Maine Paddling Connection Blog
Good gear is important. It lasts, it performs, it inspires. It facilitates adventure & experience. In most cases, it's worth every penny you spend on it. One of the greatest pieces of gear I've purchased in the last ten years is a base model Subaru Legacy wagon. I know, not everyone would consider a vehicle to be a piece of gear, but it is. I rely on it. It needs to function. It needs to be efficient.
Read MoreI arrived in Oakland at 7am and we were to meet at 8. I was co-leading an intro to SUP touring trip around Alameda Island for California Canoe & Kayak. 8 participants, 2 leaders and 15.5 miles of paddling in absolutely ideal conditions. We hit the currents right, wind was next to nothing and the sun was shining warm.
Read MoreIt's 6am and I'm in the backseat of my station wagon, wrapped in a sleeping bag at a rest area in Weed, California. I'm as happy as I've ever been in my life. I'm on the road, traveling with paddling equipment with a very loose itinerary and it feels great. I love traveling by car and I love roadtrips and this one will bring me to Portland for a 3-day American Canoe Association whitewater SUP course put on by Next Adventure.
Read MoreSunday I joined up with Jason & Just Kayak More again for another day of Sacramento River Play. We launched as a smaller group of 5 for a downriver paddle stopping at three really fun play spots along the way. Sun was out, sky was blue and we were pumped. The first spot is just downriver from the California 100 startline and the Sundial Bridge.
Read MoreI had to be in Red Bluff Saturday night to promote the California 100 at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival. Red Bluff is 175 miles from the Bay Area, so I felt I should take advantage of being up there and hit up the Sacramento River in Redding for some playtime. I loaded the car with paddling gear and planned to get at least two river sessions in with Jason from Just Kayak More.
Read MoreAwesome course! A great venue, a great assistant and ten qualified, well experienced standup paddlers added up to one fun weekend. I think everyone walked away super stoked on standup paddling with a bunch of new friends and energy for our sport. For three solid days we worked on personal paddling skills, teaching skills, rescue skills, safety, judgement, leadership and ambassadorship for sup.
Read MoreThe Gulf of Maine experienced a King tide this past Thursday at 12:10pm with a height of 10.8ft in my Southern Maine coastal destination. To celebrate, my sister and I paddled the route around Gerrish and Cutts Islands, a trip I haven't done in almost ten years. The trip needed a high tide and offered a very short window to complete the circumnavigation as it relies on high water to fill-in an adjacent marsh in order to have the depth needed.
Read MoreNow that summer is ending I decided to head East to spend some time re-connecting with family & friends. I haven't witnessed or enjoyed a New England Autumn in years. As summer holds on tighter than expected and fall begins to inch itself in, the leaves are turning, the air is cooling and I've found some time to breathe it in, look around and scout some potential paddling trips for summer 2015.
Read MoreWe had 26 teenagers out on Tomales Bay this week and were treated to four days of awesome weather with sun, warm temps and favorable tides. This was a really fun trip stacked with three other incredible guides and rounded out with four adult chaperones from the school we were guiding. For three nights and four days we explored the waters and trails around Point Reyes and Tomales Bay.
Read MorePaddling is one of the best things in my life so sharing that with friends and family in a beautiful location is the ultimate. My buddy from Boston messaged me about returning to a paddling destination we'd visited together six or seven years ago. I jumped on it and pretty soon we had the plan to rendezvous on the river. He flew in with his girlfriend a day before me.
Read MoreLast week I had the chance to tour on the Focus Cali 14' for five self-supported days on class 1 river. To ready the board, all I did was fit a shorter, smaller flexi fin to deal with rocks (I never touched one) and add four tie-downs to the front deck. I've put miles on this board on flatwater, bumpy water & downwinding but hadn't yet paddled it loaded. Unloaded, it excels as a fast & stable all conditions board that is easy to maneuver and control.
Read More12 kids aged 12-15 for 5 days of kayaking and camping on Tomales Bay. Yes, I have some funny memories of the week. That's what you get with full teenager immersion. I got a healthy dose of what it's like to be a kid these days and enjoyed almost every minute of it. Almost.
We discussed literature - have you read the new book by Flip Dover titled The Beginners Guide to Sea Kayaking
Read MoreFour days before Eppie's Great Race, I got an email from Tom saying that he needed a last minute bow paddler for the last leg of the race, a 6.35 mile downriver paddle in a tandem open canoe. As luck would have it for me, his paddling partner had a change of plans and couldn't make it back to Sacramento in time for the race, so I was in.
Read MoreI could list at least 30 advantages that standup paddleboards have over sea kayaks, but paddling in a beam wind is not one of them. Our 7 mile crossing back to the mainland from the Isles of Shoals lined up perfectly across the building wind and swell - not what we wanted. So badly I wanted to just turn and start running downwind, catching bumps.
Read MoreOn Friday morning I had a few hours to myself and decided to go paddle the loop around Newcastle, a classic route I often paddled years ago that mixes up river, coast and tidal backchannel. Conditions were near perfect with light wind, abundant sunshine, no boat traffic, very little swell and a flooding tide.
For this trip I packed full standup paddling kit into one bag consisting of 14' race inflatable, 3-piece paddle, leash, PFD, paddling clothing, VHF, water dromedary & drybag.
Read MoreIn my heart I'll always be an East Coaster no matter how long I stay away. The granite state was a great place to grow up, always will be, but just doesn't have everything I need these days. My family is still here, so I'll return to re-connect and spend time with them whenever possible. In early July, my little sister is getting married in southern Maine so I decided to make a good long visit home, celebrate her union, catch up with old friends and re-visit the area where I learned to paddle.
Read MoreTomales Bay is an incredibly beautiful Northern California paddling destination loaded with wildlife on land and in the water. It's a spectacular hiking and paddling destination with a diverse climate and weather conditions. Wind is usually on the menu after 11am and downwinding is one of the best activities on the bay. Jeff Burton paddles Tomales Bay a ton and runs a great paddling blog called Paddle Standing Up.
Read MoreAfter wrapping up the California 100 on Tuesday morning the plan was to get the hell out of town and shut off my phone. I drove to San Diego on Wednesday, picked up my partner Thursday morning and we made our way towards the Nevada Arizona desert for a Colorado River trip. The trip began with a 3-hour full-moon upriver approach and a midnight landing to our campsite at the stroke of Friday the 13th. It only got better from there.
Read MoreWe got three nice runs in on Saturday on the latest Downwind SUP Safari with the Barbary Ghost. Good times with Marion, Craig, Jeff and I on boards and Drew at the helm. First run was a great warmup with decent glides and strong wind at our backs. Drew dropped us behind Pt. Blunt where it's super easy to enter the wind. Going from zero to twenty knot wind in 30 seconds is exciting!
Read MoreThis was my first real whitewater SUP experience and it's so, so much fun. I'm ready to pack my bags and move to the river so I can do it everyday. I felt like a kid again - not a care in the world, splashing around in the cold, clear, fresh water. It was great. We joked around and had a great time while paddling safe & smart. Kelly & Goose paddled whitewater kayaks while Mitch & I stood up on sweet WW boards we borrowed from California Canoe & Kayak in Coloma.
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