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May/June, 2005
January's Sea and Ski
By: Karyn Roy
Back in early January, I got a call about the chance to do an overnight sea kayaking and camping trip out of Casco Bay. It sounded like a great idea and a chance to get out and paddle, since most of the rivers were frozen completely over. Plans were made, and on a Wednesday morning at 7am I met two of LL Bean’s finest Sea Kayak guides, Bob Myron and Gregg Bolton, at Friendly’s Restaurant. Did I mention that it was about 10 below zero that morning?
We all sat down at Friendly’s and talked about the weather forecast, tides, winds and anything else that could affect the trip. It’s another whole ballgame in the dead of winter; you really can’t afford to have anything go wrong. As we were drinking our coffee and hashing out details, a waitress came by and asked if we were planning on taking our frozen kayaks out today. We just smiled and said "yes." As she was leaving Bob looked at us and laughed, "We probably shouldn’t mention we’re not coming back until tomorrow."
After breakfast, we drove down to the end of Bailey’s Island and started loading the boats. We were in full winter gear just standing outside that morning to load gear. It was so beautiful though, no one around and there was some kind of steam coming off the water. After about an hour and a half of gearing up, we were ready to take off. I can’t explain how much gear you must have for an overnight paddling trip in the winter--I felt like I was in a gear store looking in the back of Bob and Gregg’s trucks.
We set off that morning and paddled about 6 miles to Jewell Island. It was a relatively calm morning, very little wind, and about an hour or so in, it started to snow! It was such a cool feeling and made for some very nice pictures too. We made it to Jewell and hauled our boats up out of the freezing water. We then proceeded to find a nice spot to set up the tent. After unloading and changing into other gear, we quickly grabbed some hot liquids and a snack. Bob grabbed his cross-country skis and we headed out to explore the island. We saw some abandoned military outposts from the WWII era and a bit of wildlife too.
That evening we had a great gourmet meal and hot lemonade. Bob even surprised us with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream that he had stashed in his boat. I can tell you that it didn’t melt. After hanging out for a while we all retired to the tent and waited for the forecasted snow to fall. Bob also put boiling water in our Nalgene bottles and we stuffed them in our sleeping bags, a great treat on a cold night!
We woke up to a surprise the next day, 7" of new snow and a beautiful sunny day. Everything was so gorgeous and it was really exciting to dig out our kayaks and find our gear. We had planned on cross-country skiing again but the winds were increasing steadily and it was decided that we set back to Bailey’s Island early.
Due to the winds and ebbing tide, we had to alter our course slightly but I must confess, this was one of the more challenging paddles I’ve been on. We found out right away that some of our skegs had frozen, which made paddling about 10 times harder.
I felt really confident with the group we had, both Bob and Gregg are very seasoned and respected kayak guides, but these conditions were very serious and a mistake could have been costly. While we were battling the winds and tide, I was comparing it in my head to some of the more challenging whitewater I’ve done. It wasn’t class V whitewater that we were doing, but there were class V conditions, and a swim would have been deadly. With a loaded down boat, many layers of paddling gear, high winds, and pushy tides, the stakes get a li
ttle higher.
We made it around the Northern tip of Haskell Island and got a chance to surf the rollers all the way back to Bailey’s. We were all exhausted but felt excited to get back to our vehicles. It took another couple hours to load up the trucks and then we faced the challenge of driving out an unplowed road with 7" of new snow. We all had an unbelievable time and said we’d love to do it again. I said good-bye to the boys and drove home thinking about the trip, and relieved to be home safely. It was an epic trip, and I’d love to do it again next year.
Note: "Winter Kayaking can be a very rewarding experience but it comes with its share of challenges and risks. People participating in this sport should have good knowledge of kayaking and of the sea. Proper safety equipment such as drysuits and Personal Floatation devices should be worn at all times. Solid paddling and ocean rescue skills are a must. The above was a challenging trip even for experienced guides and kayak instructors, a trip this time of year should never be attempted by novice kayakers." (Bob Myron, Registered Maine Guide)
Karyn Roy is a Registered Maine Sea Kayak Guide and a 7 year whitewater rafting guide. She won the 2002 Teva Tour National Championships for whitewater kayaking and is currently a member or Team Wavesport. Karyn and her husband Jay recently bought a house in
North Windham and can be found at Limington Rips. She also is a Special Education teacher in Freeport, Maine.
Email nick [at] noumbrella [dot] com with your questions, comments and concerns.
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