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What a GREAT trip, see full spot tracking below.  Lots of great stories and pictures to come.  But first, unpacking, laundry, and washing gear.


SandyBottom Georgia Coast at SpotAdventures

Map created by SpotAdventures:GPS Geotagging

Paddling the Georgia Coast

SPOT Tracking: Where Is She Now ?

Dawn is paddling the Georgia coast this week with her well-trained kayak in the company of a group of other skilled kayakers. They launched the trip today from Tybee Island at about 2pm. Head 'em up, move 'em out.

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Gone Paddling

SPOT tracker here.
See you in a week.

Pat on the Back

I guess if you keep a blog, you also get to pat yourself on the back occasionally in your blog.

I just received notice that an article I wrote about the new Carolina Kayak Clubs (CKC) experiences starting up this year (as relates primarily to training activities), was published.  I am the current Safety and Training Chair of the CKC.   The article is the first Club contributed article to the American Canoe Associations (ACA) Safety Education and Instruction newsletter "SEI Focus".

See the article here.

What else is new?  Well I'm keeping a look out on the weather here. 

We are going to see some rain and wind as the remnants of Hurricane Ida pass through.  My regular Wednesday early morning paddle just got cancelled for tomorrow.   Luckily all weather will have passed before my Georgia paddling trip next week.  But, the sailing crew of the EYE who left Masonboro towards South Port his morning will likely see lots of rain for the next few days.  They are planning to play it safe and stay inside on the ICW for awhile on their way to Florida.  And, I've been having some fun keeping up the 'Family and Friends' blog.

Everyone's Paddling Georgia

Seems everyone’s paddling the Georgia Coast this fall, including me.

I’ve got one week of vacation left, and I wanted to take a week-long kayaking trip, but being so busy lately, there just hasn't been any time to do proper planning. So I started looking around for trips offered by outfitters who will have done all the planning and logistics.  I've guided short trips before, but never signed on for one myself.  My only requirements were that it be a trip that would provide some challenge, an ocean trip (no beginners allowed), and close enough to home that I could drive and use my own kayak and gear.

I discovered that there was an awful lot trips going on around me, and that I knew and liked all of the players.

My first plan was to join Nigel Law of Savannah Canoe and Kayak on his expedition of the Georgia Coast.  Nigel, with Steve Maynard and John Carmody were my initial BCU 4* instructors years ago, I'd have great fun with him.  But Nigel’s trip was to leave Nov 1, and conflicted with the EYE launch.

Then I found Ronnie and Marsha’s trip at Sea Kayak Georgia. I’ve met, taken classes, and paddled with both of them during a couple of past Barrier Island Kayak symposiums. This trip looked to offer a little of everything, from a couple of long paddles, to a few nights with beach base camping with days of rough water and surf play. This is my trip, and I leave on the 14th.

Another option if your looking around, is another November GA coast trip offered by Sea Kayak Carolina with Tom Nichols who is visitng from Potomac Paddle Sports, running this trip as both a BCU3* and 4* training and assessment.  Tom was my ACA instructor trainer, and is alot of fun to paddle with.

I leave in a week, and now have lots to do to get ready.  Ronnie's itinerary has us paddling a little over 50 miles of the coastline, just short of half.  I'll get a good feel for this coastline, get in some great paddling and skill work, and should have a year to plan my own trip next year paddling the full 110 miles of the coast with friends.

Moving On

Our family spent this past weekend in Hampton VA for the launch of the EYE of the World sailing expedition. It was a fun, exciting, and bittersweet weekend as parents of the crew watched their young men begin their big adventure.

Paul and I were certainly not alone in our feelings of pride, excitement, and also worry, as we talked to Adam’s and Trevor’s parents, all of us in the same boat (pardon the pun) so to speak.  So I hit on an idea to oganize another blog ‘Family and Friends of EYE of the World’, hoping to create a community of support and sharing of information and communication. Still a work in progress, and probably not really ready for prime time, but it's a start and the'll be gone a long time.

Its certainly been a busy month helping Alan get off, but now, it’s time for us to get on with some of our future plans, while Alan begins to live his own.

I’ve got a great kayaking trip planned for in a couple weeks, paddling the coastline of Georgia (I’ll post a bit about this later in the week). Maybe I’ll even see Alan sailing past, timing might be right. And Paul has a bit of work he wants to do on our sailboat ‘Dawn Patrol’.  And we've decided to start planning our own week-long sailing adventure next summer.

Over the last couple years we've become email and blog pals, and fans of Steve who also keeps a sailing blog about his adventures in his own homebuilt Pathfinder sailboat named "Spartina".  Paul and I have often talked about taking a trip like Steve and his sailing partner Bruce have, at the Coast here in NC or in Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay area.  
 
This weekend, Steve came down to the docks to meet us, and check out the EYE's boat.  It was a very fun and comfortable visit.   I'll not post the details as Steve has already done that on his blog in his posting "Crossing Paths, Past and Present".  We even talked about a trip with the 2 boats together.
 

Now time to keep moving on.  I'll be out paddling early tomorrow morning on the Lake, overall fitness and training, and to enjoy the quite and stillness one finds in the early morning on the water.