Bellevue Beach, July 2007

On saturday it was a beautiful day, a great day for the beach. Also a great time to take my friends Dmitry and Katrina for their first paddle. They came to Canada in September from Russia and were very eager to get out for their first paddle. Katrina was a little nervous at first, but after a few minutes she was comfortable and enjoying herself. We had a great day, the capelin were in, but unfortunately, no whales. We did see a few bald eagles though. After a BBQ, we went out again, this time Dmitry and his mom, Svetlana, in the double. She doesn't speak english, but was all smiles and gave me the thumbs up when we got back to the beach.

Cottlesville, June 2007

While getting a few touch ups done to my kayak in Cottlesville, home of Seaknife kayaks, I got to take in a paddle in the area with local paddler, Brian Searwar, who was nice enough to give me a tour of the region. After that I got to go for another paddle with Lindy Rideout, owner/operator of Seaknife Kayaks, and his dog. Lindy's service is second to none, and if anyone is in this area, drop by his house and he'd be happy to take you out for a paddle. We were very lucky with absolute perfect conditions, no wind, warm and a few icebergs in the area to boot!

Rock over London, Rock on Chicago

My homeland, Burnt Islands

When we landed in Port Aux Basques, we had some time to spare before driving back to Whitbourne, so we decided to drive down good ol' Route 470 to my hometown, Burnt Islands. In between Isle Aux Mortes and Rose Blanche, it doesn't show up on most maps or tour guides, however it does have a fantastic paddling area called Grandy Sound, about 1 km past the town. A salmon river feeds into a big estuary and into the ocean, and this is where we launched. Not a lot of beaches along the Southwest coast, so sometimes it can be hard to find a place to launch. This area is always sheltered, with protection from all the islands in the area. There are many islands and coves to explore, and even a small waterfall to check out. I wish we had more time to explore there.

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Kayaking in the Maritimes, July 2007

Its not Newfoundland, but I figure its worth posting a few pictures of. We did a quick 6 day trip through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick en route to PEI for a wedding. Got to do some paddling on the way:

Cascumpec Bay, PEI
Just a short paddle before the wedding.

What a paddle we had at the Hopewell Rocks, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick. The weather
was pretty gnarly, winds at about 25 knots, 41 ft tide and pouring
rain. Most of the waves about 50 ft from shore were cresting over and
breaking at about 5-7 ft. It looked nasty! There is a kayak touring
company called Baymount Adventures that operate right in Hopewell
Rocks Park, and we were talking to them about going out for a paddle.
If you plan to go by yourself you have to sign a waiver with the park
and they will let you drive your car down to the beach that is
otherwise gated off. Anyhow, the guides were going to cancel the tours
for the day, due to the conditions, but there was a film crew from
Japan there to film some kayaking in the area, to help promote the
area, so 6 of the guides were going out anyways and they let us and a
few others tag along in their doubles. They didn't want us going out
in our fibreglass boats, because of all the submerged rocks. The water
is very brown and you can't see rocks that are hidden just below the
surface, and it can be a bit tangly, if you aren't familar with the
area. We went out right when the tide was at its highest point, which
amplifies the hieght of the waves.

We paddled around the world famous 'flower pot' rocks at Hopewell Cape
and surfed our way back for about 2-3 hrs. First time we had ever
surfed in a double, and it was amazing! The guides were fantastic, a
great bunch skilled paddlers.

Ingonish, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia







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Brigus, June 2007

The plan was to paddle from Brigus to 'the Arch', about 10 kms return, but the wind had other ideas, as it started gusting to 25-30 knots (50-60kph)We paddled out with the wind in our backs and after about 5 minutes realized that it wasn't a good idea, so we turned around and headed back. Angie found it really hard to paddle into the wind, so I got to try out my new towing system :) So instead we played around in the protected bay, going into a few of the canals that are there. A fun paddle, even though we had to abort the original trip plan.

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Icebergs! Keels, Bonavista Bay, June 2007

It was a warm June weekend, and I was sitting at work, wondering where to go for a paddle the next day, the forecast looked great, and there were lots of icebergs around. I looked on www.icebergfinder.com and looked for the highest concentration of icebergs within a 3 hr drive of Whitbourne, and this is what I saw on the screen:


So the next morning we drove to the community of Keels, a beautiful little town, counting the icebergs we could see from the road along the way. The weather was perfect, not a draft of wind, and the air was unbelievably warm, more than 20 degrees C, even on the water. This paddle was amazing, and I was able to get some great shots, one that was photo of the week runnerup on www.paddling.net, another that was posted on www.wavelengthmagazine.com. Wavelength contacted me and wanted to publish one picture in their magazine, and its in the Summer 2007 issue.

I must note that it is very dangerous to get near icebergs, and I'll probably get blasted about saftey for some of these pictures, but here they are. Do as I say, but not as I do!

Northern Bay Sands, May 2007

The second paddle of 07 for us, we a paddle in Colinet a few weeks before, but I forgot my camera.

Northern Bay Sands has a great beach, with awesome surfing opportunities. We had a blast playing around in the surf. There was a bit of a swell outside the bay and it was a little windy, but we made the best of it. There are lots of cliffs inside this bay, including one with an eagle nest on the southern side. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures this trip.

Rock over London, Rock on Chicago

Chapel Arm, Sept 2006

Last of the few paddles of 2006. We left the slipway in Chapel Arm and paddled along the northwest side of Chapel Arm, to Chapel Head then across to Little Ridge and back down to the slipway. This is a pretty sheltered harbour, that has lots of interesting caves and cliffs, as well as lots of wildlife including eagles and whales.

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Cape Broyle, August 2006

I had some friends visit from Alabama, USA, so I recommended they take a tour with Stan Cook, and I tagged along. It was a nice day, but the swell was a bit too much to enter most of the caves.

Rock over London, Rock on Chicago

Random Island, May 2006

2006 was a tough year for our paddling hobby, as we spent from May to October building a house......but we were able to squeeze in a few paddles, including this overnight trip to Random Island. The plan was to go to Irelands Eye, but the weather had other plans. Instead we paddled from Lower Lance Cove to Thoroughfare, about 17kms, camped for the night and paddled back the next morning in the rain. Not the best trip, but still great to get on the water after the winter layoff.

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Colinet, September 2005

The last paddle of the season before putting away out boats for the winter. This is a very sheltered area, with takeouts all along the way. A great place to paddle for beginners or when the weather doesn't let you go anywhere else. It was also our first paddle of 2007, but I didn't take my camera that trip :(

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Chance Cove, Trinity Bay, August 2005

We have paddled all over the island, and it turns out, the prettiest place we've paddled to date would have to be Angies home town, Chance Cove.

These pictures are from two seperate paddles in that area, between Chance Cove and Rantem.

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Kingston, Conception Bay August 2005

A very interesting coastline, with caves, high cliffs, beautiful beaches and a wave induced geyser a la 'the spout'.

For the full trip report, see:

http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/newhook/newhookkingston.htm

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Norris Point, Gros Morne, July 2005

The last paddle before we headed back east.

For the full trip report, see:

http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/newhook/newhooknorrispoint.htm

Red Bay, Labrador, July 2005

Not the best weather, but still a great paddle. The only problem we had was that it was too short, we didn't have much time before we had to catch the ferry :-)

For the full trip report, see:

http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/newhook/newhookredbay.htm

Lomond, Gros Morne, July 2005

Another paddle in the Gros Morne area, this time in beautiful Bonne Bay, under Killdevil Mountain.

For the full trip report see:

http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/newhook/newhooklomond.htm

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Trout River Pond, Gros Morne, July 2005

An freshwater fjord, Trout River Pond is at the foot of the Tablelands, and its a really spectacular paddle. Check out my full trip report here:

http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/newhook/newhooktroutriver.htm

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Burgeo, July 2005

We took a 17 day trip all over the island and southern Labrador in July 2005. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but we got to see a lot and get a taste for paddling in different areas of the island. The first place we went was Burgeo. There is a full trip report at:

http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/newhook/newhookburgeo.htm

We hope to go there again for at least a week sometime in the future. White sand beaches and 350 islands makes for an amazing paddle.

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Dunville, June 2005

We had the pleasure if living in Dunville, Placentia Bay for 2 years, with our house about 100ft from Northeast Arm, so we spent many evenings this way.

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Placentia Sound, June 2005

I posted a full trip report for this paddle here if you want to check it out:

http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/newhook/newhookplacentiasound.htm

Me, Trent Hardy, and Stephen Newhook left Fox Harbour and paddled into Placentia Sound. Great paddle, beautiful day.

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First Paddle, May 2005

Well, not really, me and my fiance, Angie, did a tour with Stan Cook in 2002. We purchased 2 Seaknife SK17 Pro kayaks from Lindy Rideout in February 2005. These kayaks were used in the 'Raid the North' Adventure Race in 2004. So its nice to be paddling a piece of sporting history! The Seaknife is fantastic, great initial stability and fantastic speed. A beautiful greenland profile......we love our boats. Check out the website, www.seaknife.com.

We took them in Chance Cove Pond, Trinity Bay for our first paddle. We were so excited!

Rock over London, Rock on Chicago

I've joined popular culture...........

..........and have finally started a 'blog'. Wow, thats technology for you.

I just wanted somewhere to post all my paddling pictures, and share some paddling stories.

I'm still pretty new to the kayaking, so there won't be any crazy stuff on here for a while, but I'm working on it.

I plan to keep this site updated regularly, during the paddling season anyway, so check back often for more pictures and trip reports.

Rock over London, Rock on Chicago
Brian