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From: Chuck Holst <CHUCK_at_multitech.com>
subject: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 12:48:27 -0600
>>And while I'm at it, why is Greenland covered with ice and Iceland
covered with forests?<<

********************************************

Greenland was named by Eric the Red to attract settlers from Iceland,
where there are not many trees, let alone forests. The climate was
milder then, and there were no Inuit in southern Greenland (which
might put an upper limit on the antiquity of Greenland style kayaks
and paddles).

Chuck Holst

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From: larry bliven <foxhill_at_shore.intercom.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:34:39 -0500
From: Dave Kruger


> [Despite a wet paddle today and a couple dozen swans, my appetite for
paddling is unsated.]
>

Mid-Atlantic East Coast US weather has been out of sight and still like
summer.
Just finished 3 days of paddling in 60/70 degrees air temps...sunny blue
sky.
One guy wore a beathing suit today, his dry suit is still packed away.
Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.

The paddling here in the Chesapeake Bay area is just too fine.
if Snow geese have arrived, it's winter?

bye bye bliven





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From: Sisler, Clyde <Clyde.Sisler_at_wang.com>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 09:33:43 -0500
Who's got plans for next summer?  Only 7 months away!


> Remember back in the 60's when everyone was 'dropping out'?  (If you do,
you're showing your age).  Well, I'm about to do the same to end this
century.

I expect to pack the camping & kayak gear and head north up the US east
coast in mid/late May.  I will take 4-6 weeks to travel/paddle up through
Maine, New Brunswick, Quebec and Nova Scotia, arriving in Northern
Newfoundland late June/early July.

If I can figure how to do it, I'd like to head up to Nain, in central
Labrador for a couple of weeks to see if Professor Inverbon is still
researching the Inuits in that area.

There's a 100-150 mile stretch in that area with 100's (1000's?) of islands
that look really neat on the maps.  The only problem is you can't get there
from here.  There are no roads up the coast.  Having an outfitter fly me in
is probably out of the question because of cost; I'll be on a budget
(shudder). There is a supply boat that goes up that way every couple of
weeks....

I think the Labrador Current flows from Greenland, bringing all those ice
bergs (that sank the Titanic) and ice floes.  What's the difference between
ice floes and ice bergs?  I know Flo up the road like 'burgers (sorry).  And
while I'm at it, why is Greenland covered with ice and Iceland covered with
forests?  (curious minds want to know).  I think floes are more like flat
frozen river ice that breaks up and ice bergs are those big things that
break off a glacier.

I think lots of whales and seals summer in these waters.  There are also
lots of bald eagles and caribu.  There are only scattered Inuit (Eskimo)
villages and the landscape starts getting pretty barren.  I think the area
is classified as sub-artic.  They do have 2000-5000 foot cliffs on the coast
which must be awesome to see.  I haven't found too much information about
the area yet.  There aren't many tourist/travel guides.  The most I've found
so far is hunting/fishing trip type stuff.  I have a cruising guide
(sailing) for Labrador on order.

I think July is mid-summer and averages 60-70F on the coast.  From this
point on, I'd be able to head south at a more leisurely pace.
 
Northern Newfoundland includes at least two fantastic looking/sounding bays.
Notre Dame Bay appears to be about 50+ miles long with 100's of islands.
I've been able to gather a fair amount of information and it's noted for ice
bergs, fjords, whales, seals, eagles, etc. and of course commerical fishing
used to be the main industry.

Bonavista Bay is right below Notre Dame Bay and also looks like a great area
to spend a few weeks in.  Plus there's some other areas in Newfoundland that
look/sound great.

The Saint Lawrence Seaway is in the general area and is a pretty big chunk
of water as is the Bay of Fundy near Nova Scotia.  I have a sea kayaking
book for Nova Scotia but haven't done any research on it yet.  Friends go to
Nova Scotia every year for a motorcycle rally and they rave about the Cabot
Trail which is about a 100 mile road through some fantasic mountains
on/trough Cape Bretton Island.  I know (think) the east coast of Nova Scotia
is mostly cliffs.

The only schedule would be to back in Maine/New Hampshire for some fall
foliage camping/hiking in the mountains during early October.  Then after
stopping off for a couple weeks with family & friends, southwards to the
'Glades or the Keys or Islands in Flordia after the bugs are gone.  Or maybe
somewhere else.  Who knows?

There was a story on TV over the weekend about tourist murders, rapes &
robberies occuring in parts of Mexico and Guatemala <sp>.  That would put a
damper on similar activities south of the border.


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From: Colin Calder <c.j.calder_at_abdn.ac.uk>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 16:54:01 -0000
Clyde wrote:

>What's the difference between ice floes and ice bergs?

ice floes are frozen salt water - ie frozen seas.
ice bergs are frozen fresh water - blocks of ice carved off the end of
glaciers.

Very important distinction if you like ice in your G&Ts.

> while I'm at it, why is Greenland covered with ice and Iceland
> covered with forests?  (curious minds want to know).

Iceland covered in forests ??? Very curious indeed ....

Cheers

Colin Calder
57º19'N  2º10'W

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From: Christopher E. Bush <chris.bush_at_stratos.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 13:20:28 -0500
Colin Calder wrote:
> 
> Clyde wrote:

> > while I'm at it, why is Greenland covered with ice and Iceland
> > covered with forests?  (curious minds want to know).
> 
> Iceland covered in forests ??? Very curious indeed ....
> 

Why?!?  For precisely the same reasons you park on driveways and drive
on parkways.
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From: Dave Kruger <dkruger_at_pacifier.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 16:44:38 -0800
Colin Calder wrote:

> Clyde wrote:

> >What's the difference between ice floes and ice bergs?

> ice floes are frozen salt water - ie frozen seas.
> ice bergs are frozen fresh water - blocks of ice carved off the end of
> glaciers.

> Very important distinction if you like ice in your G&Ts.

Well, this depends on the "age" of the floe, I have heard.  If frozen very slowly, the crystal
structure of ice tends to exclude salt, so the freshly-formed floe-ice is much lower in salt than
the proportion of salt in sea water would suggest.  (No, it would not be salt-free;  and, no, I
would not expect it to be potable.)  In addition, over time, the floe-ice "loses" salt, apparently
because the portions containing salt are somewhat more fluid-like (salt depresses the freezing
point), permitting the salt to "diffuse" away from the relatively pure ice structure.

Anybody recently melted a floe, to test this hoary information?

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
chemist
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From: Colin Calder <c.j.calder_at_abdn.ac.uk>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 10:20:27 -0000
> Well, this depends on the "age" of the floe, I have heard.  If
> frozen very slowly, the crystal
> structure of ice tends to exclude salt, so the freshly-formed
> floe-ice is much lower in salt than
> the proportion of salt in sea water would suggest.  (No, it would
> not be salt-free;  and, no, I
> would not expect it to be potable.)  In addition, over time, the
> floe-ice "loses" salt, apparently
> because the portions containing salt are somewhat more fluid-like
> (salt depresses the freezing
> point), permitting the salt to "diffuse" away from the relatively
> pure ice structure.
>
> Anybody recently melted a floe, to test this hoary information?
>
> --
> Dave Kruger
> Astoria, OR
> chemist

I think that Dave has it just about right here. Sea water doesn't have
absolutely uniform salinity, and areas with lower salinity will freeze first
isolating and concentrating the salt in the surrounding water still in the
liquid phase. Conversely areas with high salinity thaw first. The result is
that the freeze/thaw cycle liberates a stream of high salinity, and
therefore dense, water which sinks below the ice, and creates ice and water
of lower salinity and density floating on top. Whether old ice is actually
'fresh' or not I don't know, but the process does separate sea water into
high and low salinity components and is fundamental to driving many of the
major ocean currents. The cold high salinity current which flows deep and
north from the pack ice in Antarctica in particular having fairly major
global climatic and ecological influence.

You can visualise this by making ice cubes out of a coloured salt solution,
although I guess tomato or OJ might work, and then floating them in a tank
of warm water. When they thaw you see a coloured stream flowing down from
the ice.

Cheers

Colin Calder
57º19'N  2º10'W

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From: <dldecker_at_mediaone.net>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 17:49:36 -0500
At 09:33 AM 11/30/98 -0500, Sisler, Clyde wrote:
>Who's got plans for next summer?  Only 7 months away!
>

Next summer how about Xmas and new years?? It rough trying to paddle year
round 
Yall are kinda lucky only paddling half a year. You don't run out of places
to paddle for years.

Dana

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From: Lloyd Bowles <lbowles_at_bmts.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 18:26:07 -0500
dldecker_at_mediaone.net wrote:
> 
> At 09:33 AM 11/30/98 -0500, Sisler, Clyde wrote:
> >Who's got plans for next summer?  Only 7 months away!
> >
> 
> Next summer how about Xmas and new years?? It rough trying to paddle year
> round

Your not kidding! I set out to paddle every month of 1995 & it was
rough. In February we resorted to paddling below a dam because it was
the only open water around. Fast, frigid, slightly chunky water isn't
the best  place for a flatwater cruising canoe.  

-- 
Lloyd Bowles
The Mad Canoeist
"Keep the open side up!"
http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/clearstreets/358/index.html
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From: Bob Denton <BDenton_at_aquagulf.com>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 10:59:47 -0500
No Polar bears in Guatemala!

> There was a story on TV over the weekend about tourist 
> murders, rapes &
> robberies occurring in parts of Mexico and Guatemala <SP>.  
> That would put a
> damper on similar activities south of the border.
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From: Mark Zen <canoeist_at_netbox.com>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 11:08:16 -0700 (MST)
On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, Sisler, Clyde wrote:

> 
> Who's got plans for next summer?  Only 7 months away!
> 
[snip]
> 
> I think the Labrador Current flows from Greenland, bringing all those ice
> bergs (that sank the Titanic) and ice floes.  What's the difference between
> ice floes and ice bergs?  I know Flo up the road like 'burgers (sorry).  And
> while I'm at it, why is Greenland covered with ice and Iceland covered with
> forests?  (curious minds want to know).  I think floes are more like flat
> frozen river ice that breaks up and ice bergs are those big things that
> break off a glacier.

what i remember was, the vikings named greenland & iceland, and they
wanted to discourage people from going to iceland, and wanted people to go
to greenland... 

but i haven't studied history in a long time either ;-)

mark

#------canoeist[at]netbox[dot]com----http://www.diac.com/~zen/mark ----
#
mark zen                      o,    o__              o_/|   o_.
po box 474                   </     [\/              [\_|   [\_\
ft. lupton, co 80621-0474 (`-/-------/----')      (`----|-------\-')
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~
http://www.diac.com/~zen/paddler  [index to club websites i administer]

Rocky Mtn Sea Kayak Club, Colorado River Flows, Poudre Paddlers
The Colorado Paddlers' Resource, Rocky Mtn Canoe Club Trip Page 
--
Fortune:
"In a world without fences, who needs 'Gates'"
   -- Scott McNealy

"In a world without walls, who needs 'Windows'"
   -- Dave Livigni

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From: <Johnlebl_at_aol.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 12:01:55 EST
In a message dated 11/30/1998 11:26:07 AM EST, BDenton_at_aquagulf.com writes:

<< > That would put a damper on similar activities south of the border. >>

Speaking of south of the border.  There has been one hell of an increase of
good old American citizens thrown into Mexican prisons for "illegally
smuggling" ammunition or un permitted guns into Mexico.  They have signs up
everywhere, but people insist on finding out for themselves.  (I can't imagine
someone not believing another person).  The trial is swift, the punishment
sure.  From five to thirty years in prison.  Most are sentenced to five years.
Families adn friends end up paying sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars
to get them out.  Ten minutes in there is too long.

If you drive your vehicle across the border and the Mexican authorities find
so much as one .22 shell in your vehicle, it is off to a systen you have to
see to believe.  Our good old NAFTA brothers to the south of us will give you
a real education.

If you have not seen a Mexican jail, trust me!  you don't want to!  I was a
combat medic in El Paso in the Army and had unofficial, official duty along
with MD's in civies to go to the Mexican jails on saturday and sunday mornings
to give medication to any GI's that were in there.  We had to "bribe" our way
across the border with "payola" in the form of medicine like antibiotics.We
took literally pounds of it with us and we never brought any back.  The "good
old boys of Mexico" needed it.  We were glad to give it all to them just to
get the hell out of there.

Don't tie your kayaks by the bow if you like, but trust me on this one!  I
have seen Mexican jails, but never been put in one and that ain't all!

John

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From: Jim Meldrum <meldrum_at_yourfuture.ab.ca>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Next Summer?
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 17:35:19 -0700
We are planning a trip to either Desolation Sound (north of Powell River
British Columbia) or the North Gulf Islands (just south and east of
Nanaimo, British Columbia).  This will be during the Easter Holidays -
around a 5 - 6 day trip, ( you see why wait till summer?)  If anybody
has any input on either trip please feel free.  If you are interested in
joining us consider yourself invited.

In the summer, possibly Clayquot sound on the west coast of Vancouver
Island......

Charlottes are a probable for next year.  I have friends that have
paddled in the Kyuquot area with rave reviews.  Esperanza inlet is also
supposed to be nice.

Winter paddling will have to be in our dreams or the swimming pool,
because our lake has just frozen over....sigh....

:)
Jim Meldrum
Slave Lake, Alberta (Canada) 
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