Dan Foster

I've had a chance now to prepare two lunches on the new JetBoil MiniMo stove. Here are some initial impressions.

The MiniMo differs from traditional JetBoil stoves in two ways: it has a wider, shorter cooking vessel, designed to make it easier to eat directly out of the pot, and it has a newly-designed valve which they claim allows it to simmer and cook food, rather than just boiling water.

My hope in purchasing the MiniMo was that it would allow me to heat and eat all of the pre-made soups, stews, and ethnic dishes that are now available in foil pouches or tetrapak boxes, rather than having to rely on boiling water for ramen or dehydrated backpacking meals.

So far I've confirmed that yes, you can boil butternut curry soup just as easily as you can boil water, with no harm to the soup or the pot. For the second meal, I fried up a diced slice of bacon and some diced onion, and then poured in the soup to heat through.

The frying test turned up a few issues.

First, I needed to open the fuel valve fairly wide open to get the piezo igniter to work. I should have turned it back down before adding the pot with bacon. As with most stoves, there's a constant risk of a gust of wind blowing out the flame when simmering. A stove like this really needs to be closer to eye level so you can keep an eye on the flame when cooking at low heat. Sitting in front of it and looking down at the stove on the ground wasn't the right setup.

I definitely burned some bacon onto the pot before I wised up and turned down the heat. Once I got the flame low enough (and once a bit more grease rendered out of the bacon), the rest of the frying went smoothly, and I got the same results I'd get cooking at home. In went the soup, up went the flame, and three minutes later I was burning the roof of my mouth on some hot soup with fried bits of bacony goodness.

Upon finishing my meal, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the burned on "fond" had deglazed itself when I stirred in the first ounce of soup. Cleanup (back home) just needed a quick wipe with a kitchen sponge.

So far, I'm pleased with the way the stove performs. I'll try some more ambitious meals in the coming weeks.

Wonderful report - sorry to have missed what looks to have been a great day!

I researched these over the winter and ended up getting the JetBoil MiniMo, having been swayed by the enhanced simmer control and the possibility of cooking food, rather than just boiling water.

I believe you meant to write:

When: April 26th from noon to about 4pm (not May 26th)

I'm planning to be there. I did a cold water clinic with CRCK and some early-season whitewater paddling last year, but put me in the "seldom or never paddled in cold water before" camp.

Do rabbit ears from an old TV count as appropriate headgear?

I'm also excited to see a WFA-Afloat offered. Has anyone heard back from the instructor? I've sent two emails and heard nothing.

Topsham is a 30-minute drive from some really great restaurants and beer bars in Portland, so I might try to stay or eat there.

26.5 days.

2 pi r = 821 mi

r = 130.6 mi (radius of lake)

let two_theta be the angle around the center of the lake traversed in a day. let theta be half of that.

sin theta is half the chord distance (15.5 mi) / r

theta = 6.79 degrees

two_theta = 13.58 degrees per day

360 degrees / 13.58 = 26.5 days to complete the circle.

extra extra credit: how many days would you have to paddle to complete the "spirograph" and end up exactly back at your starting location (within 1 mile, let's say)

Bonus Manicougan reading:

http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?t=7780

Even if your self-rescues (roll, re-enter and roll, cowboy scramble) don't require a paddle float, there's still the issue of being back in your boat with a cockpit full of water. As Leon pointed out earlier, a paddle float outrigger gives you much more stability when pumping out.

Is there ever a scenario where you could get back in your boat, but it would have taken in enough water to be unstable?

If Yes, would a paddle float outrigger make it easier to pump out? Are there situations where you'd be successful in staying upright and pumping out with a paddle-float outrigger, but unsuccessful without one?

To answer your question directly, I believe a paddle float deserves space in a paddler's kit when they're sufficiently far from shore and other paddlers who can help, and they've blown their roll, re-entered a partially-filled cockpit, and need to get the water out quickly to regain stability.

With the right combination of slip strokes, draws, and forward and reverse strokes (or merely a circular wind pattern), you should be able to paddle an infinite distance around the torus while maintaining a constant heading.

Given a choice between doing high-school algebra or looking for loopholes, I'd rather look for loopholes.

Josko, I've been using Outdoor Products 3-Pack Ultimate Dry Sacks, which sound the same as the Walmart dry bags you mentioned. My first aid and survival supplies have lived in the red bag, which goes in my day hatch or in my backpack for hiking. I have six of these bags now, and after one failed and ruined a cheap phone (while foolishly stuffed in my PFD while playing in surf), I've been leak-testing them by filling with water. My first aid supplies have never gotten wet, but the bag they are in doesn't hold water without leaking from numerous pinholes in the fabric and seams.

So I guess I'm looking for at least two grades of small dry bags:

1. Absolutely waterproof to keep first aid/fire starters and electronics bone dry no matter what.

2. Waterproof enough to keep clothes and camping gear dry enough to be usable throughout a trip.

p.s. On the subject of stoves, what salt-water protection does a Jetboil need? Nothing?

I'll remember never to borrow a spare dry bag from you, Suz!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'd been leaning towards the SealLine Storm dry bags, so I'm glad those get positive reviews. I hadn't come across Sea To Summit "Big River" bags in my research. I think I'll get one of each now and try to get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses in the off-season.

I've got a pair of SealLine Taper Dry Bags that fit nicely around my skeg box. No complaints with those, although I bought them before I learned the "smaller is better" approach to packing for kayak camping. I keep them filled with the air pillows that Amazon and other online retailers use for shipping, and keep them in my unused hatches on surf and rough-water paddles. That way, if someone blows a hatch cover, I've got 90L of flotation nearby.

Yikes, I just looked at the specs for my tow belt. I can safely lower 65-pound kids off a cliff, given a 1:10 safety ratio.

http://www.nrs.com/product/1829/nrs-kayak-tow-line

Rope Length: 50' Rope Material: Polypropylene Rope Diameter: 3/16" Load Max: 650 lbs. (2.9 kN)

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/polypropylene-rope-strength-d_1516.html

Here's a good article on why a rope that's rated for 3000 lbs may not be overkill (and may actually be pushing the limits of safe use) in a situation where there's a person on the end of it:

http://whitewatersolutions.net/Rope_Breaking_Strength.html

The Neptune's Rangers once had to haul themselves and their boats 800 feet up a steep hill to a road to escape the surf, using their tow lines.

http://neptunesrangers.blogspot.com/2012/12/trapped-inside-at-devils-slide-by-bill.html

What's your preferred brand/model or material for small dry bags? I've been using a small polyurethane coated-nylon dry sack for my first aid supplies and other day-hatch essentials. Recently filled them with water and noticed lots of pinhole leaks. My clear PVC dry bags are bombproof, but they don't slide well past each other when packing for camping. Favorite alternatives?

I'll be there. Looking forward to hearing both trip reports.

I'm upgrading some of my paddling gear, and would like to hear the criteria you've used when selecting a spare paddle. I currently use a 215 cm bent-shaft Werner Ikelos, and my spare is a low-end, generic low-angle paddle that was purchased for my wife's use on flat water.

While I welcome specific recommendations for me, I'm more interested in the questions or criteria you used to select your spare.

For example:

A smaller blade might cause less strain at the end of the day.

A cheaper, stronger paddle can be the primary paddle in surf and rocks, and for rescue practice.

A one-piece Greenland paddle may be quicker to deploy in an emergency than a two-piece Euro paddle, and opens up new tricks at the summer Walden sessions.

What other considerations am I missing?

Some general questions:

Is your spare the same length as your primary paddle?

Is your spare the same type (high-angle, low-angle, Greenland) as your primary? Why or why not?

Thanks for all the replies so far. Josko, I was paddling with an Ikelos which may have contributed, although I was moving at an easy pace in mild conditions.

One remaining question about gasket placement on the wrist: Do you let the gasket cover your wrist bones (those boney knobs at the end of the radius and ulna), which is where my gasket naturally ends up as I punch through with my hand. Or do you try to get the seal further up the arm, leaving exposed skin in the area where you'd wear a wristwatch?

I went out for a paddle on Christmas day (first paddle in a while), and within a few minutes I noticed some pain in my non-dominant hand, roughly from the index finger, along the back of the hand, and around my wrist. I was wearing heavy gloves and a newish drysuit with untrimmed/unstretched gaskets. I removed the gloves and managed to slide the gasket further up my forearm so that my wrist bones were exposed. The pain went away and I continued paddling, concentrating on keeping a loose grip on the paddle.

I had heard anecdotal evidence from another paddler that tight wrist gaskets gave him tendonitis at an event this autumn. I did a quick google search this morning and only found two mentions of tendonitis and wrist gaskets.

So, I ask here - is wrist pain or tendon issues a real problem with cold-weather paddling, and am I correct in blaming overly-tight wrist gaskets? Any tips to avoid wrist injury, regardless of cause?

Rec paddle manufacturers should put an iPhone holder right at the center of the paddle shaft, and the problem would instantly solve itself. Just like how nobody knew where to put their PDFs until rec boats started including those handy bungee cords on the back deck...

From the article: "It may look a little larger than the tent in the pictures, but when the tent is staked out, the tent is about 1 in wider."

Are there any guidelines or suggestions for determining the optimal non-stretched circumference of the trimmed neck gasket, given the circumference of one's neck?

One of my favorite off-season reads is Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble, which presents lessons learned from kayaking incident reports. In fact, an NSPN forum post about a Plum Island incident a number of years ago was probably how I first became aware of this great group. Having some of these Hard Knocks stories (and even some minor mishaps that have a teachable lesson in them) from over the years written up, anonymized, and made into an anthology (NSPN's Deep Doo-Doo) might make a fabulous resource for new members, or a great recruiting tool.

Thanks, Ed. Looking at how people mark up their charts is always helpful. Thanks for the suggestion to look at some UK charts - doing that now.

Thanks for all the suggestions, Phil. I've found that in a lot of cases, USGS topos have more relevant information and better scales for paddling, and they tile together better in places where you're paddling off one chart onto another. On a few occasions this summer, I'd paddle with a topo or aerial photo with my intended route, and the NOAA chart on the reverse for reference. I spent some time playing around with NOAA's vector ENC charts, which let you turn on and off various features (deep water soundings, for example). It's still pretty crude. I had better luck taking a recent topo or aerial photo, and overlaying buoy and light data on that.

John, I've been following along with your posts here on NSPN, and recently stumbled across a tracking podcast where you discuss more primitive ways of navigation. Great stuff!

I agree that having the magnetic lines spaced one nautical mile apart really helps, and having the perpendicular east-west lines makes it easier to construct a "mental compass rose" at the closest grid intersection, rather than having to guess the angle from your current position to a target, and mentally bring that angle over to the chart's compass rose.