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23.59

West Haven

 A new year is now upon us.

While I had hoped to hit 100 kayaking / canoe trips  in 2009, I only made it to 88 - of which about 2 were with the canoe and the rest were kayak trips broken down as follows: 10 were offshore, 4 were tandem touring, 10 were river trips, and the rest were a combination of river clean-up, wildlife monitoring and rescue work...

This is still a respectabe amount of kayaking, which I hope to improve on in 2010.

But one thing I need to do involves me: I need to do both physical and mental work on myself if I am to continue making all these tris on the water. This is a good thing, working on one's self always yeilds positive results. 

22.52 West Haven.

This is the time of year I really start focusing on detailed river clean up / wildlife rescue / monitoring work.

It soon starts to get too cold to do the 6+ hour touring trips I am accustomed to, although I do make an exception when I take part in the State D.E.P. Bald Eagle accounting which is done in early January of each year....

 The amount of debris  and trash the mighty Housatonic River has to live with and endure is beyond belief.

I still get into these huge discussions with those who are pro greenways, something which I am not.

Greenways = Death.

12.16 East Derby.

 Well, I mentioned in the past here two times that I would discuss my marsh trips - and this late November day seems to be the perfect time to do so. The big news is that this past October 26th, which was Monday - both myself and my friend Julia decided to take thing's to the next level - and by virture of a broom wedding - before the clock struck midnight, we were married by the same way the ancients were so many years ago. When you know the love is real, there is no stoping it, denying it, or even a need to discuss it - becuse it is understood - it is absoute, it is there - always and everlasting... Anyway - this now changes thing's a bit - because now my tandem boats are starting to see some action, and this is a good thing.

14.45 East Derby

This month's edition of my kayaking adventures was supposed to deal with my marsh trips - but instead, I'm going to go back to the topic of Sea Kayaking - because since my last post - I made another trip towards the Middle Grounds - and matters started going horribly wrong real fast.

I knew I was already taking some chance even though the small craft advisories were lifted because the wind was still howling out of the SSE.

As I was setting all the equipment up on my Tsunami 175 "Tara J Sullivan" a boater came up to me and told me that he had to turn back because it was too rough.

Today finds me realizing that September is just about half over, and since I last wrote - I never made any further epic journeys out to the Stratford Light / Middle Grounds. There is a good reason for this - the month of August saw very hot weather each time the tides were in sync with my trip plans - so they had to be put on hold. Now this past Saturday I had planned to go out to the Middle Grounds and I started to pay very close attention to the NOAA forcasts - and by Friday thing's were starting to not look so good. I woke up Saturday and rechecked the forcast yet again. It was better, but I did not relish the idea of a NNE wind - this would make the trip back a very demanding experience. So I thought and thought and thought the whole time about 'should I go, should I not go' as the clock kept ticking. Finally, I decided that I would go sea kayaking but not to the Middle Grounds, instead I would head due east with my trusty Ocean Kayak Prowler Trident 15 and just have fun. My normal sea kayak is a very tricked out Wilderness Systems Tsunami 175. While I really wanted to use this boat, the SOT would be a better choice for the trip I was now going to do. Once fully loaded, I drove to my parents house for a nice brunch, then it was off to the Birdseye Street dock in Stratford. I took a different route than usual - which brought me past a very nice small home which is very close to this dock. I know the home, it's the grand parents home of my ex Gina Connor - and to my horror and surprise - I saw her car parked in the driveway. "She must be visiting" was the first thought that ran through my mind - because a mutual friend told me that she lives in Milford. Well, either way this was some food for thought - since I always felt that the way I was dumped was not justified...

01.12 East Derby.

Today marks the beginning of the end of summer. It also happens to be the 3rd hot week in a row - which means that for the most part my kayaking trips have come to a dead stop - with the exception of my river clean-up trips - which pretty much run all year round - except when the river is frozen solid...

The past 3 weekends saw 2 trips covering from Derby south towards Stratford - but covering only as far south as the Beacon Point Marina. These trips I talk about are always on the Housatonic River unless otherwise specified. The trips just mentioned covered a distance of about 5 miles each way - 10 miles round trip - and the boat I used was my Perception Kayaks Acadia II 14.0 - which is actually a tandem boat but with the rear seat folded down and the forward seat slid back - it makes an excellent kayak for river clean-up work when distances are involved. I filled up 2 x 45 gal trash liners, which is quite a bit of litter - mostly plastic bags and water bottles. Usually by early August, the river turns into a sea of trash - and where does it come from?? Yup, those who use the river for their own enjoyment...

03.14 East Derby.

magnifica_tion: to bring out all the good that is in each one of us... (Jon Andersen)

My name is George Hans Waters. I've been searching for quite some time now to find the proper venue to post entries about my kayaking trips - which usually number about 80 a year now - and consist of trips where I am out doing ecological work, be it cleaning the river or wildlife rescue / monitoring - or perhaps simply exploring the open sea's hoping to discover something inside of me that is good while taking in every little thing that nature has to offer.

Although I'm an Irishman who was born in Germany back when the wall was still new and very real, I grew up in Brooklyn N.Y. and my first kayaking adventures took place upstate in Schroon Lake. My mom bought us a Klepper Aerius II which costed an astounding amount of money back in 1975 - but we loved it because it took us places we could only dream of...

You talk about the benefits of mental focus. While I understand the concept, I am unable to make progress in my own life. I find it very frustrating.