Land Locked, Dry Docked

Poeple would think my nuts, But thats unheard of. A week ago I took my Kayak out for the first time since December 1st. To do this I had to dig the poor boat out from the snow that had fallen on to it from the roof. The boat named Wessel was unharmed, but encased in ice and partly remelted snow. I dragged it out on to the snow into the sun, the snow and ice melted quickly off. The next day I carried it into the cabin to compleat the thawing process. The thaw worked well I got the ice out of the cockpit and the seat dry, it was time to take it for a ride.


I drove a few klicks down the road to Bay View. It was along walk to the water as the road was blocked by the plowed snow. So I took advantage the trail cleared by an ATV consisting of compressed snow. Wessel nearly ran down the snow its hull was so smooth agaist the snow it was a peace of cake to take it to the water. I had to carry it 10 to 15m down to the water where snow was absent. I was smart on this occation and had all my extra gear packed in the rear hatch saving me a second trip.



There was some ice out in the bay, and on canue. The canue was making its way out around the ice. I followed the other boat and tracked along the edge of the ice. The ice was thin, some where between the thickness of a dime and a loonie. I caught up with the canue halfway across the lake. I had a brief chat with the other boat. I headed up the lake hoping to follow the western shore. This failed. There was too much ice. I could only follow the ice. There were big sheets of ice and it was hard to see the full extent of the ice for so close to the water.

For fun I tried to break through some ice a thin neck between two patches of open water. This was a dead end and had to double back. This would be a signe of things to come. After some fun paddeling I headed back to the beach finding that the ice had shifted. The 20m wide open channle had closed, I had to ice break my way back to the beach. Its a noisy process, like chewing on an ice cube. Thankfully no damage was done to Wessel.

Since then I had left Wessel outside on a snow bank near where I unloaded it form Serenity. Hoping that it would not snow. It snowed, cutting into the idea that I could take Wessel for a ride, the cockpit was filled with snow and ice from the freeze and thaw. The idea of going out with a wet seat killed the idea of going out on the water.



Last night I brought Wessel inside and made a dry dock out of the tie down straps. Now Wessel, is hagging upside down at long last a chance to fully dry out.