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First Ice - Cold water shakedown and workout

11/16/2009

5 Comments

 
Over the weekend we finished up all of the deer hunting prep work done so today I decided to get on the water and give my coldwater gear a shakedown.  I must admit it was a great experience to paddle the waters that I grew up fishing on with my dad and uncle Jim.  What was really cool was covering distances in minutes that used to take much longer plodding along in a row boat.  

I put in at Memorial Park on the east side of Wausau in a back bay that was glazed with ice.  It was my first experience with paddling in ice water and it was interesting to feel and hear the ice breaking to the pressure of my bow.  Later as I cruised along my wake would run into the ice glaze along shore sending off the sounds of shuttering waves of crackling ice. 

I posted more photos and a video of the ice breaking on the Photo Gallery page.     
Picture
My Kokatat drysuit and thermals worked great.  If anything I was a bit too warm which is OK with me as I can simply adjust the layers I wear under the drysuit.  It was my first real experience at wearing pogies and found that I went from my hands being too warm inside and too cold outside.  The simple solution was to open up the velcro attachment closure a bit to ventilate them.  Overall it was a great day on the water and I'm feeling good about how everything is coming together.        
5 Comments
Patrick
11/16/2009 11:17:00 am

I love the kayak ice breaker movie!

Reply
Thom
11/17/2009 06:43:23 am

Brrrr... we can relate to the cold. It's getting into the low 50's at night here in San Diego and getting out of bed at 5:30 AM to go surfing on big NW swells requires dedication.

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Colleen Guido
11/17/2009 09:17:29 am

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colleen Guido
11/17/2009 09:18:42 am

Are you still paddling the NDK boat? Funny story about the tire...arghh but that's the business

Reply
Jane
11/18/2009 09:11:59 am

Based on your mark on the piling on the AA dock, Mike Brown & I decided to venture over the jetty this morning, even though we knew crossing over would be marginally deep enough. We threaded ourselves through the breaking surf, commenting on how you'd have been right there with us. It's just not as much fun without you. We miss you!!

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