BaffinPaddler - http://baffinpaddler.blogspot.com

Camera Failure - What a way to start an epic first spring paddle! The absolute bane of the blogger has to be camera failure when you set out for your first spring paddle on an epic weather day with exceptional environmental conditions that offer rare photo ops that won't be there tomorrow or maybe ever again. When I set my Boreal Baffin down on a nice solid ice ledge near a big rock on a sunny spring afternoon with a perfect view down the Ottawa River's mirror reflection of both the azure blue sky lightly dusted with soft white clouds and the surrounding landscape, I knew I had a perfect shot! You couldn't tell what was sky and what was water or which way was up. They both looked the same at that moment in time. But my orange Olympus Stylus Tough camera had other ideas! It had a dead battery and no spare was on hand. You can relate, yes? Even though I'm a girl, that didn't stop the barrage of four letter words that escaped me for a good long while. I had ...

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...

Trust me. You may be a paddler who doesn't know you love cross-country skiing! How do I know? That was me a few years back. What are the signs of a paddler who does not know they love cross-country skiing . . . yet? You are a paddler (OK, that one is obvious.) You tried cross-country skiing once and hated it! (That was me too. I tried it in the wrong place at the wrong time. Let's call it Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada! I love you Manitobans but it was flat, too cold, windy, uncut trails with crappy rental equipment across a somewhat frozen lake that went "crack" in spots, zero amenities, and I had no knowledge of technique. It wasn't my idea, someone invited me.) You hate winter and how long it lasts! (That used to be me too. I immigrated to Canada from California. Yes, I know that Canada is a country and that California is a state in the U.S., despite being a true blue-eyed blond with a few highlights. No, I was not thinking when I did it - meaning immigratin...

Maelstrom Vital 166, Newfound Lake, New Hampshire, USA  I should have known not to believe it when the tourist brochure said " Newfound Lake is pristine and has no commercial development." I came through the city of Bristol , to the southern-most beach and said, "Oh s*#t!" All around me and as far as the eye could see were wall-to-wall cottages and rows of docks packed with hundreds of ski boats, those ultra-expensive mega party boats with the monster speakers and lights. Of course you don't see them in the photo. I made sure to hide them from the view. So what do they consider no commercial development around here I wondered? This looks way OVER DEVELOPED to me! And this is just the southern tip of the lake! It was the first thought running through my mind when the lake came into view. The next thing running through my mind was making a decision. Do I get out and paddle this thing anyway or head somewhere else? I'm on vacation in a new place I ...

Does a sea kayak have a sweet spot? I think so. Especially when you are doing the cowboy scramble. Ok, I'm in the water in a nice warm Canadian lake in July in my cute new Maelstrom Vital 166  sea kayak that I bought in May without really testing if I could get back into it unassisted. I just assumed I could. "Of course I can, I can do it in my Boreal Baffin in 5 seconds." I count. It's a game in warm flatwater when I'm doing it for fun and rescue practice. In the first pic above, look how far the nose is sticking out of the water. This sea kayak has one very upturned kayak nose!  The Malestrom Vital 166 is 21 inches at the beam and is 16 feet 6 inches long. The beam is the widest measurement across the kayak. That has to be at the cockpit. It's where we sit. Makes sense, especially after the Christmas holidays, we need to fit in there. Everything gets skinnier from there. Yes, after Christmas we work to get rid of what we gained, and from the cockpit...

Wow! It really pays to pay attention to your Web stats and see where your traffic comes from. I just noticed that BaffinPaddler made the list of  Top 50 Kayaking Blogs on KayakingBlogs.org and Guide to Online Schools.  How cool! Hey thanks! It's an honor to be reviewed and ranked. And a great motivator for a blogger. I'm a big fan of blogs and bloggers. And now I've just discovered yet another great resource of some kayak blogs I didn't know about that I can also share on my blog. Some of my favorite kayak bloggers are listed on my blog roll in the right column of my blog. There is a kinship amongst kayakers in general and with kayak bloggers in particular. It is great to stay connected to other kayakers this way. They are the ones who motivate me to get out there and discover something new and maybe paddle with some of them one day. This review is great for us bloggers..Looks like great photos and videos are an expected hit along with the stories and adventu...