Cool Video

[DarenN]

i'm leaving on sunday (July 5) to go to the Broken Group Islands, again.
this video of the area was posted on http://www.westcoastpaddler.com

http://www.bcoutback.com/videos/bgi.html

Daren.....

[zelph]

Nice video what were those cool looking water plants that looked like water baloons? I can see whythey're called the broken group islands. Looks like it get prety foggy out there. Is there much condensation in/on your tent/tarp/hammock?

[DarenN]

i'm not sure exactly what those plants are. i suspect they are a different variety of "Bladderwrack". the open ocean side can make familiar things look completely different.

it's been a long time since i was there but i remember the thick fog rolling in every afternoon. one day, with compass and GPS i "marked" my camp on an outer island, and headed straight out to sea. damn foolish but i was younger then. the fog was so thick i could barely make out the bow of my 17ft kayak. after about 1/2 hour of lazy paddling, up and down the swells, i was more than one nautical mile out to sea. i can't describe the feeling of complete solitude i felt. no sound but what i made, and that, very muted. no visual keys to anything at all. i felt very close to nature just then. i turned on a reciprical heading and just about ran aground on my own island. one of those things that make a man who he is, and it only took an hour. i'd do it again in a heartbeat!
oh yeah! condensation!! i was useing a cheap WallyWorld two man tent. you know, set up the body with crossed poles, and drape the fly over it. i could have collected water off the fly at night. but i never got wet inside.
one funny thing. every morning i would look at the outside of the fly and see trails meandering all over the water droplets left by the humidity overnight. snails and slugs were useing the fly as their personal water fountain. i got up in the middle of the night with a light and found dozens of the little buggers crawling all over the fly!

Daren.......

[realityguy]

Looks like you are going to have a nice trip.Looking at the mileage charts..what's an average paddle for you per day?..without beating yourself to death or rushing things and not enjoying the trip.Just wondering how much you cover...

[texron]

Have a great time, looks amazing. I've always wanted to try something like that. Extreme envy

[DarenN]

Looks like you are going to have a nice trip.Looking at the mileage charts..what's an average paddle for you per day?..without beating yourself to death or rushing things and not enjoying the trip.Just wondering how much you cover...

distance varies wildly. i can cruise comfortably at about 4 knots (4.6 MPH) for about three to four hours, stop for lunch, do it again and i've covered about 25 miles. i rarely paddle like that cause i'd miss too much cool stuff. on the other end of the scale, i might find an interesting place to spend the next night only a couple miles away, and spend more time packing and unpacking than i do paddling. on days that i don't paddle for long hours, i spend the rest of the day hiking, or just putzing around camp. what i like to do best is paddle lazy and check out stuff along shorelines for about three to four hours till i find a place to camp. i think of the kayak as a vehicle to get me to interesting places and do interesting things that i wouldn't be able to do with just my feet for transportation.
another nice thing about kayak touring is that i can carry all the luxuries without worrying about weight penalties. 100 pounds of gear might slow me down by a half a knot.
energy used up in paddling is a lot less than in walking. the muscles used are smaller, and they don't have to work as hard to get you where you are going. i've estimated that i could travel over 50 miles in a day if i paddled from sun-up to sun-down, at a slower pace, eating on the water, and only makeing landfall if nature calls. (that condom catheter is used by kayakers. just not me.) long distance paddlers that train for it can cover as much as 100 miles in a day.

[zelph]

after about 1/2 hour of lazy paddling, up and down the swells, i was more than one nautical mile out to sea. i can't describe the feeling of complete solitude i felt. no sound but what i made, and that, very muted. no visual keys to anything at all. i felt very close to nature just then.

That's awesome to the maxxx, thanx for sharing that special moment. That's cool!!!

another nice thing about kayak touring is that i can carry all the luxuries without worrying about weight penalties.

That's one thing that I like about it also, all the luxuries can be taken along.

I can tell you're going to have a great time, we wish you well!!!! Have a safe and adventurous journey

[DarenN]

i wish i could leave right now! but i gotta wait till sunday afternoon for my buddy to get back in town.

it's nice to have just plain 'days off' though. sort gear, plan menus, stare at charts, make jerky, dehydrate meals, stuff like that.

[zelph]

it's nice to have just plain 'days off' though. sort gear, plan menus, stare at charts, make jerky, dehydrate meals, stuff like that.

Yes, enjoy them for you will have to return to work someday

We don't want to think about that, right

[DarenN]

Yes, enjoy them for you will have to return to work someday

We don't want to think about that, right

Roger that!