3 boats, 6 days.

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Kudzu

Last of of August I was invited to the Chincoteague Bay Field Station, in Wallop Island, VA to teach a Road Scholar class where each student builds a Fuselage Frame kayak for themselves.

Being a Road Scholar program the staff has also scheduled in field trips such as kayaking, exploring a private beach and educational classes. They also take everyone out to a few local Restaurants. All of which are very good, especially if you like sea food!

The facilities at the Field Station are top notch as is the the staff. As one student said, they over serve you! If you ask for a pencil you will get a handful of them with a sharpener and a smile. The Educators that work with the classes are college grads and most have studied Marine Science or related fields. They are all obviously the cream of the crop and you will not meet one that doesn’t impress you. The ladies in the cafeteria always provide excellent meals and plan them well. I was last in line one morning and it looked as if they had run out of food. When I got up to the steam table I realized that actually there was just enough for a couple more people. They plan so well that there is just very little waste. It shouldn’t have surprised me because that is just typical of the way everything is done here.

Sunday afternoon the students arrive and check in. I had arrived a day early and prepared my class room ahead of time. I had the strong backs set up, all the tools, frames, stringers, etc. sorted out and arranged at each work station. It didn’t take long to have the class room in shape so I was free to enjoy a couple of days of paddling.

Sunday night I meet with my students, Parker does the introductions and goes over all the formalities and instructions for the coming week. Then my favorite part, The Boil! These folks start the class right, with meal fit for king! After the meal we visit the class room and show them what they have gotten into. I give everyone a homework project too.Monday morning we meet in the cafeteria and have breakfast together and get to know each other a bit better. This year we were building 3 kayaks, two of my Vardo design and a one Ravenswood. Once in the classroom I get everyone assigned to their stations. I cover some basics about building, teach them the names of the parts of the boat and I try to get them ‘hands on’ as quickly as possible.

This is where we stopped at lunch, it doesn’t appear we have much done but it is actually a good start. They have a few frames in place and have started to lash them in place. It takes the students till the 3rd day to get the lashing to the point where we can take the boat off the strongback. However, these guys were here for one reason, to build a boat! The schedule is flexible and they decided to skip the extracurricular activities to stay in class and work. They even came back after dinner and worked when it wasn’t scheduled. By the end of the second day they had their frame to the point it had to come out of the strongback. We pulled off the frames, lashed the joints you couldn’t get to and then it is time to apply a finish to the frame. Because of the time limitations we use water based poly because it will dry quickly. Since we were a day ahead Wallis and Jim wanted to stain their frame as well as the coaming.

By the forth day, they were all starting to get a little tired from the pace they had been keeping. They decided to take some time off. So, the next couple of days we did some kayaking and went beach combing on Wallops Island, which is a Military base. It is used by the Navy and NASA has a launch facility there. The Field Station works with NASA and is the only group that gets access to the beach other than those that work or are stationed there. The beach was littered with Horse Shoe crabs. I discovered that this is Mecca for Horseshoe crabs!

Tara, one of my educators found this little guy on the beach. I managed to catch him and calm him down. For such a little fellow he was seriously wanting to eat me! I thought it must be a Rat Snake but it turned out to be a type of Garter Snake I had never seen. My other educator Gabe, who was off that morning, was involved with an ongoing snake research project on the Island and told me they were a rare site on the Island. After a few photos, we turned him loose.

With the frame finished they started skinning the boats. I decided to try the Double Corded Stitch for the first time in a class and that was a good choice. It probably cuts the sewing time in half. I was also impressed with how straight their seams were for first timers too. They didn’t realize just how well they were doing though but I was impressed. Saturday arrives and it is the last big step, painting. I always look forward to seeing what color everyone picks. I had heard lots of ideas tossed around during the week, but when it comes down to the wire you never know what they will go with. Don seemed to go the safe route with white, but he had some big ideas for paint once he got home. So he just wanted to white base coat and has promised to send me photos of the finished product. Wallis and Jim…. well, they went bright!

Sunday morning, 50 +/- hours latter we have 3 boats 99% finished. These guys have been hard workers and now it is time for their reward. We work on installing the backbands and painters. Finished any last minute details and it’s time to load up the boats and launch!

Don lived close by and decided to pass on the launching and so not soil the paint since he wanted to do some custom work on it.. He loaded up and said his good byes. And yes, that is a sweet little CJ!

Gabe and Tara, my most excellent assistants for the week, loaded up the boats on their trailer and we headed the NASA docks to launch.

The smiles on their faces said it all! My camera had started acting up and I didn’t get to take any photos of us outside the harbor. I would have used my phone but there was at least 20 mph winds blowing and I wanted both hands on the paddle! That is a tough maiden voyage but it went very well and the boats looked great on the water. We paddled around for about an hour and I think no one was any happier than me! I love seeing those smiling faces in their new boats, that they built!

Kayak Geocaching

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Kudzu

I tried something this past weekend that I have wanted to try for a long time, Geocaching. If you are not familiar with it, it is big Easter Egg hunt using million dollar Government satellites to find hidden ammo boxes and Tupperware hidden in public places.

What? I lost you?

All around you, totally unknown to you, strangers have hidden containers know as caches. They are out there just waiting for you to join in the fun andtry to find them. It is called geocaching.

Geocaching is a game, well maybe it’s better to say an activity, where you search for hidden ‘caches’ using a GPS unit or a smart phone with a GPS app. You are given the coordinates for where the container is hidden and sometimes a clue. Using this information you go on the hunt to find the hidden cache. The containers range from very small, with just a small scroll of paper for you to log your name and when you found it, to larger boxes with a log book and trade pieces inside.

Ammo boxes and Tupperware of probably the most common containers used. As I said, larger caches will have a log book and some trade items inside it. Most of time the swag is inexpensive items not something of any real value. Much of it is would appeal to children. You can get you kids interested and once they find the cache they can trade for something in there.

There are certain items such as tokens that some cachers collect. There are travel bugs, that when you find it, if you can, you take it and move it another cache. The travel bugs locations are logged and their travels tracked. When you find a cache, if you take something you are supposed to leave something in its place. That way there is always swag in there for the next person to find.

You can learn all about geocaching and sign up for free at www.geocaching.com. From there you can find a map with the information you need to start hunting caches in your area.

When I got interested, looking at the maps I realized there were several caches hidden around the lake and some that are only accessible by boat. Since we paddle so much, some of the areas have become kind of routine we know it so well. We are always looking for something different and this sounded like fun to me.

Searching the map I found four caches in the general area around the Dam. I discovered there were two catches hidden on Goat Island. It is a rock island that is probably close to 3 acres in size and the only access is by water. So I planned my paddle around these four caches.

Dan, who took these photos, came along with me and we started on Goat Island. We found a place to get out, not an easy task since much of the island is bluff. Using the GPS I narrowed down the search to a rocky area with lots of places to hide something. We both searched for a few minutes looking in all the nooks and crannies before we found the first cache. Once opened I signed the log book, looked over the ‘swag’ and since I didn’t bring anything, I didn’t take anything other than some photos.

The 2^nd cache was across the island so we head out. It’s a warm day for December and I can promise you hiking up hill and over rocks is no fun in a dry suit! It would have been well worth the effort to have removed it and put it back on when I got back to the boat.

Eventually we got to the location on the highest point on the Island with a beautiful view of the water. It took both of us looking to find this cache. I was thinking we were not going to find it when I finally spotted it after a lot of searching. It was another ammo box with goodies inside. I signed the log book, checked out the Swag and put it back in place for the next person to find. At this point I was hooked. This was a lot of fun, like a treasure hunt!

There were two more caches hidden further down the lake and I found one but the other one eluded me. Reading on the web site when I logged in my finds and the did not find on this one, I discovered some others had problems finding it too. For some reason the GPS signal isn’t that good in this area and it was jumping all over the place. Seems other had the same problem. I am hooked and I will go back and find that one later on this winter!

If you haven’t tried geocaching look into it. If you’re near water there is a good chance you can find some caches that you can paddle too. If you are taking a trip you can look up caches hidden in the area you are going to be. It is something that kids can participate in and is a good way to get them outside and away from the TV.

Keep in mind some caches are hidden really well and are very difficult to find. Each one is rated as to how hard they are to find and also how rugged the terrain is. That ways can look for caches that are easier for the kids or if you prefer more challenging
ones

If you try it let me know what you think. This was my first time but I loved it!

Short Creek paddle

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Kudzu

It was only 100 degrees yesterday afternoon so why not put on a PDF and sweet a while?

Didn’t take us long before we took advantage of any shade we could find! Love those Tuepelo gums, they provide the only shade there was.

This is reward! At the head of the creek where the rapids end (when there is enough water) there are a couple of rock strewn pools While the lake feels like bath water this pool was at least 15 degree cooler and felt SO GOOD! Just have to be really careful not to get an ankle between the rocks and hurt yourself. But it made the paddle up there so worth it.

I took advantage of the unique perspective of being in the waterand took a few photos.

I love this one photo. It turned out really good. Just have to get him in a REAL kayak.

heading out

After a few photos Phil decided running over the camerman was funny. I didn’t think it was as funny.

My boat and gear resting on a bolder from a ducks perspective.

Last nights paddle

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Kudzu

Laid back paddle last night around the ‘islands’. Neither of us were in a hurry to do anything or go anywhere.

Phil snapped this one with the River Bridge behind me. I like this.

Told you it was a laid back paddle!

Launching day finally!

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Kudzu

I finally got to take SHAD out and I love it! After just a couple of minutes I found myself paddling, concentrating on my photography instead of the boat. It was like putting on an old pair of slippers, You don’t think about them, you just put them on and go about your business and that is exactly what I did.

I found SHAD a little smaller than most of my boats. I straddle the boat in the water, park my butt in the seat and then pull in one foot then the other. Because it is a little lower volume I could still do this but I had to lean back a little to get my leg in. It rubbed against the frame under coaming. I could get in without risk of getting stuck, it was just lower and that makes it a little tighter to get in. That was a surprise but that was the only one. I found it comfortable, easy to turn and tracks really well.

I was expecting really hard tracking but a little lean and it started to turn slowly. A lean and a little paddle stroke and it would go where ever I wanted.Just really impressed. This may become my other go-to boat. I still Long Shot better, but she is a close second.

Here is some photos from the paddle.BTW, at the end of the paddle I took several of her on the water and shore….. but I forgot to check the lens and there were big water drops that ruined the photos. So I will have to take some more. Gives me an excuse to go paddling again. 🙂

: My audience for the launching

: Late arrivers comeing to see the launching.

: Nothing here to see, move on.

: Blue heron looking for his lunch

: As Buzz Lightyear would say…”To infinity and beyond!”

: Kiwanas fishing pier

: After 30+ minutes of paddlign toward the traffic, the bridge appears out of the fog.

: And the fog just starts to dissapear!

: A different perspective of the bridges

: Just as suddenly the fog starts to roll in on me. Time to turn around.

: The Islands soon dissapeared from view

New Years Day paddle

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Kudzu

Meet up with some friends for a News Years day paddle. Wind was wild today! As we ate breakfast we decided the Beech Creek would be the best choice and provide some shelter from the wind. Still there were times it was liking paddling against a wall. You arms were moving but you were not going anywhere!

: Everyone must take photos as you leave the ramp. It’s a requirement!

: Gulls, Gulls, everywhere Gulls. They like to gather int he shallows at the head of the lake.

: The entrance to Browns Creek.

: Phil, ex Jar Head, commando and master of disguise.

: Dead end. Another victim of one of the many storm we had last years blocks our way.

: Turning around and returning.

: When your draft exceeds the waters depth you are most assuredly aground.

Turkey day morning paddle

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Kudzu

Since we were having a late meal with out neighbors/adopted family I had the Thanksgiving morning to myself. Not really in the mood to work on the boat I decided to pick one of the boats and head to lake for a short paddle.

I launched at Beach Creek and headed up to what was called “The Cow Pasture” when I was growing up. It is the head of Browns Creek where the creek runs into the lake. Not very eventful day. Just a pleasant paddle. Photos are not that great but here a few of the better ones.