April 20, 2012
INSTRUCTION
Summer is coming and we should all be ready for it. We are running a kayaking course next month at an indoor pool on Saturday evenings. The dates are May 5, 12, and 19, from 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. This is a twelve hour course, four hours per session. The first hour of each session is classroom instruction, and each remaining three hours is in the pool. We pack a lot of good information in this course, from proper equipment and clothing, an efficient forward stroke, a variety of steering and control strokes, wet exits and assisted rescues, and boat design. If you have never taken a hands-on course, even if you have been paddling for years, you will be amazed at what you will learn in this course. A program like this is invaluable to anybody wanting to paddle in any open, exposed water like Long Island Sound.
The price for this course is $350, and we supply all of the equipment. This year, we are teaching the course at the swimming pool at SUNY in Purchase, NY, a convenient location for Fairfield and Westchester county residents.
We have been teaching this basic program for many years, and customers have driven from as far as Massachussetts and New Jersey to attend.
Call early to reserve a spot in the course.
April 26, 2012
I managed to get on the water the other day. Personal business brought me up to the Connecticut River area, fortunately with a boat on the car. When I got down to the river itself, however, the wind was blowing like stink out of the north, and it was not a day to be out there in a little boat. Fortunately, nearby was the tidal Lieutenant River, so narrow and intimate that waves could not build on it and most of the wind was blocked by the surrounding trees. The sandy launch site on Rte 156 was empty (Tuesday) and the tide was almost high, so I would still have a little boost upstream and many side channels were open.
This is a pleasant little river, long enough for a few hours of protected tidal paddling, with the additional option of paddling downstream into the large marsh in Lyme at the mount of the Connecticut River. Several old roads dead end at this marsh and river, and were probably first used by farmers harvesting the abundant salt hay. Today, the road ends are popular with fishermen.
My route was north and under I-95. Once past the highway, the river took me behind the grounds of the Griswold Museum and the Bee and Thistle Inn. I understand that there are Summer concerts behind the Museum and concert night would make this a great evening paddling location. Once past this point, the river divides and opens up a little, and is very popular with the local Osprey population. I was able to count up to five at a time.
Lunch was on a sandbar at the head of tidal navigation, and the winds behind me made it a swift trip back to my car. I’ll get the schedule for concerts at the Griswold Museum, and add this place to my list of ‘music on the water’ evenings.
April 4, 2012
Our little boats provide a wide variety of ways in which to enjoy time on the water. Some of our customers have done some pretty grand, adventurous things. There’s the gentleman who quit his stockbroker job to paddle his kayak from New York City to Key West, the couple who paddle their folding kayaks in the Alaskan wilderness every Summer, the 85 year old man who rowed his shell from Albany to West Point in one long 31 hour stretch to visit his daughter, and two transatlantic rowers.
In many ways, however, the smaller excursions can also be quite special. I took my nephew paddling not too long ago. Like many teenagers, he spends a lot of time indoors, playing video games, and I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to come with me that day. We went up to Simsbury, and launched onto the Farmington River. I was in a solo canoe, and Peter was captain of a small recreational kayak. I thought that he would be bored silly and want to go home in no time. He mastered the boat quickly (young people soak up skills like sponges), and pretty soon we were off, paddling upstream against a gentle current. He really got into the spirit of the trip. We looked for animal burrows in the riverbanks, which led to talking about The Wind in the Willows, and the Peterson’s Bird guide was getting constant use. We found a small, shallow stream that drained into the Farmington, and decided to explore it to the source. Many sections were too shallow to paddle in, and we slogged upstream pulling the boats, sometimes carrying them, often through ankle deep mud.
We had lunch sitting on a log over the stream and talked about his school, my work, life in general, and had some excellent bonding time. On the return paddle, we charted out the depths of the river, using the kayak paddle as our depth measuring stick. Back at the car, without prompting, Peter changed out of his muddy clothes and learned a few knots as he helped me tie the boats to the rack.
It was a simple little outing, but recently he told me it was one of his most fun days ever.
It was for me also.
March 21, 2012
Spring is approaching and we are restocking on all sorts of items for the coming season. For the nighttime paddler, we’ve brought back a favorite light, the waterproof HydroStar. Customers love it because it works as a flashlight, safety beacon, and emergency strobe light. It even has a red light setting so that one can use it to look at charts without affecting night vision. We also have clip-on personal marker lights in various colors. We are also restocked on some extremely LOUD whistles. Remember, a noise producing device is required equipment on all of the small boats that we sell.
For our sit-on-top kayak owners, the new Scupper Pup cart makes it easy to roll the boat any distance over a variety of terrains, without a need for the kayak to be strapped down to the cart. Two rods secure the boat in place by fitting up through the scupper holes. We have other boat carts for enclosed kayaks and canoes. I’m a firm believer in wheels, they have opened up several launch sites to me where I couldn’t park near the water. On more than one occasion, I’ve used wheels to portage my boat to save miles of paddling when time was short, or the wind was picking up.
Even tough, durable drybags don’t last forever. Check them and replace them before they start to leak. It is no fun to discover a leak with a lunch ruined by bilgewater or a cell phone toasted by a drop of saltwater.
Remember, flares have expiration dates, and they, like all safety equipment, should be inspected regularly and replaced when necessary.
Our Summer Tour schedule is posted on the website, so check your calendar. We have a few fun extras listed. There are three trips in conjunction with the Friends of the Norwalk Islands, Bird Watching on June 2, a cookout on August 11, and a Sunset/Moonrise trip on September 1. (visit www.friendsofthenorwalkislands.org) Fall Scenic Foliage trips will be on Lake Lillinonah and the Connecticut River Estuary. If you would like to get up to six young people together at once for a group kayaking lesson, we can run a program on Wednesday afternoons. If you have a particular location in mind for a group kayaking trip, we can run a special trip for up to twelve adults almost anywhere in Connecticut. We recommend the Connecticut River, the Mystic area, and Stonington. If you are having a shore party and would like several sit-on-top kayaks available for guests, we can set up a rental with delivery/pickup.
March 18, 2012
One of the enjoyable things that I find with the small craft that we use here at the Small Boat Shop, is the sense of connection that they generate with the explorers of the past. Until the advent of the railroad, most travel, exploration, and commerce was conducted along water routes. People traveled and traded up and down rivers, along coasts, and across oceans, but rarely overland for any signifigent distance. Although larger vessels that could carry cargo were used for trade, the real task of exploring unknown territories was usually done in small boats. Columbus and those after him may have crossed the Atlantic in ships, but on reaching the coast, the harbors, rivers, and estuaries were all scouted and charted from the longboats and shallops that they carried along with them. These explorers were also did not hesitate to employ native watercraft that were often better suited to local conditions and purposes. It was dangerous to risk taking one’s oceangoing ship (and only ride home) into an uncharted bay or river, but much more sensible to available oneself of a few local canoes
Native Americans often used specific routes as they traveled by canoe, and these routes often involved portages to shorten the route, or avoid treacherous seas. A little homework, especially in the age of the internet, can unearth these routes and they are often very enjoyable paddles today. Last summer, in Deer Isle, Maine, we had fun tracing one of these portage routes right through downtown, and launched our kayaks onto a beautiful body of water that we had never been on before.
On a larger scale, the Northern Forest Canoe Trail was created by stringing together a series of Native American canoe routes, and the adventurous paddler can follow this trail from Inlet, New York, across the Adirondacks and northern New England, and finish at Fort Kent, Maine on the Canadian border. The Maine Island Trail is partly comprised of Native routes, and any major inland river is an explorer’s route.
I don’t kid myself into thinking that my kayak or canoe enables me to see the shore as it was first seen by the early explorers, but the vistas are often quite new to me, and there is often a sense of curiosity about what is around the next bend in the river or point of land. It is actually quite possible to pack a lunch on every Saturday morning, have an enjoyable paddle, be home for dinner, and not have to repeat the same body of water all summer. The simple portability of cartop boats makes it easy to find new places to launch and paddle. Any interesting body of water that we can carry a boat to is ours to wander.
March 11, 2012
People never know who or what they will meet when they come into the Small Boat Shop. We had a fun and fascinating time here this past Friday, March 9. As part of a cultural outreach program, fifteen people visited, most from UUmmannaq, an island off the west coast of Greenland. About half of the group were children and teenagers. Transportation in their isolated community is by dogsled and kayak, and these young people had never seen an automobile before Thursday. We gave them a chance to see and try American recreational kayaking, and the young people had their first contact with life jackets, gore-tex drysuits, and fiberglass boats. Back home, they still use watercraft made from animal skins, driftwood, and bone, their clothing is animal skin, and Mickey Mouse T-shirts are nowhere in sight. As all of our other visitors, the Greenlanders had a delightful time paddling around Norwalk Harbor, and we had a delightful time hosting them.
Our new friends are wonderfully polite and charming. Several of them had roles in the recent, award winning, independent film by Mike Magidson, Inuk. They are happy in their simple rural life, but seemed to have no problem being immersed in this modern alien world. The next items on their itinerary are Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, the Bronx Zoo, the Explorers Club, and a tour of New York City as part of Greenland Week in NYC.
This outreach program is the product of the Ann Andreasen, Galya Morrel, and the Polar Institute. Check out the website www.uummannaqmusic.com.
I wonder who the next interesting visitor will be?
March 1, 2012
We’re spoiled here at the Small Boat Shop. Our scenic Norwalk Islands reach from Westport to Darien, and are surrounded be enough shallow water to keep the larger vessels away. In our little portable boats, we can explore the places that can only be seen with binoculars from larger craft. A mix of public lands and private properties, the islands offer a number of opportunities to beach a sea kayak, picnic, birdwatch, fish, beachcomb, and even camp out overnight.
Cockenoe, Grassy, and Shea Islands are all public parks, with access for anybody and primitive camping available by permit. Chimon Island and part of Sheffield Island are part of the McKinney Wildlife Refuge, and while it is permitted to walk the perimeter of the islands, interior access is restricted to protect the nesting birds. Dense poison ivy, thornbushes, and deer ticks also do a good job protecting the wildlife. The west end of Sheffield is owned by the Norwalk Seaport Association, and landing there is permitted by paying a small fee. This fee opens up a wonderful picnic area, and best of all, the Sheffield Lighthouse is available to explore. Most of the rest of the islands are private properties with summer houses on them. Tavern Island has a large house that was once owned by the famous producer Billy Rose, and Lillian Hellman was a guest there when she wrote “Little Foxes”. One of our customers spent summers on another island, and used to commute to work on her Alden Ocean Rowing Shell. Sprite Island is home to the Sprite Island Yacht Club, a fun, low-key organization. The interesting commercial fishing boats here are dredging for oysters that will appear on menus all over New England and New York City.
As in the rest of Long Island Sound, a trip to these islands involves crossing open water, and a seaworthy small craft, such as a sea kayak or open water rowing shell is suggested. Stay far clear of the picturesque oyster boats, as their maneuvers when dredging can be unpredictable. In season, trailered boats can launch at Veteran’s Park and cartop boats can launch at Calf Pasture Beach. Out-of-towners pay a fee at each. Cartoppers can launch for free at Community Beach on Rowayton Ave (parking for only a few cars) or at a road in East Norwalk that dead ends at the water. The nearest state ramp is on the Saugatuck River in Westport, but it is a much longer trip from there to the best parts of the Islands. More information can be found at the aforementioned book “Kayaking in and around the Norwalk Islands”. Here at the Small Boat Shop, we stock waterproof charts of the Norwalk Islands, as well as charts and guidebooks for several other great kayaking/canoeing/rowing places in New England.
February 24, 2012
We have a fun new book here at the shop. LONG LIVE OPEN WATER by local rower Wayne Lysobey. It is a collection of essays and storys mostly about rowing and racing in his open water shell in Norwalk and New England. Sea kayakers will like it, as it is about manually propelled travel on open exposed water, as opposed to flatwater racing. Wayne stops by at the SBS regularly, and if you catch him in, he'll autograph the book for you. And of course we always stock David Parks' book, KAYAKING IN AND AROUND THE NORWALK ISLANDS. David will be doing a presentation at the East Norwalk Library on May 21. I'll remind you when it gets close.
February 23, 2012
We had a successful Cold Water Workshop this past weekend. This popular free event is run every year to teach the public about how to use their small craft safely in the off season, and provides the public with an opportunity to actually test a drysuit in icy water, and see how comfortable and warm one can actually be while paddling. Several people jumped into the water. Captain Rande Wilson gave his usual excellent presentation about lifejackets and equipment, and Mark Chanski from the DEP Boatin safety division regaled us with his story about Cold Water Boot Camp, in which he VOLUNTARILY plunged into the icy water of the Great Lakes in the name of safety. The Small Boat Shop discovered long ago that keeping customers alive is very good for repeat business.
This is actually one of my favorite times of the year to be on the water. The crowds are gone, and we get to see sights that are not there in the Summer. I was paddling my Wenonah Prism solo canoe on the Connecticut River last week. There's a little known unmarked access at the end of Ely Ferry Road in Lyme, and I paddled from there north into Hamburg Cove. In Summer, this cove is crowded with moorings and large boats, but this day I had it all to myself. Next to the Hamburg Cove Yacht Club is another unmarked public access where I pulled out for lunch. On the return trip, I spotted an immature bald eagle on a branch over the water, unperturbed by my passing. I don't think I've ever been in the Cove in the off season without seeing at least one eagle, sometimes as many as five. By this time, the breeze out of the south had picked up a bit and made for some pleasant exercise paddling into it back to my car. If you want to spot eagles in the wild, but don't want to be out in your own small boat, the Connecticut Audubon Society runs eagle watch trips, on a boat with a heated cabin, out of Essex, CT.
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