Thursday, April 26, 2007

Second Wind

Pausing: "should we go for Ram?"Ram is the little island just in front of Todd's visor.


Yesterday we were paddling within an hour of finishing work. The sky had turned cloudy and windy, and I felt worn-out enough that couch time was sounding better than paddle time. But we'd made plans, so we went. It looked, once again, as though we might do a quick little loop. As it turned out- a little 12-mile or more loop. Somewhere out there we must have found a second wind.


Along the south side of Merchant's.

Much can happen in three hours of paddling, or so it seemed when we returned to Stonington and the sun came out just in time to set. We'd headed out along Crotch and Sand, through some lively water to Farrell, then a mile or so wavy crossing to Ram, then east along Merchant's. We took a break on Harbor Island to watch the sky above the Camden Hills turn pink before pointing back toward home.



Monday, April 23, 2007

Waves, Adrenaline


As we paddled back through the Thorofare, I said to Todd that the great thing about getting out there in rough conditions is that you are focused only on one thing. Much of the time when we paddle, we have conversations, and despite the fact that we live in the perfect place, those conversations often revolve around our day to day frustrations. Our escape from Stonington happen in these trips in our kayaks, and yet we don't always leave Stonington behind.

Today we thought we'd paddle in a direction we don't usually go: west through the Thorofare, out around Andrews Island, and back. The wind and the waves were from the Southwest, and we were headed into Penobscot Bay with its deeper water and long fetch. We expected some turbulence, but... well, got more than we expected. I wish I had more photos to show for it, but I was more concerned about remaining upright. As we rounded Andrews and the waves rebounded off the granite ledges, I lost sight of Todd as he sunk into the troughs. It was, however, quite awesome. Your bow shoots through the crest of a whitecap and plunges into the trough. You try to keep your boat reasonably straight, but face it, you're being tossed around like a toy boat. You want to round the island, but can't easily go perpendicular to the waves, so you make a big triangle.

We like watching videos of paddlers more experienced than us tackling far scarier waters, so we try to keep this in perspective. However, for awhile, there's nothing else sneaking into our thoughts: kayak, waves, breathable air, non-breathable ocean.



Paddling back into Stonington Harbor in a mild chop is almost surreal. No one would ever guess what you've just been through. And of course, this is just a couple of hours for an after-work paddle.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Spring

Today was the sort of spring day that you can hardly believe is for real. The temperature soars, and the air is so clear you see islands out there that you swear you've never seen before. Of course, the water temperature is still cool enough to ... do bad things to you, should you end up in it (above 40 degrees F. though). I don't often paddle alone, but that seemed to be my only choice.

Foolishly, I got involved in all sorts of domestic chores: taking the trash and recyling to the dump, mopping the kitchen floor, organizing the closet, etc. It was Saturday, after all. The new mop head didn't fit the mop, so I got in the car and bought another. It didn't fit. The most perfect afternoon of the year was passing by, and I was messing around with mop heads. My anxiety grew. I drilled some holes, made the mop head fit, and got the floor mopped. By then, I was seriously ready to leave dry land. I quickly got into my drysuit and walked over to the boat launch.

It was four o'clock. I thought I might just do a quick loop around a couple of nearby islands. I was alone, after all, and I didn't want to push my luck. And, as I headed south, the wind and waves seemed to be picking up. At the south end of Green, I paused and turned east, following the chain of islands: Spud, Potato, Little Camp, Camp, Devil, Buckle...


The islands drew me onward. Paddling alone can easily become dreamlike, simple. Decisions happen without my noticing them: suddenly I'm circling islands where I've never been and I'm vaguely checking the angle of the sun, wondering how much daylight I have to get back.


I got back just fine. Saw one other kayak: atop an Xterra in the parking lot at the boat launch. Soon, I suppose, we won't have this entire archipelago to ourselves.


Thursday, April 19, 2007

After-Work Paddle


I knew it was a promising day for an after-work paddle, but wow, what a gift of a day: warm enough to start roasting in our drysuits, sunny enough to actually need sunglasses (we usually only wear them as a fashion statement). We took a quick paddle around Sand and Crotch Islands, pausing for a snapshot or two in front of some local landmarks.


Self-portrait. We're paddling north up the west side of Crotch Island. The current quarrying activity is vaguely visible behind Todd. The hill on the island was once much higher.



Paddling past "The Old Man's Ass" on Crotch Island. Crotch is named (I assume) for the long, narrow and crotch-like mill pond, which of course is located directly across the island from "The Old Man's Ass." I'm not making this stuff up. As you can see, the ass shone brilliantly this evening in a clear, crisp light.



We pause to savor the stink of the Stonington Bait Ark.



Back at the boat ramp. The red building is the old sardine factory, now housing the company that runs the Isle au Haut mailboat, as well as the Speedbumps clubhouse.


Saturday, April 14, 2007

Launch

Here we are, getting ready to launch our kayaks today. The only unusual thing (other than my new drysuit) was that Rebecca was there to take a few photos of us getting ready. It always takes a few minutes to get ourselves put together, and yet there's a rising sense of urgency, since we've left work early so we can get out on the water by three. There's only so much daylight left, and ... oh yeah, where do we want to go today?

We have a pretty decent situation here in Stonington, Maine. Todd and I, along with a group of other kayakers, rent a space in an old building right next to the boat launch. We both live in downtown Stonington, a short walk from the ramp. This makes it easy to get paddling with little notice or planning. Our idea for this blog is to use it much like the logbook we keep in the "clubhouse": share a few photos and stories from our excursions, and give us an outlet to spread some occasional gossip and have a little fun. Also, I worried that the sea kayaking snapshots were starting to take over my art gallery blog.



We call ourselves the "Stonington Speedbumps," borrowing from the lobster fishermens' moniker for kayakers. Stonington has an active fishing fleet, with, at last count, 380 registered fishing vessels. Of course, many of them, along with recreational boaters, don't go out in the winter. Winter seems to be about half the year, and we don't want to miss-out on kayaking for so long, so we get out when we can. It's usually nice and quiet. And gorgeous.



It had been almost three weeks since our last excursion, and the weather was a bit iffy, so we set-out with mild amibitions: anywhere we went would be fine. The air temperature was fairly warm- almost fifty degrees, but the wind out of the north seemed to be increasing by the minute. (Water temperature: 37 degrees). A small craft advisory was in effect, with rumors of a huge impending NorEaster. Oh- in the picture above, I was wondering how I was supposed to get my camera from Rebecca, who wasn't prepared to get her feet wet. She put it on the blade of the paddle and I grabbed it.


Thanks to the wind at our backs, we had a quick ride south. We took a familiar route through the islands: past Green, St. Helena and Wreck, finally stopping at a beach, out of the wind. Todd rolled a couple of times. On purpose.



Here we are, pausing before heading back in. A liesurely paddle, back around six- in time to catch the movie at the Opera House.