Thursday, June 26, 2008

A riddle (sort of)

Question: What do two sea kayakers do on their day off?
Answer: Work on their boats and paddles and blog about kayaking.
OK, so it's not a great riddle, but it's accurate.
We're in Barry's Bay today. While Hannah runs a class 4 section of the Ottawa River and Jeremy takes on ever-more-challenging sections of the Madawaska River, we're adding foam to Alec's backband, finishing Sharon's traditional paddle and catching up with our posts.

Alec shapes a foam addition to his backband.

The picnic table outside the Barry's Bay visitor information center provides both sanding surface and internet access.

Yesterday we paddled about 15 miles on Lake Kamanisteg, which is connected to Bark Lake by a short section of the Madawaska River. A dam between them generates electricity and controls water levels. Because the water runs off the top of Bark Lake, it's relatively warm. Madawaska Kanu Center has an agreement with the dam authority about the hours when the water runs. Those are the prime whitewater hours--perfect for classes and for fun.
We continued our navigation practice, but also had the opportunity to paddle for a couple of hours into a pretty strong head wind (we estimate it at 25 knots with 30 knot gusts). Paddling into the wind is kind of like towing, and appealing in a similar way. You go more slowly with all that resistance and have a great opportunit to work on your forward stroke. It was impossible to take photos, however.
This is a partial post, to be continued when we next have internet access. Alec finished the foam and paddle, so it's time to find some water...

1 comment:

Lyn Stone said...

It looks like maybe you did turn the backrest right side up?