prudenceb

Yes please!

Actually, Joe, Sunday the 24th is Orthodox Easter, so it may also be an Easter Bunny paddle. Which I MAY attend depending on how I feel at the end of the day on Saturday…

Seen ?… maybe next weekend we could do an Orthodox Easter Bunny Plunge…?

Um….forecast looking a little…alarming. Possible tstorms with hail after 1 pm. That was point forecast. Last time that was forecast was NTSKW and those of us still there remember it was spot on. Does paddling tmrw make sense?

My spray skirts are all fine, but since I live not far from there I'd volunteer to bring in one of the long tunnel ones folks are wanting altered to have the tech take a look at it…. I wouldn't let them do the work, but would just gather info.

Looks like a mostly pretty experienced (and therefore already well-equipped) group, which is too bad on one level bc I have a bag of paddling mittens and gloves I was hoping to unload for free. If anyone is in need of Glacier Gloves, size medium, several pairs either barely worn or brand new, or NRS brand new size medium neoprene mittens, let me know and I'll bring the bag.

Welcome!

Interested.

Please make 'em chocolate sardines. Thank you.

If it's a beautiful wknd I might want to paddle both days!

Works on iPad.

Agree with David! And I know Bea is a friend of Kate H and that's good enough for me!

I hate size small sweet strutter helmet that I always have with my gear, so just remember to ask me to let you try it on. I certainly won't be wearing it tmrw. Looking forward to seeing you and FINALLY getting back out on the water!

Day before is Passover so complicated wknd.

Yes!

Yes. You'll be joining us? Great!

David Mercer and I are going out for what will be our first paddle of 2022. It's been too long…. We'd love to have others who've been itching to get out join us. We will meet at the Charlestown ramp at 10:30 am this Friday and plan for an 11 am launch. Forecast is for mild temps and not much wind. We'll go as far as we want and then turn around and come back. Please post interest here. Prudence

Re: Handirack. Just looked on Amazon for reviews. Mostly very positive (and btw a lot cheaper there than at Christopher's link)…and one guy had an interesting recommendation: he inserted pool noodles into the air chambers (which he said would fail eventually) and thus was able to ditch the pump and need for inflating. He has full instructions for how to do this.

An excellent method that I've been known to use myself ?.

Wonderful!

The paddle wasn't what made you look competent, Karen. It was the hard work you've put into developing skills that was responsible. Don't sell yourself short!

I just finished "Madhouse at the End of the Earth" by Julian Sancton and highly recommend it. It tells the story of an 1897 Belgian expedition to Antarctica, in which the Belgica and its 17 crew members overwintered off the coast of Antarctica after becoming stuck in polar ice. On board are two men who later became famous for real or purported polar exploration accomplishments - Roald Amundsen, who beat Robert Scott in a race to the South Pole, and Frederick Cook, who claimed (likely falsely) to be the first to reach the North Pole. The book vividly describes the mental and physical toll the experience took on the men. "The combination of fear and fatigue, depression and disorientation, darkness and isolation, the risk that the Belgica might be crushed in the ice at any moment, a slanted floor that had never leveled out after the formidable pressures of late May and seem to skew reality itself, an infestation of rats, and a ship wide illness with no obvious cause made most of the men feel as if they were losing their grip on sanity." Cook may have ended up a charlatan and con man (for which he was found guilty and sentenced to years in jail) but he was also a talented physician who correctly diagnosed the mens' physical maladies and likely saved their lives (but took those of many penguins!) with the treatments he prescribed. I've read a lot of books about polar exploration, but this was all new to me. Curl up in a nice warm place and read it and enjoy! Prudence

Wow! If you want more practice paddling in the wind, tomorrow looks as though it will provide an excellent opportunity!

I love watching ducks…flotillas of moms, dads and ducklings - surfing and rockgardening along the coastline. They all make it look so easy!

Sorry, taken way too many photos to choose a few favorites! Fun to see others' though.