Bush Lake

Spent a few hours doing some rolling practice on Bush Lake over the weekend, the water is all the way up to 51F ... so with a dry suit and a neoprene cap, it wasn't to bad. The winter pool sessions really gave me a head start to the paddling season, last fall I had a pretty solid on and off side standard roll, but that was about it. The pool sessions allowed me to get some good rolls going .. Butterfly (one side) is pretty solid, reverse sweep (one side) both are working real well. The narsaq roll is coming along, and is definitely going to be added to the list soon. Balance brace is almost there ... just some final tweaking by some fellow skinny stick paddlers will have that to the list too.
Thunderstorms are rolling through the cities so I may not get out tonight, but Tuesday night looks like another rolling session on Bush Lake with Ron S, and maybe Alex P ... should be a good time.

Wednesday Night Paddle

Wednesday nights throughout the summer we try and get a group together for a paddle on one of the local lakes. Usually it's Snail Lake just North of the cities, this week we hit Medicine Lake in Plymouth. Dave O (aka Tuliq man), Stace, Jill, and I managed to get a good paddle in before the sun went down ... ran accross this goose, she didn't seem real happy we were on her lake, I zoomed in with the camera, I didn't think she wanted me any closer.

First Apostle Weekend

Ron Steinwall and I headed up to the Apostles early Friday. We were the second permit issued for the Apostles, the first was for a mainland camper, we were the first kayaker's issued a permit for the islands for the season. Water temp was a brisk 36 F, so as long as we kept out of the wind and waves, we were able to keep fingers warm. The plan was Oak Island Friday night, then Devils for Saturday night, but with thunderstorms around for much of Saturday, and high winds and waves forecast for Sunday morning, we stayed at York Island instead. That made for a nice easy 4 mile paddle back to Little Sand bay in the morning. We still managed to put on about 30 miles over the weekend.

Gone Paddling for the weekend!

Headed to The Apostle Islands on Lake Superior ... hope for good weather. So far it doesn't look to bad.

.TONIGHT...E WIND 10 TO 20 KT BECOMING SE 5 TO 15 KT. WAVES 1 TO3 FT SUBSIDING TO CALM TO 2 FT..FRI...SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT BACKING E IN THE AFTERNOON. WAVESCALM TO 2 FT..FRI NIGHT...E WIND 5 TO 15 KT VEERING S AFTER MIDNIGHT. WAVESCALM TO 2 FT..SAT...S WIND 5 TO 15 KT BACKING SE LATE. A SLIGHT CHANCE OFSHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES CALM TO 2 FT..SAT NIGHT...SE WIND 10 TO 20 KT INCREASING TO 15 TO 25 KT BYLATE EVENING...THEN VEERING S AFTER MIDNIGHT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERSAND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT..SUN...SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT BECOMING W 10 TO 20 KT LATE. A CHANCEOF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WAVES SUBSIDING TO CALM TO 2 FT..SUN NIGHT...W WIND 10 TO 20 KT BECOMING NW 5 TO 15 KT BY LATEEVENING...THEN VEERING N AFTER MIDNIGHT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS ANDTHUNDERSTORMS. WAVES CALM TO 2 FT.

Saturday Afternoon

Hey .. check out the color on that paddle .. Ron S at Novorca Paddles is always up to something new! Had great day on Waconia, did the circumnavigation of the shorline for just about a 10 mile workout, with a hot lunch on Coney Island. Really a good day on the lake.

Water is still cold!

A quick paddle again last night .. sunset was fantastic, the conditions were about as calm as it could get. So what the heck, after a workout paddle back and forth across the bay, I had to do a roll ... the water is still really, really, cold!

Lake Independence

Managed to get out on Lake Independence this afternoon. Its still plenty cool, with temps in the 30's, and winds still coming out of the North at around 10 kts. But lots of sunshine. Saw the first Loons of the season, they didn't seem at all bothered by my presence, when I saw them I stopped paddling, retrieved the camera, and they came up close to me ... almost hamming it up for the camera. Usually they are very shy, and will dive as soon as you get close at all. I saw a Blue Heron behind the islands, but wasn't able to get a picture. Lots of ice along the shoreline from the cold temps recently, some of the small ponds are even icing over again.

Rough day on Lake Superior

Looks to be a nasty day to be on the lake in ANY boat!

.TODAY...N GALES TO 40 KT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. SCATTERED SNOWSHOWERS. WAVES 20 TO 25 FT SUBSIDING TO 15 TO 20 FT..TONIGHT...N GALES TO 35 KT. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS EARLY IN THEEVENING...THEN SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY BY LATE EVENING. HEAVY FREEZINGSPRAY. WAVES 15 TO 20 FT.

Its quite an amazing lake ...

First Paddle '07

Quite a cold, windy, and rainy first paddle for the 2007 season. According to Dave's car thermometer it was 37 degrees. Wind was reported to be 20 kts .. sure felt like it was more than that! Chris, Dave, and I headed out on Waconia for a quick paddle out to Coney Island, circumnavigation, and return. The winds make for a good workout. We took a little rest in the lee of the island before the return back to the launch. On the return the winds make for a quick paddle, and an ungraceful ending for the trip .. it would appear all three of us need some practice with surf landings. Chris was the first to go over while getting close to shore, then Dave does the same thing. Soon as I popped the spray skirt off, and got one leg out, I get hit by a wave and over I go. Sort of a comedy of errors.