Today was our first of 3 FULL day paddles. We met at the shop at 8:30, gathered our gear and took the van across Mt Desert Island 30 minutes to the west side.
We launched from a nice ramp at Bartlett's Landing (below) at 10AM and proceeded to cross the narrows and circumnavigate Bartlett Island, owned by the Rockefellers. It has 12 miles of coastline, but we didn't hit all the "nooks and crannies" so our 7 hour excursion was "only" about 8 nautical miles with 2 short breaks to go ashore..
This has been like fraternity/sorority hell week, and we've bonded a bit. Below is the island we paddled around and our trainer with ponytail.. whatevs.
Before we took our lunch break, he informed us that we would be "getting wet" and practicing rescues in the 50 degree water. Oh joy.... We had teams of 3 with one person capsizing, one person rescuing and one person observing and timing. Then we switched roles so everyone had to swim! My rescue didn't go seamlessly but my partner got back into her kayak eventually. Once again, my upper body strength was lacking when it came time to pull the rescuee's kayak onto my bow and then turn it over to dump the water out. I then had to pull it parallel to my kayak and lean way over to stabilize it while instructing her how to get back in. Luckily we were in a cove and not way out in the bay, and surprisingly, it wasn't really cold once we got back in our kayaks after capsizing. What scares me is the thought of getting TWO clients back in when they flip their tandem kayak. In theory, it could be two 300 pound guys or a frail elderly couple. That practice drill is coming up. Oy....
These are my very sweet housemates from FL. He is Russian, very funny, and they are engaged. They have done some guiding in warm FL waters, and like me, were a little surprised by the difference in ME and FL paddling! Sea kayaks have a rudder and foot pegs to steer! Our spray skirts add weight too. We are all soaked in this picture above, having just come ashore from our first rescue drill. We'll be salty and sticky and cold for the rest of the day now....
On the last leg of our all day paddle, once again, the instructor told us to stop. I was thoroughly exhausted, paddling slower than I had all day and dreaming of a hot shower and bed. This time he wanted us to do a "solo rescue". In other words, capsize by rolling over and get ourselves back into our own kayak with no help. There are two methods. One involves lifting/ lurching yourself onto the deck without tipping it over again, staying low, straddling and "worming" forwards down the kayak until you can get your feet into the cockpit and flip over. I couldn't propel myself in the pool drill, so I didn't try again today. I opted for the paddle float method. I tipped myself, came up from underneath my kayak, found my paddle float and inflated it, slid it onto my paddle blade and then wasn't sure where to attach it since 3 days had elapsed since our brief pool practice. The instructor paddled over and wasn't too eager to tell me what to do as I hesitated, freezing, but eventually gave in and walked me through it. My deck lines were almost too tight to allow the paddle blade underneath, making it even harder. I eventually got back in, found my pump and pumped all the water out of my kayak. Then we had a 30 minute paddle back to the launch site.
Enjoy a YouTube video of the self-rescue process:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIW-rQtqVQA few other people had difficulties too, but my guide deficiencies seem to be multiplying each day. Once again, back at the take-out point, my throbbing knee, thumb blisters and a new bleeding cut on my shin left me less than eager/able to hoist heavy kayaks onto the rack or even lift my kayak bow to help carry mine from the water's edge.
On a lighter note, yesterday we saw harbor porpoises and today, we finally saw seals and lots of them. They were at a distance but frolicking in the water, sunning on the rocks and even following us.
We got back to the kayak shop around 6PM, and I am dead on my feet from the long, hard day....actually on my back. Tomorrow is an official DAY OFF! We'll see if I can get out of bed to enjoy it.
