Map of Sandy Hook paddle trip

This is John's son Ben.  I am helping my dad out with some cool GPS mapping capability I discovered. Here is a GPS track of his recent Sandy Hook paddle trip:

Building & Paddling

With the summer here I have been enjoying some wonderful paddling. Last Saturday I watched the sun come up over the ocean from Hull, MA along the south shore of Boston. I took my parents up to visit my brother Robert and his family and began the day with a 2 hour paddle through the islands on the outshirts of the Boston harbor. This past Thursday my friend David Lyle and I paddled 20 miles around Sandy Hook which is part of Gateway National Recreation area at the beginning of the "beaches" of NJ. It was good practice for the North Carolina Challenge coming up in just over a month where we will have to do that x 5 over 2 1/2 days. I think we are ready. Back home I've been working on the cockpit recess of the "Spring Run". It seems like it takes forever since there are about 120 stips that go into it and I can only glue 4 at a time. At least I haven't figured out how to do more and do it well.

After this is completed the entire deck will be sanded and glassed. Then I install the cockpit. After that it comes off the hull in order to work on the bottom of the deck and inside of the hull.

While I've been waiting for glue to dry I began work on a Greenland Paddle. I've found helpful directions at Johns Kayak Projects (not me) These are the plans from Chuck Holst. This has been both challening and rewarding. I began with an 8 ft. piece of clear cedar. Cost is about $16 from Kuiken Lumber. I didn't use their cutting method but used a circular saw to make the initial cuts...a band saw would be much better. Then I used a course paper on the belt sander to take it down and finished with 50, 80, 100, 120, 180 grit paper. I was going to just Tung Oil it but I'm concerned that the blades are a bit fragile and might chip so I'm going to glass edges and epoxy the paddle. The weight was supposed to be 30 ounces for and 87" paddle. Mine is 92" but I exceed the 32 ounces of my postal scale. I think I'll live with the weight whatever it is. Overall I'm quite pleased with how it has come out. May sand it a little more before finishing.

Teaching the grandkids to kayak

You can never start to soon to be a future paddler. Here are David and Sara in my kayak on the East Branch of the Delaware River above Hancock NY. They both enjoyed the ride as much as I enjoyed paddling with them