02/12/greenland-paddle-wing-paddle

Well done!

I expect to attend today.

Walden bound!

This year as in past years, the NSPN training sessions have been great. Thanks for organizing and running them!

I am interested in such trips. Unfortunately I am scheduled to attend the Hudson River Greenland Festival that weekend.

Thanks for the replies on the board and via email. I found a close-out discontinued color GMER in my size, and decided I didn't want to spend more for the ICON.

Has anyone out there used a kayaking drysuit with a rear-entry zipper like the Kokatat ICON? I'm thinking about possibly buying the ICON instead of the GMER because at least half my trips are rolling practice instead of paddling. Wondered if anyone else had any experience.

Walden Pond has charged for parking for decades--in the main parking lot across from the pond.

However, for most of that time, there was no charge for parking in the boat launch area, a small lot at the beach to the left of the main beach as you face the pond, beyond the retaining wall. The vehicle entrance to the lot and lanuch is south of the main parking lot; you drive down the slope to the water. You need a boat on your vehicle to use this lot, and there is room for a dozen vehicles at best. I don't remember an attendant at the gate to this lot, but there may be one these days. Seems they close this lot a bit earlier than the main lot, and it's possible to get locked in.

My first year I asked, and was told you definitely need to pay to park in the boat launch area, even if no attendant is present at the gate.

I have always purchased my out-of-state season passes at the Walden Pond main parking entrance.

If you intend to buy a seasonal pass, you purchase it at the headquarters not the first entry gate.

Registration for the Hudson River Greenland Festival is now full for 2013.

Registration is now open for the Hudson River Greenland Festival. If you are interested in rolling with a skinny stick, this is a great event to attend.

Bill Voss

P.S.

I've attended the HRGF in the past and plan to attend again this year, but I am not involved in organizing this event.

being a semi Luddite I am not sure about a few things and want to pick some minds.

1, The GPS stores 200 waypoints and has a navigate to waypoint feature with compass.

Does this mean it would be as usable as a regular GPS? Except that it is dual purpose and the screen my be smaller........

2, Was not looking for a GPS now but figure this might help ease my way into the fray....Would I be better off just getting a GPS and a VHF and keeping them separate?

From a safety perspective, getting integrated DSC with GPS is definitely the way to go. In the unlikely event someone ever needs to use the radio to send out a MAYDAY call, the integrated GPS may save their life by enabling the DSC portion to send out location information.

Whether having an integrated GPS will satisfy your apparent growing GPS craving will depend on your "semi Luddite" status. I have one very close relative in the "semi Luddite" camp who uses a hand-held GPS only to get coordinates which he then writes down on paper and checks against paper maps. For him it would be fine. I know of other GPS users who hook their GPS up to home computers to enter waypoints for future trips, upload new maps and charts to the GPS, download tracks of previous trips, share that track information on the internet with friends, analyze their track information as performance training data, not to mention use their GPS like a speedometer. If you want to do any of those things, getting a separate dedicated GPS is a much better choice.

Getting both is of course the best of both worlds.

Definitely another great Greenland session! I look forward to attending again next year!

I welcome any thoughts and input, but the big question is if boat weight is much of a consideration.

I can not currently imagine buying a kayak which weighs over 40#, that I would be afraid to drop off the roof of my car, or a kayak which did not fit me. So I recommend building your own SOF!

If you don't build, then at least buy used until you are replacing a boat you know you love.

At this point, we are leaning towards the clockwise circum nav of New Castle (sorry Bill) as follows:

No problem. Have a great time.

The big question will be if people can handle the quick but fast ride under the Wentworth Bridge. I think it would be fun, but that's me.

At this time of year you would not need to worry much about boat traffic. While it would be challenging to fight the current, the current is quite smooth. So riding it is really only a psychological challenge.

Bill - I think our preference is for earlier rather than later as we don't like to get home late and have to do all the cleanup on a Sunday night. Does a 10am launch as Gene proposed make it any more palatable?

I just did something closer to full diligence, and I don't really love the results.

Seavey Island (proxy for Pierce Island) Sun 3/3 low 9:08am, high 3:20pm

Jaffrey Point (proxy for Little Harbor) Sun 3/3 low 8:42am, high 2:57pm

That means the peak current under the Wentworth bridge will be in flood just before noon.

Regarding my schedule, the earliest I could be BIB on Sunday is 11am. We have a new dog with some issues still being introduced to our cats, and I need to help out in the morning. I would like to get off the water by about 2pm so that I could rinse my gear before sunset.

Combining all of that, the best option I see is launch from Little Harbor anytime between 11am and say noon. At that point we could either go out on the ocean if the sea state permits, or ride the fast flood under the Wentworth bridge. If we take the bridge route, we would just meander around the various inner islands until we sprinted out against the current under the Wentworth bridge a little before 2pm.

That is the best option I've come up with for the Portsmouth area on Sunday, March 3rd which works with my schedule constraints. However, I am totally OK with you sticking with the original circumnavigation proposal instead if that works better for you.

Looking to get out on the water this Sunday since the ocean and weather are calming down for the weekend. Looked at circumnavigation of New Castle, but tide is not perfect (low @ 8:45am) unless anyone is up for an early start. I would launch from Pierce Island by 9:00am (9:30am latest?) to avoid the current under the Wentworth bridge. We could hang out and play under the bridge until the current gets too strong, or just continue on counter-clockwise around New Castle. We can stop for early lunch near Fort Point (park?) or somewhere else if there are better suggestions. Upon completion of the circum nav we can poke around inner harbor or just call it a day.

Any interest?

While I have some interest in paddling this Sunday, I have no interest in an early start. I'm definitely not a morning person, and Portsmouth is a fairly long drive for me. However, even you early birds may care that the national weather service hourly forecast predicts the temperature will reach freezing between 10am and 11am. The warmest part of the day will be in the 2pm to 4pm range. So from my perspective, having lunch at the put-in and launching between noon and 1pm could make a lot of sense. Plan to spend a little over two hours on the water? Sunset is around 5:30pm.

Might consider a different put-in with the different launch time.

However, if you do want to paddle that morning, no problem, have fun. I'll just attend my local WW pool rolling session that evening instead.

NH AMC Paddlers Spring Whitewater Canoe and Kayak School

April 20-21, 2013 with an optional Pool Session/Gear Talk in early April

$100 Active AMC leaders, $125 AMC members, and $160 non-members

The annual NH AMC Paddlers WW school is now open for applications. If you like bumpy water, or want to learn to like bumpy water, this is a fun and inexpensive way to get some great instruction.

Assuming the river canal is perfectly straight with uniform width and current, and that wind effects are irrelevant, then I believe the fastest crossing angle if the current is N knots is the same as the fastest crossing angle if the current is 0 knots. Simply paddle straight across ignoring the current. That will provide the shortest path relative to the water around you, and thus the fastest crossing.

Though I'm not bored enough to create a formal proof!

Incidentally, I have been conversing with several members of NSPN about setting up some advanced skills practice sessions where those of us who have worked on our rolls and rescues in calm waters can go out with other experienced paddlers and work on our skills in conditions. I will be searching out areas that will provide waves, currents, and winds for us to work on boat handling, self and assisted rescues, and group management. Maybe you would like to join in some time?

That definitely sounds like fun!!!!

Great...we need one more!

+1

Bill, is paddling in white water different that ocean paddling as far as handling the cold water and air? I imagine that you are much more active, which would keep you warmer, but do you end up in the water more?

Winter white-water paddling tends to be in "ice water" meaning there are pieces of ice floating in the fresh water, so you know the water is 32 degrees. The fresh water splashed up also freezes very quickly if the air temperature is below freezing. I had some water freezing on my paddle shaft, my PFD, and my skirt. Though I did not notice any sticking on my plastic WW boat.

From a safety perspecitve, you can usually get off white water very quickly if needed. In fact one of the WW canoes in our group got careless and capsized in about a foot of water in an eddie. They were only wearing a wetsuit, and ended their paddle almost immediately after the capsize. We were in sight of not just a road, but an open gas station at the time, and there was a road or trail along the entire length of the river we were paddling. While that situation can be available sea kayaking and is not always available with WW, my WW trip was far different from something like Fox Creek where you would have a long slog in the mud if you lost your boat.

As for activity level, white water tends to be short bursts of activity at the rapids, but lazy floating with the current between rapids. Sea kayak surfing is similar, waiting around for the right wave, then intense activity surfing the wave, then punching back out, followed by more waiting. Sea kayak touring is usually more of a constant level of effort.

As for ending in the water more, I was probably splashed more during the rapids, and I did a "victory roll" at the take-out, but that did not seem all that different from sea kayaking. I do not sit on an insulated pad in my WW boat like I do in my skin-on-frame, so in that sense my WW boat is colder than my sea kayak. However, I don't think those differences are very significant.

Due to the resounding lack of enthusiasm for my previous suggestion

Yes, the enthusiasm sure did decline with the predicted temperature. I ended up paddling white-water instead, primarily because I knew that trip was definitely going to happen.

Keep posting trip ideas. I would like to get out some this winter.