Race to the Rock Route

[stoneaxe]

I'm still not sure I'll get organized enough to do this. But I paddled most of the route today. Nice day..partly cloudy and finally above freezing. Great day for a flatwater paddle..pretty smooth with a 6-8 kt offshore. Still plenty of ice floating around though. The tide current was pretty clearly marked by it.


Too thick to paddle through easily


I'll post the ice pics here but I've got more pics on the blog of the route.
http://newenglandsup.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/race-to-the-rock-route/

When I got to the end of the loop I found where a lot of the ice was coming from. I couldn't land at the beach where I wanted to.  I still had almost a mile to go when I hit the ice. I followed the ice over until it was relatively close to shore in about 1 foot of water at the edge. I had to break through about 50 yards before it would hold me. Then I crossed another 100 yards before getting onto the snow.





Had the Harbor Master pay a visit. Seems a couple of folks had called in about a man on the ice. No big deal...nice conversation actually. I will have to wear my inflatable PFD for these paddles in the future though.

[Shnoover]

Stone - I feel much better about Seattle's 35 degrees now!  Think I'll have to run with the boardshorts tomorrow out of respect for the Ice Man - sorry, Man on the Ice...

[surfpainter]

..And I complain about 48 degree air and water!  not any more.  I think  (Winter Paddling Awards) should be created for the "Zone".

[stoneaxe]

This was actually a nice day...almost 40 and plenty of sun. My feet got a little chilled when I was crossing the ice but thats the only time any part of me was cold. Didn't even wear my hood. It's all what you get used to really. Not that big a deal when you've had 50 years of practice.