[Paddlewise] more on ice, etc

> >I paddled on Jan 1 1998 with some folks in Windsor ON on
> >the Detroit river.  This was an annual event for them and some
> >paddlers had considerable experience with paddling in ice
> >infested waters.  One fellow had a pair of Philips screwdrivers
> >under the bungies on his fore deck.  He had drilled holes in the
> >tops of the handles and ran lines through them.  The other end
> >of the line was tied to a snap hook that was hooked to the bungies.
> 
> Last year, a group of us built some of these using wooden dowels drilled
> wil a hole and filled with a penny nail. Throw on a metal eyelet on the end
> and attach some cord and you have essentially the same thing with even more
> 'biting power'. I would stick some cork on the nails to keep the nails from
> puncturing clothing. Using these, you can drag yourself up an ice shelf
> after a dunking during backcountry skiing or kayaking..

Looking at this reminded me of an article and sidebar I ran in my
newsletter in 1992 about Gail Ferris, a Connecticut paddler who now
lives in Greenland.

Some tips in the sidebar are relevant here.

START SIDEBAR, FOLDING KAYAKER JAN/FEB 1992...

GAIL'S GUIDE TO DEALING WITH ICE AND POOR VISIBILITY
Have you done much winter paddling?  How do you like that sheet of ice
on a banked beach?  Gets in the way of launching and landing, doesn’t
it?

Gotten lost in fog lately?  Or been out after darkness has set in, and
realized the limits of your night vision?

	Such conditions, which are scary to most of us, are the meat and
potatoes of Gail’s paddling. The area around Gail’s home in the town of
Stony Creek is prone to ice buildup on its shores because of fresh water
streams meeting the cold waters of Long Island Sound.  Gail often
paddles in darkness or fog.  She’s worked up some sound techniques for
dealing with these.

Icy Landings and Launches
	Gail has two tools that are indispensable for getting in and out of the
water at tricky, iced-over shorelines and boat ramps as well as an
interesting technique when the tools don’t work or have been forgotten
back home.
	Gail carries an ordinary garden hoe to use as a hook to help pull her
on to ice and to ease passage into the water.  She has one with slightly
rounded edges so as not to cut the fabric deck of her folding kayak. 
One with a shortened handle is best.  You would be surprised at how well
a hoe works under icy conditions.  Not as good as a mountaineering ice
axe but a lot friendlier to your skin boat.
	Another device is a child’s plastic toboggan, the kind that rolls up. 
How does Gail use this?  If there is too much distance to be traversed
on ice, she ties the toboggan to the bow of her boat.  This keeps having
the hypalon hull of Klepper from being scratched by jagged sharp edges
of packed ice.
	The technique that works for getting up on an icy shore or ramp when
tools aren’t handy is fairly simple.  Gail carefully climbs out of her
cockpit.  She then straddles the boat.  Now she can push or pull the
boat between her legs a foot or two at a time while her booties are
relatively well planted on the ice.  By virtually sitting on the boat
she avoids a nasty spill.  It would be virtually impossible to get
enough traction if she were pulling from either end of the boat.
	All of the above are aimed at getting in or out of the water at an
ice-filled shoreline.  But Gail also uses the hoe while on the water
when going through tight ice floes.  The hoe gives her some purchase on
the ice to pull her kayak along through leads a lot better than would
her paddle, which could easily get nicked by the ice.  She has actually
found that it is preferable to go backwards through such ice with the
hoe, or with her paddles when there is enough swing room.  Her
experience tells her that she has more power going backwards than
forward whether paddling or hoeing.  

In A World Of Limited Vision
	Obviously, a compass is your best friend but there are other things
that help you too.  At times of limited vision, in fog or in darkness
she experienced during early morning commutes from Rodgers Island to her
regular job, Gail relied on several techniques.
	First, Gail observed, especially in dark early morning hours, that her
straight ahead vision was quite limited but it was marginally better to
the sides and at angles.  Next, she used a seat-of-the pants approach to
read the seas around her.  If it was a following sea, which was often
the case entering Stony Creek harbor, Gail read the waves.  If the space
increased between waves, she knew a larger one was building up behind
her and to steel herself for it.
	Of late, Gail has been feeling out another technique, distinguishing
wave patterns.  I was with her on a day paddle on her turf in late
December and we came upon a phenomenon which could be of use when you
can’t see anything or are not in sight of land.  Gail had earlier
observed that waves tend to stack up when they meet land, after coming
across a long distance or fetch.  What you experience in your boat is
sharp up and down movement rather than rolling as you would with sea
swells.
	This is a phenomenon well known to Polynesian sailors who have
traversed hundreds of miles without benefit of compasses.  Up and down
waves rebound off of land and can be felt quite far out.  Clearly, in
the confused world of power boats and tight land contours that surround
us, the pattern is not so pronounced as on broad reaches of the
Pacific.  But the phenomenon exists and it may be worthwhile seeing how
much so in your neck of the woods.
...END SIDEBAR

hope you enjoyed,

ralph diaz
 
-- 
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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