A Winter Storm

Snow on the hills of Jerusalem, on the Golan Heights and on Mt Hermon, the rest of the country cold and rain and strong winds, gusts of 90km/hr measured on our beach, so No Kayaking today.The only possibility is to go and catch waves with Rami and his fellow surfers, go here to his gallery for fantastic photos http://www.gilkayaking.com/gallery/gallery.htmlI think that I have to find a small kayak that I can sit comfortably in and learn to surf. Looks fantastic.
The other possibility is kite surfing.

a short video

Heres a short video of us going north one day during January, there was quite an offshore wind, so we stayed close to the shore and between the rocks.The camera was fixed to the deck of my kayak.

the art of neglecting the yard

Let nature take its course, look around at the natural world, the forests and the meadows, beaches and deserts, seas and lakes. They don`t need constant looking after, they seem to reach a point of natural balance, unlike my garden.No matter how hard I try to keep it low maintainance it always calls me to order. Hedges need to be trimmed, lawns need to be mowed and leaves keep jumping off the trees. If only we had about 50cm of snow to cover it all up till spring, then I could go paddling without the nagging feeling that one day I would have to do something about it.Luckily my lawnmower is being repaired right now so I have a legitimate excuse.
The weather is supposed to change tonight and the sea should be a bit more active tomorrow, waves up to 1.2m are being forecast, so hopefully we can get some surfing again. Its been a long flat January.

Cold Wet and Windy

The last few days have been cold, and windy.A strong offshore wind blowing from the east makes our paddling something of a challenge. There is the danger that if you stray too far offshore the wind will take you out to sea, it gets stronger the more you go offshore.Then there is the fact that boat control in these conditions is not as easy as one would like, you have to edge your boat and control your direction with all the strokes that you know, plus the fact that the cold wind on your hands is not very nice to say the least.The compensation is that you can stay close to the shore and paddle around all the small islands and rocky outcrops that are inacessible in other conditions. This makes for an interesting journey especially round the old city and harbour of Caserea. Also yesterday Hadas and Josele gave a lesson to all the fishermen who use sit on top kayaks, not the best conditions, but it seems as though everyone got something from the day.

hadas`s photos

Photobucket Album

On our last outings Hadas has been busy with her camera and here are a few of her early morning pics. You can see how cold it is , blue hands and shivering kayakers.Actually today was a bit warmer, but not so that you`d notice it too much.Where are all our paddlers???

cold January

So far its been COLD , in fact the number of paddlers has dropped dramatically, probably due to the fact that its more comfortable to stay in a warm bed than to get out and freeze your butt off on the water. But we do see some brave souls out there and some interesting hats too. The thing is that we dont have such cold winters and thus we dont have the cold weather gear that you see in north europe or America.Our hardy kayakers manage to go our in shorts, flimsy gloves and minimal cold weather gear,and still have a good time on the water.At least its still possible to go out , not like in North america or Europe where they hibernate till the spring. If there are any readers from these northern climes who cannot paddle in winter, you are more than welcome to come visit us in Israel and go paddling for a few days.

round the Sea of Gallilee

Early Friday morning we loaded up our kayaks and headed down to the Sea of Galilee for a 2 day circumnavigation. It was a cold grey rainy day and the fog made the drive down a bit precarious.We all arrived safely at Kibbutz Ginnosar, loaded our boats and set off north on the first leg of the journey. The sea was calm, grey heavy clouds promised rain later on and it was a bit on the cool side. The rain did come much later and the weather got colder.It was wonderful to paddle among the falling rain watching the drops bounce and dance on the water. We reached Ein Gev in the late afternoon, unpacked , hot showers and a hot meal and then sleep. Saturday , after a lazy breakfast we set out again, no rain today , overcast skies, but easy conditions for a morning paddle. Later on the last leg the wind really picked up and made hard paddling to finish the trip. There were a lot of photographers out there and I am sure we will have some great pics.

JAN 1 2008

Today was the first paddle of the new year, 2008, so I`ll take the opertunity to wish all a very happy new year, happiness prosperity and good health, and to Avital a very happy birthday for today. Remember paddling keeps you young.
Today we had flat seas, interesting cloud formations and active bird life, it was fun paddling among the rocky outcrops at Casearea and at the end a couple of rolling addicts put on a show, not minding the cold water. See the movie, it`s a must.