Archive for 2007
Well October came and went with only one trip on the water. All the stars once again aligned against me to keep me off the water, work weather and a cold did to me.
This is getting more then frustrating for me.
The first 2 weekends of November were lost due to an unexpected trip to San Diego…
I really hope that things change soon…
I was going through the logs on my primary site KayakVB
and noticed a few inbound links from a site I haven’t seen in the logs before, a blog site called Get Out and Do Something. I like to see where my traffic is coming from, and when I see a nice site that has similar focus, I add it to my list of sites…
Get Out and Do Something, has a very similar theme as KayakVB, but the author also enjoys biking and camping in the area as well.
So take a look, nice pictures and information on the Hampton Roads area, as well as North Carolina.
Well everything has pretty much conspired against me from getting on the water this month….
- Changed jobs after 20 years
- Nick started in a bowling league Saturday mornings
- NFL season started, takes Sunday afternoons out of the picture (Chargers are not looking good)
- Sick one weekend
- Going to Kings Dominion
Hopefully I will get on the water again before the end of the month, I haven’t even had the kayak rack on my truck for over 2 weeks.
Well I’ve done it again, and pretty much blew this of for a month…
The last month has been pretty hectic for me, as I am getting ready to change jobs for the first time in a very long time, and hopefully I will be able to dedicate more time on the water, but I doubt it…
I was only able to get on the water twice in the month of August, and neither of those were very long trips. September will be very busy for me, but there are some opportunities for me to possibly do some trips on the Eastern Shore, Philadelphia, as well as Northern Virginia, because I will be traveling to those locations on a regular basis over the next few months.
I did get back out to the Franklin area on Labor Day, and got a few more miles on the Blackwater river, as well as getting information on 2 new launch sites on the return visit. I will be adding those launch sites to Kayak Virginia Beach Dot Com in the next couple of days.
The other thing is that football season starts up next week, so that takes Sunday afternoon out of the equation, but Sunday mornings are still good for a short trip
The chemical spill from the Hercules plant is apparently cleaned up and the river is open, and I had my first chance to paddle the Nottoway on Saturday.
The launch is nice, although the ramp is a bit steep to move a kayak up and down, I carried the kayak down the ramp, but opted to back the truck down the ramp to load the boat back on the truck. The angle of the ramp made it a little tough, but probably a lot easier with a shorter vehicle.
The river itself is a very slow moving river, the current was hardly noticeable. I mainly paddled up stream, there are a lot of little inlets, and very large patches of lily’s.
This is a trip I would recommend if you decide to head west, keep in mind that it is about a 50 mile drive from Virginia Beach.
The family and I took a road trip today, and headed west.
I had the opportunity to add a couple of new launch sites today.
Blackwater landing in Franklin On the Blackwater river.
Route 671 VDGIF Boat Ramp On the Nottoway River. Looking at the map and satellite views, I plan on returning here very soon, hopefully. The river was closed due to a chemical spill from the plant across the road, but it should re-open soon.
I’ve been thinking about adding another longer kayak for longer trips, because while the Tsunami 145 is a great boat, I felt I needed something longer. I plan on keeping the Tsunami for conditions that is is best suited to, as well as a boat for my daughter and guests.
I have now had it out on the water for 2 trips and a total of about 3 miles. I know I am going to have a learning curve to deal with, because of the difference in stability, and for whatever reason it seems to have impacted my stroke, I don’t know why but it just seems I was flailing about and not pulling the paddle out of the water until way to late…
I am taking it on a long trip tomorrow, I guess it will be a trial by fire. I am not real happy with the seat, I don’t like how low the back band sits, but I guess that is something else to learn to deal with.
I don’t think I’ll be doing any trips this weekend…
My Daughter graduates High School today, and I have family in town, etc…
Looking at the gages, the water loo0ks a little on the low side, but navigable. The weather looks like it is going to ok, with a slight chance of T-Storms in the afternoon. Tomorrow (Sunday) looks like a real good day, except a little on the hot side with temps in the low 90’s and light winds out of the North..
10
The Chesapeake
0 Comments | Posted by paul in Kayaking, Launch Site Info, Launch Site Updates
Today I took the opportunity of a family trip to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, to take my first trip on the Chesapeake Bay. I paddled from Cape Charles to Kiptopeke State Park, you can read the whole story here. I paddled around the concrete ships that make up the breakwater for the old ferry landing.
I also added 2 new launch sites, the Cape Charles Beach information is here.
And the Kiptopeke State Park information is here.
All in all it was a pretty good day, and I have a few ideas for other trips on the Chesapeake, and Eastern Shore.
Ok once again my inbound email is broken, I can send, but all inbound email is bouncing.
So if you have sent me an email Friday evening and received a message that the account does not exist it is on my end, not yours…
The email will hopefully be back up soon…
3:45 Email is operational
