The regular Thursday night practice was looking a bit lame. The wind was up but off the land - for the most part. But it continued to rise - and rise - and rise - until we had some "fun" conditions. It was a great evening to just bounce, and plow, and raft up, and chat, and maybe pull a few rolls and what have ya.
Our crowd tonight was relatively small but the Kayak Newfoundland and Labrador Retreat is tomorrow so we expected some people to be home getting their gear ready. Myself, Dean and Dennis are leaving tomorrow afternoon but we decided to head out to St. Philip's tonight anyway. (Hopefully the gear will be halfway dry by tomorrow!!!!)
It turned out to be a great evening on the water. The wind was gusting like all get out. The waves started off steep. I remember Clyde saying "the waves are starting to curl" but he meant it in a good way - as in yeehaa let's get out there!!! And we did!!!
We all agreed that, despite the fact that we never really got anywhere, it was a great night to be on the water.
I have to admit that I pulled off my first "combat roll" tonight. I was fooling with my camera and not paying attention to the beam sea. I tucked my camera inside my PFD just as a beam wave hit me. I knew what was coming next but I simply went over. Oriented my paddle. And did a nice clean and slow roll - just like in practice. No panic. No worry. I came up laughing and smiling like an idiot. I looked around and, I'll be damned, but no one saw me go over/come back up!! I was both relieved (that no one saw my faux pas) and disappointed (that no one saw my "fabulous rough water roll)!!
At one point we "lost" Stan. Stan, as many know, is the Johnny Cash of Kayaking. He's the man in black - black boat, black drysuit, black PFD, black hat, black soul (just kidding) and, as of late, a black CF Greenland paddle. Stan decided to skirt the shore for a bit. After a while,the collective asked "Where's Stan?" He was nowhere to be seen. Ah, but there is the rub. You can't see Stan when he's backdropped by the rocks!! We finally "found" Stan - bobbing about in a small sheltered rock cove. Here's where was:
It was a great night guys - Tobias, Tony, Stan, Dean, Dennis and Clyde. My apologies to Tobias and Tony. Sorry guys but no piccys of you!!
There should be a new video in the right hand menu as well - just so you can relive the conditions!!
No sweat Sean, I can feel I had a workout yesterday evening even without seeing a picture of myself. Good practice last night.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)
it's amazing how cameras flatten out rough water. Unless you watch the kayak in front of you, you can't really tell how big the water is. Congrats on the combat roll!
ReplyDeletePO