Today's Paddle

Adk Jeff wrote

I dont know about the canoe (looks nice though), but the sailboat looks a lot like the O'Day Javelin I used to own.  I like the El Gordo paddle too.

The sailboat is a '70s vintage Siren 17, built in Ontario. It is a bit of a project but is fun to learn on. For the record, the kayak is a Dagger Baja from 2000 or so. We don't use it very much. The paddle is a Badger Digger, made of white ash with their orange "watercolour" stain and custom "El Gordo" lettering job.

The canoe is a Blackhawk Zephyr. I bought it new in 1990, ordered at the original factory in Janesville, WI. Designed and built by the late Phil Sigglekow, a legend in solo canoe circles. It was a custom colour, though the stripes were an available option at the time. I asked Phil if he could do a really dark purple, with the contrasting yellow and green stripes. The end result was not really purple, but more the colour of ripe blueberries. I have liked it from the beginning. The Zephyr is really fun to paddle and pretty quick. I like to compare canoes to cars, this is the BMW Z4 of the canoe world: sporty, quick, responsive and can actually carry some luggage.

Bon and I decided to do an urban paddle today, right through town on the river.  Perfect day to be on the water, 32c -FKNA...

Heading into town.

Paddling by the riverside cafes and restaurants

Going under the old swing bridge, the cabin on the top was where the bridge attendant opened and closed it for the lake steamers to pass through..

Heading back upriver as the old Steam engine chugs by.

family trip on the lower yough a few weekends ago

Utah and I took two old friends back to the same beach to paddle the lovely delta of the Big East River once again:

The Taco is much faster with its new red hood. The canoe is at least 75 years old, it was made by the Canadian Canoe Company, in Peterborough, Ontario.



Getting ready to head out on Lake Vernon. This launch is a 7 minute drive from our house, so it is a no-brainer to go there.



The dog cools off in the river.



Blue Toes is pleased that her feet are actually warm.

Nice
You're lucky to be so close to such a cool place to paddle

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Blue Toes, well acquainted with SBR's tricks, glances back to see if he's even paddling while Utah the Wonder Dog uncomfortably sits, " wondering " ..... " When in the hell is that knothead going to get me a cushion to sit on? My ass is killing me! ".

Ha, you pretty much nailed it there, Snowballs. The dog is once again sitting in a puddle.

Yesterday's paddle was a little different. Back story: there is this guy named Mike Ranta who is paddling across Canada, with his dog, raising awareness and funds for veterans with PTSD. For the second time. Despite starting in Vancouver on April 1 last year, he did not quite make his goal of Sydney, Nova Scotia, by Oct 30, 2015. He was in the Northumberland Straight between PEI and Nova Scotia but wisely decided to call it a day. So he is trying again, and is currently two weeks ahead of where he was last year. You can learn more about the project, and follow the tracker, at mikeranta.ca.

My new friend Jay is a keen follower of Mike's journey, and asked me if I wanted to go and meet him while he paddled through our neck of the woods (I say "our neck of the woods" in the loosest possible terms). Sure, why not? Looking at the tracker, we figured we could catch him somewhere near the town of Mattawa, ON, about a two hour drive north and east of my house. Then Mike started racking up the miles, and we realized he would be somewhere on the Ottawa River by Friday, which was the earliest we could get together and drive somewhere. Jay drove up from the craft beer capital of Ontario, Creemore, to stay at SBRHQ on Thursday night,so we could get an early start.

We hit the road before 7 am, Jay checking the tracker on his phone. Until we ran out of service.



We figured that Deep River was the place, and our timing was perfect. Good thing, since we had been driving for almost four hours. Neither of of us knew the area, but the handy GPS led us to a nice little public beach (sorry for blurs on following pix, didn't realize till it was too late).



We paddled through a nautical trailer park, heading north on the Ottawa River to intercept Mike.



You can't see it, but we did. Flashing paddle in the distance, Mike is in sight.



Hello, Mike Ranta. Spitzi was a bit grumpy. Mike was thrilled that we paddled out to see him. He had covered 70 km the day before, and is really pushing now.



Mike is a super-positive guy but a bit rough around the edges. His dog would not stop barking at us as we paddled along, and at one point Mike shouts at him: "Spitzi, STFU or I'll make a pair of mitts out of you and use your ears for the thumbholes!" Pretty classic.

Spitzi and Utah greeting each other at the marina.



Spitzi stays on guard while Mike got a ride up to the local legion hall (Hinterlandian version of the VFW post) to meet some veterans and get some signatures.



OK, well that's done, now what? Since we had to drive by on the way home, we took a 45 km side trip on a gravel road to the Brent Access Point, on Cedar Lake in Algonquin Park. The company I work for runs a remote canoe outfitting store there, which is run by one of the "last great characters" of Algonquin Park. We crashed in the old railway bunkhouse and drove home this morning.

Checking in at the permit office.



It was a nice day to be at Cedar Lake.



We were all a little pooped from our unusual road trip.



It is never too busy at Brent, which is a good reason to go there.



Nice sunrise this morning, then bacon and eggs with Jake before the store opened.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

 Awesome.

I liked the sticker on the side of the canoe "Ragged Ass Rd"

If you are paddlin' the computer waterways this weekend, why not follow the intrepid paddlers in the Muskoka River X race? It is a endurance canoe race where racing canoes are not allowed (although there are some pretty fast non-racing canoes in it). Today is part one, the Coureur des Bois leg, with only 11 teams, including two SUPs. This is not prime SUP territory, there are beaver dams, portages, small rapids, twisty creeks, and yes, a few big open lakes. Tomorrow morning those folks will join the 60+ teams entered in the "Classic" and "Sprint" events.

They have a new tracker this year, it is really good. Different zoom features and you can use the replay to watch lead changes, or follow teams when they go off course:

Muskoka River X live tracker

I'm going down to the start tomorrow (7 am, ugh), always entertaining. There is a wide mix of teams, from "people with no clue" paddling rental canoes, to professional marathon racers.

Check out my new ninja suit. Now I'm all set for tomorrow's paddle.

TD had to work till 4:30, so we arranged a late afternoon meeting for a quick paddle on the Big East River.

Water levels are dropping, you can see how it was last week by the debris line. Since it was Earth Day, I entertained myself by picking up non-organic litter while waiting for Dave:



Ready to go in the new ninja suit. The water is COLD.



The river was high and the current strong, but not too difficult for the paddle upstream. It helped to have a fast canoe and it was fun working the current and eddy lines. It took us almost an hour to paddle up to the bridge, and about 15 minutes to lollygag back.

Cool ninja suit

Brownski wrote

Cool ninja suit

Not so cool in the hot sun. Since I was steering, I made for the shade. I can't believe that I have lived this long without a dry suit, it is a big boost to cold water confidence levels. I might just get into spring whitewater paddling. If I wasn't going to Cuba on Wednesday...

I've thought about buying one but I figure it might get used once or twice a year with my current lifestyle.

Brownski wrote

I've thought about buying one but I figure it might get used once or twice a year with my current lifestyle.

If you had one, you'd paddle more: early/late season, cooler days, etc. Now that I have this suit, I might just get back into windsurfing. Dropped it mostly because I was tired of getting hypothermic.

I finally got back out on the river last weekend. I thought I'd include a couple helpful hints for paddlers. Most people come up with the doubled ziplock bags for the wallet but I think bringing my work platform along to aid in car-topping is a real innovation. I bought two of these to re-do the ceiling in one of our bedrooms a couple years back and I keep finding other things they're useful for ever since.




Hurricane Sandy left somebody's dock right in the middle of where I used to launch from Nyack Beach State Park. Most of the time there's lots of launching options here but last Sunday the place was overrun with picnickers. I was lucky to find a parking spot. Still was able to slip in between the dock and this dude's grill.





When I put in at Nyack Beach I paddle north where there's a nice long stretch of green along the west shore of the river. This beacon is my turn around for a short paddle. Someday I'll get out a map and measure how far it is but for the time being I still have no idea how far I go on these paddles.



The new Tappan Zee is coming along nicely

The wifey and I got each other cheapo starter 'yaks for each others birthdays and have been trying to get out every weekend, yesterday was a stellar day out on a nearby lake (nockamixon)

Nice photos cool idea too.