Day after Christmas paddle as I finally took a route I've been meaning to do for awhile. Launched from Manchester and paddled into Blakely Harbor, around Blakely Rocks, and back. It was breezy in the morning, but wind died down on the way back for a nice paddle.
Total Distance: 12.22 miles
Duration: 03:10.00
Average Speed: 3.9 mph
Max Speed: 4.8 mph
12.20.2023
First day of my Holiday Break and got out on the water on a calm, but super foggy day. Knocked off a paddle I've been wanting to do ever since I drove this area, and also after several failed attempts. The tides were perfect as I launched from Union and paddled up the Skokomish River until reaching the highway and back out. Saw another tributary route I may have to try and come back for at a future date.
Total Distance: 8.57 miles
Duration: 02:10.45
Average Speed: 3.9 mph
Max Speed: 6.7 mph
12.16.2023
Man, couldn't ask for a nicer day in December for a paddle, especially with how crappy the weather has been lately. Met up with Jeramy as we did a clockwise lap around Fox Island.
Total Distance: 12.33 miles
Duration: 03:23.05
Average Speed: 3.6 mph
Max Speed: 4.9 mph
11.03.2023
Been almost a month, but finally made it out on the water again. Took the day off work to see the USS NIMITZ CVN68 head back out to see. After watching the carrier head out, paddled down the Narrows to Lions Park and back...super calm and nice fall day between rainstorms.
Total Distance: 7.54 miles
Duration: 02:00.19
Average Speed: 3.8 mph
Max Speed: 5.4 mph
10.07.2023
Spent the weekend in the Woodway area and Matt and I made it out for a morning paddle on a really nice fall day...maybe one of the last. It's always nice paddling different areas including the other side of the Sound.
Total Distance: 5.80 miles
Duration: 01:39.35
Average Speed: 3.5 mph
Max Speed: 6.3 mph
10.01.2023
Arlyn ran the Portland Marathon and I paddled the Pakayak around the Willamette River on an amazing fall day. Pretty awesome place to paddle, first went north towards old town and the Columbia, then turned around and went South along Ross Island and back. I wanted to do a lap around the island, but didn't want to risk missing Arlyn finish her marthon... Next time!
It was cool paddling and seeing several routes of the marathon along the way, and didn't know there was a submarine available for tours in Portland. Got to paddle right up to the USS Blueback (SS 581).
Total Distance: 9.59 miles
Duration: 02:44.06
Average Speed: 3.5 mph
Max Speed: 5.3 mph
09.24.2023
It was raining, but got the opportunity and took it to see the USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) return to town (I've missed the last two due to being out of town). Caught her at the last moment off of Bainbridge Island where I launched from Manchester.
Total Distance: 3.53 miles
Duration: 01:01.19
Average Speed: 3.4 mph
Max Speed: 5.5 mph
09.23.2023
Third time doing the Big Hurt, but sadly Phil couldn't join us for the mountain bike leg so Kyle substituted and did a fantastic job, we were appropriately team "Phil-less" this year.
Lots more teams this year which made it fun, we ended up 6th out of 32 finishers overall in the team category and I held my own in the kayak leg again.
Total Distance: 2.48 miles
Duration: 00:28:44
Average Speed: 5.4 mph
Max Speed: 6.5 mph
09.09.2023
Retured to Camas, WA to paddle the Columbia River again. This time it was a warm nice day with a slight breeze. Paddled east to Reed Island State Park and back...lots of boats and jetskis in the water. I wanted to lap Reed Island, but the river flow was not high enough (makes sense in the summer, I'm just not super familiar with paddling this area).
Also saw a group of 8 kayakers who put in upstream at the dam, they had some nice boats.
Total Distance: 11.03 miles
Duration: 02:43.56
Average Speed: 4.0 mph
Max Speed: 5.6 mph
09.04.2023
Labor Day Paddle as I launched from the 72nd street boat ramp on the Key Peninsula. Paddled south and around the tip of the Peninsula. Good paddle and feels like fall is right around the corner.
Total Distance: 10.41 miles
Duration: 02:22.38
Average Speed: 4.4 mph
Max Speed: 5.3 mph
08.24.2023
Returned to Lake Cushman for my second paddle here. Man this lake is absolutely breath taking. You can't beat paddling on a lake with mountains rising right out of the water!
Total Distance: 12.72 miles
Duration: 03:22.34
Average Speed: 3.8 mph
Max Speed: 4.3 mph
08.16.2023
Work trip to sunny San Diego and got out one day after work. Didn't bring a kayak with me, but rented a kayak from an awesome place called Aqua Adventures in Mission Bay. They have really good gear, paddled a fiberglass P&H kayak (didn't catch the model) with a Snap Dragon spray skirt.
It was a little breezy, but got to explore Mission Bay...definately different scenery than Washington with all the palm trees. First paddle in California!
On another random note, drove back and forth to SD from Washington and drove by 3 bucket list paddling destinations: Pyramid Lake outside of Los Angelas, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Lake Shasta.
Total Distance: 10.02 miles
Duration: 02:51:43
Average Speed: 3.5 mph
Max Speed: 4.8 mph
08.01.2023
Took advantage of a couple free hours on a hot afternoon and headed to Long Lake for some rolling practice. This was my first attempt since the pool session.
First attempt was a complete failure, but got the hang of it again... I was wearing goggles, but the water was so murky it was pointless. I managed to roll about 95% of the time, but only when I flipped towards my left...I couldn't manage to position myself when flipping towards the right. Next practice session in clearer waters hopefully!
Total Distance: 3.43 miles
Duration: 01:21.16
Average Speed: 2.5 mph
Max Speed: 8.3 mph
07.29.2023
2023 version of the Elk River Challenge and it was another fun one. I came in first and last in my division, but felt like it was a good race overall as I was the first single non-rower to finish. Granted, most of the rowers I beat got stuck in the shallow mud at least once!
Total Distance: 7.90 miles
Duration: 01:32:23
Average Speed: 5.1 mph
Max Speed: 5.9 mph
07.04.2023
Last paddle on this Japan trip on the 4th of July. Same spot as always and similar paddle. Tokyo bay was never calm enough again for me to adventure out, always a little nervous with the bathtub waves that can instantly pickup in the Pakayak, especially since I never packed a bilge pump with me.
Total Distance: 8.84 miles
Duration: 02:29.05
Average Speed: 3.4 mph
Max Speed: 7.8 mph
07.02.2023
Repeat paddle again in Japan, but this time I saw numerous Sting Rays swimming around...some of them were oblivious to me paddling right near them. One of them was swimming right towards me and dove deep at the last second with his tail smacking the Pakayak.
Total Distance: 7.53 miles
Duration: 02:17.46
Average Speed: 3.3 mph
Max Speed: 7.2 mph
06.28.2023
Launched from Umi-no Park again and did a similar lap around SeaSide Paradise after work and ended up catching the tour boat out on the water. On my way back, I noticed someone practicing paddling in one of the canals that looked blocked off. Since he was there, I found a way through the buoys and paddled upstream on the Jijyugawa River past Kanto Gakuin University.
Total Distance: 5.03 miles
Duration: 01:25.05
Average Speed: 3.6 mph
Max Speed: 5.2 mph
06.18.2023
Returned to the Umi-no Park, but this time stayed out of Tokyo Bay and inside the harbor after lapping SeaSide Paradise. After all the fishing boats went out into the bay, a canal opened up where I was able to paddle up to Kanazawa-Bunko Station.
Total Distance: 6.33 miles
Duration: 01:56.43
Average Speed: 3.3 mph
Max Speed: 8.1 mph
06.17.2023
Umi-no Park near SeaSide Paradise is probably the easiest launching spot for me staying in Yokosuka since there is a train station really close to the beach and relatively easy trip on the trains to get there.
Paddled around SeaSide Paradise and headed south towards Yokohama in Tokyo Bay. I forgot how rough Tokyo Bay can get in this area... There is nothing but bulkheads for the waves to bounce off of: lots of cargo ships heading to Tokyo plus trains of fishing vessels heading out, makes huge bath-tub waves!
Total Distance: 9.58 miles
Duration: 02:48.54
Average Speed: 3.4 mph
Max Speed: 4.3 mph
06.10.2023
Returned to Japan for a work trip and my Pakayak joined along.
My old stomping grounds, launched from Zushi Beach and paddled south to my old Hayama neighborhood... past the Tori gate down to Isshiki beach and back.
It was good to be back as I've missed paddling in Japan. The trip with the Pakayak wasn't without adventure as I lost a wheel on the bag lugging it from Zushi station all the way to the beach, made it back ok by taking the bus to the station on the way home. Still worth the effort!
Total Distance: 10.84 miles
Duration: 03:07.23
Average Speed: 3.5 mph
Max Speed: 4.9 mph
06.03-04.2023
Jon, Jeramy and myself embarked on Seventy48 2023 and I'm not going to lie, it was WAY harder this year than last...and I deserve it because I said I wanted to do the race in a year where there were the fewest finishers. This year it turns out there were the most participants (131 teams), but only 70 finishers...I came in 48th.
The only thing that was nicer this year was it was clear out (sunny all day and moonlight at night). The sun gave me gnarly tan lines, especially since I didn't put on sunscreen. It was way harder this year due to a northernly wind the entire time and the tides weren't as helpful.
It started off decent with a moonlight paddle through Colvos passage and I didn't even stop on Blake Island, however paddling past Blake and up Bainbridge Island I got incredibly sea sick... Ended up chumming the waters and stopped in at Fay Park as the sun started to rise to have some hot cocoa and regroup my head. While resting, Jon and Jeramy paddled up to camp for a few hours.
I pressed on and paddling during the daylight really helped my sea sickness. The tough part was none of my food sounded good anymore and was worried about having enough energy for the rest of the race. Pretty smooth trip and stopped really quickly at Point No Point before making the final push.
Glassy waters heading towards Indian Island with only the flood tide to battle with (which at the time I thought was hard enough). This part of the trip felt like it took forever as all you can look at is Indian Island very slowly getting bigger and bigger. However once I got there, thats when things go crazy difficult.
A very strong headwind emerged that was super hard to paddle against (plus the flood tide). After winding my way through the Port Townsend Ship Canal finding eddies and avoiding wind as much as possible, the waters got really big in Port Townsend Bay. I tried to just power straight towards the finish, however ended up heading to shore and paddled along the shoreline into Glen Cover until I could surf the waves to the finish...and passed a lot of races on the shore who ended up giving up.
I was super pissed during that last stretch, however looking back I had the energy to finish the tough part of the race so could have pushed harder earlier in the race... good lesson going forward to next year. After the fact, another awesome experience and no regrets, also always good to push both mentally and physically.
Total Distance: 71.07 miles
Duration: 23:42:00
Average Speed: 3.1 mph
05.27.2023
Launched from Suquamish, paddled to Agate Passage Bridge, and into Port Madison Bay. Thought my wildlife experience would peak when I saw a coyote swimming from Treasure Island in Port Madison Bay, but then that was topped by a super playful seal.
This seal was swimming all around me, swimming upside down and rubbing against my kayak...then it tried to climb aboard! It finally did after several attempts and I ended up flipping when taking a picture of him when he jumped off. After a self rescue, the seal tried to hop on again! Pretty awesome experience even though I had a wet paddle home, haha.
Total Distance: 9.17 miles
Duration: 02:26.30
Average Speed: 3.8 mph
Max Speed: 5.3 mph
05.20.2023
Maiden voyage of my new to me Necky Chatham 17. Took some work to get her ready for the water (and still more work fixing a little more oil canning), but absolutely love this kayak in the water. No regrets at all with my purchase.
Also a reunion paddling with Ben again as he joined Jon, Jeramy and myself. Launched from Lions Park and paddled to Silverdale and back for a nice and easy paddle on a beautiful morning. Ben has a pretty awesome Valley Anas kayak too.
Total Distance: 10.03 miles
Duration: 02:53.10
Average Speed: 3.5 mph
Max Speed: 7.08 mph
05.13.2023
Participated in the Commencement Bay Race in Tacoma on an absolutely beautiful Saturday morning. Fun race as it was along Ruston Way roughly 6.2 miles. Ended up getting first (and last) in my category and there was only one other sea kayak (I was in the FSK category). All others were rowers, outriggers, or surf skis. Still a fun event, just wish there were other kayakers.
Total Distance: 6.87 miles(including warmup, waiting for the start and cooldown)
Duration: 01:08:43 (official race time)
Average Speed: 4.5 mph
Max Speed: 5.8 mph
05.04.2023 - 05.05.2023
Seventy-48 overnight training trip that also knocked off a bucket list paddle: lap around Vashon Island. We caught a weather window of wind/rain that was sandwhiched by beautiful nice days...made for a good training trip.
I launched from Manchester while Jon and Jeramy launched from Lions Park in Bremerton. We met up in Rich Passage and paddled south down Colvos passage (after a quick snack/drink stop on Blake Island) to Lisabeula Park on Vashon Island (and also a Cascadia Marine Trails campsite). Good tough paddle as we fought a constant southerly breeze and north flowing current the entire trip down. Fun camping with good company, also had a nice fire in the standing BBQ stand.
Day two the weather turned worse with the same wind, however with constant rain...the entire day. The current exchange on the southern tip of Vashon made for some super fun kayaking and got to ride with the wind back up North. Saw two sets of Orca Whales (all from the same pod most likely). First were two huge males (I think one was named Thor) heading south by us and later a group of five hunting a sea lion. Pretty amazing to see and a highlight of the trip for me.
Total Distance Day 1: 17.72 miles
Duration: 05:54.15
Average Speed: 3.0 mph
Max Speed: 5.5 mph
Total Distance Day 2: 28.36 miles
Duration: 07:58.40
Average Speed: 3.6 mph
Max Speed: NA mph
04.29.2023
Participated in my 2nd 10k Gig Harbor Paddler's Cup, which also the 10th annual event. I say participated because very humbling going against the competition.
Absoulely beautiful day, fun event, and definately great training.
Total Distance: 6.58 miles(including warmup, waiting for the start and cooldown)
Duration: 01:09:13 (official race time)
Average Speed: 4.6 mph
Max Speed: 6.2 mph
04.28.2023
After a 1 year hiatus, kayak commuting season is back. Perfect day to bring it back as it was the first really nice day of the year. Glassy waters seeing the sunrise on the way into work and then a nice warm commute home. Lots of ferry traffic as always, but well worth it.
Total Distance to work: 1.94 miles
Duration: 00:26.34
Average Speed: 4.4 mph
Max Speed: 5.0 mph
Total Distance home: 1.99 miles
Duration: 00:27.49
Average Speed: 4.3 mph
Max Speed: 4.7 mph
04.23.2023
Good Seventy-48 training trip today. Winds were forecasted to be calm so decided it was a good day to cross some bigger waters of the Puget Sound. Launched from Pomeroy Park in Manchester, paddled around the south side of Blake Island to West Seattle, quick stop on Alki to lose a layer, crossed again to Blakely Rock off of Bainbridge Island, and back to Manchester.
Total Distance: 18.7 miles
Duration: 05:04.14
Average Speed: 3.7 mph
Max Speed: 5.0 mph
04.06.2023
Last paddle of my Houston trip. It was a half day at the conference so decided to chance it as the thunderstorms weren't supposed to roll in until the afternoon.
Finally an easy kayak launch spot as launched from Heritage Park to explore Clear Lake / Creek. It was still really breezy so stayed inland to explore the creek. A thunderstorm rolled in during my paddle and had to hide under an overpass for 30 minutes while it passed.
The creek was a really cool area to explore and good way to end my Houston Trip.
Total Distance: 6.7 miles
Duration: 01:51.07
Average Speed: 3.6 mph
Max Speed: 5.4 mph
04.04.2023
Got out again after my work conference before the weather is really supposed to hit. Explored upstream more of the Buffalo Bayou and launched from the Buffalo Bayou Kayak launch off of Woodway Drive.
Launch was really tough due to low water levels, but made it work. Definately not as convienient kayaking launch spots as back in Washington (at least for the Buffalo Bayou). Paddled a little bit until there were too many shallow spots with mini-rapids (I was worried I wouldn't be able to paddle back upstream. Still an awesome trip exploring different areas.
Total Distance: 2.54 miles
Duration: 00:46.51
Average Speed: 3.2 mph
Max Speed: 5.2 mph
04.03.2023
Had a quick work trip in Houston, TX, so brought the Pakayak along.
The weather was going to be crappy for the entire trip except the day I landed, so hit the water straight from the airport. Wanted to explore the Buffalo Bayou first as I love the feeling of paddling through a huge urban city on a relaxing kayak trip, brings a completely different perspective
Launched from the Buffalo Bayou Kayak Launch site off of Sabine Street (not an easy launch area since I had to find street parking and lug the Pakayak down a couple flights of stairs). Awesome paddle as got to paddle right through downtown Houston. It was a breezy day, but was well protected in the Bayou. I think I paddled up to an Alligator that I scared and ended up splashing water over my head! I didn't know there were alligators there until my Uncle told me after the fact.
Total Distance: 4.52 miles
Duration: 01:16.11
Average Speed: 3.6 mph
Max Speed: N/A mph
03.25.2023
Finally got to participate in the St. Paddle's Day Race. This was the first race I tried to register in the US, but was cancelled due to COVID.
It's a great race as it takes place at Alderbrook... Race went OK...got beat by too many SUPs and definately didn't take the shortest route, but good training as my arm was dead after finishing the race.
Total Distance: 6.86 miles(including warmup, waiting for the start and cooldown)
Duration: 01:08:40
Average Speed: 4.4 mph
Max Speed: 6.3 mph
03.18.2023
Spring may finally be close... another beautiful day so decided to hit up Seabeck. Launched from Misery point, paddled into Dabob Bay and back. Glassy waters the entire trip with three crossing.
Saw lots of flounder on the other side of the canal in the shallow, clear, and sandy bottom water. And of course the typical bald eagles, seals and sea lions.
Total Distance: 12.88 miles
Duration: 03:14.29
Average Speed: 4.0 mph
Max Speed: 5.2 mph
03.17.2023
This will never get old. Hit the water on a beautiful day to see the Big Stick head out to sea again back to San Diego. Impressive how big these are.
Total Distance: 9.13 miles
Duration: 02:53.57
Average Speed: 3.2 mph
Max Speed: 5.0 mph
02.26.2023
First pool session and I finally learned how to roll! I'm so stoked and credit goes to the others in the pool for all the great pointers.
02.18.2023
Spent President's Day Weekend at my college buddy's amazing place in Manson off of Lake Chelan. We went for an awesome morning paddle on Lake Chelan. Absolutly beautiful lake as I felt like I was paddling in one of the Fjords in Norway. Matt did awesome for only his second time kayaking ever.
Total Distance: 6.67 miles
Duration: 01:51.16
Average Speed: 3.6 mph
Max Speed: 5.5 mph
02.11.2023
First training trip for Seventy48 with Jon and Jeramy. Launched from Lions Park and paddled all the bays in Dyes Inlet in one trip -> Phinney Bay, Mud Bay, Oyster Bay, Ostrich Bay, and Chico Bay... then to Silverdale and back.
Good training trip for sure as I felt Jeramy set the pace in the end, good for me to push more than I would have solo.
Total Distance: 21.83 miles
Duration: 05:37.40
Average Speed: 3.9 mph
Max Speed: 6.6 mph
02.04.2023
Family came out and spent the weekend in Oak Harbor for the race which was awesome... The race itself did not go so well, once again.
I did not attend the pre-race brief the night before via Zoom, so did not realize the race course was completely changed due to the weather...I signed up for the early wave (since I was so slow last year), which consisted of mostly SUPs and a couple outriggers this year. I ended up starting the race facing the wrong direction since the course was changed.... During the race, had to make sure I wasn't in the lead since I had no idea where the turnaround point was. Ended up following a SUP and outrigger where they turned around at the ~3 mile point...I knew it was short, but wasn't sure if the course was shortened or not. I followed them around the buoy and then couldn't keep up with them to the finish
Ended up only doing 5 miles, but the race director were nice enough to make a "5 mile" category instead of disqualifying all 11 of us who didn't do the entire race course. Good workout either way and nice to have the fam out to explore La Conner.
Since we stayed on Whidbey Island, got to see Deception Pass for the first time...definately want to paddle there!
Total Distance: 5.29 miles(including warmup, waiting for the start and cooldown)
Duration: 00:55:18
Average Speed: 4.5 mph
Max Speed: 6.0 mph
01.21.2023
Currently have a Tacoma kayaking itch, so explored more of Commencement Bay. This time I paddled up the Hylebos Waterway and into Hylbos Creek a little. It was nice and calm the first hour, then the weather changed (as predicted). It was a wet and windy paddle back across Commencement Bay to Thea's Park.
Total Distance: 11.05 miles
Duration: 02:48.55
Average Speed: 3.9 mph
Max Speed: 5.7 mph
01.14.2023
Beautiful January Saturday, met up with Jon as we paddled Dyes inlet from Lions Park. Found another lost kayak floating and towed it back again... Hopefully it gets back to the owner like the first one, but it was a lot of work!
Total Distance: 12.41 miles
Duration: 03:10.26
Average Speed: 3.9 mph
Max Speed: 6.6 mph
01.08.2023
Returned to Tacoma for a paddle on a calm, but wet day. Launched from Thea's Park and paddled up the Puyallup River for around 4 miles. It was a nice trip in a new area, cool paddling under all the bridges with trains and even I-5.
Total Distance: 10.63 miles
Duration: 02:39.16
Average Speed: 4.0 mph
Max Speed: 6.4 mph
01.02.2023
First paddle of 2023 and it was an easy one in my backyard waters. Lauched from Pomeroy Park and did a "quick" lap around Blake Island. Beautiful calm day as saw a family of sea otters, along with the usual seals, bald eagles, and porpoises.
Total Distance: 7.30 miles
Duration: 01:50.37
Average Speed: 4.0 mph
Max Speed: 4.9 mph
