Dreaming of a Trip

Bryan Hansel's recent solo kayak expedition from Port Huron Grand Marais, MN, in 45 days has me dreaming of paddling trips. Bryan's trip was nearly 1300 km and traversed the length of Lakes Huron & Superior. Now, that sort of thing is more than a little out of my league, and I don't envision myself taking off from my family for a month and a half, but, an adventure on a more reasonable scale is worth dreaming about.

Specifically, I've been thinking a lot lately about a circumnavigation of Lac La Ronge. Lac La Ronge is a large lake about 380 km north of Saskatoon, straddles the edge of the Canadian Shield and is surrounded by boreal forest. The southern portion of the lake is sandy and wide open, while the northern portion is rocky and full of granite islands. It may not be "Great Lake" big, but it's still pretty darned big at approximately 35 km across from the town of La Ronge on the western shore to the eastern side, and about 65 km from a bay in the southwest to the exit of the Rapid (Montreal) River in the northwest corner. It's large enough that standing on the shore in the town of La Ronge and looking ESE to the open lake, you see nothing but horizon.

View Lac La Ronge Circumnavigation in a larger map

A circumnavigation that generally follows the shoreline but is not strict about following the bays and completely skips Hunter Bay would be over 220 km. One could cut this down somewhat with a few more shortcuts in the northern portion of the lake, but at some point you would jeopardize being able to call it a "circumnavigation". Hunter Bay is a large lake unto itself (~18km x 19km) and adding a circumnavigation of the bay adds another 68 km to the trip.

Because of the large open nature of the lake, especially in the south end, I think this trip is best suited for sea kayaks rather than canoe. If you can figure on 25km per paddling day, the trip would take about 9 days. Add on some days for rest and being windbound, and we're at about 12 days even without Hunter Bay. It seems possible to do it in less time (30 km days, for instance), but that allows less time for fishing, repairs, rest & recovery, etc. and I would be reluctant to count on it. I should be able to carry 12 days of the food in the kayak, though I will probably need to pack more lightly than I am accustomed to. There are a few points where road access is nearby and so egress in case of trouble or re-supply are both possible. Overall, much of the lake should have a fairly remote feel to it, but there may be the occasional motor boat around, especially in the northern end of the lake. Lac La Ronge is a popular fishing destination so it would have that safety net of not being completely isolated.

I don't know if a trip of this scope would ever be in the cards, but it can be fun to plan regardless. In the meantime, I will keep working on my paddling skills in order that when the opportunity to take on a challenge like this, I have the skills to allow me to do it, and to do it safely. Perhaps I should start off with a mini-expedition, such as the circumnavigation of Candle Lake.

Note: All of the above is pure speculation. I have not gone over the topographic maps in detail and have not engaged in figuring out the logistics of such a trip. Do not use the above information to plan your own trip other than as inspiration!

Kayak Roll Practice in Pike Lake

This is my first ever edited video where I spliced together a few videos and a handful of photos, then added a title page and credits pages. The videos and photos are of me practicing rolling my kayak at Pike Lake this past weekend. It was rather breezy as can be seen and heard in the videos.

To learn to paddle a kayak from a guy that can get back upright in his kayak most of the time, visit ColdspringPaddling.com.

Update: I've been getting some great feedback on my mashed up technique from the folks over on WestCoastPadller.com. Click here to see the discussion.  An important point is that the above is NOT a how-to video. This is just me practising, and apparently my technique is a bit mixed up. 

Dark Matters

I might be a science geek, but this is pretty damn cool (from PhD comics)...

Dark Matters from PHD Comics on Vimeo.

Trailer Design IRL

Last month I posted about the design for modifying my utility trailer and turning it into a kayak and canoe trailer.

I was trying to avoid having to shuttle kayaks in two loads for my lessons (I need 7 kayaks for a set of lessons) and also avoid having to overload the roof racks on my CRV.

CRV with a couple too many kayaks on one roof. The Thule racks are really good but still, I'd rather avoid this.

I took the trailer along with my sketches and required dimensions to a local welder (CJ's Welding near Clavet) and he went to work. About $1200 later (including the replacement of the trailer's leaf springs, which were apparently broken), and I have a trailer that will serve to haul up to 12 kayaks at a time on their sides, or 4 canoes sitting flat.

Room for 4 canoes or kayaks sitting flat. Or, with kayaks leaning toward the pillars there should be room for up to 12 assuming their decks are not too tall. The bars are 78" wide, the same as the Thule load bars on my vehicle. The welder added a plethora of  loops for tie-down points, on the bar ends and at various points on the racks. The racks and the extra tongue bracing are all removable so that the trailer can serve for hauling stuff to the dump and similar mundane tasks. 

My canoe & kayak at 17.5' and 18' respectively are among the longest loads this trailer is likely to see. The rack spacing allows the canoe to fit on the lower rack as well.

Close up of extended tongue with removable brace in place. The pin near the receiver pulls out in order to remove the barce. Note that the re-wiring was not complete at this point. I also want to add a jack to the tongue. In it's previous state the old trailer didn't need a jack because it was quite light. All the extra steel adds a lot of weight and the trailer is now fairly heavy. Plus, I might have occasion to unhook the trailer with a load of kayaks and that will be easier with the jack.

Close up of the trailer end of the tongue. The original tongue bracing is seen on top, and the original tongue was removed and a larger square tubing welded in it's place in order to act as socket for the telescoping tongue. When in short mode, the pins at the corners pull out as well as one near the receiver and the outside brace lifts off. The extended tongue can then slide back into the socket and pinned short.

A much nicer load distribution. My two kayaks on the CRV roof (with Thule racks), plus another 6 kayaks on the trailer (4 on the bottom, two sitting flat on the top bars). The two kayaks on the top of the trailer are relatively short. If I wasn't careful, I could run into a problem with the kayaks on the car hitting the kayaks on the top tier of the trailer.

I still need to figure out the perfect arrangement for ropes or straps for easily securing the load.

The center pillars have been padded with sections of rug to protect the kayaks and the kayaks are resting on foam blocks on the load bars. 

So, let me know what you think of the end product!

NYC Bike Lanes

Here's an interesting video illustrating some of the hazards of riding in the bike lane. Man, this guy is dedicated to his cause.

National Lifejacket Day, 2011

National Lifejacket Day came and went & I missed it again (it was on May 19th). This is something I would help to promote if only I was reminded about it beforehand. To see my comments from last year's day, which I missed then too, see my post from almost exactly 1 year ago: http://pawistik.blogspot.com/2010/05/national-life-jacket-day.html. You can also see the CBC interview I did on the subject of PFDs (I checked and the link to the video still works).

I've entered the date into my calendar for next year, maybe I'll remember?

Trailer Design

Coldspring Paddling needs a kayak trailer so that I don't have to transport 5 kayaks at a time on top of my CRV like I did last week (too bad I didn't take a picture of that, but maybe it's better to avoid photographic evidence). I have a nice sized utility trailer that I want to extend the tongue of and add trees to. I've been playing around with Google Sketch-Up to design my modified trailer. What do you think of the design? It should be able to haul at least 8 kayaks (would do 6 nicely as illustrated), or 4 canoes, or 4 kayaks & 2 canoes, and so on. It shouldn't be overly heavy or tall. Plus, there's a fair bit of room for gear in the 4'x6' box. Now, hopefully I can get Rod's help to build it!

Update (27/5/2011): My trailer is at a local welding shop for the modifications. He suggested stiffening the long tongue with a brace that goes upward from the tongue to the top of the trailer box. Also reinforcements are needed where the trees will bolt on to the trailer box. The trees will be removable, bolting into a socket that remains in the trailer box. Also, for simplicity, only one upright will be used for each tree (not two as illustrated), but with the cross bar joints strengthend with a triangular piece of metal welded in at the joint.

One More Round for the Sheepdogs!

Well, the Sheepdogs have survived all the way to Round 1. Now vote & help this great Saskatoon band get to the top!

Playing At The Pool

I was out last night with the Kelsey Kayak Club and decided to finish off my evening in the pool by going off of the 4' high diving board.

Boat Building Music

Thanks to Rider over on the WCP forum for pointing out this video to the paddling community. I love Matt Mays & El Torpedo!

Matt Mays & El Torpedo "Building a Boat"

OR Water Bottle Parka Review

Originally submitted at Outdoor Research

Works great!

By Pawistik from Saskatoon, SK on 5/16/2011

5out of 5

Pros: Insulates well, Effective, Simple
Best Uses: Day Paddling, XC skiing, Snowshoeing, Winter Camping

I've been very impressed with the water bottle parka used with a 1L Nalgene. I had made my own out of blue foam, webbing & duct tape. The DIY version worked, but I'm now ready to retire it or loan it out to friends in favour of the OR Water Bottle Parka. I used it this winter for snowshoe camping trips at -32°C and it kept my water liquid all day (starting with hot water). I used it this weekend in warm temperatures (sunny, but not hot) and it kept my iced tea cool all day.

In short, a great & effective product that does what it's supposed to.

(legalese)

PC Level 2 Course in BC

A few weeks ago I was in BC for a Paddle Canada Level 2 kayaking course. The course was run by Viki and Doug, who instruct with Kingston Sea Kayak Instruction and Comox Valley Kayaks, respectively. Viki and Doug work very well together and they put on a fantastic course, I can highly recommend them if you get the chance. It was tonnes of fun and I feel like I learned a lot. Rolling a loaded kayak in the current of Surge Narrows by the end of the course felt like a fantastic achievement!

Here is a slideshow of some of my photos and a couple of videos taken during the course. Enjoy!



If you prefer, visit the Picasa Web Album directly.

Goepel Passage Rolling and Rescues

Here is a video from the recent kayaking course that I was on. This was filmed at the outflow of Goepel Passage, near Surge Narrows Provincial Park and the east side of Quadra Island, BC. We were practicing rescues, with one paddler heading out into the current across the eddy line, attempting to roll, then "wet exiting". The partner in another kayak was supposed to head out into the current and TX rescue the first paddler, emptying their kayak of water and helping them to get back in their kayak, all while floating down current in the tidal rapid. In the video here, you see the first paddler, Dave, head out into the current, perform two rolls, then flip a third time in order to wet exit the kayak. Meanwhile the second paddler, Mark (on the left side of the video), heads out to rescue Dave. Unfortunately, Mark may have got his edging wrong as he crossed the eddy line because he too flipped, but unintentionally. That meant that I had to stop filming and go rescue one of the paddlers (Dave) while one of the instructors (Doug) went to retrieve Mark. That is, after all, why I was positioned downstream from the others. It turned out to be an excellent practice of real-world dumps!



For pictures from the course, see my earlier post.

Help the Sheepdogs Get Through to Round 1!

Keep on voting for the Sheepdogs!

Last Saskatchewan Pirate

This one's for you Dave!

Here's a great song to sing while paddling at the end of a long day in a head wind.



Last Saskatchewan Pirate, originally written and performed by the Arrogant Worms and brought home to the prairies by Captain Tractor.