QCC 700

A friend had me take delivery of a new QCC 700 yesterday, I'll be storing for him for a few weeks until he returns from Canada. While in my possession I am told to "take it to the lake and try it out". I've only paddled a QCC 500 just a little bit this summer, mostly during some rolling practice. I found it a tough boat to roll. The 700 looks like it might roll a little easier, being somewhat narrower, and more of a round hull shape. John is a marathon canoe racer for many years, and is now getting into kayaking, I can see the same hull shape in his new 700, as I do in his racing canoe's. I'll try and spend some time with it this weekend on Lake Waconia.

SKOAC Fall Ball!

Some weekends the winds just seem to blow the wrong way, no matter where you want to paddle. I think the only tail winds we had were the first 3 miles on Friday evening. While we were sneaking along in the protection of the shoreline, the cold front came through and kicked up some waves for the crossing to Oak. Usually the Oak crossing is just a mess of confused water, this time the wind came right down the channel, and we had 3 to 5 ft steep wind waves. Our small group of 7 intrepid paddlers came through unscathed, and pushing the edge of darkness we landed on the sand spit in good spirits. Jerome, and Jane had already made it to the island earlier in the day, set up camp and watched the winds come up. They had called to warn us "the channel crossing was going to be a b**ch and we should wait it out and come in the morning" ... we missed the call. Saturday was a great day of paddling, we hit Quarry Bay on Stockton Island for a lunch on the beach. On the way back ... you guessed it ... headwinds most of the way back. This weekend the forecast was about as close as it gets. Stace, Karen, and Elaine, made it out for Saturday afternoon. Stace brought along one of those new 5 litre kegs of beer, I don't think it lasted very long ... have to bring two next time Stace!

Potluck dinner on Saturday night proved to be fantastic ... everyone brought along great food, it was an evening to remember. We headed back on Sunday around 11am, into headwinds again, although none of the winds after Friday night really seemed to bother anybody all that much. A stop at Morty's Pub for a Whitefish Basket, and homeward bound. Another great Fall Ball has come and gone, and I had left my camera in the truck, so I didn't get to take any pictures of the trip. Maybe I can get a few from some folks.

SKOAC Fall Ball

Looks like summer is starting to turn to Fall, I've noticed on a few other blogs people are noticing the colder temps, shorter days, school buses stopping and going along the drive to work in the morning. That can only mean the "Fall Ball" is close on the list of weekend "to do's". Most years past it was held on Sand Island in the Apostles, this year its still in the Apostles but will be on Oak Island instead. I haven't been to one since 2003, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Here's a link to some photos from the 6th Annual in 2005.

http://www.skoac.org/IMAGES/FallBall2005/index.html

Weather update for Friday:

PORT WING TO SAND ISLAND WI-SAND ISLAND TO BAYFIELD WI-343 PM CDT THU SEP 20 2007...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGHSATURDAY MORNING

....TONIGHT...E WIND 10 TO 20 KT BECOMING S. SHOWERS ANDTHUNDERSTORMS. WAVES 2 TO 4 FT

..FRIDAY...S WIND 15 TO 20 KT BECOMING SW 20 TO 25 KT IN THE LATEMORNING AND AFTERNOON. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY. WAVES 3 TO5 FT BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FT IN THE AFTERNOON

..FRIDAY NIGHT...W WIND 20 TO 25 KT DECREASING TO 15 TO 20 KTAFTER MIDNIGHT. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE EVENING. WAVES4 TO 6 FT

..SATURDAY...W WIND 15 TO 20 KT BECOMING SW 5 TO 10 KT IN THEAFTERNOON. MOSTLY SUNNY. WAVES 3 TO 5 FT SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FTIN THE AFTERNOON.

Never a dull moment on the lake ...

The Social Element

A while back this summer Summit Brewing met us at one of the local lakes for an interview as one of the kayak clubs in the cities for their new "Social Elements" promotion. Jill and Dave gave a pretty good interview, I had more of a rolling role in the promo. Go to the "Groups" cube, and click on #37.

New Instructors

Approaching cold front on Monday night

We have a few new ACA instructors among us, Chris, Jill, and I finished off the ICE in fairly good form!! All told it is a great way to grow as a paddler, not so much as some sort of credentials to show a level of skill, but to have a little more faith in yourself knowing you have reached for, and attained that level of skill. I learned some things I need to work on, but also some new things. I hope that never changes, to always have the desire to reach for more.

After the ICE weekend, we had planned for a couple days on the islands, but the forecast was for gale force winds, and steep waves. Plan two was placed into effect, and we spent a day paddling around Sand Island, checking out the sea caves. Spent a good deal of time just hanging out on the beach for a long lunch on the West side of the island. The cold front came through as advertised, giving us a good view of one of Lake Superior's cold and unforgiving reasons why she is truly "the boss".

Unfortunately, while in northern Wisconsin my cell phone has such poor reception, I can rarely receive calls. On the return back to the cities, I discovered my son, who some may know he and I get together with some Friends on Thursday nights for music sessions, had been in an auto accident, and has been in HCMC hospital since early in the weekend. He will recover fully, but will probably take some therapy, and some hard work. He's young and in good health, which should help.

ICE This Weekend

Going to Living Adventures this weekend for the Instructor Certification for the ACA. Its been a good summer for learning the things I need to know, and be able to do. The hard part for me has been the classroom phase ... leading a discussion on various topics is not my normal role, I feel I need to know the topic intimately before I can feel comfortable teaching it. So saying there is a lot to know to be a good instructor, would be a huge understatement!
Jill, Chris, and I are heading up Friday night, and planning on spending a couple days on the islands after the ICE weekend. This should give me some time to give this all some thought, and maybe put it into some perspective.