billvoss

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!

That definitely sounds like fun!!!!

+1

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.

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.

I completed the Lake Placid Ironman in 2003. Back in those days I loved my T1 wetsuit. See http://www.desotospo...suits/index.php for their latest offerings. You will have to buy a triathalon specific wetsuit. Unlike a scuba or paddling wetsuit, a triathalon wetsuit is limited to specific thicknesses of neoprene by triathalon rules, and is designed to minimally constrain the shoulder movements used while swimming the forward crawl stroke.

I'm interested. I've been doing white water on January 1st for the past few years. Sea Kayaking could be a nice change. Bumpy water preferred of course, but good company makes even flat water enjoyable.

Congratulations, Lorrie!

Looks like I will probably be able to attend the paddle, and perhaps the meeting.

Ouch!! Get better fast! I would like to have been there, or better yet on Rick's day. However, I didn't even consider joining you because I'm still in PT for my elbow. I really really really want functioning elbows at Delmarva in three weeks.

Hi Leslie, Since September 5th is not a Monday, I'm not confident I'm parsing your schedule correctly. Is the following what you intended? Wednesday, August 29th. Leslie's last Wednesday at Walden for 2012.Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day).Wednesday, September 5th,Monday, September 10th. Nancy and Leslie start practicing Monday nights at Walden.If my elbow permits, I will try to start joining you at Walden on Mondays in September.

I have heard, but can not confirm, that the greatest Li-Ion battery life is achieved storing the battery with roughly half a charge. This tidbit caused me to change my habit of fully recharging my radio when I got home, to fully recharging my radio the night before a paddle. Might just be superstition, but seems to work OK. I purchased the optional AA battery carriage as a backup. It does not provide as much peek transmit power, and can only use disposable batteries. However, disposable batteries can easily last more than a season unused in my flare bag, and potentially save me from having to trigger my PLB.

I'm not attending for a few weeks while I have physical therapy on my elbow. I apparently have both "tennis elbow" and "golfers elbow." However, I personally would prefer to move Wednesday nights to either Tuesday or Thursday. Perhaps Tuesday as the default, but if on Monday there are thunderstorms in the forecast for Tuesday move it to Thursday for that week? -Bill

Spectacle definitely yes. There is a pier on the West side of the island with facilities including bathrooms and food sales. I believe most of Long is considered private property. So don't plan to land there except in an emergency. Here are some links you may find useful. Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area MapDepartment of Conservation and Recreation (Boston Harbor Islands)Wikipedia Spectacle IslandWikipedia Georges IslandNote, I am one of the leaders for an AMC 18 mile paddle this weekend which is bound to visit Spectacle and Georges Islands. There is still room for a few additional participants. The difficulty level is because of distance.

Nobody but Jason seems at all interested in Friday, and the revised forecast says a chance of thunderstorms. So I guess I will not pack my gear tonight. Hopefully, I'll get to see you all next Wednesday.

I'm not going to drive down to read in the car again this week. Friday could probably work for me. Anyone else besides Jason interested in going Friday this week? They are currently predicting a high around 93 degrees on Friday, but not currently predicting thunderstorms.

Neoprene that fits is definitely the driest option. I have a hybrid for one boat. It is better than nylon, but other than being more adjustable for fit is not better than neoprene in any way that I can detect. Even adjusted for fit, my hybrid skirt leaks more than my neoprene doesn't fit so tight since I lost some weight skirt. Note that the hybrid skirts often come with suspenders which I consider too dangerous to use. Though far less likely to happen in the ocean, I once wet exited leaving my skirt behind in shallow white-water. The bottom of the river prevented me from leaning forward to reach the grab loop. I thought I had managed to pop the side, and I had pulled it partly off. However, that tight white water skirt still stayed attached to the boat as I performed my exit. Definitely my scariest wet exit to date. Neoprene is definitely the most likely to stay on your boat. I've never seen a white-water paddler using anything but neoprene. That said, just yesterday the edge of my neoprene skirt popped off during my second roll. So even a neoprene skirt can release.

GPS is definitely a battery hog. However, every mobile VHF with GPS radio that I have looked at has included the ability to turn off the GPS to save battery life. Most of them also include options to have the GPS automatically wake up periodically instead of forcing you to pick between always on or always off. I think that is an especially good option for kayaking, since my GPS coordinates don't change that much over a few minutes. So even if the coordinates sent with my initial Mayday are a few minutes old, they are probably still within sight of my current position.

That sounds a little bit self centered Leon. What if someone else is broadcasting the Mayday, Pan-Pan, or Securite message on channel 16? If you are in one of the CG blind spots, you might hear a transmission the CG does not detect. Besides, you paddle so fast, you might be able to get there before the CG in an emergency! However, that only works if you know about the emergency. I don't know what radio you carry, but all the modern radios that I am aware of are capable of monitoring scanner style at least channel 16 plus channel 72. That is what I would do with my radio if I ever joined one of your race-training runs (after I installed a motor on my kayak of course ).

I don't believe there is a "kayak exception." We are not required to carry a VHF radio. However, if we choose to carry a VHF radio, we are required to maintain a watch on channel 16 when under way, except when using the radio to communicate with someone on another channel. There is a special exception rule for DSC equipped vessels which when in GMDSS Sea Area A1 may maintain a DSC watch instead of listening to channel 16. So technically, I believe you can carry a spare radio in your hatch, but if you carry a radio you must monitor channel 16 or the DSC distress channel while under way. See the Coast Guard information at http://www.navcen.us...ageName=mtWatch which I quote below: I believe this is close to true. However, my understanding is the "bouncing" is not automatic. The DSC system does allow a "Mayday Relay" feature. Just like with voice communication, the rule is if you hear a "Mayday" and you do not hear it acknowledged, you are supposed to send out a "Mayday Relay" message. Doing this electronically is an optional feature on low-end DSC radios such as many handheld DSC radios. However, it is available on some handhelds, and I believe it is a mandatory radio feature on the higher end radios that large ships are required to carry. Bottom line, the odds of your mayday being noticed are much better with a DSC radio. The odds of you accurately transmitting your location are much, much better with a DSC radio integrated with a GPS receiver. However, I would hate to be the one writing a trip report that started with "After I signaled mayday."

Glad to help out. A little warm, but I definitely survived. Of course, now I'm hooked on a new book that I have to finish. Thank you for the offer. Alas, I had internal training courses down in Cambridge Thursday and Friday. While I considered it, I decided against putting a boat on the top of my car before driving into Boston/Cambridge. Since I ended up parking in a parking garage both days, I think I made the right choice.

I was lonely, but you didn't miss anything. I felt a need to escape work and roll. So I burned a bit of vacation and left work early. I arrived at Walden about 5pm, where an employee at the main lot stopped me going in to tell me that there was no swimming because of thunder, and that the lifeguards would tell us when we could go back into the water. However, that employee did not know when thunder was last heard, or what the waiting period was. So when I parked at the boat ramp, instead of taking my boat off my car, I walked over to the swim area. The life guards were locking up. They told me the last time they heard thunder was ten minutes ago, and then we immediately heard more thunder. They also told me the wait was 30 minutes, so they were closing down, since by the time the wait was over it would be swim area closing time anyway. As I walked back to my car I heard more thunder. However, instead of immediately giving up, I read a book in the car. For the next hour I was repeatedly hearing thunder, and I also experiencing a little bit of rain. I finally gave up around 6pm after another crack of thunder, having not seen any other cars drive down to the boat launch.

I'm still planning to join you. This trip went on my personal calendar in February! I've never been there, and am looking forward to it. -Bill

Anyone interested in joining me at Walden pond after work on Thursday, July 5th for rolling, rescues, kayak tricks, etc?