Summer Kayaking Review

We return to Nanaimo next week; our summer in Sandpoint is drawing to a close. It was our first summer kayaking, although we started last Fall in the Nanaimo area. So I was curious if lake kayaking would be a disappointment after the Georgia Strait. Of course Lake Pend Oreille is a large lake.

Most of the trips we took were short, as they were on the strait - typically one to three hours of paddling. The usual launch was the 3rd Street Pier (easily reached on foot with the kayak on a cart), but destinations varied and included:
* Sandcreek as far as the Schweitzer Cutoff bridge
* Dover
* Nik's beach
* Comeback Bay / Fry Creek
One of the first trips saw us launch from Johnson Creek, by Clark Fork.

We avoided heavy weather, probably nothing over 10 knots and typically less than half that. Wildlife sightings included eagles, osprey, geese, ducks, a cormorant (I think), herons, beavers, etc.

All in all, the lake kayaking was a success, with plenty of exploring left for future years. It mixes well with bicycling as a second activity. Our kayak gear worked out well and we were pleased with our purchases of used fiberglass kayaks:
* a Seaward Gemini (a smallish, stable tandem, about 18 feet long)
* a Seaward Endeavor (about 17.5' long, about 22.5" wide, skeg)
Whether we get another single remains to be seen. The tandem was often used to introduce our many visitors to kayaking. With the torrent of visitors now quenched, September and October offer great kayaking opportunities, but we'll be gone.

Richard
2007.08.22

Wrapping up Summer

Our summer in Sandpoint is wrapping up within the next two weeks. Then we're off to Nanaimo for the Fall semester at Malaspina University-College. Our subsequent return to Sandpoint will be in mid December or so.

Our summer, as usual, featured frequent visitors. Eli's sister and family have a summer place here; so our evening meals often became communal affairs incorporating both families and visitors. Activities included hiking, biking, swimming, kayaking, and city events such as the music festival, art fair, and twice-weekly farmers' market.

I biked less this summer than in recent years because of incorporating kayaking into my activities. I also spent significant time preparing materials for my Fall semester course, "Introduction to Embedded Linux Development - Hacking the Linksys Wireless Router". As I got into the material, I found that there was a wealth of information available on the Internet, plus at least one book. I found reasonably priced Linksys routers on Ebay for the 12 students. The cost to each student will be on the order of $50 CDN, depending on what duty must be paid at the border.

One interesting event this summer was the 1.76 mile Long Bridge Swim. This year it consisted of two entrant categories, the Masters and the Open swimmers. It was used as this years US National Masters Open Water Championship. The Masters started 10 minutes or so ahead of the Open category. The fastest time was someone in the Open group. I joined perhaps a group of 70 kayakers to provide support for the race. Weather conditions were optimal, so the main job of the kayakers was herding. The number of swimmers was about 500.

Richard
2007.08.16