My 2024 Kayak Season is Underway

It's spring so the lake level is being raised, which began on April 1. The summer level will be established by mid June. Nearby launch sites are starting to be usable for small craft. This view of the Pend Oreille River looks west. Eventually this river joins the Columbia. So other than a few portages around dams, one could paddle to the Kuril Islands. Once there, one could search for the silver tinted bears. Are they related to the Spirit bears along the northwest coast of North America ... oops, I digress.

The lake water remains cold, just above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so I not only wear a dry suit, but remain close to shore and only choose days with a mild breeze. The air temperature on my first two outings has been cool, so I was not tempted to forego the dry suit.

I've just made two trips so far, both in my very light composite Current Designs Squamish and using my Nimbus paddle, a quill design merciful to my arthritic left shoulder.

I wish the kayak had a day hatch, but am pleased that it does not have a fore-deck pod. I sold the Current Designs Slipstream earlier this month, probably a boat that performs a bit better - but now that I am becoming ancient, the light weight of the Squamish is preferable.

Desired Accomplishments for 2024 Kayak Season

Just before the kayak season I tend to list goals for that imminent season. Typically I don't achieve all (sometimes only a few) of them. It's a little embarrassing to mention these, but I am temporarily incapacitated as I await the end of the time suggested to let my cataract surgery mend. Boredom rules.

1. We have 4 kayaks - one for my wife and three others. At my advanced age I should sell at least one of those others. The three are

• Valley 17.3 Etain

• Current Designs Slipstream

• Current Designs Squamish

I should probably keep the last. It is not rotomolded like typical Squamish kayaks, rather it is composite, probably aramid or carbide i.e. very light at less than 40 pounds. It's easy for me to wrestle around and, surprisingly, doesn't seem to weathercock much, if at all. On the other hand, it's short and somewhat slow ... like its owner.

2. Although one or two of the kayaks could be sold, I still need to maintain any that might not sell. In particular, I have an injury-compromised back which requires an unyielding upright posture. The back band of the Etain allows me to lean back which I do as my back tires ... this is not good. I plan to cure that problem with some minicell foam behind the back band - certainly not a major project. I have sufficient minicell in the garage and I even know where it is!

3. I am fairly certain I will keep the Squamish. I need to outfit it i.e. likely some minicell padding at my hips and between the coaming and my thighs. Unfortunately this will remove some of my excuse for a failing roll.

4. If I sell two kayaks, not just one, I will keep my eye out for yet another kayak for guests. But I would be fairly picky, perhaps some older classic such as an NDK/SKUK Explorer or a Boreal Design Ellesmere.

5. Among my kayak paddles I have two wooden ones that cannot be broken down into two pieces. Of course, the two piece is more convenient to carry as a spare paddle. The paddles are

• a rather long Aleutian paddle

• a much lighter Greenland paddle
  

Somewhere in the garage I have a ferrule ready to use.

6. I am neither a swift nor a long distance kayaker. Nevertheless, I have a goal to kayak at least 40 days and a total distance exceeding 200 nmi. If I remain healthy this should be fairly easy.

7. I hope to enter the Sand Creek Challenge and finish in under an hour. My best time was long ago at 44+ minutes. Now it's not so easy to finish in less than an hour.

8. Recover my roll. Some years ago I had a dependable layback roll that was rather consistent, but only for just one season. Since then it has deserted me, with only desultory success. Maybe it was a particularly easy kayak to roll, a SKUK Explorer. However, I'm quite sure it's me.

I will subsequently update this post as progress is made.

Lackluster Ski Season So Far

Here we are in early February with perhaps the worst ski season I've seen at Schweitzer in my nearly 50 years skiing here. Snow cover is marginal and even the Nordic trails are in occasional trouble. This is a financial strain, perhaps a disaster, for many who count on the ski area for winter employment. At this point in time with 6" of new snow, most of the back bowl still remains closed and the Nordic trail crew has just been able to restart grooming, but just for one day. The trails have dirt patches and an occasional creek running crosswise. My guess is that the Nordic trail system will recover somewhat and that the alpine runs may limp along until season's (potentially early) end. Of course, I would like to be surprised by better conditions.

As a skiing couple, we are less concerned than we would normally be. In particular, my wife had a hip replacement on Jan. 23 and will schedule the other hip replacement around 3 months later. The first hip is recovering nicely. Nevertheless, this has obliterated her ski season. Because her surgeries have earned her such attention, I have scheduled cataract surgery to compete. My right eye will be done on Feb. 19 with the left eye on March 11. This will obviously impact my ski season as well. Post surgery, should I fall on my head or run into a tree, this would be unfortunate. The way I ski, such events remain quite possible. Perhaps Nordic skiing would be a possibility if delayed long enough after the surgery.

The Final Whimper of the 2023 Kayak Season

Sunday, October 8, was my last kayak day trip of the 2023 season. Immediately after the Cortes trip I came down with an evil, pernicious, and debilitating cough. It was persistent enough to prevent any kayaking through the remainder of September and into early October.

The lake draw down is underway, the lake level being just below 2059 feet at Hope. I launched at 3rd Street Pier and made my way up Sand Creek as far as I could go with the lower lake level. I saw many coots, running away on the water as I approached. I also saw a few gulls on the lake. Once I was on the creek there were more birds - two female mergansers, mallards and other ducks, one Western Grebe, and the plentiful Canadian Geese. The latter were foraging the creek banks, finding goose food as the water dropped its first 3 feet. Others were training as they flew in their Vees, preparing for their flight south. A few of our North Idaho geese remain resident through the cold months.

Our kayaks lie forlorn in the garage.

The Cortes Island Trip

We only did 3 day trips off Cortes Island in September. All 3 days were quite calm - the first with a little rain, the second cloudy, and the third sunny. Six of us stayed at the 'Smelt Bay Beach House' while the other two stayed in a place nearer Mansons Landing. Some in our group have visited Cortes before, maybe 4 earlier trips, so reaching the island was familiar. Drive to Campbell River from Nanaimo, take the ferry to Quadra (~10 minutes), cross quickly to Heriot Bay, and take the ferry to Cortes (~40 minutes). Of course, waiting in line for the ferry can be the time consumer.

Note: most (perhaps all) photos throughout this report were from Steve and Trish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The check in time at Smelt Bay, when we reached Cortes was 4 PM; so attempting to kayak before that was unattractive (e.g. abandoning all our stuff in the cars whilst kayaking). So our first kayak day was the next morning. 

Eli and I (mostly Eli) provided dinner, a Persian Stew. Pam & Kathy provided a salad. By meal time, all 8 of us had gathered for dinner. At some point post dinner, Pam & Kathy left for their separate accommodations.

Day 1

From our VRBO, we lugged the kayaks across the road to the beach (not at all far). Then we headed in the light and intermittent rain north toward Mansons Landing, slightly exceeding that goal. We saw river otters, loons, cormorants, Bonaparte gulls, etc. There was some discussion, "Were those really loons?", but then the loons responded with one of their signature calls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When dinnertime rolled around, Nelson & Audrey provided the meal while Pam & Kathy again brought a salad.

Day 2

On this day, we drove to Cortes Bay as our launch spot. We then paddled south just passing Twin Islands. We saw many seals, eagles, cormorants, sea stars, and urchins. Once again it was calm, however no rain. Note: this part of the Cortes is actually quite close to the mainland, but there is no connecting ferry.

 

 

 

 

 

The dinner chefs were Trish and Steve and, once again, Pam and Kathy brought a salad.

Day 3

On this sunny day we launched from Gorge Harbour, through the narrow opening, then north toward Whaletown. Early on, we stopped at Shark Spit collecting sand dollars and other shells. Our lunch was at Whaletown, on a rock outcropping above the water's edge. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, who was to prepare dinner? We all had turns, with Pam & Kathy always bringing a salad. The floating restaurant at Gorge Harbour isn't merely closed; it had been razed. However, fortune smiled upon us and our friends in Tiber Bay (Ralph & Maureen) bravely invited all 8 of us for a clam feast, clams from their bay! We even more bravely made our way on the gravel road to Tiber Bay. We brought some food and assorted wines to accompany the clams. The weather allowed us to dine outside on their deck, looking east to the sea with the mainland in the background - truly a stunning view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4

No kayaking this day. We grabbed the Cortes ferry and then the Quadra ferry and made our way south. Eli and I stayed overnight with Audrey and Nelson in their splendid home on the Nanaimo River. The next morning we headed home to Sandpoint, starting with the 5:15 AM ferry from Duke Point to Tsawwassen.

After July 4

This report describes one of my many day paddles on Lake Pend Oreille. I have made about 20 paddles this year, none quite the same as the others. Most are round trips, whereas this one was one way.

After the 4th of July, our lake gets busy. 'Busy' is a relative term. Much of the 110 mile lake shore is unpopulated and difficult to approach from land. My recollection is that much of the shore is Forest Service or BLM land. Further, some stretches, like beneath the Green Monarchs, are not only heavily forested but also precipitous.

On Sunday, July 9, my wife was visiting friends in Sunnyside for a hike, so my kayak and I hitched a ride. I launched at about 8:20 AM from Shaw Bay along Sunnyside Road. This narrow bay is shallow and allows access to Fisherman Island to the south. Short of that island, I headed west toward Sandpoint (maybe 9 miles via kayak), first crossing a glassy Oden Bay. The winds remained very mild during my trip. There were perhaps 3 boats on this large bay, each boat motionless with occupants who were fishing - identifiable once I was close enough to see them. Of course it was early on a Sunday morning in North Idaho, where 7% of the population attends church services and another 13% are too hung over to arise so soon (the percentages are random guesses). At any rate, there were scarcely any people on the lake at the start of my paddle.

On my journey, I saw an eagle, an osprey, ducks with maturing ducklings, and swallows. In spring, when the waterfowl migrate through, it is much more exciting. Now by July 9 the water was warmish, maybe about 68 °F. That being the case, I saw no need to stick near shore, paddling point-to-point, cutting directly across each bay along the way. This significantly shortened the distance.

As time evolved and Sandpoint neared, I saw more and more boaters such as wake boarders and lake lice (aka jet skis). My goal was 3rd Street Pier so I needed to cross Sand Creek and go under the train bridge and the Hwy 95 bridge. The train bridge is the site of the 'Long Bridge Swim', a 1.75 mile swim from the south end of the bridge to Dog Beach. There are several marinas on Sand Creek, so one must cross the creek with care. 

After paddling under the Hwy 95 bridge, it's only about 15 more minutes to land at 3rd Street Pier. There locals have a small sand beach, a good place to land. Upon landing I opened the rear kayak hatch and was pleased to find my disassembled kayak cart. Lastly I assembled the cart, loaded the kayak, and walked for 10 minutes to home.

A Review of My Current Designs Composite Squamish

Last year I purchased a used and very light 2005 Current Designs (CD) Squamish. Most Squamish kayaks are rotomolded, but this kayak is a very rare and much lighter composite. The seller thought it was carbon fiber, while CD says it is aramid/fiberglass. If aramid, the hull interior doesn’t look like any Kevlar hull I’ve seen. Whatever. The specifications are

• length 15’ 8” width 23” depth 12.5”

• weight 38.5 pounds!

• coaming 29” by 16”

• bow and stern hatches, no day hatch

• fish form, soft chine, shallow V

• mango deck, white hull

• paddler size small to medium

A review typically depends on the reviewer’s size, experience, etc. I am 140 pounds (naked, which you don’t want to see), 5’ 5” in height, and over 80 years old. I would probably be considered an intermediate paddler, having kayaked for 16 years and having been a BWCA canoe lad in my teens and early twenties. I paddle about 40 day trips per year, mostly on my home lake (110 miles around the periphery) and in the waters off Vancouver Island on usually two trips per season. I rarely do extended kayak camping trips. I enjoy purchasing used kayaks and restoring them to full function. So I have experienced paddling many different kayaks.

Of my 3 composite kayaks, the Squamish is the shortest, fattest, and slowest; but not by much. However, it is by far the lightest, extremely important for this small old guy. A few other reviewers have indicated that the rotomolded Squamish weather cocks readily. Maybe the composite hull is different, but the weather cocking seems non existent. However, I avoid high winds these days and have only been out in winds up to about 8 knots. It tracks well and is maneuverable.

The rear hatch, despite the skeg box, easily holds my C-Tug cart. I can readily get the kayak onto and off of my Thule Hullavator. I have made these minor modifications to the Squamish:

• a keel strip via Keel Eazy

• a paddle holder via two open cleats (in the Broze Brothers style)

• a stainless steel pad eye on the bow deck

• under fore deck storage for the manual bilge pump

• a cord hanging down from the skeg blade to have a companion free the blade if stuck when far from shore

Pre-modification photo:

 

A practice rescue session resulted in significant water in both hatches. It was enough water that it could not just be coming in the hatch covers. Clearly water was leaking from the cockpit into the hatches via the bulkheads. Sealing the bulkhead perimeters with Lexel seemed to fix the problem.

Because of a long-ago downhill ski injury, I have destroyed a disc in my lower back. I need significant support in the right place from the kayak seat back. I must nearly always modify the seat back for any kayak I purchase. Remarkably, the seat back of this Squamish is perfect for me in its unaltered state!

I have two other very nice fiberglass kayaks, a CD Slipstream and a Valley 17.3 Etain. Both are faster than the Squamish and both weathercock somewhat. However, because of its light weight and refusal to weathercock, the Squamish will be the keeper among those three (as old age begins to shut down my kayaking career).

Squeek Modifications

I have implemented some modifications of Squeek, my composite CD Squamish. So far I've made these changes:

• Added a white keel strip using the Keel Eazy product from kayakacademy.com
  
• Placed a stainless steel pad eye toward the bow, attached using well nuts from topkayaker.com
• Created a storage spot for the bilge pump under the deck, fore the cockpit 
• Attached a cord to the skeg blade so it the blade is stuck undeployed, it can be freed by a companion when far from shore
  
• Installed a paddle holder, styled after those on the Broze Brothers' Mariners, using a pair of open deck cleats also from topkayaker.com - looking like this
  

 

A friend and I practiced some self and assisted rescues the other day. There was significant water that leaked into both of Squeek's hatches. My guess was that the plastic bulkheads were leaking water from the flooded cockpit. It was too much water to come in through the hatch covers. Hence, I patched the inner bulkhead seams with Lexel, but am not quite done. I also tightened the hatch straps. 

At the next rolling practice, no water entered the bow or stern hatches. Of course, a rescue practice can swamp the kayak filling the cockpit more deeply, so that even the top of the bulkheads must not allow water through. So i may  need to ensure that the Lexel seal is adequate there also. However, it is clear that the hatch covers are doing their job.