Weekend of Kayaking in Connecticut

It all began with the lousy political situation we have with Turkey that is kinda preventing me from spending the regular sailing vacation. I tried to find appropriate substitute in the form of paddling. The paddling club trips abroad sounds like a super fun thing but they require longer engagement so I ended up combining a business trip to NYC with paddling around. Hadas, our club instructor, got many kayaking friends in the US so she did some mail introductions. The one that picked up the glove was Gerry Polansky, a paddling instructor from Connecticut. We had a long mail exchange to close all the trip details and we come up with something that suited my needs and Gerry’s schedule.

My trip to started with 2 working days in NY and on Friday afternoon I found myself on the train to New London Connecticut. Trains in this area are far more specious and convenient then airplanes and the first part of the ride during daylight amazed me by the green area and blue water coves and rivers we crossed. Good sign for what was coming next.

 

Saturday.

The next morning Gerry picked me up from the hotel. We had short introduction time and we hit the road towards nice little town a bit north of New London where we were going to launch the boats. Small town, houses on the waterfront and tons of boats on the water. All the rest is the Green, Green, Green surrounding everything. Coming from end of summer in Israel makes it totally “refreshing”.

Then the other guys started coming in. Experienced paddlers with their boats that looked very high techish and nice to ride. They were Steve, Ron, Carolyn and Nick which is the designer and builder of Guilmount Kayaks. Steve and few other people from our club in Israel bought plans from him and build beautiful well designed boats from it.

It took a while to get organized but we launched and started paddling toward Fisher’s Island, an Island ~4 miles out the Connecticut shore, place full of rich people houses and land that belongs to the navy so much of it is very much preserved. The paddling along the island was nice ride on the way to real fun spot.

At the south-western tip of the Island there is mouth of the Long Island sound. The place where the tide water are coming in and flushing out. That was the place where I learned the term ‘Race’ for a place where the Tidal Streams are running. It’s hard to see it in the pictures but this place is a fun washing machine. It’s a 200 meter wide area of water rushing from the one side creating Tidal waves to the other side. My instincts are that when you are surfing on a wave it carries you forward, but here the situation is completely different/ you are surfing the waves but if you are not constantly paddling the race carries you backward. For people used to coastal surf this is nothing like you knew before and totally different experience which I was very happy to have. The guys From the group were kind enough to watch my back as all this was pretty new to me but I managed to hold very nicely in these conditions and stay up all the time. Well except for one roll that I did to feel more comfortable in the water there. Right in the middle of the race there was a very nice lighthouse built on a rock . that supplied a nice calm spots to take some rest from the race, have a snack and even climb to the lighthouse platform and take some pictures. After some more playing in the race we headed back to Fisher Island shore for a lunch. We just found a spot with 2 logs, we had out lunch and took about 1 ½ hour of lazing in the sun chatting and throwing stones at other stones on the other log (next to Gerry:)

When it felt like we just packed everything and headed back to the Connecticut coast along with tons of traffic of power and sailing boats. Eventually we got back to our original launching spot, spent some fun time in the water and then packed the boats. We did not leave till we had nice afternoon meal in the club there with a lot of sea food water beer and tons of bread. Right what we needed after such nice paddling.

I think it will be hard to explain in words the fun I had with this group of fun and interesting people, and the generous hospitality and care I’ve got during this day. Apparently there is something unique and in common with all of us Kayaking people all around the world.

Right after Gerry brought me back to the hotel, I went to the New London town to see it in day light. It is a fun town to be in a summer weekend.

Want to locate this on a map? here you are.

 

Sunday.

The second day, Gerry picked me up with his car and a trailer with 5 other boats on it. This was the class day. We went into the beautiful Powers Lake where the water are clear and the “relatively” warm for Gerry to give his Level 2 class. We had there Dave, Susan and Kate which are taking this class for the second time and Steve and Pat that took a paddling class for the first time.

It was also the first time for me to take a formal skills class but eventually from that many years of paddling I already knew the basics, or as Gerry says, “he’s got the theory”.

The Class covered a lot of stuff that was new to me even if they are basic. I learned methods for rescues and self rescues. I learned nice hints about towing. This was the first time I really learned bracing (although after all these years this comes naturally). It was the first time for me to learn side stroke (paddling sideways) and bow tearing which was pretty cool.

We had nice lunch break where I gave the guys the “special treat” of Arabic coffee cooked on Gerry’s famous Primus Stove. I must say the guys were initially terrified by the way it looks and how Muddy it is comparing to the (lousy) American coffee but after a sip or two the seem to actually find it tasty.

This was an excellent day with a great chance for me to learn A LOT from someone like Gerry and also to give the people some of my knowledge and experience for all of us to get better.

We finished the day with delicious fruits on the way and nice Thai meal me and Gerry had before heading to the train station.

Wanna see where the lake is: it's here:

 

To Summarize: This was not a good compensation for the Turkey vacation I missed but a GREAT weekend with GREAT people, paying ‘love’ to the water again such GREAT scenery. Tons of thanks To Gerry.

Lots of pictures here:

Paddling in CT

Comments

[avital kushnir]

Graet experience!!! Love to read it!

[OV Watch]

Wow! I love this game! ^_^ Nice..Thanks for sharing it,,

[holy land tours]

Hi, thanks for sharing those great experiences. I sailed to Turkey several times, some were good some were better, it is cheap and there is a diversity for a vacation.

[Israel Guide]

Wonderful to share all this information with us! I liked reading this blog and being inspired to check it out. This is really useful! Thank you so much.

[costamesa chiropractic]

This was the first time I really learned bracing (although after all these years this comes naturally).

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The Class covered a lot of stuff that was new to me even if they are basic. I learned methods for rescues and self rescues. I learned nice hints about towing. This was the first time I really learned bracing (although after all these years this comes naturally). It was the first time for me to learn side stroke (paddling sideways) and bow tearing which was pretty cool.

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The second day, Gerry picked me up with his car and a trailer with 5 other boats on it. This was the class day. We went into the beautiful Powers Lake where the water are clear and the “relatively” warm for Gerry to give his Level 2 class. We had there Dave, Susan and Kate which are taking this class for the second time and Steve and Pat that took a paddling class for the first time.

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I'm a bit envy on you because I really want to experience Kayaking too. :D

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