There are a lot of great ways to relax after a day of paddling… Recently I have joined a gaming club and one of the games we play is perfect for the outdoors. The game is HIVE
“Hive is a board game with a difference. There is no board! The pieces are added to the playing area thus creating the board. As more and more pieces are added the game becomes a fight to see who can be the first to capture the opposing Queen Bee. The soldier ants battle to keep control of the outside of the hive, whilst the Beetles climb up to dominate the top. Spiders moving into holding positions as the Grass Hoppers jump in for the kill. Keeping one eye on the hive and the other on your opponents reserves, the tension builds as one wrong move will see your Queen Bee quickly engulfed; …. game over!”
Just wanted to write a quick posting on our recent overnight trip to one of the spoil islands off Dunedin, Florida in St. Josephs Sound. On Saturday, Jeff, Kayak Kev & Peggy, Tim & Debbie, and of course myself(Sean) decided to meet up and go for a paddle followed by an overnight campout! We all met at the Dunedin Marina launch site at around 1:00 p.m., after loading all our gear and getting everyone launched we began paddling over to the 2nd island south of the marina. We had 10 to 15 mph. winds coming at us from the port side with 1 ft. beam seas. The paddle took us approximately 45 minutes to get over to the island and was pretty uneventful, with the exception of the occasional small wave breaking over the cockpit and spray skirt.
When we arrived at “OUR” island we found a fairly nice sand and pebble beach to land on and exit our kayaks. We found a great campsite that was very nice and extremely large. Also provided alot of shelter from the high winds. The only problem that we found was the trash and broken glass left behind by previous boaters/campers!! My guess is “They” were more of a partying type of crowd. Sad, not everyone subscribes to the Leave No Trace ideaology! Anyway, we all got our tents/hammocks up and proceeded to get a fire going and dinner on. Kayak Kev, Peggy, and Tim went for another short paddle until they got rained on by a brief passing shower. By the way Forecast: NO CHANCE OF RAIN ALL WEEKEND! Thats what happens when you go paddling with the bad weather trio: Kevin, Peggy, Sean.
Dinner was great and very filling! Thank You Shelly(Seans’ wife) for making the Homemade Fried Chicken and Hobo Beans. After dinner we watched a pair of Ospreys that kept flying around our camp as if to say “YOU ARE WELCOME HERE.” The rest of the night was spent talking and laughing around the campfire, and eating Jeffs’ Pistachios- those things are like CRACK!! Also Tim & Debbie: Thank You for the Rum & Coke, it hit the spot before bed!
I awoke the next morning to the rest of the camp already up and moving about. We slowly broke camp and packed our things up. Peggy made eggs and we wrapped them in tortillas with Mexican Cheese blend, Tim provided some awesome Teriyaki Beef Jerky to finish it all off- OH YEAH and COFFEE!!!!! A BIG THANK YOU to Peggy for cooking & dishes.
We then hopped in our yaks and headed into the wind for the first quarter of the paddle back- the winds had increased to about 17 mph. steady with 20 mph. gusts. When we got close enough to shore we then turned north and headed for the marina and our cars using the treeline and shore as a natural wind break. Also a pretty uneventful paddle back, with the exception of a few waves breaking over the bows of the kayaks. To all who went: Kevin, Peggy, Tim, Debbie & Jeff- THANK YOU MY FRIENDS for a WICKED FUN little getaway this past weekend! We will have to do it again soon.
Russell Farrow has invited me to participate at the Sweetwater Kayak Symposium in St. Petersburg, FL. The symposium begins February 18th 2010 and concludes on the 28th.
On Sunday February 28th, I will be teaching two courses: Kayak Cooking, and Kayak Expedition. I hope to see you at the kayak symposium. – Jeff
Kayak cooking – cook like a chef verse eating nuts and berries (lecture class)
See, discuss, and taste the benefits of different high tech and low tech cooking styles. Participate in the comical antics of cooking out of a kayak. Watch and learn high tech and every day cooking methods to easily whip up tasty foods that will impress you paddling mates and give you the energy to realize you paddling goals. Paddlers will end the class by sampling the tasty high-energy foods that Jeff cooked during class.
Kayak Expedition – camp like a king or go primitive (lecture class)
Camp like a king verse going primitive. See the entertaining realities of both styles of getting out and enjoying an overnight trip. In addition, discover how every person can benefit from a multi day trip on the water. Paddlers will get an entertaining overview of why kayaking is what you make it. Discover the cool high technical and low tech kayaking gear that works for our needs of comfort verse our needs of roughing it.
What can I say, I obviously must have been a very GOOD boy last year! My older sister Mary told me so!! For Christmas and my Birthday (Dec. 21st) she bought me a North Face Cats’ Meow 20 degree sleeping bag. This present could not have come at a better time for it was given to me on Thanksgiving weekend, and as some know will have been used on the Suwannee River Expedition!
Well, I am back from the Suwannee River Expedition and have had ample time to pack, sleep in, re-pack many times over, and launder my Cats’ Meow sleeping bag! So lets get on with the gear review: One word LIFESAVER!!!! This sleeping bag made for a very pleasant trip and the trip could not have been done without it!! IT truely is the Cats’ Meow!!!!!!! We had sleeping temperature averages of about 25 to 30 degrees and at least one night of under 20 degrees! I will admit I did get a little chill on the under 20 morning right at the end of the night/daybreak. Had I added my extra sleeping bag liner(not incld.), I probably would have been fine!
Lets start with the specifics that I liked about the Bag: 1. VERY WARM and Comfortable with the soft silky lining. 2. Pocket on the chest fit my cellphone/light/alarm clock perfectly. 3. The drawstring to seal up around your face is easy one hand operation & the material is stiff enough that it doesn’ t feel like it will slide around and choke you out in the middle of the night, if it has ever happened before; you will know what I’ m talking about! 4. The ease of washing when I got back- loaded it into an industrial front load washer at my Moms house on gentle cycle. Spun it out on delicate and let it air dry. PERFECT!!
I would recommend this sleeping bag if you need a good quality 3- season bag at a reasonable price; around $165- $175. I also liked the fact that the bag comes in Black & Atoll(blue) with black lining so it doesn’ t show soiling. Has a glow in the dark zipper tab and comes in RT. or LFT. hand zip configurations. Comes with a stuff sack AND large laundry/storage bag. The bag is Synthetic filled as opposed to Down filled, my sister chose synthetic because it will still retain up to 80% warmth even when wet. Here is a link to North Face and the Cats’ Meow to read up on specifics!
Things I did not like:………………….Nothing! Great Product for the money!!!! Bottomline:: Mary my Dear Sister……. You did GREAT!!!! I Love You!
Sometimes it is necessary to take a class after we buy a new piece of gear to add to our kayak kit.
A good friend and student of mine recently purchased a new paddle. He was surprised to discover that after paddling with it that he had less control over his boat in heavy winds. He paddles a Titan by Atlantis Kayaks normally with an old Scotland made Lendal Kinetik 215 cm paddle. His new paddle is a Werner Cyprus 215 cm paddle.
I know from experience that both paddles are designed to enter the water at a high angle. The Cyprus is lighter in weight and has a more aggressive concave spoon shape than his Lendal. His Lendal is about 10 years old.
This past weekend I discovered a few things about his paddling. He was accustom to a strong purchase when he paddled with his Scottish Lendal. And he was trying to get the same feel from his Cyprus. Consequently he was over powering the paddle and finishing each stroke in a stern rudder position.
After an hour of practicing he is back to taking short strokes and is loving the quick catch and firm purchase of his new Cyprus. Granted he still says that he misses the strong grip that his Kinetik has in the water.
A recent student just got a new paddle and discovered that they had kayak elbow.
What is kayak elbow? It is like tennis elbow, BlackBerry Thumb, and cell phone elbow. This is a common condition caused by repeat motion. The overuse predisposes a person to a tendinitis injury or aggravating an underlying arthritic joint. Poor form during the forward stroke can cause an overuse of arm and forearm muscles that may result in elbow pain. I have personally experienced this type of pain.
For me it would appear paddling in heavy winds and chop. I could not figure out how I was overusing my forearm until I video taped myself one day to recreate the pain. I discovered that I was guilty of a few things. After eight hours of paddling I was flexing the wrists and pulling with my right bicep during some braces, and stern draws. The video also relieved that I did not have a consistent relaxed grip on the paddle in heavy winds and chop.
My remedy before I paddle is to stretch / warm up my wrists before I paddle rough weather. I wear a paddling glove that has wrist support and does not constrict tendons. And I focus on paddling on a relaxed grip even when I am excited with what the water is doing.
At home I focus on exercising the pushing muscles: pectorals, triceps, et cetera. I do push ups, and use hand weights with tricep extensions and shoulder exercises.
I sit at a desk and type a lot. So healthy maintenance of my mussels and joints is key to keeping me out on the water.
I have also added two things to my first aid kit to help with elbow pain.
This is our last day on the water. It has been a great time being apart of this historical river. It has given us plenty of time to reflect and unfortunately we had to return to the city.
We slept in today and treated ourselves to a large brunch before we started paddling today. We paddled past Charles Springs and Lafayette Blue Springs. And ended the day at the Peacock River Camp. The volunteer hosts of the camp were amazing. They had the camp decked out.
Today would be our long day on the river. This was our coldest night. Sean and I were a little uncomfortable during the night. It had to be close to 15′F for me to get cold, for my sleeping bag has kept me comfortable in temperatures above 15′F.
At the boat launch we discovered ice around my hatch cover. And we took a bite out of it as a toast to the cold. We then left Holton Creek River Camp at 10am and arrived at Dowling Park River Camp after 5pm. I did not take a lot of pictures because I just focused on paddling and keeping warm today.
