[Paddlewise] Day on the lake

Yesterday I went to a Greenland style forward stroke clinic in Harvard
Massachusetts, on Bare Hill lake.

The foliage is slightly past peak but pretty none the less, more yellow
brown now than the yellow and red of last week. 

We spent a couple hours paddling around working on paddle stroke
mechanics, with Keith Attenborough (vice president of the US branch of
QAANNAT KATTUFFIAT - the Greenland Kayak club)
having the honors of doing his best explanation of the Greenland stroke.

We spent a while paddling around Bare Hill Lake trying to figure out how
to improve our strokes and over analysing everything.  Alas my
methodology lapsed to the completely unscientific - are you relaxed and
comfortable maintaining the groups cruising speed, could you keep that
pace for a few hours.  The old find the stroke that works for you, while
getting rid of the obvious inefficiencies.  

We eventually found our way back to shore and took each other's boats out
for a spin.  I traded my PinTail for a quick jaunt in a P&H Spitzbergen,
then a 16' skin frame kayak which I was told I wouldn't fit in ;-)  

Now commenced one of those events you just can't make up.

As we were standing on the beach a two vans pulled up and 8 Nuns, I would
guess in their 20s, climbed out and pulled 3 aluminum canoes out of one
of the vans.  3 or 4 of the Nuns were wearing their habits.  3 Nuns in
the first canoe put on their possibly child sized horse collar life
jackets and headed off.  3 climbed into a second canoe, without
lifejackets, and 2 also without life jackets climbed into the third
canoe.  The third canoe almost tipped over twice within the first 40
feet.  I know it's almost halloween(samhain), this really was 8 nuns in
their 20s.

As we watched the 3 canoes head into the 10 knot wind, with water in the
50s, one of the other paddlers asked me if I could do a canoe rescue from
a kayak.  We climbed in our boats and paddled counter clockwise around
the island the nuns were paddling around counter clockwise.
They were in the lee of the island and the tandem managed to run up on
several rocks as we went past them.

We went around the island and just to make sure things were okay went a
little past the island and looked back to see that they had gotten out of
the canoes and were now safely on an island.

We paddled back to the beach and started to pack up.

One of the threesomes of nuns came back to the beach.  They said someone
had gone into the water and they were coming back to get her a dry skirt.
 We, standing there in our dry suits or tuiliqs, asked several times if
they wanted help and they insisted they were fine.  They paddled off into
the now 15 knot wind.  They clearly felt divine intervention would keep
them safe.

One of the members of our group graciously said he wanted to stick around
and "watch the foliage" then go home and do errands.

I haven't checked in with our concientious stay behind, and I've heard no
word of any rescues of 8 nuns out for a fall foliage paddle....

You just never know what you'll see when you go paddling.

kirk

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