Winter Beach at Shoreham

I visited my cousin who lives in Shoreham, Long Island this weekend and took pictures of the shore from the beach club. This is on the north shore of Long Island, looking towards Connecticut.

Looking west.

Across the Sound.

All bundled up, Gwennie and cousin Caroline.

Frozen sand.

Mr. Gabriel.

A shimmering pool of water. These pools seemed to stay longer than on a summer day because of the frozen ground.

Cool patterns of ice crystals.

The high tide line was covered with these mushy clumps of frozen foam and sand.

The day was brisk and cold, and the beach was stark but beautiful. If only everyone could afford a private beach like this.

Big Red Or Big “Sled”

I took my big plastic paddleboard sledding. It was pretty successful, especially when I used my land paddle to steer. You can't do this with a delicate board!

The mount

Heading down the icy decline

Kirsten took these videos with her iPhone. I actually started getting competent toward the end.

Hauling it uphill was pretty easy with the strap. I just slung it around my shoulder and started walking.

Funny Picture, But Why?

Can anyone explain what makes this picture funny?

Polar Paddle at Down Under

Photo courtesy of Down Under Kayaking. That's me just to the right of the board, having a fairly good hair day.

I went for a New Year's Day paddle at Down Under in Westport, Connecticut today. This was a benefit for Als Angels, which is a charity for children with cancer and their families. Eleven of us brave souls gathered in the late morning to paddle the freezing Saugatuck River.

Here's the launch site by the Down Under shop, which you can barely see on the left. Several paddlers are already in the water. That red slab on the dock is Big Red.

I always obsess about what board to bring. Since I definitely didn't want to fall and there was a possibility of ice, I decide on taking Big Red with my Larry Allison fin. That meant I would have the slowest, most ungainly board on the river, but what the hell. It's a fun board to paddle, and I don't care about showing off anymore.

We started paddling up the Saugatuck. I had my camera with me but I was hesitant to take too many pictures because II was so damn slow compared to all the other paddlers. I didn't expect to be in the front, but I didn't want to be last by so much either.

The river was bleak and bare. No vegetation anywhere, which wasn't surprising, giving everything a brown color. The day was gorgeous though. It was about freezing but nice and sunny. There were patches of ice floating down river and along the shore.

Less than a mile up the river, we slower folks caught up to the guys in racing boards. They were all stopped at a certain point on the river.

The Saugatuck was completely frozen over here. Those guys didn't want to risk their delicate boards through the ice. I paddled up laughing. “Anybody call for a tugboat?” Now was a moment for a plastic board to shine. I started paddling through the ice (actually on top, then I'd break through and make a channel) and one of the racers followed me. Every stroke meant I had to punch my paddle blade through the ice.

Yeah, it was funny. I was having a blast. After a couple hundreds yards though the ice was getting too  thick. I could do punch through but the I was worried about damaging my paddle blade. So I turned around with John, the only paddler hardy enough to follow. Even going back was a bit of an effort through our own channel.

John making his way through the ice.

I'm happy to say that the paddle was fun with no mishaps. I probably could have brought Kirsten's board, which has the advantage of being much faster than mine. On the other hand, I would not have had so much fun icebreaking.

Best to everybody who shared the adventure with me. Now I need to do my own polar paddles.

Tendinitis — Oy!

This has been a cruel paddling season. First there was the trashed Marlin (still not sold) and then tendinitis. It started before Thanksgiving. I was waking up with some pain in my right shoulder, enough to keep me from going back to sleep. So, I took an Advil and went back to sleep. No big deal. After about two weeks of this, the pain subsided.

Then I was playing with my girls, and whilst holding one I got twisted counter clockwise. Oooh. I hurt some, but I had the feeling I'd be paying for that later.

Two days later the pain in my shoulder started to grow. And grow. And grow. The pain was so bad I was gulping ibuprofen shamelessly. I took a day off work and get a cortisone shot from my friendly neighborhood orthopedist.

Two days later the pain subsided, but no paddling yet. Doctor Krishnamurthy says I need thirty days of full rest. No pulling or pushing. That means no Freezin' For A Reason paddle. No doing anything with the upper body until the middle of January.

Darn. I was just getting ready to start winter paddling again. Blah.

Freezin For A Reason

This looks like a great event, as long as the weather is tolerable. 

Winter Walk in Fall

It's been hard to get paddling lately, but I went for a lovely walk at Teatown Reservation with my family. It's sort of a post-Thanksgiving tradition.

Winter seems to be coming early this year. The lake was freezing over and it's still November.

The boathouse. I've been climbing over this structure since I was a kid.

This waterfall set off a cold spray. It's the remains of an old damn.

Zee ice forming. It's still a skin, but give it a month and we'll be ice skating here.

You can clearly see the border of the ice skin here.

The girls crossing a floating bridge.

Must play balance beam!