Cold Water Apparel #2

Kathleen's re-sized neoprene showed up awhile back. However, when she (finally) tried it on (yesterday), she didn't like it at all. Too confining overall and way too binding in the arm/shoulder joints to be desirable. And the extra long zipper on the Ultra Jane turned out to be surprisingly encumbering. No hiking about in it!

She really liked the splash jacket though. So, it looks like she'll go with splash pants for her lower half. In other words, dressing to stay dry. Perhaps, for the level of water we're looking at, I've overestimated what we'll need.

No picture of her clothing worth posting yet. I forgot to take a picture at the start of our paddle. We finished after 5pm. The sun was down in our cove already. The camera needed the flash then and none came out well. However, they did demonstrate the reflective piping on the edges of her PFD - very handy to know about.

[photo from Dec 30 paddle added]

During this end of year vacation, I was thinking about going to one of our lakefront neighbors and practice getting wet in my wetsuit. Not trying to do a wet exit or self-rescue with the boat, but just seeing how the cold water feels in my outfit. Stay tuned to see if I pull it off.

Roof Rack - RESOLVED!

For earlier episodes of this competency drama, see this.

• Episode 3 - Searching each kayak makers' web site for recommended separations for roof rack support comes up empty. Kayak storage solutions recommend one support lining up with the rear bulkhead. Call to Necky customer support goes unanswered - same for an email. Wilderness Systems customer support guy is much more helpful. He says anywhere between 3 and 6 feet should be fine. I settle on 4 feet.
• Episode 4 - After really bad infection and a week laid up in the house, I get back to chiseling. This time, measure first - actually, measure many times. Keeping the bar attached to the braces makes relocating the braces a piece of cake. New location much closer to one of the bedliner attachment points making the liner much harder to move in and out. Getting the underbrace hooked in, not easy either. Fingers mangled; but, ultimately, completed. Et voila! ....

It took a call to the guys in Hickory to figure out how to put the darn straps on properly. The mako saddles have their own special set of doo-dads. Of course, I guessed wrong and used the conventional strap & buckle set on them instead of on the hully rollers. Oh, well. It takes longer than planned today, but it is finally finished. Now, if only I figure out how to use their bow/stern tie-downs so I can do highway speeds. Until then, it's 25 mph only through the neighborhood to the lake.

Temperatures in the 60's today, it's paddlin' time!

Creeping Crud Prevents Paddling

The past couple of weekends have been wash outs for any kayaking. I've been feeling cruddy and we've had rain too. However, I have been reading about paddle trails in the Carolinas and I'm making a list!

NC Wildlife Federation

One reason for my strong attraction to flatwater kayaking is the ability to see wildlife from a different perspective. I hope to build on what we've already seen just from puttering on our home lake: Great Blue Herons are easily seen from the shore, but Kingfishers are not. I've found a paddler's group in the NC Wildlife Federation. We've not participated in anything, nor joined; but I have high hopes for this as an avenue to increase our naturalist rating.

First Cold Day Experience

Today, Kathleen wasn't feeling up to going, so I was on my own. Temperatures were in the upper-40F's with a brisk breeze W-NW. I took my new neoprene top, splash jacket, wool beanie, and neoprene gloves. The farmer john is being held back for 30's; at least, attempting to be held back.

After donkeying the kayak to the water, and walking back to the house for the paddle, I was warm enough to remove the splash jacket and wool beanie - but carried with me in the boat just in case. I wore an earband and baseball cap for the head. The 0.5 mm Hydroskin neoprene did just fine for me. The new Astral Willis PFD also contributed to heat retention. I was generally cool and, during my long stretches of exertion, sweating underneath - but my viking blood likes that. All in all, it was a good start to getting the feel of the neoprene. The farmer john's will come on as the water temperature continues to drop even if air temp does not.

Interestingly enough, I saw ice on a sheltered section of one of the side coves! It was actually fragile crystal-like strands in a calm spot in the middle of what's more like an extension of the creek rather than a typical deep cove. The patch was good sized, nearly 20 ft by 20 ft. Another smaller one was nearby. It was very strange to see.

I also noticed something else quite nifty in the same general area. Water drops are always flying off the paddles. If the water was calm, rather than ripply from the wind, the drops would break up into much smaller droplets, when hitting the water, and skitter across the surface further before merging without a trace. The droplets appeared whiter when skittering, reminding me of hail. I'm guessing that cold water has a higher surface tension.

I haven't bought a portable thermometer yet, but the temperature in Shelby really was in the upper-40's. The lake water is warmer than the air temperatures at this point. Looking forward to finding an explanation for both observations.

P.S. We're still working on getting all the proper gear - making a list, prioritizing it, checking it twice.

Books about Rivers & Streams

I've done a bit of searching for books about lakes, rivers, and streams written for science-oriented laypeople. In other words, writing like John McPhee's. I picked up a copy of A View of the River by Luna Leopold - lots of interesting information but better skimmed than read in a long sitting. I also found a curriculum for water sciences at Water on the Web, the result of an NSF funded project from several years ago. I haven't poured over this material, but I'm assuming it will be in the same neighborhood as Leopold's book. I'll keep looking. With the perennial interest in environmental sciences and greater exposure to ecology due to global warming debates, there's gotta be a number of good books or websites.

My goal in reading will be, not just becoming a better person, but be more of a "naturalist" and observer of the rivers and lakes we paddle. Whoop-de-do!

Cold Water Apparel #1

Since we started late in the season, learning about cold weather paddling is high on our priority list - especially after receiving the Great Outdoor Provision Company's latest eNewsletter with this post. Bill Mauney has now scared the bejesus out of me. It sounds like we need to upgrade our apparel even further. My mother, who scuba dives, also let me know that she uses a 3mm neoprene wetsuit for hour+ sessions in 84 degree pool water. For 61 degree water, she rented a 7mm suit. Yikes. While paddling is a more active sport than scuba diving, somehow, I think cold water will more than equalize the two.

I'm calling this "Cold Water Apparel #1" because I expect to accumulate information in snippets and post here over the course of the winter. Over the course of running for 20 years, I developed a good sense of my clothing needs for various weather conditions. I need to do the same for both sculling and paddling. They won't be the same. Interestingly enough, the chances of a spill are much higher for single sculling but normally you get wetter while paddling.

UPDATE (Dec 5): Melanie Besson put out similar cold weather information on her site for Moss Lake. At this point, we're prepped in many aspects but not all. And, for the risk averse, probably not enough. We're working to get better!

Funny Clothes

My youngest sister said that people ordering funny clothes for their hobby means they've gone off the deep end. Well, here goes (and I'm not talking about the slippers):


This is a 0.5 mm neoprene shirt and a 3 mm neoprene farmer john wetsuit from NRS. Still waiting on my wetshoe booties. Gonna be working on that general bulge in the middle!

Kathleen's clothes didn't fit so we're having to exchange it for a different sizes. Her top is one of their Mystery shirts, 1 mm thick with a slick outer surface, for increased warmth and wind shielding.

I was getting warm with just my top on, so we probably could have paddled comfortably today. The wind, more than the cool temperature, kept me off the water. Instead, we cleaned up outside of the house in anticipation of Thanksgiving visitors.

Terns Feeding

We had an amazingly pleasant paddle on Moss Lake this afternoon. Shelby high temperature was supposed to be 51 degrees. It sure felt warmer than that. I'm gonna have to get me some thermometer gear!

We were treated to quite a sight: terns feeding on the open water. They were swooping and splashing. While watching, I saw a big splash from a fish. I don't know what the water temperature gradient looks like yet. Maybe the fish are staying closer to the surface during daylight to stay warmer.

I'm amazed that terns are here. I thought they were coastal birds.

Moss Lake Water Temperatures

I asked around about winter water temperatures for Moss Lake. I was pointed to Newt Henson at the Water Treatment plant. Here's what he sent me for temperatures read from 5 ft or 15 ft depths where their intakes are located:

              Avg          Low           High
11/07          59           54            66
12/07          52           50            54
01/08          46           45            54
02/08          46           45            46
03/08          52           46            54
04/08          59           54            61
05/08          66           61            72
06/08          79           72            81
07/08          82           79            84
08/08          84           81            86
09/08          79           72            82
10/08          68           61            72

He said the coldest they've measured was 39 degrees.

(Much bigger) Lake Norman temperatures are here. Looks like it's warmer there.

Roof Rack Rigging & Rigamarole

Here's the saga of setting up a truck rack system:

• Episode 1 - Anxiety over a pure truck bed or a roof+truckbed solution. Decided to go for positioning the load as forward as possible. Yakima Outdoorsman 300 in back and standard Q-tower rack on cab. Later leads to broken finger and another trip to Hickory by Kathleen to ask the guys to do the cab installation.
  
• Episode 2 - Agonizing over cutting through the 1/8" bedliner to get the Outdoorsman attached. Simplified by finding wood chisel in toolbox and going to town with rubber mallet. Fairly nice fitting cutouts are fashioned and rack is mounted. (see below) Kathleen's kayak is wrestled on to rollers and mako sharks ... to discover that the racks are two far apart. Separation of 7'6" leaves the racks trying to hold predominately vertical surfaces on our 12-13' kayaks rather than horizontal ones. Gonna half to bang out another 18" on each side of the bedliner to shift the rack forward. Darn it! I neglected to measure first.
  
• Episode 3 - Who knows yet?

I forgot to mention one of the drivers behind going big on the separation ... We could then transport our double shell which is 24' long. A racing single would be 26' long. I'll be able to use as much of a shift forward as I can get!

UPDATE - Dec 29: Read about the thrilling conclusion here!

Competitive Flatwater Kayaking

Now that's a workout! I don't think we'll be carrying ours at our side like that. I wonder how much those lightweight kayaks cost?

Past Leaf Peek Paddle

Temperatures were cooler this weekend. Family was visiting Kathleen's parents, so we decided to paddle up the cove near their house. Kathleen's finger is getting better. Here she is smoking past me:


I made the video with a Flip Video Ultra, a small handheld "point & shoot" camcorder. I haven't had much practice with it yet - hopefully, our recordings will improve. Leaf colors were better last week. Leaves are dropping and there wasn't much red.

At the top/bottom of this long cove is a bridge for Old Stubbs Road. I wanted to go into it to see the other side and whether we could paddle up this feeder creek. Well, it's really not a bridge; nor is the passage a culvert. But it is narrow! There was a leftside opening and a rightside opening. Coming up to them, we saw branches caught up at the other side. I picked one and started in. Lesson learned - if the tunnel is narrower than the paddles, it's going to be hard to make good progress! Using the paddle on one side and our hands on the wall for the other, we made it the first 20 yards or so. The last 5 yards were tricky due to hanging up on the branches. I made it through but had to come back around to pull Kathleen over them by her oar. There were mud dauber wasp nests higher up on the wall. Empty now, but probably not so when it's warm! Not much to see on the other side. Just a small pond with submerged branches where the water drains in. The adventure here was very literally in the travelling (through the tunnel).

Whiteoak Creek

Whiteoak Creek is a minor feeder into Moss Lake. From Google topo maps, it appears to originate just above Waco. From our sculling runs, we already like the cove that leads up to it. With the leaves starting to turn, I thought it would be a good tripto make, so we headed out after lunch to take advantage of a pleasantly warm fall day. Kathleen's fractured finger isn't impeding her much - except when she catches it on the bow handle when we trying to flip the kayak over!

Very few boats on the water this afternoon. Somewhat cooler temperatures and football season seem to keep most power boaters ashore. Some fisherman. And a few boats with couples just sitting out in the middle of the water. I wonder whether they're taking a nap or ???

The trees are a very nice mix of colors. Some red maples have turned. The sweetgum trees are their full rich dark red. Most trees are yellow so far. This particular cove has many wooded lots - either no houses or owners who didn't strip out the trees to clear their view. Too bad I forgot the camera.

As we approached the creek, we took a closer look at some of the submerged (narrow) tree stubs, two abandoned partially completed beaver dens, and what looks like a guard rail in the middle of the water. The guard rail is not metal, but plastic with reflective strips on it. It's pretty secure in the water. When we first came up here with the shell, it would have been a disaster to hit it. Lots of ducks up here; all mallards. I haven't recognized a wood duck yet.

We couldn't go far up Whiteoak Creek. We could get about a hundred yards past the submerged trees before the creek petered out. After a little inspection, I realized a beaver dam was blocking the creek! I didn't try getting out to see if we could portage up and go further. On the return, Kathleen pointed out that another half-blocked spot on the creek was due to a half-dam. What fun! Except, I suppose, for the folks who had the their trees gnawed off by the beavers. ;-)

This trip was another 3.5 hour paddle. We covered more distance than last Sunday, but didn't explore nooks and crannies much to be able to make time.

Up Buffalo Creek

After a day of recuperation, and on the last day of my week off, we took our new kayaks to Moss Lake. Here's Kathleen all ready to go at our neighborhood's access ramp:

The black thing around the cockpit is a splash skirt. While the big open cockpit was a big plus for the buying decision, dripping cold water onto oneself is a bummer. Splash skirts normally cinch around your waist and help minimize water intake during a roll. Kathleen was sold on this one - which leaves a big hole for her (normal) entry & exit, but should keep the drips from the paddle off her self. The orange doo-dad in front of her is a bilge pump for emptying water in the event of a capsize. Since she wants to go out on her own during the week, we decided she would be the official carrier at all times.

Here she is, in action, on the open water of the lake:


Out of our home cove, we turned up another cove to proceed to the headwater for Moss Lake - Buffalo Creek. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the upper 60's in the afternoon. Here I am, at some point along the creek, when we did a camera swap:

It's amazing how quiet and peaceful this creek is. And it's practically in our backyard! There are stretches where you'd have no idea that residential development and a highway are nearby.

We went all the way up, under the bridges for NC150 and Airport Rd (SR1926), until we couldn't go any further:


The lake is full so we were able to get all the way up to this neat old stone dam. The water was really shallow in spots but there was no problem running aground. In the shallow water, it was really nifty to see great blue heron and, what I'm guessing, are some kind of snail tracks.

Here's a nice shot of Kathleen approaching Moss Lake with some colors in the trees on this steep high hill.


Note the trees that are hung up on the sand to the left of Kathleen. When I bought our vessel licenses at the Moss Lake office (yes! we have to buy a flippin' license to use the lake!), the lady said these trees, when floating out in the lake, create a bit of contention between the boaters and the fishermen. The trees are dangerous for the former, but the latter want them to get water logged and sink for fish habitat. A really big rain will wash these out into the deeper water. Rain from Hurricane Fay, last month, did just that. I described our rowing experience here. No collisions, but an interesting amount of stuff washed in.

We puttered about for almost 3.5 hours. It was a great, relaxing time. Kathleen had a ball. Flatwater kayaking can be either a great escape and stress reliever or a heck of a workout. It all depends upon the pace you choose.

Kathleen's Fingers

Maybe God doesn't want Kathleen to be paddling? Or maybe she should be less stubborn and listen to her husband?

Last night, I was trying to install the Yakima Q-posts onto our Dakota's cab. (Incidentally, our hope to paddle on Lake Hickory yesterday, after picking up Kathleen's Pungo, was washed out by a rainy forecast.) I'd gotten the two posts on each end of a 66" bar and asked her to help on one side and lift the bar up from resting across the bed to sitting on top of the cab. She didn't want to pick it up over her head and insisted on getting our short stepladder. As she was going into the house to retrieve it, somehow she managed to slam the door on her right middle & ring finger - pretty good too. She was in a semi-fetal position for a good 5-10 minutes. She says the middle finger feels fractured. We splinted it with a cut down wooden shim and scotch tape.

That pretty much wrecked the plan to paddle up Buffalo Creek on Saturday and go to Lake Lure on Sunday. Saturday became an off-day. The splint has been working okay - with some boosts from painkillers. Kathleen is hell bent to take her kayak out tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, Kathleen says our back porch is looking like "Kinarsy's garbage dump" (some New York Irish expression). I don't know what she's talking about:
You can't tell here but Kathleen's Pungo is a pretty lime green while my Manitou is a puky lime green. Hers is actually a mottled coloring so the white background gives it a lighter and brighter look.

Impetuous Purchases

Kathleen and I jumped into flatwater kayaking with both feet - purchasing brand new kayaks in a rush as the weather is turning to cold and I have a week off. I've chronicled the lead up in posts on my sculling blog. Here's the Pungo and then the Manitou:here and here. We bought a Pungo 120, by Wilderness Systems, for Kathleen, and a Manitou 13, by Necky, for me. We picked the ladies version of the Pungo so we couldn't walk out of the Outdoor Supply Company store. Great Outdoor Provision Company, in Charlotte, did have the one I wanted so we have it home already.


Not only is mine home, but I took it out for a first paddle already. I went out our cove, around the bend into the headwater cove, and went as far as I could up Buffalo Creek to the old stone dam, now broken. I'll get pictures next time. We are picking up Kathleen's on Friday. We are hoping the rain will hold off long enough for us to get both into a lake or river near the store in Hickory. Keep you posted!