FotonDrv Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 Well, about once a year we get these animals hunting in the Inlet in front of our home. It is always a joy to watch and deep down inside I am wishing for the possibility of one of them landing on a small watercraft. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 It must be a real joy to see them live, I know it was fun seeing the pixs.:) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 (edited) 11 hours ago, MacKenzie said: It must be a real joy to see them live, I know it was fun seeing the pixs.:) It is, and there are laws about getting to close to them but how does one enforce the laws with a subject that is moving rapidly through the water and possibly toward you? I said "they were putting on a show for the boaters" on my Facebook page and someone just had to take exceptionand correct me and say that they were not. Ha, tell the boaters that I know what they were doing, they were hunting seals, salmon and sea lions, all of which are in Sinclair Inlet and their antics are to get the targets moving so they can be spotted more easily and I said that at the end of my FB Posting. There was a humpback whale cruising the inlet last week and it too was putting on a show for anyone who was paying attention. One morning I was taking the small passenger ferry to work across the inlet and a juvenile grey whale breached, leaping about 20 feet of it out of the water. All the people facing that direction on the ferry gasped and all the people facing the other direction said "WHAT???"; we indeed got a show The lack of ability to use and understand the English language is lost on so many folks that were raised in the USA it is a blatant failure of our educational system and the media for perpetuating it. Spyhopping is what the whale is doing, looking for seals and sea lions on the navy floats. Edited July 8, 2017 by FotonDrv added image and text 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2017 On 7/7/2017 at 8:20 AM, MacKenzie said: It must be a real joy to see them live, I know it was fun seeing the pixs.:) I used to kayak out there and it was always a thrill to see the bigger whales, like Humpbacks and Greys but these guys made me nervous since they hunt things the size of my kayak (16') and they are very fast. On many occasions when I was paddling in very deep water, like 700' + , I have felt an uplift of the kayak as something swam under me. Sometimes a sea lion or large seal BUT you never knew since they can hold their breath a long time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 13, 2017 Report Share Posted July 13, 2017 I will stick to river running in the canoe where the water depth is not over my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted July 13, 2017 Report Share Posted July 13, 2017 When I was in grad school we had a prof who owned a fishing business on Kodiak Island. We went up there, helped him build his log home, and attended seminars in the afternoon. Great learning experience. On the weekends we would go out on the fishing boats. A grand experience. Wile on this fishing boat we got very close to a polar bear swimming out in the ocean and a pods of orcas. Amazing animals, especially the orcas. The lights were on and someone was definitely home. Very intelligent animals who used cooperation to hunt and subdue their prey. Powerful and swift swimmers. Completely adapted to their environment and apex predators. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pearson Posted July 14, 2017 Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 The great white pail compared to Orcas as predators, 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 Orcas are indeed smart. They cruise floats and docks to try to scare the seal and sea lions off so they can catch them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 On 7/13/2017 at 10:17 AM, MacKenzie said: I will stick to river running in the canoe where the water depth is not over my head. You know that if you are in water that is NOT deep then you run the risk of hitting your head on a boulder underwater I once ran about 20 miles of white water down the Salmon River in Northern California (before they dynamited the Class 5 falls) and I can honestly say that it was not mellow compared to Sea Kayaking. We went over that fall and it took some really strong paddling to get out from under it down force and if you were not prepared for it could have killed you easily, hence the Department of Forestry dynamiting it. After that run down the river I went to sleep that night in a nice comfortable hammock and while dreaming about dodging a boulder iin the river I dumped myself out of that hammock!! Funny at the time since I have only fallen out of a hammock on one other occasion that I cannot describe here . I will stick with deep water since the shoreline is the most dangerous. Here are a few kayaks that I have made that are extremely light and tough. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 14, 2017 Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 Very nice crafts.Our rivers are not that big fortunately and mostly gravel bottoms but one can stii wreck a canoe. I've seen that done. Actually we had to go in the spring while the water was high and there weren't too many bugs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pearson Posted July 14, 2017 Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 That's a beautiful kayak how long to build it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 5 hours ago, MacKenzie said: Very nice crafts.Our rivers are not that big fortunately and mostly gravel bottoms but one can stii wreck a canoe. I've seen that done. Actually we had to go in the spring while the water was high and there weren't too many bugs. I remember a lot of bugs when I was camping on Babine Lake at Smithers many moons ago. The bug assault reminded me of Vietnam without the snakes and scorpions and tarantulas, it was just a lot of mosquito's and gnats. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 3 hours ago, Bruce Pearson said: That's a beautiful kayak how long to build it? Back when I was doing it the frame took 4 days and the skin took 2 days and the kayaks I have built range from 15ft to 17ft. They are not as fast as a sleek long (19ft) fiberglass boat but they are very easy to transport/launch AND SUPER QUIET IN THE WATER. I was sneaking up on otter families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pearson Posted July 15, 2017 Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 Kew!l I was thinking of making my own kayak and getting out on the San Francisco Bay, good way to get exercise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted July 15, 2017 Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 Sneaking up on otters? That's a very, very difficult proposition. I was born in Cody, WY and I try and do a winter camping trip in Yellowstone each year. About 10 years back I was fortunate enough to observe a family of otters playing in the water and on the bank. These little guys would slide down the sow covered bank and plop in the water. Once in the water they'd all chase each other and then clamber out of the water, run up the hill in that inimitable way they move, and then do it all over again. These little guys did this for about 45 minutes and never once slowed down. A very memorable moment in my life. I can't imagine how quiet your kayak has to be in order to sneak up on otters. Beautiful craft. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 (edited) I have had two types of kayaks with soft skins. The first one was a Long Haul tandem kayak that is the same model that the Army Special Forces uses to drop out of choppers, assemble, and paddle silently into weird places with their hypalon hulls. And then the other type of soft shell boats are the skin on frame one I build (10 oz/yd denier cloth coated in a 2 part polyurethane) http://www.longhaulfoldingkayaks.com/ http://www.capefalconkayaks.com/ Learning to roll these babies is fun! The traditional lay back roll is the easiest, and could save your life. Edited July 15, 2017 by FotonDrv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 I was paddling in a marina early in the morning about breakfast time and as I glided/paddled gently toward a docking float near a large yacht there was a small dog and a cat watching the small fish (babies that looked like minnows but in saltwater) at the end of the float. Their owners were having breakfast and watching TV and none of them saw or heard me until I was about 10 ft from them. The cat was the first to notice and it took off like a rocketship, the small dog put its tail between its legs and skulked off the float. I hailed the yacht owners and apologized to them for scaring their pets which was met with laughter because it had never happened before and they thought their dog was a feirce watchdog. Ha! Not a peep from either animal, just escape maneuvers. The longhaul boats are the most silent because of the material. Fiberglass is the most noisy, sort of like paddling a drum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skreef Posted July 16, 2017 Report Share Posted July 16, 2017 I quess I am one of those folks that never seen whale before in there natural habitat, but maybe oneday. Beautiful pics you all posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 On 7/14/2017 at 8:15 PM, Bruce Pearson said: Kew!l I was thinking of making my own kayak and getting out on the San Francisco Bay, good way to get exercise. Great exercise! I though my bad back would kill me but it was the opposite. If you are paddling correctly you use the rotation of you torso to move the paddles for the power stroke and the arms to just position the paddle. It really strengthens the core muscles and thus the lower back. I had my pelvis fractured by an explosion when I was 20 so my back has never been the same, yet the kayak made life much more bearable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FotonDrv Posted July 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 5 hours ago, skreef said: I quess I am one of those folks that never seen whale before in there natural habitat, but maybe oneday. Beautiful pics you all posted. If you are close enough you will find out they have bad breath.... At least the humpback that surfaced behind me for a breath had serious halitosis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
