cfolster

Robert and I will be there

Robert and I put in there several times last summer and did have to pay $5, but with no difficulties - plenty of parking even on weekend.

Anything that's not a swimming pool seems mucky to me. I know it's very clean and quite clear, just not clear enough. My desire to have a bombproof roll will overcome this silly fear!

Me too, me too! I'm determined not to be grossed out by the mucky water!

I will join you! Cathy

Prudence - beautiful report! Gary - thank you for organizing such an awesome trip and allowing us to participate! We can't wait for next year! More pics: Jewell Pics

I like your method, and may start doing that to some extent as it gets warmer. We definitely wash the boats down while still on the car. Right now, we bring all the wet stuff in the house, and rig a broom over the top of our shower stall so we have something to hang things off of and hang everthing up in the shower and rinse it with the hand-held shower sprayer. Booties, gloves and caps are either rinsed out or put in washing machine and then hung dry. Sometimes we put booties on a boot dryer, sometimes just sitting on the hot air grate. We are in the slow process of turning our guest room into a kayak gear room, moving our washer and dryer in there and building a shower stall just for this purpose. We're going to put vinyl flooring down for easy cleanup. I dream of a time when our house isn't draped with kayak gear for a couple days after every paddle, as we have a tiny house. Do you let everything dry outside, or bring it inside? Cathy

Yes, definitely going to pick an angle (or lack thereof) and stick with it. I am ashamed to admit, I've never played with it before though. So I'm curious to go out and experiment to see how much of a difference I feel.

On first thought, I wonder how much the paddling angle (how high the paddle is held) is going to depend on width(how much rocker) and even more so the height of each boat. Can't wait to get home and try out two different boats to see how much of a difference.

Leon, thank you for quantifying what I could feel. It's helpful to see the math behind it. Even without getting technical - Saturday, when the wind was so strong, I was fighting just to keep my blade in position; the wind kept catching the upper paddle blade. I had this happen from both directions and it was definitely worse with the headwind. After seeing everyone's responses, I'm going to unfeather my blade from the pointless 15 degree right feather and work on a proper forward stroke with an unfeathered blade, but when the wind picks up, I'm definitely going to play around with a 45-60 degree feather.

Thanks! Ben Lawry will have to wait until next year to fit in the budget, but I'll definitely get the video now to help for the season and I'll take a look at that link.

So I have a little splash only on the right when I put the paddle in the water. Does anyone have some thoughts as to why it might only be on one side. I am right handed. I should add that I don't know anything about feathering the blade and why or how much. So if you'd like to add your two cents about that or direct me toward some good online learning sources that would be great. A long time ago, when I first started paddling someone told me to feather the blades to 15 degrees right and I've (stupidly) blindly followed this direction until this year. Now I want to develop a better forward stroke and I'm betting it helps if I'm holding the blade properly and it's set correctly . . .

Leon, I'd like to thank you for posting this topic. I'm not quite ready yet to get this technical about my forward stroke, but I am ready to improve it and I learned a lot of tips just from reading everyone's input. I paddled the Concord River Saturday with my husband with the goal of spending the entire time focusing on torso rotation, because I have always been more of an arm paddler (yes, I know, that's bad) and that little pause just letting the paddle slip into the water and then exerting force on it. Perhaps the brand new high angle blade helped, but bottom line, I blew past my husband and stayed ahead of him the entire trip and that has never happened in the 5 years we've been paddling! :yippie: I'm looking forward to continuing this so it comes automatically with less concentration. The pause part was hardest, especially when paddling hard against a headwind, but every once in a while I felt that rhythm where everything was working. Thanks everyone! Cathy

Well, clean up opportunities or not, Robert and I are joining this camping excursion as our first kayak-camping adventure. We have only 'car camped' before, so it's been fun re-imagining the size and pack-ability of all the items we need! Looking forward to having lots of NSPNers join us!

Will do - dessert and some sort of food item.

Are these pot luck like last year - can I bring something?

Rick, I'm curious about your choice of safety scissors, as I've never seen anyone carry them. Have you had the unfortunate opportunity to 'have to' use them? Why have you chose them over a knife of some sort? Cathy

Rick, I absolutely agree. I owned and ran a small local business, that suffered against the big national chains. Most people did not understand the reasons why my prices were higher - and it wasn't just economy of scale: At the big box store, you got the expertise of a high school kid. At my shop, you got me and my employees with years of training and expertise. I should point out, we bought our boats and paddles and drysuits (the expensive stuff) from local merchants and did utilize their expertise, but still did so at sales times. So I get it; however, this sport is gear intensive and I'm trying to get us into it safely, but as inexpensively as possible. When I speak of browsing in store and then buying online, I'm talking about things I don't need much assistance with - like dry bags, tow lines, dromedary bags, gloves, etc., and in fact, do much of my research online and then go into the store and look at things in person - most of the time with no help from salespeople. I am choosing this trade off because the savings is enough to make a difference. I should point out that many small local merchants now have an online presence through amazon.com in being able to sell their gear. I know they have to price-compete, but as long as they're doing that within their means, then they're selling to a much larger audience, aren't they?

Welcome to NSPN and welcome to ocean kayaking. There are good resouces on the pages of this site for Put ins and gear . Also, simply reading the forum postings will teach you a lot. I really like Portsmouth Inner Harbor. There are a number of places to put in and it's tidal with a bit of current and islands to explore. It's a great place to learn and practice. Gloucester Harbor and out either south or north is a good trip, but the Harbor can be busy, so be sure you have a map and have looked at it beforehand to understand where the boat traffic is so you can be prepared to cross channels safely. Recommendation for pfd: pockets. You'll hear from a number of members of this group, "If you don't have it on you, you don't have it." If you become separated from your boat, you'll only have what you've got on you - so the more you put in and on your pfd, the better (to a point). For classes - there is a 'New to Kayaking' workshop coming up this weekend, which is full, but if you look at the forum topic related to that workshop, they've posted a number of locations that offer lessons and rentals: click here. I shop Kittery Trading Post, REI, LL Bean and online as well. I've found you can see things in person at the stores and then find the same brand and styles online for a little less. Here's a bunch of links that you should have and check before a trip as appropriate: NOAA Weather NOAA Graphical Weather ( this one is fun to play with) Mass Tides NH Tides NOAA Chart 1 See you on the water! Cathy

I can no longer make it. See my post in general message board. (Annoyed at Car Dealership) I'm very sorry.

I'm open the whole day so that time works for me. Hopefully we'll get some other people. I'll need info on put-in spot. Come on Folks - Join us on Patriot's Day for an Easy Paddle!!

I'd be up for it. I've never paddled the Mystic or Mystic Lakes, so would be interested in that. I would steer clear of anything in and around Boston, just because of the marathon troubles and associated traffic. Cathy

Yeah, backwards - that's what we're doing. Makes for better what-not-to-do stories at the 'on land' session afterwards!

Oh poo! We were looking forward to it. Feedback - middday Sat/Sun is the worst, as we are usually paddling. Will fit it in on a weeknight or weekend evening.

Doug, If there's still 2 spots, Robert and I would like to go. Cathy