October 17, 1999

New blood at Kanes

Trip #57

3 miles

Charmaine had written me an email after seeing a post of mine on Paddlewise. She correctly surmised I was local to Virginia and told me she was waiting on her new Folbot to be delivered. I passed along info about the CPAKayaker mail group and offered to paddle with her when her boat came in. And then I forgot about it. That is, until she wrote again and told me her kayak was in, and wondered when I would be free to paddle.

So we arranged to paddle Sunday at Mason Neck State Park. The plan was to meet at 9:00, since Joan and I wanted to watch how a folder went together. Me being the early bird that I am, left the house about 6:00. When I stopped at 7-11, my truck would not start. It appeared that the battery had gone dead. A guy who stopped off to deliver the newspapers gave me a push to get the truck started again, and I drove back home. I thought I would have to call Charmaine and Joan to tell them I wouldn't make it, but after cleaning off the battery posts with some sand paper the truck started fine so I headed out again to the park.

I still got there early, about 8:30, but not early enough to go for a quick paddle. Joan and Charmaine both showed up about 9:00 and after introductions I sat down to watch the Folbot go together. Charmaine had told me the first time she put it together it took about two hours, but yesterday she had done it in just one. At about 45 minutes she was nearly done when she noticed a mistake and had to disassemble the boat to fix it. But she still had it finished just a little over an hour.

After spending a minute or two explaining the surrounding landscape, we headed off to Kanes Creek. I explained that the Bald Eagles were a bit shy, and once they spot the boats, head deeper into the wildlife refuge. It wouldn't be long before we spotted an eagle and on cue it took off and flew back further into the park. We headed deeper and saw several Osprey and Blue Herons and managed to spot the eagle once more as it headed still deeper into the park.

On the return trip I decided I needed to practice a paddlefloat reentry in my new boat. I put on my neoprene hood, and rolled a few times. It protected my ears, but I'll need to try it again as it gets colder. The biggest shock was the water running down my back.

Finally I bailed out of the kayak and attached my paddle and float to my 'off side'. I tried a few times but couldn't get back up on the rear deck so I moved the outrigger to my 'on side' and made it up on the first try. When I first went into the water I was cold, but by the time I got back in the boat the water in my suit had warmed. The new boat is higher off the water than my Guillemot, and I'll need to practice this reentry a few more times to get the hang of it.

As I pumped out my kayak, I began to really miss the electric pump that I installed on my Guillemot. I had gotten spoiled. It eventually drained though and I borrowed Joan's sponge to mop up the final quart.

We headed back to shore for lunch and while digging out my sandwich I noticed about 3-4 tablespoons of water in the front compartment. I'll have to flood the boat at home to find out if it came in around the hatch or around the bulkhead.

Charmaine and I decided to call it a day, while Joan headed off for a longer paddle. When I went to the parking lot to get my truck, it almost didn't start, so I left it running as I loaded up. The Folbot had come apart in just a few minutes, and I left Charmaine loading her car as I headed off to buy a new battery.

Woody