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Kayak Race Kenduskeag Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race maine

Why I Love the Kenduskeag

I’ve competed in 5-K and 10-K road races, cross country races, xc ski races, and triathlons, but I haven’t found a form of racing I enjoy as much as kayak racing. I’ve paddled all kinds of rivers — and raced on at least a half dozen of them, but I haven’t found a river race I enjoy as much as the annual Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race.

Part of it is the number of canoes and kayaks involved — more than 400 on most years. Part of it is the length and difficulty of the race — 10 miles of flatwater followed by 6.5 miles of whitewater — made all the more difficult by fatigue. Part of it is the tradition — the race has been around for more than 40 years now, and the returnees each year include notables such as the Gumby boat (photo) and Zip Kellogg, who wears a coat and top hat and paddles much of the race standing up.

A combined flatwater / whitewater race such as the Kenduskeag is a triathlon in itself. The first event is the 10 miles of flatwater, which tests your physical and mental stamina and your ability to get in a groove with your paddling stroke. The second event is the whitewater, a combined test of strategy, skill, and pluck. The third event (actually interpersed with the second one) is the two mandatory portages, in which competitors stagger ashore in wet gear, and labor their way through crowds of park-goers and spectators, carrying their suddenly clumsy craft through the mud.

How to survive it all. How to go fast the whole time and still leave enough to get to the finish. How to keep focus through those inevitable moments when, disoriented by fatigue, you forget you are in a race at all — and it is just you, your boat, and that river shining under the spring sunlight.

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kayaking maine

Kayaking & Camping on Nicatous Lake, Maine

Nicatous Lake (location T3 ND, Maine) can be accessed by driving about 12 miles southeast from Burlington, Maine (Delorme Map #34). We put in at the public landing on the north end of the lake (and paid $2.00 a day to park our car in a nearby private lot). Google Map here.

Nicatous offers miles of unspoiled shoreline, sandy beaches, wilderness campsites (including several island campsites), good fishing, and plenty of wildlife. Just one of many Maine lakes that are just waiting to be paddled!

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Point 65 Rocker Rocks


One of the best parts of my job (“job” is a euphemism here), is paddling new boats. Me taking a new kayak out on the water for the first time is a lot like Christmas morning for my kids. The Point 65 Crunch Rocker did not disappoint. Paddling the Rocker out in Belfast Harbor on Monday (1 knot tidal current, 10 – 15 knot wind, slight chop), I was impressed by the speed and tracking of this boat. No matter which direction I pointed it, the Crunch Rocker held course.

The Crunch Rocker is actually the poky little sister of the Crunch Rocket. But poky it is not. In fact with its narrow beam, fine ends, v-ed hull, and sculpted deck it is the sleekest, sharpest polyethylene kayak I have seen. Put that together with its extended waterline and moderate rocker and it may also be the fastest. Very easy to set on edge, the Rocker turns well once leaned and is thus a great boat for rivers as well as for ocean paddling.

Which gets me thinking that the record time for the touring/rec category on the Kenduskeag River could fall next spring. Rocket or Rocker? Hmmm . . . I’m not sure it’s even fair to to put the Rocker and Rocket in the same category as conventional plastic touring boats. But then again, there is nothing in the category rules that states that a rec/touring boat has to be rounded, blunt, slow, and beamy. More on the Crunch Rocker here.

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kayak kayaking maine paddling

Some Like it Rough: New Book on Rough Water Paddling

Alex Matthews’ new book, Sea Kayaking Rough Waters, is intended for those who end up paddling in tough conditions either by design or by chance. Either way, it will help you improve your confidence, your ability, and — hopefully your enjoyment — of kayaking in challenging conditions. The book is highlighted by awesome photos that just make you want to get out there.

Among other things, the book includes a section on the High Brace Lean Turn, a stroke I have not seen described in many other places. Other information new to me included “The Rule of Thirds” — a method of determining tidal currents at different stages of the tide cycle. (O% at slack, 50% at 1 hour after slack, 90% at two hours after slack, and 100% at 3 hours after slack).

Following is an excerpt from a section on landing in surf: “Once you’ve made the decision to go, you really have two options. You can ride a wave right into shore. This means following on the heels of the last wave of a set. To chase a wave in, you’ll let the last wave of a set pass and then sprint in behind it all the way into shore. If timed correctly, this approach negates the need to control a dynamic surf ride, or at least it will allow you to avoid the worst of the impact zone . . .”

Sea Kayaking Rough Waters and other books from Heliconia Press area can be purchased online from our website.

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kayak kayaking maine paddling

Belfast Harbor Tours This Summer!

In addition to our day tours to the Muscle Ridge Islands, Camden, Rockport, and Jonesport, we’ll be offering tours of Belfast Harbor this summer.

These 1.5 hour late afternoon tours are ideal for those new to kayaking, families, and those wishing to explore a beautiful midcoast Maine town from the water.

As always, instruction will be provided — and we’ll carefully choose a boat suited to your size and ability. Discounts available to those who decide to sign up for another tour with us. Belfast features a picturesque harbor filled with sailboats, views of the Camden Hills, Islesboro, and Sears Island, and opportunity to paddle either out the harbor or up the Passy River. Depending on weather and tides, tours will be offered in the mornings, late afternoons, and occasionally for sunset and moonrise. Details coming soon.

Belfast, population 6870, has been named one of the top 5 “culturally cool towns in America” by USA Today. Come find out why. More on Belfast at the Belfast Area Chamber.

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kayak kayaking maine paddling Passy whitewater

Passy in the Spring (Passagassawakeag River, Belfast, Maine)


The 2 most local rivers here (the Passy and the St. George)are relatively small Class I and II rivers that go dry by summer. So each time I paddle them, I do so thinking it may be the last trip of the year. On the other hand, if we have a rainy June, you know where to find me.

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kayak kayaking maine paddling Passy whitewater

Rain or Shine


After being an ocean paddler who only dabbled in rivers, I’ve crossed over to the point where I consider myself a river paddler as well. I started paddling the rivers earlier this year and have kept right on paddling them. Maine ocean waters are cold this time of year and the rivers can be more inviting, especially on a cool rainy day in May). The two inches of rain we’ve had this week has extended the local whitewater paddling season — and now I find myself wondering if I can stretch it out a little longer. I’ve begun keeping an Excel spreadsheet on reported and actually experienced river conditions. There no USGS or NOAA streamflow reports on the rivers I paddle most frequently, but my hope is that I can correlate the USGS data for other local rivers with what I observe on the Passy and St. George Rivers and thus be able to have a good idea of what conditions will be like before I pull out of the driveway.

Just in case you want to try this at home, the USGS streamflow data — both gauge height and flow — is at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/rt
The chart for the Ducktrap River shows a nice peak flow for May 19th. Happy paddling!

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kayak kayaking maine paddling Passy whitewater

Surfing Belfast U.S.A. (Well, not quite).

Inspired by the inch of rain we got since yesterday, I thought I’d try my new pro-deal Riot Boogie 50 surf kayak on the Passagassawakeag River. Prior to this, the only time I’d ever been in a whitewater kayak (or any kayak less than 12 feet long) was during a rolling session in an indoor pool. The flat hull of the Boogie 50 (think surf board flat) made me initially think I was back in the cardboard box boat I built a few years ago. (You haven’t paddled hard chines until you’ve paddled a box, but that’s another story). A bit unsettling! Within a few minutes, however, I began experimenting with using the boat’s sharp edges to grab the water and carve aggressive turns.

The whitewater sections of the river were bony; waves were scant. Probably more suited for a creek boat. The flatwater sections were sluggish and made me long for the powerful glide of my usual sea kayak. But mostly I got what I wanted — a couple of hours on the water and a chance to get to know the Boogie 50 a bit before trying it out in the surf.

The Boogie 50 is described as being high in launchness and planing speed, low in bounceness and looseness — just as a good surf kayak should be. Guess I’ll have to work on my vocabulary as well as on my paddling. Mostly though, it’s all about the fun-ness.

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kayaking maine paddling St. George

Different Day, Different River (Again down the St. George)


 
“You cannot step in the same river twice,” says Heraclitus. I would add that you can never paddle the same river twice. Six weeks ago the St. George River was a shining filament amidst a winter forest stamped with deer trails. Four weeks ago, the St. George was a muddy torrent roiling with the weight of spring rains. Yesterday, the St. George was a glassy passage through a forest newly soft with spring buds.

Not just the river changes. At the put in, I am a bit tired and world weary, purpose-driven, edgy, wanting something I know not what. Just six and a half miles downstream, I have forgotten almost all of that. Time has folded over into a new dimension. Whatever it was, that was pressing on me is gone somehow. It is not the same man who pulls the kayak out of the river. And from the moment on, my life will never be the same, because in subtle ways I have changed. I am different for the time I have spent on the river.

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kayak kayaking maine paddling whitewater

Another Day at the Races (Piscataquis River, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine)

–Image from rootsweb.com

Ran the Piscataquis River Canoe and Kayak Race yesterday in a tandem kayak with Jeff Sands. The tandem we paddled was an (I-kid-you-not) hybrid of 2 kayaks spliced together by Jeff, who apparently is not afraid to get creative with fiberglass. (As anyone serious about paddling probably knows, the neverending quest for the “perfect boat” knows no bounds). I paddled in the bow, which was the front half of a wildwater tandem. Jeff was in the stern which was taken from the back half of a women’s flatwater racer. (The joke is that my half of the boat was a dog in the flatwater and that the back behaved badly in the whitewater!) Actually, we felt fast and ran a very efficient race over the 8 mile course of mostly flatwater mixed with a few Class I rapids. Even so, nemesis Fred Ludwig, paddling in a wildwater single, edged us by 8 seconds and claimed first place with a time of 43:15.

It is an interesting exercise to ponder all the ways we might have gotten those 8 seconds back but probably more productive to just remember those 8 seconds and use it as motivation to get ready for the next time!