I just unwrapped this so I have not had a time to do a thorough review of it but from the bit of time I spent on a lake last week with one it has a suprising amount of speed for a 15.5′ kayak, a very predicatable and reliable secondary stability and turns with just the slightest initiation but tracks in a very well mannered behavior when on an even keel.

There are some innovative changes with the channelized hard chines on the bow and the sharp rails toward the stern.  With the kayak weighted toward the rear the highly rockered stern stays in the water when paddling but on edge the stems break free for easy carving or skidding turns.

Delphin 155 Profile

Delphin 155 Bow

Delphin 155 Bow Hull Detail

Delphin 155 Stern Profile

Delphin 155 Stern Hull Detail

Delphin 155 Cockpit Detail

Delphin 155 Seat Detail

Bow View; LV Top, MV Middle, Std. Bottom

LV Top, MV Middle, Standard Bottom

Stern View; LV Top, MV Middle, Std. Bottom

P&H Cetus MV 

First off, I am biased towards P&H, Venture and Impex kayaks which is why I use them in my instructional fleet and carry them in my Showroom. A further factor here is I found myself in the standard size Cetus more and more for teaching, guiding and just for the heck of it paddling. To celebrate my business’, The River Connection, fifth year anniversary in Hyde Park, NY and for working typically 70+ hours per week I ordered a Cetus MV when it barely existed as a prototype last September (2009). It has finally come in and I’ve had it on the water for about four days now and can report a bit on it’s performance thus far.   

My Specs:  

I am 6’, 182lbs, size 11 shoe, 33” inseam and 32 waist. I paddle with a very high angle style and usually use a Mitchell Black Magic 215cm or a Werner Cyprus 215cm paddle and sometimes a 36” single blade Mitchell Touring Special as my back up.  

Mfg. Information  

• Length 17’9” (Accuracy Checked)
• Max. Width 21.5” (behind the cockpit)
• Max Deck Height 13”
• Volume 87.7gal.
• Cockpit 31.5”x16” Inside Opening (Accuracy Checked)
• Weight 55lbs Fiberglass (Accuracy Checked)
• Weight 47.5lbs Carbon Kevlar Ultralight w/Carbon Kevlar Deck (Accuracy Checked)
• Skeg bungee spring released P&H foil blade.
• Price: $3600 Fiberglass / $5220 Full Carbon Kevlar Hull/Deck w/Keel Strip

Model Tested = Carbon Kevlar Hull/Deck with Keel Strip.  

Day 1 Paddle  

My first experience with this kayak was not the typical day on the water. The kayak got put right to work in assisting Karen Knight (who paddles a Cetus LV) teaching in a number of kayaking scenarios. (Quantitative test paddling would have to wait for a few days.) My first reaction sitting in the cockpit of this Cetus MV was that it felt like a tailored fit. What I mean by that is that my toes have room but the deck doesn’t feel overly high, there is solid contact with the thigh braces but without having to raise my knees to create the contact, my rear feels automatically centered in the kayak. This superb fit kept asserting itself throughout the time on the water teaching where a quite moment would allow me to reflect something to the effect of “Oh Yeah! This fits NICE!” Other words like crisp, quick, sporty, efficient, reactive and smooth were also adjectives that kept bubbling up.  

Some other touches that I noticed are that the seat band is now attached instead of being free floating in the slot at the back of the seat pan, the skeg bungee has been reduced in it’s power to work with gravity which makes the up-haul much easier and a small length of thin cord has been attached to dangle from the lower edge of the skeg blade as a manual tug line in case the skeg housing gets jammed with debris.  

During the class with Karen Knight the conditions on the Hudson River Were quite calm with a flooding current of about 2mph. During rescue scenarios I did get the chance to scull/balance brace and roll. All of these maneuvers seemed easy and effortless to execute but any judgments on rollability of a kayak is something I’m not going to weigh in on. Speed and manuverability on this first day was as I’ve come to expect from the standard size Cetus but with a bit less volume around me it seemed to take less effort in heeling the kayak into skidding turns as it was easier to hold at a higher angle with less effort.   

Day 2 Paddle   

Conditions = 6pm till 8:30pm, 12”-18” chop, 3mph ebbing tidal current, 14mph sustained winds from NW gusting to 25mph, diminished to 4” chop with 7mph sustained winds from NW. On the water working again but this time with a couple that wanted to do a short kayak tour of the area. Starting off a placid calm evening paddle this wasn’t and prepared the participants as best as possible prior to heading out. For me this meant a lot of maneuvering in wind and chop around the two other kayaks to keep everyone in the desired heading and provide coaching, encouragement and advice as we went. This made for a rather effective test bed for a number of attributes of the Cetus MV. I seemed to be able to accelerate and flit from person to personcertainly lend themselves to it but none occurred in any direction I faced or traveled. Waves coming from abeam didn’t seem to be large enough to disturb me beyond the kayak’s primary stability range. Considering this performance now I wanted there to be bigger waves and swells to see if the Cetus MV would be as confidence inspiring as it was in this size wave and wind conditions.  with wind, waves and current coming from a variety of directions. I kept feeling for weather cocking as the conditions would   

Day 3 Paddle

 Flat calm conditions allowed me to do a little testing using an inclinometer on the iPhone App.-Thoedolite and an Oregon 400c GPS unit to determine speed and distance on the Hudson River abeam of any current.  

• Measured Mile Performance = 5.7mph avg. speed
• Maximum Sprint Speed = 7.5mph
• Right Side Max. Heel Angle = 72 degrees before tipping
• Left Side Max Heel Angle = 68 degrees before tipping (I’m definitely right handed)
• Stationary Heeled Skidding w/ Forward Sweep, Turn Diameter = 14′ either direction

Coming in after sprinting around in the mooring field I did manage to catch on a couple of small swells left over from a boat wake. The Cetus MV quickly picked up on these and scooted right along with only half hearted forward strokes from me to keep on the face of them. Hmmmm, when’s the next steady north wind and flooding tide here that I can play hookey to go surfing? Could be fun!  

Synopsis:  

Needless to say I’m thoroughly pleased with the way the Cetus MV has come together in fit and performance. As with the others of the Cetus lineup it is an expedition kayak that with just a touch of technique can be used as a maneuverable day/play boat now with a sizing range to fit the 5 foot 100lb in the LV size,to 6’5” 250lb paddler in the regular Cetus and then there’s me quite happily paddling with my new MV in the middle.  

See you on the water,  

Marshall Seddon  

The River Connection, Inc.  

Hyde Park, NY   

www.the-river-connection.com 

While it’s still frozen in these parts things are still happening on the kayaking front.

The Paddler’s Pool Practices at the Culinary Institute of America Student Recreation Center Pool have been well attended and enjoyed by everyone in the pool.

The River Connection is very proud to be the Charter North Shore Kayak Dealership in the USA!!!!!  We’ve had a few of these kayaks at the Paddler’s Pool Practices for both our use and for others to play with.

I’ve written reviews of them which are now on www.Paddling.net 

I will get some pictures here on this post shortly of the new kayaks.

My Specs:
I am 6’, 188lbs, size 11 shoe, 33” inseam and 34 waist. I paddle with a very high angle style and usually use a Mitchell Black Magic 215cm or a Werner Cyprus 215cm paddle.

North Shore Atlantic:

Atlantic Bow

Atlantic Stern

Atlantic Color Flash Atlantic Profile

  Kayak Specs:

• Length 16’11”
• Width 22”
• Volume: 95 gallons
• Weight: 54lbs w/3 VCP hatches on.

Water Conditions: Hudson River freshwater at Hyde Park, NY. Enough ice has thawed out today to allow me to actually move around without dodging floes. 3 miles to the north the river is still socked in with ice. Slight breeze from the north at 4-6mph. Flooding tide at approximately 2mph current speed.

Performance: (using Garmin Oregon 400C gps unit) {YMMV}

Fast Maintainable Cruising Speed = 5.4-5.9 mph traveling abeam of the current

Sprinting Speed = 6.4-6.7mph traveling abeam of the current

Weather Cocking – negligible influence at these wind conditions

Skeg Performance – makes the kayak track extremely hard and dead on at full deployment. Minimal influence on speed.

 Stability: Overall the Atlantic has a very civilized primary stability and extremely smooth transition up on edge to secondary stability. The kayak was very comfortable to keep at a 45 degree heel and a maximum of 60 degrees before passing secondary stability. Recover with a low or high brace felt effortless when bringing it back from capsizing.

Maneuverability: The Atlantic will perform a skidding turn (heeling to the outside of the turn) underway with very little initiation from either a sweep stroke or a stern draw. Moving forward the tightest turn with 45 degrees of heel with just a forward sweep stroke was a 25′ diameter and on the reverse a skidding turn of 17′ diameter with a reverse sweep and 45 degree heel. The tightest turn I was able to execute was 16′ diameter moving forward with a 60 degree heel holding the paddle in a bow rudder and completing with a bow draw at the end of momentum.

Construction and Outfitting:

As I mentioned in my Introduction the North Shore line is very nicely finished and appointed. Fiberglass with gel coat is the only available layup with a palate choice of Red, Tangerine, Yellow or White Deck with Black seam and White Hull or Royal Blue Deck with Yellow Seam and White Hull. The North Shore label is amid ships either side of the freeboard hull and highlighted by a “Color Flash” which is a splash of color the same as the deck color.

 Starting at the bow, the seam flares out wider around the tip of the boat making for a protective sort of cap at either end of the kayak. Rescue toggles are tethered so as not to dangle but have bushings around the cord to make the toggle stand above the deck for easy grip while in the water. The toggles can unclip from a convenient stainless ring that held by the end recessed deck fittings (rdfs) which I find handy for bow/stern tie downs while cartopping. Low profile rdfs are used through out the hull with stainless Phillips head machine screws that set into glassed in lock nuts so there are no additional penetrations through the hull. A 70P compass recess is standard on all models. A 10” VCP hatch is forward of the front bulkhead which has a drilled pinhole for pressure equalization. Aft of the cockpit is an 8” dayhatch and a larger 11”x18” oval VCP hatch. All hatches are tethered on to the perimeter lines. The cockpit opening measures 30”x15.75” inside of coaming,with a 27” measurement from the rear of the seating surface to the front coaming, which is plenty for my 33” inseam legs to clear without contacting my shins against the coaming edge. Thighbraces are part of the coaming and provide good coverage allowing for contact and control. The edges of the thighbraces are not curved dramatically so I did not find them impinging on my legs (23” thigh circumference). The front deck clearance is 12” and the rear is 9” from the seat pan to the top of the rear coaming. (9.5” from the hull to the top of the rear coaming) The lip of the coaming is 3/4” off the recess on deck so it takes a bungee randed skirt just fine but caution should be used if a rubber randed skirt is used. The coaming lip is 1” deep. The seat is moderately contoured with a seat pan covering of nylon/thermoformed cushion and a 15.5” width for the hips with the same cushioned hip pads in place. These are on quick relase straps so they can be adjusted or removed quite easily. The backband measures 5.5”x14” with a covering of the same style cushioning that does not rise above the coaming edge so as not to get in the way of entries into the kayak. While I usually don’t use a back-band I found that I liked this one as it kept me forward in the seat and my tailbone off the rise at the back of the seat. Adjustment for the back-band is by a broad Velcro strap that is best adjusted before getting on the water.

 The pricing on the four solo kayaks by North Shore is $3200 which in comparison to other prices of similar class kayaks is several hundered dollars less.

 I am looking forward to more warmer days to put the North Shore Atlantic through more miles as I have thoroughly enjoyed it to date

North Shore Polar:

Polar Profile

Polar Bow

Polar Stern

Kayak Specs:

• Length 16’9”
• Width 21.5”
• Volume: 92.5 gallons
• Weight: 53lbs w/3 VCP hatches on.

Water Conditions: Hudson River freshwater at Hyde Park, NY. Enough ice has thawed out today to allow me to actually move around without dodging floes. 3 miles to the north the river is still socked in with ice. Barely any wind. Flooding tide at approximately 2mph current speed.

Performance: (using Garmin Oregon 400C gps unit) {YMMV}

Fast Maintainable Cruising Speed = 5.2-5.4 mph traveling abeam of the current

Sprinting Speed = 6.3mph traveling abeam of the current

Weather Cocking – no wind present

Skeg Performance – makes the kayak track dead on at full deployment. Minimal influence on speed.

Stability: The Polar’s primary stability is predictable but sprightly. More like a sports car feel. Quick to respond but not unforgiving. What becomes evident is the dynamite secondary stability. Bringing the kayak up on edge it still had range of secondary stability beyond what my flexibility would allow. At 60 degrees of heel the kayak was still quite happy parking on it’s side but I simply couldn’t lift any higher. I used a convenient ice floe for a two fingertips balance so as to exaggerate the heel. When I finally tilted past approximately 75 degrees of heel I could feel the kayak start to turn turtle. This is one of the few kayaks I’ve been in that I can actually do a balance brace in.

Maneuverability: I’ve been having way to much fun with this kayak at pool sessions for it’s nimbleness. Playing slalom amongst other boaters in the pool has been lots of fun with this kayak. (It’s frozen around here at this time of year. Gotta take your fun as you can get it.) The rocker over the length of this kayak is responsible for this with 4.5” of rise in the bow and 3.5” of rise in the stern keel line before the rake to the ends of the kayak. For that amount of curvature in the length of the hull I’m surprised at the quick clip that the Polar maintains underway. On flat conditions a skidding turn (heeling the boat to the outside of the turn) with 45 degrees of tilt and full sweep strokes resulted in a 22′ diameter turn. Going in reverse with the same amount of heel and reverse sweep strokes was a 14′ diameter turn. My best forward turn with 60 degrees of heel coupled with a bow rudder completing into a bow draw at the end of momentum resulted in a 14′-15′ diameter turn.

Construction and Outfitting:  As I mentioned in my Introduction the North Shore line is very nicely finished and appointed. Fiberglass with gel coat is the only available layup with a palate choice of Red, Tangerine, Yellow or White Deck with Black seam and White Hull or Royal Blue Deck with Yellow Seam and White Hull. The North Shore label is amid ships either side of the freeboard hull and highlighted by a “Color Flash” which is a splash of color the same as the deck color.

Starting at the bow, the deck rises from the seam line in a angled flare to a low flatish deck which has a height of 11.5” from the bottom of the hull. The appearance looks much lower from the cockpit though. There is plenty of space for large sized feet and long legs due to the corners formed by the hard chines and foot rails that are placed well forward. Rescue toggles are tethered so as not to dangle but have bushings around the cord to make the toggle stand above the deck for easy grip while in the water. The toggles can unclip from a convenient stainless ring that held by the end recessed deck fittings (rdfs) which I find handy for bow/stern tie downs while cartopping. Low profile rdfs are used through out the hull with stainless Phillips head machine screws that set into glassed in lock nuts so there are no additional penetrations through the hull. A 70P compass recess is standard on all models. A VCP 8” dayhatch and large 11”x18” oval hatch covers make storage easy in the main bow and stern compartments. All hatches are tethered on to the perimeter lines. The cockpit opening measures 29.5”x15.75” inside of coaming,with a 26.5” measurement from the rear of the seating surface to the front coaming, which is just enough for my 33” inseam legs to clear without contacting my shins against the coaming edge. Thighbraces are part of the coaming and provide good coverage allowing for contact and control. The edges of the thighbraces are not curved dramatically so I did not find them impinging on my legs (23” thigh circumference). The front deck clearance is 11.5” and the rear is 8” from the seat pan to the top of the rear coaming. (9” from the hull to the top of the rear coaming) The lip of the coaming is 3/4” off the recess on deck so it takes a bungee randed skirt just fine but caution should be used if a rubber randed skirt is used. The coaming lip is 1” deep. The seat is moderately contoured with a seat pan covering of nylon/thermoformed cushion and a 15” width for the hips with the same cushioned hip pads in place. These are on quick relase straps so they can be adjusted or removed quite easily. The backband measures 5.5”x14” with a covering of the same style cushioning which rises just above the back coaming but pivots easily enough so as not to get in the way of entries into the kayak. While I usually don’t use a back-band I found that I liked this one as it kept me forward in the seat and my tailbone off the rise at the back of the seat. Adjustment for the back-band is by a broad Velcro strap that is best adjusted before getting on the water.

The pricing on the four solo kayaks by North Shore is $3200 which in comparison to other prices of similar class kayaks is several hundered dollars less.

I can see this kayak is going to be a nimble favorite of mine for 2010 and am looking forward to getting amongst some waves to try it out in the surf.

I found myself teaching from a position of bobbing around in the water so I apologize for not being in a position of getting action pictures but below is a quick shot that I got between my dunkages.

Busy North End of the Pool

Busier South End of the Pool

Pictures that I missed due to my being in the water were Alex discovering the Slo-Mo Roll : Paddlefloat re-enter and roll, Alicio discovering duct tape does not hold a paddle together , Neil rolling the Northshore Atlantic now that his doctor cleared his shoulder for play plus a dozen other shennanigans that I’m too low on coffee at the moment to recall.

More pics next time is suppose.

See y’all on at the pool on the 17th.

Marshall

Great turnout of paddler’s from around the region attended.  Upon walking into the Culinary Institute of America Student Recreation Center Pool they understood why I call it The Spa.  With water temperatures of 98 degrees (I kid you not) it seemed no one had any compunctions about practicing wet exits or any number of re-entries.

As is the typical no one topic was being presented or addressed but I saw everything being played with from skidding turns, bracing, rolls, rescues, balance drills, etc.

From the turn out I might have to add some more pool dates in the New Year as it looks like the next session on January 10th is probably full.

My camera was having a devil of a time with the hot temperatures and humidity so not all the photos came out but below (in no particular order) are the best of the bunch.  I’ll prewarm the camera next time and not leave it in the car overnight.

I used to fit in the boat, really!

Alicio playing Aquaman on the far side of the pool.

Deb figuring out a new boat.

Deb making the Mystic do a Skidding Turn

Dorothy & Deb - Balance and Body Mechanics for Edging

George

Josh is under there somewhere!

Josh pushing his limits.

Leo and his red hot chili kayak

Hanging out before paddle float re-entries.

Leo and Rich

Thank you Neil for playing shutterbug.  I’ll take over more photographer duties next time. 

I’ve been told the thermostat should be fixed before next time so the water should only be around 88 degrees instead of crockpot temperatures.

See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection

The weather forecast was for Small Craft Advisory on the coast so the calm conditions locally made the Hudson an excellent choice for a Tuesday afternoon.

Heading out from Hudson, NY which has a really unique history as a whaling port more than 110 miles inland from the sea, the ebbing tide helped zip me a long to the Hudson.  The calm waters made for a neat reflection of the light clouds in the sky with the Catskills as a backdrop past the Hudson Lighthouse.

Southward View from Hudson, NY

Hudson Lighthouse

Getting into the groove of a fast effective forward stroke I forgot how shallow the river gets here in places especially around low tide.  Just north of Rogers Island it felt like I was paddling in molasses when I realized I was in only a foot of water over a sandy bottom.  The shipping channel is only 1/4 mile wide at most here and it quickly becomes sand bar shallows outside of it.

Passing south of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge going into Catskill, Olana, Frederick Church’s estate, comes into view commanding the hilltop that Frederick Church described as “I’ve found 10 acres of heaven 30 miles from Albany and it’s all mine!”  At least I think that’s the wording that was on the sign when I went to Olana to check it out.  Definitely worth the trip and in the winter the views are unimpeded all around.

Rip Van Winkle Bridge

Olana

Made the 5.8 miles to Catskill faster than I thought and had about 20 minutes to kill waiting for closer to slack tide to start back.  Poked up the Catskill Creek a bit into town.  Amazing amount of urban renovation going on along the creek near Bridge Street.  Old mill buildings being renovated into what appears to be upscale apartments, etc.  Good to see.

Heading back I found a small park north of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and south of the power transmission lines.  Nice sandy beach on the south side of it makes for easy landings.  Turns out to be the site of an old icehouse, of which there were many on the River at the turn of the last century.  Not as much to be seen in the way of ruins like that at Nutten Hook near Stuyvesant further to the north but a great little rest stop I added to my list.

With slack finally relinquishing and the flood beginning I made good time from the power transmission lines up to the neat little village of Athens.  Nice waterfront community with a couple of cafes along a main street that fronts the water. 

Shot back across the south end of Middle Stockport Flats Island and to the Hudson Launch.

Distance = 11.5 miles in about 2.5 hours with some poking about.  Not a bad way to spend some time on a Tuesday afternoon.

GPS track for Hudson to Catskill

http://maps.google.com/?t=p&z=15&ll=42.256290435791016,-73.79792022705078&q=http://api.motionxlive.com/motionx-remote/api/gps/host/d203d3c8-8228-4eea-b85e-243f488c4d01

GPS track for Catskill to Hudson

http://maps.google.com/?t=p&z=15&ll=42.21926498413086,-73.86795806884766&q=http://api.motionxlive.com/motionx-remote/api/gps/host/50e3bb51-9d85-4a61-b3c3-fc704f6dde80

See you on the water,

Marshall

Greenwood Lake Clearing

The Launch is not a regular one to be expected as Neil had gotten permission from one owner but that was never communicated to the co-owner so there was a bit of confusion and delay in getting on the water.  There is a park on the NJ West side that’s worth looking into as an alternate launch as the regular in-season cost to launch from Emerald Point is $20.

As soon as we moved our cars to the proper parking area we were rather amazed at the population that came to spend the afternoon at the bar.  Being ignorant of motorcycle hangouts I learned that Emerald Point is a happening place as at least 40-50 motorcylists arrived by the time we put on the water.  Go figure.

A few fishermen on runabouts were out but that was the extent of the motor boat traffic as we started heading southward down the shoreline on the east side but otherwise very few others were there to see us off except as you see below.   

Well Wisher

 85% of the shoreline is private house/property after another with the surrounding ridgeline having no development on them. 

Michael & Leo Leading

Neil & Leo

Photo of Photographer

At about mid-way down the lake we heard quite a ruckus of helicopter noise.  Neil said that he had seen quite a few Emergency Responder traffic on the way in.  

SAR Chopper

SAR Chopper

SAR Chopper

 As it turns out this wasn’t an exercise but a search for a missing fisherman whose boat was found but no sign of him. http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/November09/16/GwdLk_search-16Nov09.html Hanging out at the south end of the Lake a bit we realized that we should start making progress back north as it’s getting dark earlier and earlier these days.

Michael, Neil, Leo & Barbara

Neil & Barbara

 We nipped off the very northern portion of the lake opting to save a little time getting back to the laucnch.

Total distance was 12.2 miles although the GPS track/map below shows 12 as I was a little late on the water to turn on the MotionX program. 

http://maps.google.com/?t=p&z=15&ll=41.21305847167969,-74.29914855957031&q=http://api.motionxlive.com/motionx-remote/api/gps/host/facd6d7c-8f03-45bb-82cf-be64ba582b45 

All in all, a very pretty day on the water on a lake that is probably much easier to enjoy in the Off Season for motor boats. 

If anyone has a suggestion for a better public launch than what we used please feel free to drop a line.

See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

I’ve paddled past the old Poughkeepsie Rail Bridge innumerable times and over the past year have observed the changes being wrought by the crews working above on the bridge to bring the Walkway Over the Hudson into existence. It officially opened on October 3rd, 2009 (although I still remember wandering out onto it as far back as high school)

I’m well aware of how popular of a park feature rail trails tend to be but I was quite impressed with the number of walkers, roller bladers, bicyclists, stroller pushers and dog walkers were using the bridge on a gray afternoon.  For the 45 minute walk I took across and back I would estimate there were at least 300 folks, total, using the Walkway from both the Poughkeepsie and Highland sides of the Bridge.

The total distance from end to end is 1.55 miles according to my gps app.

Follow this link for the gps track of the Walk;

http://maps.google.com/?t=p&z=15&ll=41.712501525878906,-73.92597961425781&q=http://api.motionxlive.com/motionx-remote/api/gps/host/0061a2f0-8b5e-4d86-a074-44aedf938a97

Here are some assorted views of the Walkway.

Walkway Entrance - Poughkeepsie, NY

Walkway Over the Hudson Looking Westward

Walkway Over the Hudson - Over Poughkeepsie

Mid-Span Looking Northward

Mid-Span Looking Southward

Walkway from the Water

Originally I had planned to do a full day circumnavigating Staten Island but the clock seemed to be against me.  Getting a late start on the day I shifted gears to a different course for the day to complete another piece of the Hudson River Puzzle, which was to launch at the Statue of Liberty State Park in New Jersey and paddle south through the Veranzanno Narrows to South Beach on Staten Island.

It has been quite a few years since I’ve paddled the Upper Harbor and I had forgotten the sights and sounds.  The day was promising to be a pretty fair weather day with high temps in the mid-50s and winds out of the West-Northwest.  Temperature got a little warmer than that but the winds never shifted from Southwest to West by Southwest.

Arriving at the cartop boat launch at Liberty Island State Park I wasn’t alone as shortly after a Kerry from JSSKA pulled in with her Impex Mystic atop her car.  After chatting a bit I got geared up and ready for the day.

Liberty State Park Launch

First destination was to go play tourista, of course, and circle around the Statue of Liberty.  Know where the Statue of Liberty Ferry channels are!  They’re working, kayakers are sightseeing.

Statue of Liberty from the South

Statue of Liberty from the East

Statue of Liberty from the North

All of these pictures are staying outside of the Security Zone bouys.  At this point the wind was being a bit chilly with just a Stohlquist baselayer on so I pulled into a cove at Liberty State Park to don a paddle jacket to cut the breeze a bit before heading south.

1′-1.5′ chop out of the southwest with breeze but tide running in my favor made for good headway towards Robbins Reef Light.

Robbins Reef Light

Now what the pictures don’t convey is the continuous sense and reminder that I was the smallest and possibly the slowest craft on the water with the constant movement of ferries, tugs and other working boats plying the channels, or mostly in the channels.  The other aspect that was a constant grating was the incessant droning of sightseeing helicoptors.  One every 2-5 minutes.  I definitely don’t remember that traffic from years ago.

Past Robbins Reef I passed across the main channel for the Staten Island Ferry as quickly as I could and started getting closer to the Veranzanno Narrows. 

Veranzanno Narrows Bridge from the North

Closer to the Veranzanno Narrows Bridge

Approaching the bridge and the Fort Wadsworth Light on Staten Island the current was much more distinct and powerful all of which helped propel me into the Lower Harbor.

Fort Wadsworth Light

Lower Harbor

You might be able to pick out the face of the Lower Harbor Greeter in this picture.  If not, look below.

Lower Harbor Greeter

A harbor seal was lazing around the eddy line on the south side of the Staten Island Tower of the bridge.  Can’t close in on the picture too much before it pixelates but after scoping me out at about 20 yards off I must’ve passed muster and wasn’t worth investigating further as a pair of flippers was the last I saw of the Greeter diving down.

The atmosphere of the Lower Harbor along South Beach on Staten Island is the polar opposite of the behavior of the upper harbor.  A few large ships transiting through way out in the channel but otherwise placid and quite was the scene.  Much more of an environment to kayaking for enjoyment rather than playing aquatic Frogger.

South Beach looking to the North

Sands of South Beach

Breaktime was on the beach near Grant City, Staten Island.  While I wasn’t overly uncomfortable in my Kokatat Surfskins, I was supremely happy I had packed my Tempest Drypants and some fleece.  Just made lunch all that much better to be toasty and comfy.  After some victuals and a bit of Starbucks I fugured it’s close enough to low tide, the ebb current should be lessening at the Narrows.  Hopping back in the kayak I got to use the winds to my advantage and popped the sail up to go zipping back up to the bridge at about 10mph.  Now that’s making time! 

Tide prediction tables are absolutes right?  At 2pm the tide is supposed to turn off and everthing is then supposed to work to your advantage right?  Ah, I forgot prediction means educated guestimate.  That current which helped zip me south through the Narrows was still going strong to the point where I thought I was setting up for attaining on a whitewater course in the eddy of the south tower and hopping from eddy to eddy on the way up.  Even with the sail helping on abeam winds progress was slow until about the Staten Island Ferry Terminal where I gave up on the hip flexor workout countering the sail’s pull on the boat, dropped the sail and beelined it for Robbins Reef.  Finally the tide had started to flood and the boost was welcome as the sun was definitely lower in the sky at this point.  A few park goers observed me pull into the launch and after pack up I got to watch the sun drop below the horizon at 4:50pm as I was driving out I78.

Did I mention these shorter days are for the birds?

Next week looks to be a bit of Indian Summer so perhaps Sandy Hook South will be the next installment.

If you would like to follow along on the GPS course click the link below;

http://maps.google.com/?t=p&z=15&ll=40.693233489990234,-74.05838775634766&q=http://api.motionxlive.com/motionx-remote/api/gps/host/505c8317-3d05-48da-b94d-567215a474e2

See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

www.the-river-connection.com

See you on the water,

Marshall