Category: Kayaking

Last night I went with the Hugger’s Ski Club for a group paddle. There were seven of us, and we went to what for me is unexplored territory, Braddock’s Bay in Hilton. It was a nice paddle. The stream was extremely placid, and for most of the way Rob and I were forging ahead into water without a ripple on it. Didn’t see too much wildlife, except a fair number of turtles, some large splashes that might have been carp or might have been muskrats, and the usual kingfishers and swallows, and one great blue heron who took off before we got too close. Several of the people in the group spent the entire time loudly chatting, so even though I was up ahead of them I think they scared off some of the wildlife.

As you can see from the linked map, it appears that there is more navigable stream above where we turned around, plus several other streams coming off other parts of the bay that might bear exploring.

I’ve gone paddling with Rob a few times, and he’s always remarking how low in the water my kayak seems. And I suppose it is – and not entirely because I’m a lard-ass because he’s not too much lighter than me, and in a shorter boat, and his boat sits with gunwhale quite a bit higher than me. But my boat was made for speed, and to be something I would work towards mastery of; while his buying criteria were more in terms of ease of entry and exit, initial mastery, and lightness of craft.

That low-ness is made quite clear in this picture Rob took a few weeks ago at the Hugger’s Ski Club Paddle Power outing. I didn’t catch the name of the guy in front of me there, but it seems to me that I’m a tall man on a low boat while he’s sitting low in a tall boat.

Upon reading this post over, I’m struck by wondering if I would have written in quite this style if I hadn’t just finished listening to “Moby Dick” on my iPod.

I did this paddle again. According to Google Maps Pedometer, it’s 4.6 miles. It rained two days ago, so the creek was higher than normal, and it’s flowing very fast. Both up and downstream were harder than normal – the speed differences between the parts of the river can catch the boat and swing it around or push you into one bank or the other. And of course upstream is just harder because you’re paddling against a strong current. But at least I wasn’t grounding out on a shallow stream.
Continue reading “Paddling against the flow”

Snow? Well, not quite. Rochester is pollen city these days. My car is covered in a green film. Lately, though, the prevalent airborne thing is cottonwood fluff. The air is full of it, and so is the surface of the water. It’s very picturesque.
Continue reading “Paddling in the “snow””

I did this paddle again, from Browncroft Avenue up to the point where Baycreek puts in for the Ellison Park shuttle. (Actually there is a pretty hefty rapid just upstream from that put-in so I doubt I’ll ever get upstream from there.) I’ve done it before, such as when I wrote about it last August in Rants and Revelations » Today’s paddle. It’s over 90 degrees out today, and the prospect of a shady stream seemed like a great idea.

I’m a little concerned because the little parking spot I park at had new “NO TRESPASSING” signs. The parking spot is in front of a small fenced off area that fences off a small brick structure that belongs to the Monroe Water Authority. I can’t imagine that a service truck from the Monroe Water Authority is going to show up at 4:30pm on a Thursday before a long weekend.

The stream was running extremely fast and high today. In previous paddles, there have been places that required me to push along the bottom and even to get out and drag – those places were deep enough to keep paddling, deeply in some places, and shallowly in the place I’ve had to get out and drag before. It was hard work, and I’m actually surprised I made it all the way to the turn-around point. I felt a bit Damiano Cunego today – in today’s stage of the Giro D’Italia, he kept sliding off the back of the leading group, but catching back up to it again and staying within contact to finish a pretty decent 5th. Or maybe I was more like Mickaël Buffaz who yesterday while on a long solo break-away actually climbed off his bike and tearfully begged his coach to let him quit, but recovered and pedalled well for the rest of the race until he was eventually caught near the end. And I would paddle hard and get tired, then stop for a swig of water, and be ready to paddle some more. Of course, I had the knowledge that it was going to get way easier after I reached the turn-around point.

The wild life was pretty sparse today. A lot of ducks, a pair of grey catbirds, a pair of goldfinches bathing in the stream, mourning doves, swallows. I didn’t see any geese on the way up, but by the time I got back there were a couple of pairs near where I put in, including one that had at least 11 fairly large down covered babies. There were a lot of people out walking their dogs, and I nearly had to repel boarders in the main “dog park” part of Ellison Park.

It was a great paddle, but I worked too hard, and my elbows and shoulders are feeling it.