April 13th I posted some photos to Kodakgallery, that link should come thru soon. Nate Bill, Nate, Colin, Lorena, Chris Geo, Dick R. and myself went to Dempster Beach on Sunday afternoon for some fun.   Bill met Colin and Lorena at the garage to get Colin’s beautiful wooden boat out of storage then rendezvoused at my house, along with Nate and me to then go get all of our boats.  As we were loading, Colin noticed that one boat seemed kind of heavy. Low and Behold, we opened up the stern hatch and there were the remaining three coconuts that had been unaccounted for from our return from FL in late March!

We made the quick drive over to the beach, unloaded and got dressed. As I was walking back from parking the car, I did get some looks from Evanston Easter Frolickers that  were walking the beach and gazing at my strange attire.  

With the super cold temps, we decided just to stay close by, play in the waves, and Lorena became resident photographer using Colin’s super nice camera to take some photos of us.  I am sure they are all flattering photos as our fashionable kayak gear was all the rage. Especially the neoprene skullcaps. Talk about some serious hat hair afterwards. The warm weather forecast was not so warm.  Highs were in the 40’s but the wind took any fun out of that, with the wind chill temps being in the 30’s. 

It was a nice time to practice getting hit sideways by the waves, there was one spot where the waves were much over my head, so I would go that way, end up getting the wave full in the face then not being able to see for about 5 seconds the water was clinging to my eyelashes.  I am trying to think it was not freezing there!

We were all dressed slightly different, and everyone stayed warm on the water, it was the afterwards on the land, standing around chatting for about 30 minutes or more that got everyone pretty chilled. As soon as you moved inland about 40 feet, behind some rocks, with no wind, it felt balmy. On the lake side of the rocks – BRRRR!  No one had a good solution for hands. Everyone had really cold hands. I went without gloves as I don’t find the neo ones help me, also Pogies are great, but don’t work well with the Traditional paddle I use from Betsie Bay, so I figured I would just go with bare hands, better to feel the paddle with and easier spray skirt release.  My hands were a bit cold on the water, when I came in on land to hang with the gang, standing there with the wind on them and not moving around, that is when they started to hurt, so up into my jacket they went.  They did not feel so good til I got into the car.  We need someone to design Pogies with grips that adjust so you can slide them up and down the paddle!

Chris and Dick came a little later, Bill said we had all started a bit early, and they found traffic coming from the city to be bad with the holiday.  They brought hot, Reilly coffee (the best in the world)  and let us have some.  Then headed out to the point by Northwestern and came back.  Lots of big lumps out there with the wind and that combined with the cold, made it a shorter trip.  Geo has swapped some of her black bungees for pink ones, super cool, want to get some for my boat too!

We loaded boats, came back to my house to change, then headed straight to the Pita Inn.  Combos all around, and the mint tea was delicious.  Colin and Lorena, the dedicated members that they are, skipped the Pita Inn to go hang Earth Day flyers around town. Now that is dedication!

Then it was back to my house for blueberry pie and goodbyes.  What a great trip.  I had a nice time with everyone, great people, great paddling partners!- Cynthia G.