Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race

Today I paddled in my last kayak race of the season in the 14 mile  L2L  This race is in Norwalk Ct. and begins off of Sandy Beach, just next to Calf Beach on the Long Island Sound. I've never actually paddled  on the Long Island Sound but it is very beautiful. After everyone was staged on the beach they had a short captains meeting and by 9 a.m. were starting the first wave of paddleboarders. Sea Kayaks were in the second wave followed by the surf skis, rowing shells and OC1 - 6. The weather was beautiful but the wind was up.

 Here is a shot of the beach from near the starting line. We rounded Sprite Island and headed toward Pecks Ledge Lighthouse. The water was very choppy between tide and waves and we had fun surfing and some flipping (not on purpose).

 There are many small island right off of Norwalk. This is Goose Island I think.

 I loved this lighthouse on top of the house/church or whatever it was. This is on Sheffield Island

 I was making good time averaging about 4.4 mph. Here is Greens Ledge Lighthouse that was our turnaround bouy.

 The return course was the same and the wind died for a bit. Then as we rounded Pecks Ledge we headed right into a 15-20 knot wind right on our nose. I was proud of myself for passing a OC1 and surfski in the final push to the finish in that headwind.  I don't have my exact time but it was under 3 hours. The first place Sea Kayaker did it in about 2:35. We had a great beach party including raw oysters & clams, chili and hamburgers & hotdogs. A good day for all

 The yellow lines are this years race.

Huron Cruiser Maiden Voyage

The Huron Cruiser I built for Paterson Habitat for Humanity to auction off has not sold. It has been up at the boathouse at the Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo NY and in some online auctions. Since I had to pick it up from Tuxedo and it was now in my backyard I decided that it was time to take it for a paddle.  Last night my friend and deacon of our church Terry Harbison took it over to the Passaic River launch we use in Elmwood Park. 

 When both of us got in, with Terry in the front, it felt very tippsy. I took to a kneeling position and that helped. We paddled a bit up river but still felt quite tippsy. Finally we returned to the launch and I took it out solo. While sitting in reverse in the front seat I felt quite stable. I was told this was a stable canoe, for 32 1/2 wide, however that may have been in comparison to the narrower racing canoes. It is not near as stable as the Old Town rotomolded that we use up at the cabin.

 I'm not sure what this means for still trying to auction it off but I would not want anyone to buy it without trying it. Otherwise I'll just keep it and learn how to paddle it with whoever is daring enough to come out with me. Debra is waiting for her inaugural paddle in it as well

Madison Ave. back on the Passaic

 Tuesday night Eric and I led another kayak paddle on the Passaic River for Madison Ave. members. It was a wonderful evening. This has been a wonderful time to have fun with each other and enjoy the beauty of God's creation right around us. Everyone seems to be discovering the truth of Psalm 23 of the Lord leading me beside quite waters and restoring my soul. This time Penny, Tony, Pat, Paul, Patti, Emma, David, Caleb and Gideon came out. After a bit of instruction everyone hit the water and did great. We paddled south from the Elmwood Park "marina" to the Route 46 bridge.

 Just look at the beauty of the river. The moon was also coming out and you can see it reflected on the water in front of me. We even enjoyed a final moonlight paddle back. It was pretty much dark by the time we landed but after loading we all enjoyed ice cream cones at Guernsey Crest

Kayak Kamp: Day 5

Friday we paddled the Delaware River from 8 1/2 miles above the Delaware Water Gap.  This area is all part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Worthington State Forest.  We have been learning how National & State parks and recreation areas belong to all of us. Also how every river is held in trust for the people of the state. In other words every river is our river!. Read more about that HERE. After dropping my car off at the gap in order to fetch the van we drove north along the Old Mine Road to the Poxono Access. It was a beautiful day and we had some current to help us along. We paddled 5 1/2 miles before we stopped on the shore for lunch. Joey's father Paul MacCracken joined us for the paddle today. 

After lunch some of the group enjoyed swimming in the river for awhile. You can see from the picture above how clear the water was.

 Here we coming out of the final big rapids headed toward the Rt. 80 bridge.  One of the attached videos shows the perspective of going through the rapids from the deck of my kayak taken from Caleb Engelhard's gopro camer.

After we got back to the beach at the gap everyone enjoyed a refreshing swim while Pastor John and Mr. Eric retrieved the van and trailer. Victoria & Elijah even swam all the way across the river to Pennsylvania and brought back some stones for us. It has been a wonderful week in every way and we are very thankful to God. When we got back to the church we had a small presentation of completion ceremony for all of our paddles and thank you's for Mrs. Englehard and Mr. Eric.  Check back next year for more on the River of God School of Paddling.

Kayak Kamp: Day 4

Today we began our day with devotions and then went to visit Mr. Gerry DeJong at DeJong Iron Works near E. 18th St. & Hamilton. Last year Gerry personally built our kayak trailer donating all parts & labor. It holds 12 kayaks and includes a gear box for our paddles, lifevests and other stuff. Its wonderful. We then went back to the south launch on the Monksville Reservoir where you see us launching below.

 We paddled around to the north launch area, went swimming and then paddled to "pirates island" below. We didn't find any pirates but did enjoy having lunch and swimming off the island. Just watch out for those hissing swans and snapping turtles. Mrs E. challenged everyone to identify two animals they saw and had a treat for all who did. Altogether we identified nearly 20 different species of birds, fish, animals and insects that God created.

 The water felt great on a warm day. After lunch Eric & Dominic paddled around the island and served as lifeguard to our swimmer - who all had on their lifevests by the way.  We then paddled around the shore toward the dam and back to our launch. Check out some of the videos above.

Kayak Kamp: Dav 3

 Today we visited the Great Falls National Historic Park to meet Sperintendent Darren Boch and Ranger Ilyse Goldman. We are so thrilled that the National Park will help us celebrate our history and the importance of the Passaic River and Paterson. Here Ranger Goldman is talking to Naomi

 We then went and put into the Passaic River at the Hawthorne access. We paddled upstream about 3/4 of a mile and then back down. Here is our whole camp.

Elijah

Victoria

Joseph

Al'lena

Shyear

Tayshawn

Justice

Naomi

Mr. Eric

Dominic

Mrs E.

 As we paddled downstream we went over the fish weir just above the Fair Lawn Ave. bridge. Native Americans built this nearly 300 years ago and it is still there. They caught the fish by net or spearing them. We had lunch at the Fair Lawn access and pulled out in Elmwood Park.

Paddling under the Broadway/ Martin Luther King way/ Route 4 Bridge

All in all we had a great day paddling almost 6 miles. We picked up plastic bottles in the river to recycle as part of being caretakers of God's creation and cleaned up the area we we landed at the Elmwood Park boat launch. We  ended the day with ice cream at Guernsey Crest.