January 1, 1999

Maiden Voyage trip report

Trip #1

Map

Thought you folks might like to hear my trip report for the Guillemot I've been building over the last couple of months:

8:00 am Friday morning and it is in the upper 20's. The weatherman says it should get up to 33 today. The rest of the weekend is snow and ice, so it is now or wait another week. I get dressed, throw a few last minute things in the truck and I'm off. I get to the Leesavania state park about 9:00. As I'm entering the park, I can't help noticing that Neabsco creek is frozen over. On into the park I see Powells creek is frozen across up to the train trestle that crosses it. The put in is just a short walk from the trestle and from the road I can see ice extending out from the shoreline. The middle is open, but I'm not ready to try and learn to kayak and be an icebreaker at the same time.

I drive to the Potomac River side of the park. This is free of ice and has a nice beach to launch from with just a few small rocks. I scout a place to carry the kayak to the beach from the parking lot before unloading the truck. I end up making two trips from the truck; once with the kayak, the second with my backpack, paddles, and everything else.

Leesavania State Park has 6 large boat ramps that stay busy in the summer. It was a pleasant surprise to find not a single boat on the water this morning. On a previous scouting visit I had made note that the beach would probably be the best launch spot on a trip North of the park to prevent having to cross the boat ramps.

I have a few years experience paddling (and fishing) from a 17' canoe in protected waters. I considered myself a competent paddler and really didn't think I would have any problems, even though I had never used a 2 bladed paddle before.

Getting in the kayak was much easier than I had expected. The kayak floated in only 3-4 inches of water and seemed stable while I got in and fastened the spray skirt. It took a tiny shove to get me going and I managed to paddle about 15 feet before the kayak began turning hard to port. Ok, I'm not deep enough yet, thinking that because I couldn't submerge my paddle properly this must be the reason I'm turning so hard. So I tried and tried to get in deeper water, but even paddling hard on the port side with large sweep strokes the kayak still tried to turn hard to port.

No way this could be because of my paddling! I must have a horribly crooked keel! The kayak must be U shaped to want to turn this hard! Yikes! But just to make sure, I'll play with the paddle a bit. My paddle is a curved asymmetrical plastic and aluminum right control paddle. I decide to un-feather it and try again. A little better. Good enough to get me in deeper water but I'm still having a hard time going straight. At this point I'm glad there is no one else at the park because it's obvious I've never done this before.

I don't want to get far from shore. I had strapped my "loaded" backpack to the forward deck and this made the kayak feel tippy initially. The reason for the backpack is because I haven't found a deck bag I like. Any suggestions from you folks would be great. Anyhow, I'm going no where fast so I decide to try my spare paddle. I had never intended to use my spare except in an emergency so I bought a cheap $30 symmetrical flat blade aluminum and plastic paddle. At this point I was thinking the flat symmetrical blades would be more like my canoe paddles that I was used to. The feather was much too much for my wrists though, so I un-feathered this paddle and actually had a few straight runs. It only took a little to start turning hard to port, but at this point I also had several unexplained hard turns to starboard. So much for the crooked U shaped keel theory.

The put in was in a sheltered area with the wind only 1-3 MPH (I'm using the chart from "Kayaking - Whitewater and Touring Basics by Steven Krauzer to estimate wind speed). Just rippled water. Something else I couldn't blame. I played around for about 10 minutes and headed north around Freestone Point. Rounding Freestone the wind really began to pick up. The wind was now probably 4-7 MPH from the North. The kayak held it's course well into the wind (or *maybe*, I was getting better at paddling).

This was the wide bay entrance to Neabsco creek, about 8/10ths of a mile across. I decided to cut straight across since I now felt pretty comfortable with the stability and heading straight into the wind was allowing me to paddle straighter. About half way across I passed the red and green channel markers and a green "can" buoy that was lying on its side. (Did I mention I was also paddling against the tide?) The waves were probably 6-8 inches here and I was having a lot of fun even though I wasn't making good forward progress. I also noticed at this point the water dripping on my spray skirt and PFD from my paddle was frozen solid. Just to as a matter of safety I took my whistle out of my PFD pocket and cleaned the ice off of it.

About 3/4 of the way across, the trees on the North side of Neabsco bay began to filter the wind for me and I began to make better speed. I didn't have as hard a time holding a line as when I first started, but I did occasionally resort to using my paddle as a rudder to swing me back on course. The North side of the bay is a National Wildlife Sanctuary and further inland I could see some huge nests in the trees (Bald Eagle?). Sea gulls and ducks were playing in the waters edge and I saw some sort of bird dive into the shallow water from about 30 feet.

Speaking of shallow, I was again in shallow water and made my way about 100 yards offshore so I would quit banging my paddle on the bottom. Once there, I noticed some black things bobbing another 100 yards out and headed towards them to check it out. When I got close I found this was a small rock jetty and I had to paddle another 50 yards offshore to go around it. The water was shallow near the jetty even this far from shore.

The wind continued to pick up and the waves were now getting big enough I could feel them lift the bow as I paddled through them. Featherstone Shores was now to the Northwest of me .8 miles and Deephole Point was 1.3 miles directly to my North. Between me and either one of these was a large bay and the wind was kicking up waves a good foot high and whitecaps were breaking all around. This might not sound big to most people, but they were huge compared to anything I had seen in my canoe. My hands were getting cold in this wind even through my neoprene gloves. I was no longer making much forward progress, so after taking a quick GPS reading I decided to head back. I had paddled a wimpy 2.5 miles but I doubted I could make much progress if I continued, especially with this un-feathered paddle.

Within moments of turning around a wave picked me up from behind and sent me zipping forward. Yea Ha! I only wish it was summer time so I wouldn't be so afraid of capsizing! Now with a tail wind and following seas, I rediscovered my control problem again. The kayak wanted to turn hard to starboard and run parallel to the waves and wind. Being broadside to the waves had me pretty worried at first, but the kayak felt stable as long as I maintained forward momentum. I was having too much fun riding the waves though to continue running parallel to them. I paddled hard on the starboard side, most of the time not even bothering to touch the paddle in the water on the port side (my canoe experience taking over). This worked keeping me going in the direction I needed to go, but if I got a little too far past center of the wave I found myself turning hard to the port side.

Even with the constant turning I was making good time on the trip back. The waves were still getting bigger as the wind continued to pick up so when I saw the little jetty again I decided to duck behind it to get a little relief. The Jetty was quickly out of site though and I was back in big water as I crossed the Neabsco Creek bay entrance.

At the midpoint of this crossing I became aware of how loud the whitecaps were as they came crashing down the front of the waves. This was getting to be real fun, and even at this point the kayak still felt stable. I could tell my heavy pack was affecting the stability if I leaned the kayak with my knees.

Back to Freestone Point and I can see someone working a metal detector at the put in. I try my best to hold a straight line now that someone might be watching. But there are only so many times you can pretend you meant to turn that way. Over this whole trip I found that when I didn't think about paddling the kayak ran straight as an arrow. Once the thought of control flickered through my mind I was suddenly turning hard. More practice and probably some instruction this summer are needed to break me from my canoeing bad habits.

I land on the beach without any problems and grab a pack of crackers and an apple for a quick snack. I want to get back on the water for a quick run with my pack stored below in the rear hatch. What a difference this seemed to make! I didn't track perfect, but did MUCH better. I quickly paddled out past Freestone to play in the big waves again. Again I was reminded how heading into the strong wind made my hands cold so I didn't stay long. The stable kayak I had grown used to over the last few hours was now even more stable and tracking well. I'm guessing the slight list of the kayak and large wind profile caused by my pack was a big part of my inability to track. The rest was just bad paddling habits.

When I started this project, I told my wife I would only promise to paddle it once. If I liked it, I would keep it and work kayak trips around my canoe fishing trips. If I didn't like it I would sell it. Hopefully from this story you can tell this kayak won't be for sale. I've satisfied my urge to paddle it until warmer weather though, and will spend the next month or so finishing up some minor details and getting it varnished.

Thanks to everyone who helped with all their advice both on this board and privately through email over the last few months. There are traces of your suggestions and encouragement all through this boat. I hope everyone has a great 1999!

Woody