Merry Christmas and

                                                       ...Happy Holidays to all.

Christmas Card

Here are some pics from the East of Maui Santa paddle last week - thank you Mark and Mark!  Great turn out with "Santa Mark" Bandy leading the way through the harbor, Spa Creek and City Dock.  Santa was seen giving candy canes to all the good boys and girls! 

Everyone please have a safe and happy holiday and we'll see you on the Creek!

Santa paddlers invade Annapolis Harbor

Spa Creek

Spa creek doggy paddle

Paddle gaggle

Naughty or Nice?

Nice!!

St Mary's

City Dock - maybe Santa can help with the Market House!

Merry Christmas to all with Cheer.  Santa Claus is almost here!

See you on the Creek!

Pics and Cold Weather Paddling

Greetings to all.  Weather is getting cooler - perhaps a white Christmas? - ok perhaps not.  Either way as long as there isn't any ice there is no reason not go out.  In fact for flatwater this time of year is pretty good - no crazy boats and their wakes - the wind is either all up or fairly calm.  Great paddling.  The trick is finding the right attire.  Mark Bandy from East of Maui has tried all the options - wetsuits of all types and thicknesses - and has settled on a drysuit from Gill.  His focus is on freedom of movement and of course safety.  The suit - wet or dry - is primarily for safety in case of an unplanned water entry.  Here's his post on the topic - Papa's Got a Brand New Bag - East of Maui Blog.   Obviously the suits will keep you warm and that's the trick because you can get over heated pretty quickly so the proper combination I think varies from person to person. Personally I have settled on a Gill short sleeve wetsuit typically with an O'Neill Heater top underneath.  Sometimes I'll have a windbreaker or even fleece over that if its very cold.  Too much though and feel a bit restricted so I am still working my combinations.  Booties are a must and when the water temp dips below the mid 40s (F) I have goretex sock that I wear with the booties.  I often wear gloves - cross country ski gloves seem to work very well for me.  Finally I always, always, use a leash.  IN fact I always use a leash even in the summer because the board can quickly get away from you in any kind of wind and find that wearing the coil type leash longboard style (just below my knee) does not restrict me in any way. PFD goes without saying.  Please let me know your thoughts and what works for you - I'm always looking for the better mousetrap!

Now some pics from recent paddles...

Getting Chilly

Foggy and Fowl

Taking flight

All the way to the eastern shore

The lone kayak

Priest Point Wall

Heron at chillin

See you on the Creek!

Robby Naish Video

Greetings.  Just a quick post here this morning.  sawa this on my Seabreeze.com.au site.  Great video about Robby Naish who is an icon in the world of all things fun on (in) the water.  Windsurfing, Kiteboarding, Surfing and yes SUP.  I am a big Naish fan and love my old 14' Glide.  Grab a cup of joe and enjoy.  More on recent padles later.  See you on the Creek!

GoPro: Jamie Sterling and Friends: SUP-Squatch Attacks!

Greetings on a foggy day.  This looks like fun - massive SUP - think we should try something like this in Ocean City?  Or on Priest Point? Make for a short ride.  What is fun is to watch these professionals playing like kids - you can see the unbridled joy of little kids playing in the surf.  See you on the Creek!

Don't Rush

Don't Rush

This is a good one from Dave Kalama.  Worth a read as are all of his posts and videos.  Bit cold and rainy today so dress warmly if you're out - booties for sure!

See you on the Creek!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Greetings again from Florida!  At the beach - Daytona Beach to be exact - for Thanksgiving with family.  Staying on the beach at a great place called the Sun Viking - http://sunviking.com/ - outstanding destination!  Very highly recommended.  Great for kids too indoor pool, outdoor pool with water slide and plenty of activities for the kids.  And its on the beach on a great surf spot though today the surf is a bit washed out with a big northerly blowing.

So with a big northerly it was down wind time on the Halifax River which is the inter-coastal in these parts.  Went about 7 miles today riding some great windswells.  Wildlife included some brown pelicans, two dolphins heading up river, and some canadian snowbirds on a Hunter 38 heading south.  Ended up a great river front bar called Inlet Harbor - http://www.inletharbor.com/ - where I was welcomed with Longboard Lager and shrimp.  Talk about Thankful!  Am very lucky to have such a great and loving family and the chance to spend some time on the water.  I am blessed.  Have a great Thanksgiving and we'll see you on the creek.

Sunrise Thanksgiving 2012

Halifax River DW start - blowing 15+

Inlet Harbor, Ponce Inlet FL - cold Longboard Lager awaits!

See you on the Creek!

Florida

Florida.  Greetings to all.  This week we road tripped to Florida for some quality Thanksgiving family time.  Brought the old 11'6" Southpoint for some fun in the surf as well as a holiday gift for my brother.  Hopefully she'll be in good hands as we continue to spread the SUP stoke to him and his family.  Went on on the Butler Lake chain in Windermere near Orlando the last couple of days.  The chain of lakes is a great spot - very scenic with lots of saw grass, spanish moss and great wildlife.  I think I even saw one of our osprey patrolling his winter home! Supposedly there are a lot of gators but I haven't seen one yet.  Heading to Daytona so hopefully I'll get my surf on but there's high wind in the forecast.  Either way the temps and the sun are great!

Have a great Thanksgiving!!

Weems Creek colors

Swamp cut though - very cool

Daylight to Lake Tibet

Central Florida sunset

 See you on the Creek!

More Downwind Thoughts

More downwind thoughts.

Greetings and happy Friday!  Saw the following on my favorite site - Seabreeze.com.au - from DJ.  He writes...

" Many people that I know think a downwinder is like a race.. (and for some it is).. But for me it's like a bush walk.. On a bush walk you don't run as fast as you can to try and get to the end the quickest.. You take it easy.. Stop and enjoy the view every now and then.. and as you can see in my DW vids I don't really like to paddle all that much..

Sometimes if you just paddle when you have to.. and not paddle for runners you probably won't catch.. You will often go just as fast as those that paddle non stop.. I often go to take a stroke and then think.. Hang on.. Don't take that stroke.. because you don't need to..

DJ"

Here's the link to the thread and his video - http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Its-not-a-race-downwinder/.

Made it for a short one today.  Not too bad.  I will address cold weather outfitting next week.  Have a great weekend!

Empty creek - snow birds are all heading south!

Late fall sky on Weems

See you on the Creek!

Lunchtime Paddle

Greetings to all.  Good lunchtime paddles the last two day.  A bit chilly and the only company on the creek are the gaggle of geese and Derrick the collie.  It's been blowing out of the northwest allows for an upwind workout towards the Rt 50 bridge followed by the downwind fruits of your labor.  In fact yesterday did a couple of upwind-downwind laps tucking in behind Priest Point.  Good work out good fun.

The weekend is shaping up nicely so wear booties and enjoy the sun.  See you out there.

Geese gaggle on Weems

Derrick (with bark collar on today!)

Dress warmly and see you on the Creek!

Getting Chilly

Greetings!  Starting to get cold - no snow last night but I swear I did see a couple of flakes through the rain.  Today is starting to set up for a good downwinder if your heading from Weems Creek to DTA (downtown Annapolis!).

When the weather gets cold I like to warm up with surf vids - particularly SUP.  The one below is the latest from a young Hawaiian - Kai Lenny.  He is a Naish team rider and waterman - not Maryland style crabber or oysterman - but waterman as in Hawaiian style - SUP, surf, sailboard, kite surf, diving etc. Heres a link to the Naish site http://www.naishsails.com/2013/items/kai-lenny/.

Pretty good vid so sit back with some hot chocolate (or Irish Coffee) and enjoy.

See you on the Creek!

Downwind Vid

Downwind video.

Greetings to all. Looks like the Nor'easter isn't going to be too rough on us but might provide enough wind for a good downwinder.  We'll see. Regardless here's a great video of downwinding in South Africa in 30 plus knots!  Looks like a blast!

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/SUP-downwind-without-a-paddle-Video/?SearchTerms=downwind

If anyone gets out please let us know how much fun you had and send pics!

See you on the Creek!

Post Sandy Pics

Post Sandy Pics

Greetings.  I trust everyone survived Sandy as well as could be expected.  There was some damage around the Creek but no where near as bad as it could have been. Certainly we are lucky compared with our neighbors to the north. The wind did blow some trees down and at least one boat lost its mooring.  We did have a bit of storm surge on Tuesday but all in all quite manageable. Here are some pics.

Low Bridge

Trapped on the outgoing tide

Bummer - btw the boat was rescued a short time later

One of the downed trees

Garage in Weems

Big puddle for Puddle Pirates!

All in all very lucky.

See you on the Creek!

Weems Creek Sandy Surfing

Surfing Sandy

On Sunday the wind from Sandy was blowing out of the North which made for good wind swell on the Creek.  The Annapolis side of the Creek offered just enough lee shore to allow for paddling upwind toward the Severn - still a great workout! Then turn a ride the swells for some great downwinding.  The GoPro pics don't do it justice but what a blast.

Paddling upwind

Downwind surge - swell is bigger than it looks! Really!

See you on the Creek!

Calm before Sandy

Pre-Sandy Pics

Greetings.  In the days leading up to Sandy the trees around the Creek are turning and the water calm - great for a couple of lunchtime sessions.

Lunchtime fishing

Priest Point Leaves

The great pumpkin

See you on the Creek!

Greetings to all!  A bit since the last post but wanted to get some pics on the board - you might say the view from 6 and half feet up.  The last week or so has been pretty great for paddling.  Some flat water, cooler temps and an occasional breeze for some downwinders - had a great run on the weekend to Davis' on Back Creek!  Leaves are just beginning to turn though I am I confident the best is yet to come. 

Over the last several weeks Weems Creek has seen the Boat Show refugees come and go and many of our visitors are setting sail for warmer climes.  But as fall settles in and the sailors head south, amazingly, we have some jellies that are hanging around a bit surprising since the water temps are falling.  Makes for a bracing swim!   Life is still thriving on the Creek - kayakers, boaters, paddlers, ducks, cormorants, herons and a turtle or tow.  Lots of company on a paddle.

It is a great time to be out so hopefully I'll see you on the Creek!

Morning Reflections

                                                                              

Luce Creek Smoke

                                                                 

Severn's lone paddler

                                                                          

Sunday morning workout

                                                                          

Boat Show Refugees

                                                                              
                                                                                   

               
                              The Red Balloon  (yes, I rescued it)

Boat Show fun - pretty cool

                                                                            

Really?

Thunderhead beyond Weems

                                                                                   

Lunchtime

                                                                                             

Turtle's Creek

                                                                                                 

South River Sunset - how'd that get in here?

                                                                     

Pollster

                                                                                       

Campaign hits the Creek

                                                                       


See you on the Creek!