Camping in a CS17: Building character!

[SUKIE]

Wow, was that ever a fun and exciting 3 day trip! A friend and I have been kayak camping together for years and I convinced her that it would be really fun to do it in the "Lady Grace". Well, to begin with, we decided we had lots more space, so brought far more stuff than we should have. You know how it is, if there's space, FILL it!! So, we launched on Thurs, about 3:00 and had a 10 mile sail to our remote campsite (managed by the state of NH). We had a wonderful sail and were making camp by 6:00. Then we had to unload alll that extra stuff, hauling it over slippery rocks in about a foot of water. The huge difference was that I had to moor the boat out from the rocks, use a second anchor so she wouldn't swing into shore, and a line tied to her so I could haul her in to shore. Quite alot of fussing about to get everything right, and then here comes the WIND!! Wow, it blew like crazy all night, and Friday we had FOUR violent T-storms. I was seriously thinking of breaking open a cold (yes, we brought a cooler too) beer at 10 AM! Saturday dawned clear and calm so we set out for a little fishing. Well, all you have to do is throw a fishing line over and the wind will come up, which it did very quickly. While sailing back to camp, doing about 5 knots on a beam reach, we hit a rock, HARD, and the downhaul line snapped like kite string. (There are no navigational charts, and very few markers in these northern lakes, so you're always taking your chances).  Back to camp, and after packing and loading (an hour's job), we set sail again to head back down to the launching ramp, wind 10-20 knots,  on our tail the whole way. Did we ever FLY!! We sailed the 10 miles in about 1 1/2 hours.

So, next camping trip I'll make sure I know where I'll be anchoring (not off a shore full of rocks), and take about 1/2 the amount of gear. Oh, the CB didn't look like it was damaged at all, I had done the epoxy filled rope on the forward edge and I guess it really works.

Now I need to rest for a few days from my vacation!

[Tom Lathrop]

Hi Sukie,

At least you and crew got home in one piece even if the hold down line didn't.  We had the exact same experience with a rock in Lake of Two Rivers, Ontario in Loon.  Good to get more evidence that the epoxy line trick on the CB saves a lot of maintenance worries. 

Nevertheless, I am going to ft some lead in Lapwing's CB this off season and eliminate the hold down line altogether.

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

Great to hear the story of your first camping trip.  I will now definitely 'soak my epoxy rope'.

[Joe Anderson]

In concert with the rope trick there must have been some good workmanship.

Good point about the strengths and weaknesses of camping with kayaks or small boats.

Sometimes I have treated my kayak like a sailboat.

Treating your sailboat like a kayak could be trickier.

[JeffM]

Now that's adventure!  Sukie, I see you aren't wasting any time.