May 29, 2004

Herons!

We paddled down to Kanes creek. The water was way out and filled with heron, a few with fish in their beaks. If I were to guess, maybe 50 heron were in the shallows as we wound our way through the channel.

Around one bend we saw a snake feeding on minnows. As our boat passed we scared the minnows into a frenzy and the snake enjoyed the free meal rushing at him.

Back in the Bay we ran across Zak, Carolyn and Meredith. We paddled as a group back to the launch and swapped the double that Carolyn and Meredith were paddling for Carolyn's Sparrow Hawk and my daughter's Mystic.

After a short shore break we headed around the southern end of the Neck playing in the chop from the deep draft boats. Passing the heron rookery and paddling up the Potomac a short distance before turning around and heading back.

We had covered 7-7.5 miles by the time we got back to the launch. We said goodbye to Meredith and Carolyn and headed back out for a little rolling practice.

I beached my kayak and walked out a good 100-150 feet in the shallow water before it got deep enough to let Zak try her roll. After a good long practice it was time to head back and load up. I put the folbot away then loaded up the 2 hard-shells with the help of Joan and Zak. We chatted a bit more and at 6:00pm we headed for home.

10 hours at the park today. I'm tired...but scheduled to be back there again in the morning...

Pictures

The next day I took Katie to Mason Neck to try out her new Swift paddle. She wanted to try and roll with it but the overcast skies and cool breeze had her stay in her cockpit.

We paddled out to Conrad Island, soon to be called "Conrad Sandbar", about a mile offshore of the State Park. Waves were small heading out, but still making Katie worry.

From Conrad we headed south toward the Potomac but the waves grew to about a foot making Katie very nervous so we turned and headed toward Kanes Creek.

I've never explored the north branch of this creek. Heck, I've been back in this creek 50 times and always assumed there was no water in it. The entrance looks a bit hidden, but today we wondered around the right bend and found the north branch did have plenty of water in it to paddle.

We wound our way deep into the Wildlife refuge before the creek got too narrow to turn around. We headed back out to the main creek and paddled past the eroding sandy hills along the shore and back to the launch, about 6 miles total for the day.

Katie has been using the same sprayskirt since she started kayaking. A large yellow skirt from Necky and over the past 5 years has started taking on more and more water. I've been hesitant to replace it as it was loose enough to fall off if Katie capsized, but tight enough to stay on while she practiced rolling. As Katie wiped the scum lines off the boat, I brought down to the water a new skirt. Neoprene deck, and nylon tunnel. The adjustable bungee allows me to tighten it just enough to stay on, but fall off if pressed. I had katie dry fit it several times, and we'll wet exit test it next time we go out.

Woody