Dedicating Greenland paddle to gods of the Alps

I am going to dedicate my first Greenland paddle I carved to Mount Mont Blanc.

I ski "telemark" another ancient method of traveling over snow and ice. We use "alpenstock", a long pole, not to fall into crevasse and a good walking stick.

I wanted to make one or find one for a long time. I realize poorly made Greenland paddle will make a superb alpenstock. To spice things up on my coming trip to Chamonix, I will also take Tulliq and ski those slopes off Mont Blanc.

On a final day around the 28th of February, weather permitting, I will dedicate a Greenland paddle to the mountain god of the Alps.

I can't wait to ski with Greenland paddle in Tuiliq and see what locals make out...

I will be making long surfing turns with Greenland paddle.

In case you wonder, here is old Nordic movie.



Back to the source,



Well, I found this and it looks like the locals beat me to it; :-)



Enjoy!

Help bring kayaks to Greenland villages

"On Dec.1st we launch the Kayaks to Schools project, where we deliver kayaks to as many village schools as possible in remote areas of Greenland.

Our first aim is to support schools in Appilatoq (Cape Farewell) and Isertoq (East Coast), total about 50 children.

The hunting villages in Greenland are the poorest areas of the country. Poverty leads to cultural erosion and kayaking as a living part of our culture is coming to an end. This project brings traditional equipment and training to some of the worst off villages, in the hope that cultural appreciation fosters self esteem in the young. Help us give a little back to the people of the kayak!

Each school receives 4 youth sized and one adult size Learning Curve Kayak (pictured above), together with necessary gear and teacher training, to BCU standards. We of course supply all equipment at raw cost."

Misery Loves Company

Remember this boat?

It was first featured here in July, on the night we didn't want to go home (ahhh, summer!).

Well, it's still right there where the owner dumped it. Just looks a lot more miserable, now.


But look - awww - now it's got more company.


A very spoiled Spoiler.


Clearly this dumper wasn't as concerned about being identified as the dumper of the white one.


They didn't go to the trouble that the white boat's owner did to anonymize theirs. Maybe they just figured this is the boat dumping place. That's sure what it's starting to look like.


Or maybe being from the Patchogue Shores Marina, they just figured Brooklyn's as good a place as any to dump their hunk o' junk. Hey, it's Brooklyn, who's gonna notice one more piece of garbage?


Well, if it please the blogosphere, let the record show -

Yo. I noticed.

ps - lots more pictures from my absolutely spectacular excuse for not going to the pool session are posted at Frogma. Wonderful paddle, even if I DID have to stay right-side up (details on that in the comments over there). Come see!

Dutch Reindeer

Hans the Dutch master from the other side of the Atlantic




Brave girls... Ja Laten we proberen! Je kijkt cute.

Sorry I missed the pool!

Pool did call.

Bay just called louder.


Looks like I missed a fun session...but with a forecast like today's? Couldn't resist.

Rolling Session

We had a nice pool session and a lunch. This was a test of a home made Tuiliq design and it was a good learning experience. Traditional Tuiliq cuffs don't work all that well and works well enough. I have experienced what is called Fisherman's death when your high bib fills with water. On the hand, Tuiliq filled air and acted as PFD. When your arms get filled with water and raise your arms. It is a time to combine these two to create a dry suit.

Rolling with it was an easy routine since it gave much needed room and flexibility plays well. There were lots of Greenland paddles; some with finger groove, some laminated and some carved. We missed Bonnie. Stop partying, B.

We made a number of videos. The best is Steve's re-entry. Nicely done.

Here is the gallery of pictures and the gallery of videos we captured.



Steve's Re-Entry. This shows what happens in the water. This is the best video of the lot. Keep that hand with paddle in the right place.



Steve's extra slow roll. not butter roll.







This video demonstrates how Steve uses his legs first and sets a stage for rolling. Then his body floats a bit away and he keeps his arms straight. He uses his torso to scull slowly to find a sweet spot. Then he uses a number of sweet spots; scull, body floatation and legs and just rolls onto the boat. Nicely done.

Fast time across the English channel

Little less than 2 hours and 50 minutes from Dover to Dunkirk(?).

The narrow point of the channel is about 34 miles. A long kayak race but the condition was great except some cripping effects on forward strokes in the middle of the movie.

Corrections: 2 hours and 59 minutes. He is looking for a double partner to try the same 2008. He is a K1 kayaker who used Fenn Marko 6 for the first time!

It is 34 kilometers not 34 miles.

Happy New Year!

Sunset, Paerdegat Basin, Canarsie, Brooklyn - 12/31/2007


Sun clears the clouds after a raw & blustery start to New Year's Day. Jamaica Bay, near Canarsie Pol, Brooklyn, NY, 1/1/2008

Kayak Gang Invades Howard Beach!

Have You Seen These Kayakers?

Last seen pillaging the pasta & pizza of Gino's Pizza in Howard Beach, the paddlers should be considered stuffed and extremely somnolent.

Yes, the hoped-for Pasta Paddle mentioned in the last post went off very very nicely! We had a group of 7, which made it fun. The 10:30 on a nearly full-moon day with a 3:30 low water did mean, as I'd posted in the Yahoo invitation, a good appetite-building workout on the way there; we still had a pretty rockin' ebb for the ride back, which was good since some of us were totally stuffed.

The day started with the sun peeking out in a little blue sky - but that foolishness was shortlived. Still a good day out of the water (and in the restaurant, and around the nice warm woodstove chatting over the pros & cons of canoes & other random topics afterwards).

So nice when it's just us and the brants.

Only sad part of the day was -

I found Nemo...

cross posted at Frogma

Solstice Paddle, Saturday, 12/23/2007

Friday night, it being the holidays, I had to make a quick trip to this tower in search of a couple of gifts (plus just seeing the tree & all).

Saturday found me in the vicinity of a less imposing tower - but still a nice view -


and the crowds were a lot more manageable!

Stevie & Minh & I celebrated Solstice, the shortest day of the year, with an unusually short (for a weekend paddle) paddle - just a circumnavigation of Ruffle Bar.

And look, we found a tiny Stonehenge. Too bad there was no sun!


No, no, that's not really a small observatory. However Ruffle Bar is an interesting destination for those who enjoy a little amateur archaeology (aka "checking out junk on the beach") -


Back before the Bay became a wildlife preserve, there were squatter's shacks, probably rather nice ones like the ones that still exist in Hempstead Bay, on many of the little islands. According to Stevie and others at the club, Ruffle Bar had also been the site of a tavern for many years. Lots of interesting bits & pieces to find -


although you do want to watch your step.


We didn't beachcomb for too long as the wind was rather biting & it was more comfortable to be buttoned into a boat & paddling. The only "artifact" we collected this time was a large slab of stone that Minh took on as ballast - his boat was weathercocking a bit on the way out. He figured a little weight in the rear would help matters. Off we went. We found a much more recent relic on the way back...


Of course we had to do solstice rolls...there's Stevie...

and there I go..
Brrr! We haven't had any serious cold snaps yet, but the water seems to be cooling a lot faster than it did last year. The Coney Island Polar Bear may be more exciting this year than it was last year - not that it's ever boring, but the water feels a lot winterier than it did this time last year. Stevie backed me up on this, he thought so too.

Rolling silliness done, we hustled back past the daymark - have the cormorants budged?

We made good time getting back. Stevie ran up to light the fire I'd left laid in the stove - we've taken to doing that, setting up the stove so there's no need to mess around doing that if you get back really cold, just throw a match in the fire you built carefully at the start of the day when you were nice & warm. Minh & I stayed down on the dock, unloading our boats. He opened his rear hatch, took out the rock he'd put in as ballast - and started laughing. Turned out that rock had some hitchhikers!


He caught & released as many as he could. They tried to pinch him but when you're a half-inch across, your pinch just doesn't pack a lot of punch!


Wildlife returned to the wild, boats put away, it felt so good to go warm up by the stove.


And when Stevie suggested we round out the day with some good Jamaican food, nobody turned him down. Unfortunately we lost Minh en route & his cellphone was on vibrate so he missed dinner. Stevie & I stood on the corner watching hopefully for a while, then decided to go on in. Boy did the goat curry at Nicky's Jamaican Restaurant taste good. I may vote to add that to the occasional non-meal trip. HIGHLY warming! Nicky's quite a bit bolder with the peppers in her curry than I am when I make mine. Good stuff though.

Weather permitting, I'm hoping to squeeze One Last Paddle into 2007. Howard Beach, Italian food, and TQ gets to come this time - we haven't paddled together in ages, so that'll be a great way to wrap up the paddling year. So far it's looking pretty good for Wednesday boating!

See folks at the Frostbite Regatta!

cross-posted at Frogma