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AAAAAAAAARGH splash
Nov. 18th, 2008 03:13 pmAbsolute farking lunacy: people kayaking over a 300-foot dam in the UK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7735525.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7735525.stm
Kayaking Mallett's Bay
Jun. 15th, 2008 10:02 pmToday we kayaked Mallett's Bay, an arm of Lake Champlain sheltered from the choppier water of the broad lake by the Colchester-to-South Hero causeway that we've so often hiked and biked. For years we didn't know of any good spots on the Bay to put our kayaks in the water, but we finally found that the Lake Champlain Committee has a Paddler's Trail put-in on private land on Mallett's Head. A week later we were out on the water.
It was a fun paddle but lawsy, we had more wakes to cope with there than virtually anyplace we've ever kayaked. As a popular anchorage, Mallett's Bay is home to half the boats on the Vermont side of the lake -- and a lot of those boats like to zoom around towing water skiers or some sort of tow-behind towable float. We saw one boat crack the whip on a towed float and send the rider literally flying through the air. (The rider probably enjoyed it.) Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos.
Pictures are here: http://www.furrs.org/images/mallettsbay/default.htm
It was a fun paddle but lawsy, we had more wakes to cope with there than virtually anyplace we've ever kayaked. As a popular anchorage, Mallett's Bay is home to half the boats on the Vermont side of the lake -- and a lot of those boats like to zoom around towing water skiers or some sort of tow-behind towable float. We saw one boat crack the whip on a towed float and send the rider literally flying through the air. (The rider probably enjoyed it.) Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos.
Pictures are here: http://www.furrs.org/images/mallettsbay/default.htm
Kayaking Shelburne Bay
Jun. 12th, 2008 10:18 pmDespite having owned kayaks for years and despite having tried to kayak most nearby stretches of Lake Champlain, we've paradoxically never kayaked Shelburne Bay before tonight. (That's if you don't count a free kayaking lesson we got via the kayak shop after buying the two kayaks in the first place.)
Shelburne Bay is a protected arm of the lake, south of Burlington, several miles long and full of sailboats and power boats; it's a good place to anchor or sail around without being out in the main body of the lake.
The paddle was too short -- only about 2.7 miles -- but relaxing, anyway.
Shelburne Bay is a protected arm of the lake, south of Burlington, several miles long and full of sailboats and power boats; it's a good place to anchor or sail around without being out in the main body of the lake.
The paddle was too short -- only about 2.7 miles -- but relaxing, anyway.
Memorial Day weekend kayaking
May. 28th, 2008 01:09 pmThis past Sunday we did our first serious kayak trip of the year, not counting a paddle around the harbor we did a couple of weeks ago. Starting from Delta Park at the mouth of the Winooski River in Colchester, Vermont, we paddled four miles out into Lake Champlain, rounded the former site of the Colchester Reef lighthouse (now a University of Vermont weather station), and returned to shore.
Eight miles... on our first real outing of the year. We must be getting stronger, or all that energy goo and water we've been ingesting while out exercising must be having the intended effect. Perhaps it's some of each.
Our route (blue is shallow water, white is deeper water, and brown is land):
( Read more... )
Eight miles... on our first real outing of the year. We must be getting stronger, or all that energy goo and water we've been ingesting while out exercising must be having the intended effect. Perhaps it's some of each.
Our route (blue is shallow water, white is deeper water, and brown is land):
( Read more... )
We just got home from our first Lake Champlain kayak trip of the year. We did it without our light wetsuits despite it being 44 degrees Fahrenheit in the water, but with that, we were still more sensible than a guy who put in about the same time as us... WITHOUT a life jacket or PFD, without a spray skirt, without anyone with him. Solo kayaking in a 44-degree lake on a moderately windy day with no PFD is just asking for trouble.
Anyway, the light wet suits were in the car if we'd decided we needed them, but Carole thought she'd be too warm with one on, and against my better judgment I went along with her. We wound up paddling around inside the Burlington harbor breakwater (which was only just showing above the water; the lake is still very high). Though it was moderately windy, it wasn't bad enough to give us any trouble. Nice little paddle. (We didn't tip over, so we were okay.)
Anyway, the light wet suits were in the car if we'd decided we needed them, but Carole thought she'd be too warm with one on, and against my better judgment I went along with her. We wound up paddling around inside the Burlington harbor breakwater (which was only just showing above the water; the lake is still very high). Though it was moderately windy, it wasn't bad enough to give us any trouble. Nice little paddle. (We didn't tip over, so we were okay.)
