frozen eyebrows after winter surfing New Years Day, Homer, Alaska
Nothing starts the new year out right for a sea paddler in Alaska like a New Year’s Day paddle, no matter what the weather. The cold snap that set in just after Christmas 2008 was deepening, and when I arrived on the beach near 1 PM, AKST on 1 January 2009, the air temperature was +5ºF. It was sunny, but there was a 5-10 knot breeze, which sent the windchill plunging to the minus ºF Zone.
Ths fun of the New Year’s Day sea kayak schlurfing was lost on most Homer paddlers – it was sub-zero windchill, we all wore “storm cags” over our dry suits and our warmest fleece and underlayers, and we still froze up pretty good. Plus, the battery on the camera instantly died as soon as we got very far out on the water. The fun part for us was: 1) to sea kayak surf on New Year’s Day, completing the annual New Year’s ritual, 2) there was slush in the surf, so we were sloshing about catching the waves and paddling back out. Funny part was, that in the “surfing zone” where the waves were breaking, the wave action cleared the slush out of the way to allow pretty easy and fun rides.
We didn’t surf long, maybe an hour and 45 minutes just long enough to all suffer numb fingers and get a few good rides. But although I’m writing this entry a,most a year later on November 19, 2009, I can still feel the joy of the success of not letting the conditions defeat our need to paddle and enthusiasm for sea kayaking year round here in Homer and Kachemak Bay. I really should be working, but want to get the blog stated up again and could not for the life of me remember how to do it. In the 2009-2010 winter we’ve started a winter sea kayaking program here at AlaskaKayakSchool.com, and you can find a “report” on our home page of the first winter weekend, Halloween 2009, which I’ll hope to blog on in the near future.
In case I decide to do my work rather than blog on about winter sea kayaking here in Homer, you can look up the Halloween report here: http://alaskakayakschool.com/news.htm#2009halloween. But it was such a stellar event, Halloween sea kayak paddling and training in surf and open water, you can expect to read all about it here in the Alaska Kayak School Journal, which I now want to update for all of 2009. It was a stellar year for us, so look for some after-the-fact updates. But before signing off, check the iced up deck and frozen in place deck bungees on my Romany Surf.
Funniest moment of the day was when we realized Mike’s eyebrows were iced up long after we go off the water, and oh yeah, I had to put the Optio W60 over the Subaru’s heater to bring the battery back to life to shoot a few “after” pics since the camera battery went to “zero” after being exposed to the near 0ºF temps while we were gearing up.
Check back often for more adventures of the Alaska Kayak Schools fun-loving paddling clowns. Thanks for tuning in.
We started the Alaska Kayak School in 1998 to help people enjoy the thrill of paddling Alaska safely. Based in Homer, Alaska, we offer instructional courses in sea and river kayaking, safety and rescue, training and assessment of trip leading skills for guides, as well as instructor training and assessment in the both American Canoe Association and British Canoe Union. We offer guided trips and expeditions for paddlers of all levels of skill and experience: from novices to advanced. We supplement our trips and courses with rentals of high quality paddling equipment for experienced skilled paddlers with appropriate leadership skills. Our sales programs focus on rugged usable kayaks and canoes and all supplies and accessories that facilitate paddling fun – safely.
