Trip Report - L.I. Ocean Paddle - Montauk to Coney Island

Posted by Miles (168.100.198.130) on January 13, 2006 at 09:35:10

Tim and I completed the first two legs of our winter journey during the holidays.

Day one, December 29th

We left Brooklyn at 5:30am and launched approx. 9:20am about 2/10 of a mile to the left of Montauk lighthouse facing to the east.
The water temp was 44F, air 50F, wind 10-15 knots from the southeast. It was a gloomy day with intermittent rain and an angry sea. We pushed off and almost immediately encountered a tidal race at Montauk point. A fun way to wake up in the morning...sure beats coffee! The race behind us we paddled along the coast admiring the cliffs. At some point Tim was caught by the offshore break and capsized. He rolled up and we decided to move further offshore to avoid further incidents, but with the sea being in such an angry state it only served as notice and we spent much of the time looking to our left with occasional mansion sighting on our right. After about 2.5 hours we decided to surf to the beach for lunch. I caught a great wave and was whooping it up when I suddenly could see sand just beyond the bow of my Outer Island. The wave had turned into a dumper of the same type that we are all so fond of on the Jersey shore. It was ender/pitchpole time. Nothing new there, I spent my time under the turbulence and eventually rolled up and made my way to shore. Tim had already landed and he retrieved my hat from the surf.

I noticed that when I got my lunch from the front bulkhead that I had taken on a little water. I thought that was strange but ignored it. We finished lunch and prepared to push off. As I fiddled with my GPS I looked behind me and noticed that Tim's Silhouette was pointing the wrong way and he was dripping. I said what's up? He laughed and said the sea had rejected him. I gave him a hand and watched him break through the surf. I then launched and had one of the most difficult times breaking through the surf... as to why you will find out later. Nearing the point of total exhaustion with my clavicle muscles on fire, I broke through and we continued onward. We paddled on with darkness approaching ultimately beating the descending gloom. This time as we landed we both abandoned our earlier gung-ho approach. I noticed my kayak was extremely sluggish. When I got to shore I barely could move my boat. Opening the bow hatch I found about 4-5 gallons of water in there. Yikes, no wonder the smallest swell was washing over my deck all afternoon. The damage suffered in the ender was a blown seam about 8 inches forward from the front hatch with about two to three inches of cracking on the front deck. Nice, good thing I have other arrows in my quiver.

All in all it was a good day as we paddled 18 miles considering the conditions.

Day two - January 2nd

Having recovered from New Years Day's antics (I'll try to get Darwin to write about that)we left just a little later than day one, hence we launched about 25 minutes later. Day two found us with 45F water and 44F air temps, wind from the south at about 6 knots. Compared to our first day this trip was uneventful, just long, we covered 24 miles. The paddling was very pleasant and it was good to be back in my trusty Greenlander which I had just taken out of mothballs a day earlier. Everything was much more relaxed than the first leg, our only concern was if we were going to finish before darkness, which we just barely did. We finished our portage in the dark but feeling a good tired given the distance covered for the day.

Stay tuned for more adventures. Not this weekend (skiing) but maybe next.

Responses

Re: Trip Report - L.I. Ocean Paddle - Montauk to Coney Island Rachel 10:18:04 01/14/06 (0)

Post a Response

* optional
Name	Email *
Subject
Message » Tim and I completed the first two legs of our winter journey during the holidays. » Day one, December 29th » We left Brooklyn at 5:30am and launched approx. 9:20am about 2/10 of a mile to the left of Montauk lighthouse facing to the east.» The water temp was 44F, air 50F, wind 10-15 knots from the southeast. It was a gloomy day with intermittent rain and an angry sea. We pushed off and almost immediately encountered a tidal race at Montauk point. A fun way to wake up in the morning...sure beats coffee! The race behind us we paddled along the coast admiring the cliffs. At some point Tim was caught by the offshore break and capsized. He rolled up and we decided to move further offshore to avoid further incidents, but with the sea being in such an angry state it only served as notice and we spent much of the time looking to our left with occasional mansion sighting on our right. After about 2.5 hours we decided to surf to the beach for lunch. I caught a great wave and was whooping it up when I suddenly could see sand just beyond the bow of my Outer Island. The wave had turned into a dumper of the same type that we are all so fond of on the Jersey shore. It was ender/pitchpole time. Nothing new there, I spent my time under the turbulence and eventually rolled up and made my way to shore. Tim had already landed and he retrieved my hat from the surf. » I noticed that when I got my lunch from the front bulkhead that I had taken on a little water. I thought that was strange but ignored it. We finished lunch and prepared to push off. As I fiddled with my GPS I looked behind me and noticed that Tim's Silhouette was pointing the wrong way and he was dripping. I said what's up? He laughed and said the sea had rejected him. I gave him a hand and watched him break through the surf. I then launched and had one of the most difficult times breaking through the surf... as to why you will find out later. Nearing the point of total exhaustion with my clavicle muscles on fire, I broke through and we continued onward. We paddled on with darkness approaching ultimately beating the descending gloom. This time as we landed we both abandoned our earlier gung-ho approach. I noticed my kayak was extremely sluggish. When I got to shore I barely could move my boat. Opening the bow hatch I found about 4-5 gallons of water in there. Yikes, no wonder the smallest swell was washing over my deck all afternoon. The damage suffered in the ender was a blown seam about 8 inches forward from the front hatch with about two to three inches of cracking on the front deck. Nice, good thing I have other arrows in my quiver. » All in all it was a good day as we paddled 18 miles considering the conditions. » Day two - January 2nd » Having recovered from New Years Day's antics (I'll try to get Darwin to write about that)we left just a little later than day one, hence we launched about 25 minutes later. Day two found us with 45F water and 44F air temps, wind from the south at about 6 knots. Compared to our first day this trip was uneventful, just long, we covered 24 miles. The paddling was very pleasant and it was good to be back in my trusty Greenlander which I had just taken out of mothballs a day earlier. Everything was much more relaxed than the first leg, our only concern was if we were going to finish before darkness, which we just barely did. We finished our portage in the dark but feeling a good tired given the distance covered for the day. » Stay tuned for more adventures. Not this weekend (skiing) but maybe next.
Link Title *	Link Address *
Image URL *