The Players

Act I - The Sting
MadCity Paddlers - The Crawfish River trip was cancelled today do to the weather. I don't see why? Wasn't it just yesterday I was swimming? Come on in, the waters perfect! So I put the word out on the MadCity message board.

Act II - The Players
Jack Burton ( MadCity Paddler) from Baraboo called, and decided to join me. Jack was sporting a new Prijon Kodiak Kayak. It really looked nice on the water. I guess Jack purchased the boat right from Landis Arnold- Wildwasser fame at Canoecopia ( I'd have taken a picture of it, but I am camera-less after yesterday's excursion.)

Act III - Windy cold and down right miserable
Another high wind, 17 degree morning. No worries, the snow was coming, so we had that to look forward to. The question was; where it paddle? Earlier in the morning before Jack arrived I scouted the put-in up in Milford. There really wasn't a good spot to drop in with the high water. So I bagged the Crawfish River idea.

Act IV - Jack arrives, I thought he was smarter than this
Jack arrived and with the temps. wavering around 20 degrees and the wind gusting to 25 mph, we opted for a windward shore paddle of Rock Lake. Good choice as the shore gave us a great break from the wind and the snow fluttered above our heads made for a unique paddling experience.

Act V - Taking bar stool paddling to the next level
Afterwards we went for lunch down at Meagan's restaurant and had a couple New Castles Ales. Ah the joys of bar stool paddling.

Finally something I'm good at. - The Capt'n

The best laid plans

Road trip - Oconomowoc River. High winds, 19 degrees, sunny is shining, perfect. With the long weekend, this was going to be my long paddle day. "O" Dark 30 drive to get to the put in. Gorgeous sunrise.

Current is ripping pretty good. Attempted to paddle up-river to Lac La Belle. Made 6 miles till I came up on this bridge. Pulled out and check my options. Didn't look good for paddling through it. I gave it a hap-hazard attempt. There was a little shelf under the bridge, didn't think I could get up it.

Sea Wind on the shoreline while I scope under the bridge, grab a bite to eat and soak up some sun. Still pretty cold out and the wind howling, but the trees are providing a pretty good wind break.

Another shot of the swirling water. I pondered this for a while, as I really wanted to stick to my plan and make it up to Lac La Belle. That would have given me a round trip of 24 miles.

Cut my loss and turned it down river. Temps. in the mid 20's, clouds forming and the sunshine diminishing. It would be a brisk paddle into the wind glad I had the current with me.

What you wont see in the pictures, is me falling out of the boat. Yep... As I was negotiating a narrow section that had fallen trees and I caught a branch right under my collarbone. My momentum and the branch catching me just right, put me tumbling into the water. I was stupefied. I couldn't believe it. I'm swimming for it.

The bonus was I had my new camera and cell phone in the life jacket pocket. Camera ruined, phone, appears to be OK after drying it out on the dashboard. But the real point of this posting is having a ditch kit ( hypothermia kit, dry clothes, dry hat, dry mittens and woolly socks). I had all the right gear for all the right reasons.

Paddle on paddle safe. - The Capt'n

Long weekend

Looking forward to the long weekend - spring cleaning, yard work, gutters, repair the screen door that went flying off in the wind... or paddling. We all make choices. Love those still water conditions of a meandering river.

Weather dependant, One day at a time.

The plan tonight is to get some interval training in. The WCKR group is paddling the Yahara... but it is a 1 1/2 hours out of my day driving.. when I could be paddling locally. Hmm, we all make choices.

Here is the story from the weather.gov

FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
816 PM CDT WED APR 04 2007
...THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE FOLLOWING RIVERS IN WISCONSIN...
FOX RIVER NEAR NEW MUNSTER AFFECTING KENOSHA COUNTY
ROCK RIVER AT JEFFERSON AFFECTING JEFFERSON COUNTY
ROCK RIVER AT FORT ATKINSON AFFECTING JEFFERSON COUNTY
ROCK RIVER AT NEWVILLE AFFECTING ROCK COUNTY
ROCK RIVER AT AFTON AFFECTING ROCK COUNTY
WIC059-050716-
/X.CON.KMKX.FL.W.0023.000000T0000Z-070410T1800Z/
/NMSW3.1.ER.070403T1800Z.070406T1200Z.070410T1200Z.NO/
816 PM CDT WED APR 04 2007
THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR
THE FOX RIVER NEAR NEW MUNSTER.
* UNTIL TUESDAY AFTERNOON.
* AT 0730 PM WEDNESDAY THE STAGE WAS 11.53 FEET.
* MINOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 10.0 FEET.
* THE RIVER WILL CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 12.5 FEET BY FRIDAY MORNING. THE RIVER
WILL FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE TUESDAY MORNING.
* AT 12.8 FEET...THERE IS WIDESPREAD FLOODING OF HOMES IN LOW LYING AREAS
ADJACENT TO THE RIVER IN THE WHEATLAND...SILVER LAKE AND SALEM AREAS. SOME FAMILIES EVACUATE THEIR HOMES. SOME COUNTY ROADS ARE CLOSED

Friday

Looks like I will do a series of lakes on Friday in and near Oconomowoc. It's a nice route as there is a variety of lakes rivers and creeks and portages. I'll scout part of the route for a trip I am leading in June for MadCity Paddlers. I'm shooting for Friday, cause it gives me two days to fall back on if the weather is iffy. The flooding shouldn't be an issue on this route.

Saturday

MadCity Paddlers is having a run down the Crawfish River. I scouted the put-in and take-out yesterday. Water is moving pretty good. Never paddled this section, so it would be cool to do it. It is a section that needs to be run early spring for good water. It gets a little soupy in the summer. It looked cold and un-inviting in the grey conditions.

Sunday - Easter

An Easter brunch and our second Quetico planning meeting. Count to date on the trip is six. At this point it looks like we will take three tandem boats. More planning is needed. Route has been sort of selected and the permit applied for.

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At times on quiet waters one does not speak aloud but only in whispers, for then all noise is sacrilege. - Sigurd F. Olson

Rivers on the rise - cool

They are talking flood warnings south of us on the Rock river. The current is really ripping by us but not at flood stage. We had 1 1/2 inches of rain yesterday.

High winds (30+ mph) and the temps. have dropped into the mid-20's. Maybe a high of 35 degrees today. A great day for paddling if it was January, but it is April. What happened to the 58 degree weather? They are talking snow flurries as well.

WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON.A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVING THROUGH THE GREAT LAKES REGION WILL GENERATE STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS. EXPECT SUSTAINED WINDS OF NEAR 30 MPH...WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS OVER 45MPH...ESPECIALLY IN THE OPEN COUNTRY SIDE.THE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO DIMINISH BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS BY LATE AFTERNOON.

The wind is howling and it is "freaking out" our cat (Oakley). He is running from window to window... phsyco cat!!

meow...meow... meow... - Oakley

The workout -grinding it out

After work I went for a 2 hour paddle on the Rock River. I put in just above the Watertown Dam and did a 2 hour Grind up hill to Pipersville.

The river was moving pretty good. I drifted for a bit to see the tale of the GPS. One section was 3.0 and other section 2.5.

It took me an 1.5 hours of paddling to get to Pieperesville, where the river narrowed so much I could make no further headway. A quick check of the GPS put me at .8 miles per hour in some sections. then at the turn around, zero.

On the return, what a ride. The GPS said that I had a top speed of 8.3 mph. I was able to keep it over 6 mph most of the time. My return time was 35 minutes. Felt like I was flying.

What does it all mean? Don't know. But I wanted to start base-lining my workouts. Paddle with a purpose with these races coming up.

I am have issues with the formatting of this blog - The Capt'n

Un-charted waters for the Capt'n

One needs to be very cautious when picking up the phone. The last couple of times I received a phone call from Mark (Kruger Canoes); I've found myself saying "yes" to this question: "Hey do you want to race a Kruger Cruiser in the up-coming.... with me?"

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So the first thing we did was sign up for the longest non-stop paddling race in the world. The Missouri 340. Which makes a lot of sense.... right?

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Misery loves company, so now a handful of the WaterTribe are entering as well. Wayferer, SandyBottom, Etchemin, S.O.S. and the list continues to grow.

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Then last week the phone rang early Monday morning it was Mark. I waited in anticipation... (You never know what outrageous idea he has come up with while inspired by building the world's best undisputed expedition canoes. He keeps mentioning the Yukon River Quest) anyway...

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We got to discussing the logistics for the Hardcore Adventure Camp in which Kruger Canoes is sponsoring all the boats for the kids to paddle. When the conversation turned to training for the Misery 340. We needed a plan.

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We decided it would be good to race the Hugh Heward Canoe Race on the Grand River in Michigan. It's a 55 mile down river paddle, with a couple of portages. We have never paddled together and it would be good to sit in a boat together for a few hours, to see how we do. We will try to paddle together a few times over the next couple of months before the M340.

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Mark is building us a new Kruger Cruiser for the Misery 340, doubtful that it will be completed for H.H.C.R. in 3 weeks. So we are paddling in Verlen's personal Cruiser (on loan from Jenny) which Mark explained is all tricked out. Am I worthy, to paddle Verlen's personal boat?... Dude come on!!

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Then I am told the race goes right by Verlen's home on the Grand River and the cemetery in which he rests and ends where the memorial will be located.

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Mark and I am quoting, "Verlen will be calling out the "huts" for us on this one".

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There is some serious positive energy around. This is way cool.

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So how does one train for an event in 3 weeks...

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Paddle paddle paddle... Mark Przedwojewski

Sleeping Beautifuls

Well the girls were bummed as the weather went bad and it started raining by the time they got moving this morning. Glad I got out early for a quick paddle.

So paddling with them on our favorite route to the Kiltie Drive-in, was postponed. But, somehow our SUV managed to find its way there anyway, ice-cream was happily shared by all.

There is a review of foods eaten while expedition paddling on the WaterTribe site as I write. Though my top notch researchers have found secret blogs - I wont mention any names - cough cough- (KiwiBird)(SandyBottom) that ice cream is on the menu on such a trip like the Everglades Challenge.

So I got the ice-cream thing down, now for the paddling - The Capt'n