First Fall Paddling of 2012!

It was a lovely day to be outside. So I drove up to Riverbend Park and used my free kayak rental voucher that I got from the certification class a couple months ago.

It was very crowded at the park but I managed to find a parking right near the river. (There is an option to park at Nature Center if the parking at Visitor Center is full.)

The river was gorgeous. Not many people on the water so I basically had the river by myself. :) The fall color started to come out a bit. We got some rain earlier so nobody was allowed to paddle toward east which was toward the dam.

As I mentioned on the previous post what I love about the river at Riverbend is that there is a mix of moving and flatwater which is a perfect place for a beginner like me to fool around. I played with the rapids by trying to stay on it like I learnt in the class. (And I did! But I couldn't go pass it though. Coz of my wimpy stroke ?) I even snugged my boat behind the rock in the middle of river and had my snack there listening and watching the water running around me. :)

Anyway, it is going to be a busy paddling season! Enjoy the photos!

Click here to view these pictures larger

My First Night Kayak Tour at Pohick Bay, Lorton, Virginia

Check out more photos from my photo page.

Just about an hour drive from Reston, Virginia, Pohick Bay is a great place to paddle for a beginner. A safety tip from our tour guide is if you capsize, just stand up. (I love it!) The water is pretty shallow but doesn't mean you can be careless. Wear your life jacket (and tighten it up) anyway.

Paddling toward sunset

I highly recommend this night tour. I am not sure you agree with me but I think it is a nice way to spend your evening before going to bed. It costs you only $30. The park main gate closes at dark so this tour gives you an exclusive access to the bay at night. If you're not a big fan of bugs, put some spray on before embark. Brushing them away while paddling is not fun. (I learnt it hard way.) Bring a flashlight with you since it's pitch-black after the sunlight is gone. There are very few artificial light at the bay.

Our tour guide who has done this for 8 years.
(No raft-up required here!)

Unfortunately I have no photo from the second half of the tour for you since my camera can't handle 'no light' environment. (^^) It's actually the fun part of the tour because we went through narrow path where the water was covered with plants and debris in some areas. It's like going through a maze. I have no idea how our guide knows his way around.

Oh I learnt that there is one, only one, resident at Pohick Bay. Her 3 houses and her 5-acre land right on the waterfront (if I remember correctly) is here before the park. Lucky her! She still lives in one of the houses and rent the two to others.

Great scene. Don't you think ?

The tour lasts about 2 hours excluding the introduction and launching parts. Though the park says no paddling experience is required for this trip I personally think the trip will be more enjoyable for you if you have some.

Definitely do it again. (Actually I already registered for another one!)

Trust me the red moon was big and gorgeous.

My next paddling is going to be a whitewater lesson! Stay tuned!

---------------------- <*)))))< ------------------------

General Information about the tour:

Pohick Bay Official Website: http://www.nvrpa.org/park/pohick_bay/
Where to meet: Marina boat rental (There are about 20 parking spots including ADA ones.)
How to register and make payment: Registration is required, over the phone only, accept only Visa and Master Card.
What to bring: water, bug spray, a flashlight

I wish I had these in my backyard!

Also good to know: A boat rental is available. There are canoes, kayak, tandem kayak, paddle boards and Jon boats. Launch-your-own-boat area is a bit further down on the same road. You just need to pay the fee. Restrooms and vending machine are available. 

Check out more photos from my photo page.

The Rappahannock River, Fredericksburg, Virginia

Note: More photos available on my photo main page.

If you read my previously blog, you probably wonder why I was here in Fredericksburg, Virginia, instead of my friend's new vacation home and the Adventure Sport Center near Swallow Falls in Maryland. Well, the trip got canceled at the last minute. My friend had a family issue to deal with. I am so okay with it. A family always comes first. It's tough to be a parent. And somehow it worked out beautifully for me because I had a chance to be at the American Canoe Association's Celebrate the Rapp festival in Federicksburg on Saturday and paddled on the Rappahannock River for the first time. (So no worry, Karen! We'll do it next time.)

The City Dock

So I convinced and nagged my other friend, Christine, to go to the festival with me and I agreed to see Yanni Concert at Wolf Trap with her in return.  Hey that's a spirit of compromise!  (It's an amazing concert by the way.) So here we go. One of the most fun weekend. Just like an old saying, "it's not about destination. it's about whom you travel with". I think it's so true!

A lovely house near the City Dock

We arrived around 10:30 and helped cleaning up the City Dock right away. It's done within about an hour. The parking lot was the worst. We almost screamed when we saw people started smoking when we left. The cigarette company should pay for the clean up, seriously. The area wasn't big but we picked up almost 2,000 cigarette butts according to the volunteer leader whom we ran into later that day. 

Along the road

The back of an art gallery

The pump house and the bridge over the river

I like the fact that you can access the river and see it almost at any point along Sophia Street. I didn't have a chance to explore the real downtown area but I'll try next time.

View of the railroad bridge over the Rappahannock River from the boat

Under the railroad bridge

A sketch I made later while waiting for the movie festival to start
for my 365 Day161

And here is a painting of the bridge for my 365 Day163

Such a lovely sky we had today

So now we're here for the festival.  there were a bunch of vendors, food, craft etc. The highlighted activities were the river clean-up, free 45-min paddling lessons for kayaking, canoeing and stand-up paddle (SUP), the historical river tour and Reel Paddling Film Festival which showcased nine best paddling films of year 2012. (I wrote about the film festival on the previous post. They were great! Don't forget to check it out. It's a must.) 

The festival was a bit smaller than I thought and some volunteers were not quite informed about the activities. I ended up walking around a lot between the city dock and the festival but I got to experience the town along the riverside a bit better (and took a lot of photos so who cares!). 

Based on my experience you don't need to sign up anything online for next year. Maybe with an exception of stand-up paddling class which was very popular and maybe the river tour because they had to have a boat for you. But do it early, not the night before or your name won't make it onto the list. My friend name wasn't on the SUP class.

Our guide who has been here for over 25 years

Our tour group

Paddling time! We had about 12 people at the tour group. Mr. Greg Mertz of US Park Service was our guide. The tour was about visiting the sites during Civil War. I learnt about what happened, where it took place and what the pontoon looked like! Now I want to read more about Civil War. This was a 2-hour-long tour at $5. (Oh my! It's 10 times more expensive here and we're just an hour away! Unfortunately the tour was just for this event.) 

A view during the tour. (Trust me I was listening!)

The reflection and the shadow at the boat ramp

My fav photo!

I am jealous! The boat ramps were pretty busy. 
There were boats in and out all the time.

I was caught taking a photo of their canoe.
They said I should take a photo of them instead
because they were a better view. Ha ha.
(Hope you see my post! :) )

People here were so friendly and relaxed. The pace of the town is much much slower than the city which was very nice. A lot of fishing, paddling, boating and unfortunately smoking.

After a great and relaxing dinner at Brock's Riverside Grill near the railroad bridge we strolled down back to the festival and decided to just relax at the dock while the sun was setting. Not much to say. The views were just simply lovely.

View from a dock at the park

Another favorite shot

Our dangling feet

The movie screen with a perfect auditorium-seating-like sloped area
right in front of the river.

Aww here was the best part, 2-hour-long Reel Paddling Film Festival, you just have to read about it on my previous post. I can't fit it in here! It's too good. I wish there were more people sticking around. They should show this in Reston or DC. There must be a lawn somewhere here. We have thousands of paddlers. They could make a lot more money from us. I definitely go again if they come to the area.

The last shot of the day

So that's the end. We left the town around 11 pm. Driving on I-95 was scary but we drove slowly, kept chatting and sang songs out loud to stay awake. I guess you can tell we had great time. I hope you have a chance to be here in the near future.


Until next paddling~


Note: More photos available on my photo main page.
Note 2: I am so sorry about the typo for the town name!

Fletcher's Boathouse, Washington DC (Round 2)

We've reached Chain Bridge today! :) I paddled tandem kayak for the first time with my friend. Get there early if you want the tandem because there are very limited numbers. 

Check out more photos from my photo page.

"I am touching you." - from My 365 Day 148

Mission accomplished!

Gorgeous Cloud

Ta da~

DC Playground

Lunch Table

View during Lunch

Until next paddling~

Fletcher's Boathouse, Washington DC

What a great Sunday here in DC. After getting lost last week I decided to give Fletcher's Boathouse another try. I got there right at 8 am. I am so proud of myself! (ok the parking lot was already packed.)

How to get to Fletcher's Boathouse - my 365 Project Day 134

I strongly recommend driving north to Fletcher's Boathouse. You cannot make a turn into their entrance by driving south unless you ride a motorcycle. Trust me. Backing up your car on Canal Road is not what you want to do. (And yes you may need to stop in the middle on Canal Road when you drive north and wait for the incoming traffic to die down but it seems to be understandable by the drivers there.)

The dock

The rental rate at Fletcher's Boathouse for a kayak is $10+tax per hour and $28+tax per day. Canoes, Jon boats and bikes are also available. I suggest getting there very early. By 10 am it was getting crowded.

GW Memorial Parkway and the Potomac River

Gorgeous landscape

Reflection of the sky this morning

Chain Bridge

This part of the river is really calm. But keep in mind that it's still a river not a lake. I had a difficult time paddling upstream when I approached Chain Bridge even though I paddled like a hamster. I was probably just about 30 feet from it but moving at half inch per stroke was quite discouraging so I didn't reach the bridge as plan. :(

A lot of people were fishing either from boats or at the shoreline. There are parking lots at the foot of Chain Bridge underneath GW Memorial Parkway, along Clara Baton Parkway and also at Fletcher's Boathouse itself.

Let's talk about the parking at Fletcher's Boathouse at bit. There are numbers of parking spaces near the entrance which on the left hand side when you drive in but if you continue driving straight along the stone wall onto the wooden bridge (with a stone tunnel right on the right hand), this road will take you to the bigger parking area near the river.

After checking with the map I think I paddled about 2 miles in 2 hours today. :)

Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos from my paddling and try it yourself when you have a chance. :)

*Check out the rest of the photos from this trip from my photo page.

Kayak Stroke Recap and Refinement

I don't know who invented all these strokes for us to learn. They definitely had plenty of time to play around! (kidding!)

Today another student and I took a kayak class with Brian from Ckapco again...(which made 3 crazy people paddling in a rain at 55'F temperature.) We recapped Sculling Draw, Draw, Sweep, Reverse (all the way), Low Brace, High Brace, Bow Rudder, Draw in Motion, Sideslip (Hanging Draw) and Stern Rudder....then the new part we learnt was mixing them up.

Eww...like it's not confusing enough already.

Image from My 365 Project - Day 113 


Like in order to make a U-turn I usually just use Sweep Stroke 3-4 times or use Forward Stroke and Reverse Stroke on each side of the boat. But there are other ways accomplish this. For example today (as shown on the image) we went forward first, then used a wide sweep stroke w/ edging, then while holding edging on the sweep side*, used Bow Rudder on the opposite side (I found my hat was in a way quite often), held the edging until the boat almost completed the turn and then used Reverse Sweep Stroke to complete**.

Oh my...@_@! It sounds confusing, doesn't it ? But do you notice that I use only 2 strokes to accomplish a U-turn ?

Mixing them together definitely forces you to observe how a boat works and how your paddling is as every little move really makes a change even just by pushing one butt cheek down while moving you can see the difference.

Now paddling is more like an art than labor to me. :) And looks like there is a lot of practice to do.

Until next paddling~

*, ** correction on 4/23/2012 (I colored the edging on the third image wrong and put the reverse sweep on the wrong side. I am so sorry!)