Lake Chabot

I brought the family out on the MorningStar for a paddle on Lake Chabot. The most important thing to know about canoeing on this lake is that there is a portage from the car to the launch. It's about 1,000 feet, so it's not any sort of trek. But if I was there with just my 5-year old son, I would have had to make two trips to haul even the basic gear down to the water.

They've got a pretty good set-up there with grassy meadows for picnicking, a store with snacks, trails that go all the way around the lake, and a range of boats to rent. The whole trip wasn't too expensive with parking, boat launch, and boat inspection not more than $15. Plenty worth the price considering there are docks along the shore that lead to port-a-potties, benches, and the trails. It's a good sized lake with two large bays and a small island too. (Nobody is allowed to go on the island, bummer.)

We had a leisurely paddle around and landed on shore to have a snack and use the bathrooms. After a rest ashore we decided it was time to make the trip back and get home for a real lunch.

I paddled us back to the marina totaling about 2 miles. Along the way we saw mallard ducks and Canadian geese in the water. We saw cormorants and coots to, but far fewer of those. Near the marina at one of the docks we saw someone land a good sized fish. I couldn't tell what kind it was, but it was more than 12-inches long!

The next day I could have gone surfing but conditions weren't shaping up to be very good. I opted instead to sleep in, spend some time with family, and do a little more work on the Mad River. I'm still slowly working through polishing the gel coat up. After that I'll work on refinishing the wood.

Canoe Quiver

It started with a $400 Old Town Discovery 168 in Royalex. I had just purchased an old truck and build a rack out of 2x4s so I could go pick-up this canoe. It came with a few paddles and was a great starter canoe. It only ever went out to the Oakland Estuary, but I enjoyed the calm of moving quietly through the water with nowhere in particular to go. One great memory is of a warm summer day when I was unemployed. I paddled down to the German brewhaus on the water called Brotzeit Lokal. I had a pretzel and a beer before paddling back to my car and heading home.

But that canoe weighs upwards of 80 pounds. With a small kid always under-foot, I had a few scary close calls where I thought I might drop it onto my son. I needed something I could handle lifting onto the top of a car. (The truck became too expensive to maintain, so I am now in a Honda Element.) On Craigslist I found a Bell Morningstar in Kevlar for cheap. It was cheap because the person who was selling it never got around to making repairs to the wood. Nearly every piece had to be replaced, including the gunwales. I did the work and it came out okay! 

I sold the Old Town and this is my canoe for adventures. I've taken the Bell out to a few reservoirs, mostly with my son. (He's in the background near the tree.) He prefers to explore the shore over fishing or paddling around.

I had good feelings after buying a canoe for cheap and restoring it. I never stopped watching Craigslist and came across a Kevlar Wenonah for free! I went to pick it up and found the Kevlar in pretty rough shape.

After researching what it would take to fix it, I decided it wasn't worthwhile. I contacted the guy who gave it to me and we arranged for me to give it to someone else who had responded to the original add. Back to one canoe.

But of course I keep watching Craigslist. I came across a Dagger Venture 17 in Royalex for $60! With the research I did on the first two canoe repairs, I had an idea of what it would take to fix it, so I went and picked it up a few weekends ago.

It's only the hull with no thwarts, seats, or even gunwales. It was so floppy on top of the car I convinced my parents to let me store it at their place which was close enough to the pick-up spot that I could drive there staying on city streets. It sits while I source vinyl gunwales and figure out what other parts I need to order. I think I can repair the seats that came out of the Bell, and I'm deciding what else I should purchase or should make by hand. The goal is to repair it and then sell it for a small profit. The main goal being the experience of bringing it back to life.

Of course I still haven't stopped watching Craigslist, and I found a Mad River Explorer 16 in Kevlar for $300! Most of the gunwales are restorable, but it looks like I'll need to scarf in a few pieces at one end. I have end-cuts from the Bell gunwale replacement, so this repair might be doable without any purchases, just some work of sanding and oiling. The Kevlar is in excellent shape, and I'm considering selling the Bell and keeping the Mad River. I'll have to paddle the Mad River before I decide on anything.

In summary, I have three canoes. One that's ready (Bell), one that can be used but needs some work to seal the wood (Mad River), and one that needs all the structural parts put back together (Dagger).

And because surfing is my passion, I can't stop dreaming of accessing surf-spots by boat. Being canoes and not really suited to the ocean, I'm looking at lagoons and calm rivers. I've got some spots picked out to try, and I'm just waiting for Covid to clear so I can have a second person with me. Until then, I'm looking at boat in camp sites.
 

No Surf Weekend

It's terrible for my physical fitness to skip a weekend of surfing. The forecast was questionable and JB was just as hesitant as I was. I've been falling behind on "Life duties" and took the weekend to take care of the family. I did sneak in some surf related work by doing some of the repairs to the Downing-Hennessey (DH), and some water time with an hour in the canoe.

The delams on the DH are extensive. Because the board is an experiment, I didn't want to strip wax and rebuild the void spaces, so I went with a more basic approach. I drilled a feed hole in one end of each delam, and a vent hole in the other end. Fill a large syringe with resin and push resin into the feed hole until it starts to come out the vent hole. Then wrap and strap to squeeze everything together while it cures.

I mixed up 8oz of resin so that I would have plenty to work through the delams and spillage, etc. Well, I used it all and didn't manage to fill all the gaps. After everything cured the deck is wavy where the straps squeezed down, or didn't squeeze down. I have more filling to do, but probably only need to mix 4oz this time because I got most of the delam gaps "good enough" to go surf. There's work to be done fixing a 10-in crack  along one rail that is not water tight, and the tail (taped off in the photo) that is also leaking. When I got it the tail had a layer of dried salt that wiped off.

On Sunday the weather was forecast to be nice early, so I grabbed my son and went for a short paddle in the estuary. We went just a bit further away to a spot not surrounded by buildings, but still urban.

He doesn't last long in the boat, so we were probably only out for an hour of gentle paddling in a big circle. Afterward we did our usual beach combing and I'm glad he's old enough to avoid trash because there was as much broken glass as shells to find. I tried to google around for a way to decontaminate clams because I'm sure there's some to be found in this rocky muddy shoreline. But this is surrounded by the OAK airport, Oakland Colosseum, etc. so certainly not safe to eat any filter feeders.

 

Even more canoe

 Lately the canoe has gotten my attention more than the waves. I went out for a quick mid-week paddle at sunset with my son. This weekend the waves were probably good, but instead I did housework, watched a movie, napped, and took the canoe out. Saturday was doing all the chores, and Sunday was the lake day. I started by double checking the access at one reservoir (closed) then another (closed) then another in a different county (reservations required at least a day ahead). Frustrated but not defeated, I expanded the distance I needed to drive and found that Lake Hennessy in Napa County was open. It's kind of Lake Berryessa's little sister, but still plenty big enough that I wouldn't want to try to paddle to the far end with my son. (Partially because he likes to play with his oar, dragging it in the water and occasionally paddling backwards.)

The weather was perfect being sunny with a very light variable breeze. Before I even got the canoe loaded with gear my son was already exploring the muddy beach. He continues to be more interested in wandering the shore than being in the canoe or fishing. We paddled across to a spot next to some bullrush and I set-up the poles for fishing while he wandered the shore. I got one hook in the water and looked for him again. He had climbed up past where I thought he could make it, and it made me nervous. I reeled in and went to go get him.

He had found some exposed roots and that's how he climbed the 2-ft "cliff" between the rocky shore and the forest above. When I got there I found that mixed with the roots were leafless poison oak stems. I explained to him what probably happened (he brushed them) and that it wasn't an emergency, but we would need to take a good bath when we got home. He let me carry him back to the fishing poles and we got two hooks in the water for the first time in awhile.

He isn't interested in sitting and watching a bobber, so he's always fiddling with the line, reel, rod holder. He sat down to eat and had a few bites of everything I brought. While he was eating I was fishing, casting bait and bobber upwind next to the bullrush and letting it drift downwind away from the vegetation. He got excited watching me cast and wanted to give it a try. I gave up on catching anything and instead we worked on his casting. I remember how hard it is to learn and was able to remain patient with him. He remained calm too, and tried for about 10 times before loosing interest and suggesting we go for a hike. We negotiated that he would walk along the shore and I would follow along in the canoe. This worked pretty well and he asked for a ride across to the other shore. A little exploring up into the trees, but not far and always on the lookout for more leafless poison oak.

The day continued with more of the same activities, punctuated by people landing fish near enough to us that we could see what they caught. I would point it out to him, but he wasn't interested and didn't watch them land the fish. I really don't know about this kid. I think he's different than me and doesn't like the water so much. The fishing is probably just that he's young, and also that he's never caught any fish. I think that if I want a full fishing experience, or just a full day of canoeing, I need to go solo, or find another partner.

Next week will be a staycation at my parents beach house. I won't bring the canoe and instead bring a bunch of different surfboards. Hopefully the weather is good because I can find waves as long as it's not stormy.

More Fishing, and a lot more canoe paddling

 Back to the same spot for more fishing off the canoe. This time mom was hiking with friends so it was just my son and I. I had to haul everything up and down the boat ramp, and do all the paddling too. It was a beautiful day and we got an early start on the water by 8am. The weather was overcast and light breeze. We just paddled across the lake from the dock and hunkered down. I dropped the one anchor and we spun around it as the wind changed directions. This ends up with the line getting wrapped around the canoe and the anchor line, so I'm going to make myself another anchor of maybe a coffee can filled with cement. Or maybe score something off craigslist.

No bites and my son wanted to explore the shore. I made a mistake and landed along a muddy spot and we got muddy but walked around anyway. We saw a family of otters argue over a fish one caught and I scoped out a backwater cove that was high and dry that day. We went back to the canoe, got our shoes stuck in the mud, and paddled back to the dock. We sat on the dock and ate more snacks with a hook in the water and my son wrapped in my arms against the chilly breeze. I watched a heron catch a fish in the shallows and a cormorant strike like lightning to startle the heron and steal the fish it dropped. He was rewarded with all his cormorant friends responding to the commotion and chasing him off trying to steal the stolen fish. It eventually warmed up and we agreed to go for one more paddle around. I let a line hang in the water as I paddled us slowly downwind to the part of the lake where no power boats are allowed.

No bites, but I saw a seagull chasing a bald eagle around. And then the family of otters came close to see what we were doing. They got close enough that I got nervous and told my son to get his hands out of the water for a minute. By then we'd been at the lake for hours and we were out of food. I paddled us upwind slowly dragging the line behind us. Then it was back to hauling gear, but this time I parked the car down the boat ramp to save myself some steps.

It was a good long day on the water and we saw some wildlife and had a good time. My son might be done with "fishing" for awhile now, but I'll keep offering. I'm not done with it and might go out solo, or try some beach fishing or clam digging. I also want to harvest a meal worth of mussels once the season opens up for the winter.

Family fishing isn't fishing

With the canoe finished and the surf verging on terrible last weekend, I opted to take the canoe down to the reservoir and try some lake fishing with my 4-year old son. The slow start to the day was keeping things low stress, and actually blended well with my wife's plans. She joined us for the maiden re-voyage. With the three of us and unorganized fishing gear in the canoe things were a bit disheveled, but it was working out. It was late morning by the time we were on the water and we paddled directly for the only shady spot which was near a small peninsula. I experimented with the canoe anchor about 20-ft from shore and set-up my son's rod with some salmon eggs. I handed it down to him and he said, "I don't want that, I want to go to that beach." But we saw some fish jumping, and my wife tried to redirect him by offering him some of the lunch we packed. They ate while I held the rod and tried to deal with the swirling of the canoe in the light breeze. Half a sandwich later and my son was once again talking about shore. I could tell my wife wasn't enjoying sitting in the canoe, so we paddled over to shore and they got out. I paddled back out a little ways and sat with the rod. They played for 15min or so, and then the shade ran out and they were both ready to go. So that was it. Less than an hour of hook in water, just like the "First time fishing with your kids." websites described it would be.

When we got home I took a rest, but an hour later I was considering going back to the reservoir. With the unusually warm weather, the amount of effort it takes to launch the canoe, and the fact that all boats are supposed to be off the water by 5pm, I decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Next weekend is within sight and I'm wondering if I should try again with my son, or if I should go surf even with the poor forecast, or maybe I should go fishing by myself. It's kind of nice to have options, but it also can lead to decision paralysis. I have a few days to decide at least.

Instead of suyr

Instead of surfing this weekend I worked on "fishing." I completed the canoe restoration by installing the seats and second thwart. I had to order a few more parts and they arrived mid-week, so the weekend was spent trimming everything to dry fit, and then sealing up all the cut wood. I also sanded and added another coat of Watco to the gunwales. I had to wait for everything to dry enough to assemble, and by that time it was past noon on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, my 4-year old son was snooping in the unlocked shed and discovered the fishing poles I had brought home from my parents beach house. My parents have several poles decorating the walls of the beach house and every time we go down, my son is reminded that he wants to go fishing. So I grabbed two of the poles and whatever tackle I could scrounge up during one of my solo visits, not wanting my son to know what was in the works. But now the jig was up and he was so excited that I agreed to buy the other stuff that we needed to go fishing. We headed down to the sporting goods store with a list. One of the poles was beyond recovery, but single poles were nearly as expensive as a little starter kit of pole, reel, and a little tackle. I opted for the kit, so now my son has a brand new set-up just for him. On the drive back home I laid the groundwork for fishing next weekend. I explained how there wasn't time to test out the canoe for it's first try after we bought it and to go fishing. My son is to smart for me and laid out a logical argument for not testing the canoe and instead going fishing. He even knew where we could go! Well, he had a point, so we gathered up the tackle instead. 

The nearby water is the inner Oakland harbor. Not beautiful, but nice enough. It's saltwater, so the trout rod and tackle we had was ridiculous to be using, but I didn't tell my son that. Instead I rigged it up as well as I could with two salmon eggs, a split shot sinker and small bobber. I cast out a very short distance and had him mind the rod, watching the bobber. Meanwhile I tended to the old rod/reel that was still in working condition. I stripped the 20-year old line and put on some fresh. I got to practice the "fisherman's knot" because I had to rig my son's hook, then I used it to tie line onto my reel. I made every mistake I could, so I had to tie that knot about 7 times. I never even tied a hook to my line because it was getting close to dinner time. We left after only an hour or so at the water.

Now I feel like I'm ready for a mid-week surf. Next weekend I want to head to one of the nearby reservoirs and try fishing from the canoe. But the thing is, nobody in our house wants a fish to eat. I'd do it if I wasn't the only one, but I don't care enough to do it myself. My wife doesn't trust food that doesn't come from her favorite grocery store and my son doesn't like anything except chicken fingers and quesadillas. So sounds like we will catch and release all the fish.