New Season, New Kayaks

Image: ChatGPT

I've been dying to get in the water for almost two months.

Last September, DW and I drove to Frontenac County to test some kayaks. We were looking to upgrade our already excellent kayaks that we used extensively for five seasons on rivers and lakes all over Ontario and parts of Québec, and thought we could use longer crafts with rudders.

Within an hour, we put a deposit down on two Delta 14s with rudders, with a pre-order that wouldn't see the kayaks arrive until spring of this year.

Since mid April, when the snow had melted and temperatures were climbing, I anxiously awaited a call from Frontenac Outfitters to tell us that our kayaks were in. We had some good weekends and I thought it would be great to try out our new boats, even anticipating it by writing a chapter in my crime novel that fictionalized our first paddle.

As May approached and I worried that we wouldn't get our kayaks in time before we left for our vacation in Peru, I called the shop to get the status of their delivery. And as it turned out, I was told that Delta had shipped the kayaks and that they were either due to arrive at Frontenac Outfitters later that day or the next. Once the kayaks arrived, the folks at the shop would confirm the inventory and then call us.

They called on a Friday (one week before we were to fly out of Ottawa) and the next day, we were back in Frontenac County to collect our new kayaks. I was hoping to get in the boats, on the lake onto which Frontenac Outfitter backs, and create a video all about the new acquisitions.

Unfortunately, it was raining steadily while we were at Frontenac Outfitters so we simply inspected the kayaks, loaded them onto our car, and drove home.

While we were exploring the Amazon basin in Peru, cruising up and down the Tambopata River, I told DW several times about how great it would have been to be on the river in our kayaks and how I couldn't wait to get our new boats in the water.

Unfortunately, when we returned, DW fell ill. She unknowingly brought back a few nasty parasites from the jungle and was bedridden for more than two weeks. Thankfully, after several trips to her doctor, she's on medication that seems to be killing whatever was knocking her down.

I was lucky enough to return from Peru unscathed (except for my breathing problems while we were in the Andes and that bout of food poisoning in Lima), and I was tempted to take my kayak out on my own, but because this was to be our inaugural paddle with our new kayaks, I wanted DW at my side.

She felt well enough to head out on Sunday.

Like I had fictionalized in my novel, we went for just a short paddle on the Rideau River but we were joined by our Paddlefolk and we put in further upstream, at Burritts Rapids Lockstation. And, fortunately, we found no bodies floating in the water.

The last time that DW and I had been on the water at this part of the Rideau River was in 2013, when we had journeyed from Kingston to Ottawa in a 17-foot canoe with both of our kids and tons of camping equipment. Sunday's paddle was much easier.

We made our way toward the Lower Nicholsons Lockstation but only got halfway there before we decided to turn around. The wind was gusting at our backs on the way upstream and we didn't want a long fight back to Burritts Rapids.

Of course, I marked this maiden voyage with a video. It's short, at only five-and-a-half minutes long. Have a look:

As always, if you like the video, give it a Thumbs Up and subscribe to my channel. I'm also an affiliate of Insta360, and have links that help me out if you are interested in purchasing an action camera, such as the X3, which I use, or even the new X5 (which is one that I've been eyeing, much to DW's chagrin).

I can't wait to get back into the kayak and hope that this weekend, we really put our new boats to the test.

Image: ChatGPT

Happy Wednesday!