June 21, 2003

A little more skeg, please

Around 7:30 a park ranger young enough to be my son drove up and unlocked the gate. I made sure it was ok to go in and headed for the car top launch. I unloaded a bunch of gear and paddled out to Conrad Island about a mile off in the distance.

Conrad Island continues to disappear. Its 3 pieces giving way to the large wakes as boats zip through the narrow channel between the island and mainland. Around the island I probe the bottom with my paddle to determine its quality - I'll be standing in this stuff in a little while, and I wanted to make sure the bottom was firm enough not to suck shoes off my feet.

Paddling back to the park I see activity at the launch site. Today I'm co-leading a first timer trip. The goal being to introduce folks new to kayaking to the concepts of wet exits and paddle float self-rescues.

After everyone arrives and a short shore talk we paddle out to Conrad to perform wet exit and then practice a few paddle float rescues. Now qualified for CPA trips, we headed back back to the park and after a quick break Joan, my co-leader, headed off with the majority of the group into Kanes creek while I waited for one member on a bathroom break. We caught up in short order but as the wind picked up we turned and headed back to the launch.

A quick lunch later, Joan and I headed south around the neck to the heron rookery. I spent a lot of time edged into the wind because my kayak wanted to turn toward it. Things got better as we rounded the point and headed back to the rookery. It was still full of screeching herons. I asked Joan if she minded if we turn around, fatigue getting the better part of me. Standing in the cool water and demoing self-rescues had sapped my energy.

On the return trip the wind increased. The clouds beating their way out of town and blue sky returning. My edging and sweep strokes increased and I commented to Joan what a PIA the Sirocco was to paddle in these conditions. It needs more skeg!

After landing and packing up we headed off to the restrooms before getting on the road. While standing around and chatting about the Sirocco skeg, we lowered the skeg on my kayak and on Joan's Gulfstream. The difference in exposed surface is huge. I look into my skeg slot and notice there is still more skeg available.

On leaving the park I stopped by the visitor center to pick up a lifetime Virginia park pass. This caught the guy behind the counter by surprise -he had never sold one before.

On the slider bar beside my cockpit there are cable sheaths sticking out into the slider area limiting the travel of the skeg. The next day I trimmed off the sheath sticking out from the rear so the skeg can deploy fully. Only an extra half inch of skeg pokes through the bottom - will this be enough? A few trips and I'll post my results...

Woody