28 April 2007

Paddle Season has Begun!

Well for me at least. The water temp was about 60 deg F...too cold to go for a swim, but survivable, if I did. I had a chance to try out my new NRS Mambas. They work really well. My hands stayed very warm. So warm in fact, I took them off after a while.

I paddled for about three and a half hours total today. I didn't break any speed records, but I did paddle further than I had originally planned. I investigated a part of Michigan Center lake that I have not paddled before. It was like paddling at a totally new lake for me. I almost had the entire place to myself today. I saw a couple of fishermen, a small family out in a little Zodiac, and two teenagers in kayaks. Of course the teenagers were dressed for the air temp and not the water. I remember being young and stupid....how did I survive?

I felt pretty good today. My back didn't start hurting, and the kayak didn't feel unstable to me either. Both were concerns when I planned earlier this week to go paddle today. The kayak did however feel very tight. The back band and foot pegs were still in the same locations that I had left them in from last fall. Like Alex, I felt very slow and heavy, after a long cold winter.



I did see a lot of wild life today. Spring is in full swing and there were a lot of birds on nests. I saw a Sand Hill Crane sitting a nest...a first for me. There were also Mute Swans and Canada Geese sitting nests as well. While paddling I had to be very careful not to get too close to them.

2 comments:

Silbs said...

Geez. Whaere are you finding water in the 60's?

Richard said...

Sorry. Its a chain of small inland lakes that has good flowage. We also had three days of warm rain this past week, so I think that has a lot to do with it. I was using a cooking thermometer at the surface, and I measured it in several places ranging from 57-61 deg F. It snowed just two weeks ago, and there was skim ice in a few places then. The rain really helped.