Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Sept 7-17 | Sept 18-19 | The Launch | Outings |
79th Street to Downtown, Saturday, October 23 |
| The plan was for John, Alistair and me to leave from 79th Street Boat Basin and go around the Statue of Liberty. John had a folding kayak and he and his wife Isabelle and I put it together on the dock while waiting for Alistair. I'd never seen a folding kayak before. Theirs is a two man Klepper, comes in 2 bags and weighs about 70 pounds. |
|
|
|
| Then you insert the skeleton into the canvas shell. It's quite an ingenious design which hasn't changed much in 100 years. John also told me that military paratroopers are trained to parachute out with these things and assemble them in the water after they land. |
|
|
Alistair showed up after having a run-in with a car on his rollerblades. He was fine and we set out. Isabelle went to fly her new kite in the park. It was quite cold and I was glad I wore a jacket and gloves. The waves were the biggest I'd been in since white water kayaking 5 years ago. John and Alistair are white water kayakers so they were not impressed. We traveled south with the current but there was such strong wind it was tough going. It was invigorating - the hull slapping down on the waves and the water spraying. |
|
|
While John and Alistair had been in much choppier water, they did have to stop in a sheltered area to put on the two-man spray skirt. They were starting to get quite wet from the spray and the waves. It was the first time I had kayaked with my spray skirt. It's a little nerve-wracking being that "attached" to my boat. We talked about what we'd do should I capsize. They said I should just hang upside down underwater and run my hands along both sides of my hull above the water. They would come alongside and lightly ram my kayak. When I felt their boat, I should use it to pull myself up. It's called a T rescue. (We didn't have to talk about what we'd do if they capsized - they can do an eskimo roll in that two man boat.) Luckily we didn't have to test my composure because, although I had two close calls, I didn't tip over. (oh, I just gave away the ending.) |
