Comments on: A winter’s paddle http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/2009/12/17/a-winters-paddle/ Observations on sea kayaking (among some other things) from Argyll, Scotland Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:36:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: pamf http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/2009/12/17/a-winters-paddle/comment-page-1/#comment-867 pamf Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:50:45 +0000 http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/?p=1164#comment-867 Hello Northern Kayaker - Good to hear from you! I will add you to my links forthwith! I discovered your site only yesterday and was about to comment (which I will still do). Can you believe that my friends went out without me yesterday (Sun)? Just because I put an announcement on Facebook that it was too snowy for me to go paddling, they somehow took me seriously! I felt quite left out and wished I had been out there. Never mind, I'll be back on the water again soon, snow or no snow! With cake of course ;) Hello Northern Kayaker – Good to hear from you! I will add you to my links forthwith! I discovered your site only yesterday and was about to comment (which I will still do). Can you believe that my friends went out without me yesterday (Sun)? Just because I put an announcement on Facebook that it was too snowy for me to go paddling, they somehow took me seriously! I felt quite left out and wished I had been out there. Never mind, I’ll be back on the water again soon, snow or no snow! With cake of course ;)

]]> By: Northern Kayaker http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/2009/12/17/a-winters-paddle/comment-page-1/#comment-866 Northern Kayaker Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:33:07 +0000 http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/?p=1164#comment-866 Looks like you've had some superb trips lately, these cold but sunny days are just perfect for paddling. I am also a fan of your gastro paddling approach, but then, I am always the one who brings the cake/biscuits/bacon/excessive amounts of food on normal paddles! Looks like you’ve had some superb trips lately, these cold but sunny days are just perfect for paddling. I am also a fan of your gastro paddling approach, but then, I am always the one who brings the cake/biscuits/bacon/excessive amounts of food on normal paddles!

]]> By: pamf http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/2009/12/17/a-winters-paddle/comment-page-1/#comment-862 pamf Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:26:24 +0000 http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/?p=1164#comment-862 Hello Dan - Your note has enthused me all the more for going out in the "dead" of winter! I know what you mean about the guillemots in particular - they sent me leafing through my bird books for some time. I think I identified them through a Web forum actually. I haven't paddled through ice yet, but who knows this weekend. I did have ice form on the kayak once we got off the water last weekend. It's all good! Enjoy your paddling too - hope you get some done over the holidays. And Merry Christmas! Pam Hello Dan – Your note has enthused me all the more for going out in the “dead” of winter! I know what you mean about the guillemots in particular – they sent me leafing through my bird books for some time. I think I identified them through a Web forum actually. I haven’t paddled through ice yet, but who knows this weekend. I did have ice form on the kayak once we got off the water last weekend. It’s all good!

Enjoy your paddling too – hope you get some done over the holidays. And Merry Christmas!

Pam

]]> By: Dan Thomas http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/2009/12/17/a-winters-paddle/comment-page-1/#comment-861 Dan Thomas Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:26:47 +0000 http://www.kayakacrossthewater.co.uk/?p=1164#comment-861 The last three Summers have been so rubbish that it starts to feel like the best paddling weather always comes in the Winter. Winter hillwalking has attractions that Summer hillwalking cannot provide but I used to have trouble seeing the special appeal of Winter paddling. It seemed just like Summer paddling, only colder and with less daylight. It took a while for me to start appreciating the season. Mostly it's the birds - the fulmars and puffins go away, to be replaced by brent geese and great northern divers; the guillemots and razorbills stay here all year but change their plumage so much that at first I did not realise they were the same birds. Then one day about a year ago I found myself crunching through mile after mile of sea ice. I would never have thought that the balmy waters of the Gulf Stream could freeze hereabouts but it was a very particular set of circumstances that day - a flat calm, a sheltered shore, shallow water, and a tide that had come in across five miles of frigid sand flats. It was as magical as it was unexpected. Enjoy your Winter paddling! Dan The last three Summers have been so rubbish that it starts to feel like the best paddling weather always comes in the Winter. Winter hillwalking has attractions that Summer hillwalking cannot provide but I used to have trouble seeing the special appeal of Winter paddling. It seemed just like Summer paddling, only colder and with less daylight. It took a while for me to start appreciating the season. Mostly it’s the birds – the fulmars and puffins go away, to be replaced by brent geese and great northern divers; the guillemots and razorbills stay here all year but change their plumage so much that at first I did not realise they were the same birds.

Then one day about a year ago I found myself crunching through mile after mile of sea ice. I would never have thought that the balmy waters of the Gulf Stream could freeze hereabouts but it was a very particular set of circumstances that day – a flat calm, a sheltered shore, shallow water, and a tide that had come in across five miles of frigid sand flats. It was as magical as it was unexpected.

Enjoy your Winter paddling!

Dan

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