BaffinPaddler - http://baffinpaddler.blogspot.com

I did a little Spring paddle planning from a tree today. Spring for those of us in colder climes, like Canada,  means we start getting major paddle itch when we see open water and start dreaming about where that first paddle is going to be after a long cold winter. Finding new water to paddle, meaning water you haven't paddled before, is always more exciting than thinking about plopping your sea kayak in the same old beautiful river, lake, or stretch of ocean you've paddled time and time again. Right! On my way back home from a visit up to Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada, my GPS Tom Tom One "Lori" suggested a small highway I didn't normally travel, and I had the great pleasure of discovering a much better route that took me along beautiful stretches of the Petite Nation River through the little town of Ripon, Quebec. When you stop and fall in love with a spot, it's a great day. Especially when you vow to come back with your boat. I was wishing my Maelstrom V

To sunscreen your kayak or not to sunscreen your kayak. That is the question. It may sound like a modified quote from William Shakespeare, "To be, or not to be . . . that is the question." And it is. An opening line from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. That's about as much of Shakespeare as I can comprehend. And it's a big question. To be or not to be? To sunscreen your kayak, or not to sunscreen your kayak? We know that we have to protect ourselves from the sun, either with sunscreen, shelter, or clothing. In Florida, cycling the long stretch of white sandy beach along the Barrier Islands in the Gulf of Mexico , I use SPF 60, a hat and sunglasses, along with common sense. I don't stay out there too long. We expect that the factory paint jobs on our cars protect their finishes from the ravishes of the sun, but I didn't know that I needed to think about sunscreen for my kayak. I owned two plastic sea kayaks for a few years before someone told me that y