Post-Thanksgiving Leftover Paddle and Potluck - Sebago Canoe Club, 11/30/2014

Thanksgiving had arrived in the midst of a nor'easter, but after a few days of rain, sleet and wind, the weather finally cooperated just in time for Walter and Dorothy's Post Thanksgiving Leftover Paddle. 

This was originally planned as a short trip around Canarsie Pol, followed by a potluck featuring Thanksgiving leftovers. Plans changed a bit for a couple of reasons - partly my doing, as, having missed the original announcement, I'd gone onto the club Yahoo group and suggested a Sunday trip into Mill Basin, poking into Four Sparrows Marsh and then continuing on for a bit more mileage (the forecast had been sliding towards the breezy side in the days before the paddle, I think I'd seen 14-17 kts the day before and then some people who'd checked the morning of the trip said there was a small craft advisory, and Mill Basin offers a way to get in some reasonable distances in sheltered conditions); I'd scratched my trip announcement a minute after posting when I realized there was already one in the works but Walter and Dottie thought that shifting to Mill Basin was a good idea. 

The other change was that we actually ended up with two groups - twenty-one (21!!!) people turned up for the paddle!

I'd been thinking a longer paddle would be nice, Pete had emailed me the night before with the same idea, and it turned out that nine of the other people who turned up were also up for more of a workout, so eleven of us set out in Wave 1 and then the paddlers who preferred a more leisurely paddle launched after us. Milton joined the distance group and suggested heading for Ruffle Bar as that would set us up going straight into the wind and coming back with a tailwind (at least as the wind had been predicted) - turned out the wind was more westerly than SW, but it was also much lighter than predicted, so it all worked out fine. We went out around Ruffle Bar at a nice steady clip and then headed back for Mill Basin, where we met up with Wave 2 just as they were coming out of the marsh. 

A few of the Wave 1 set decided to head back with them, skipping the marsh; six of us continued into the marsh and while we were in there Pete said something about paddling on to King's Plaza. I was up for that and it turned out the other four were too, although it did mean taking a bit of a gamble with our potluck pickings. Not a big gamble, Sebago potlucks are generous. We ended up paddling down to check out land access for a trip Steve the (Non-Facebooking) Paddling Chef wants to do sometime - apparently one of the best burgers in NYC is dished out by a food truck that parks near the Home Depot that backs up on Mill Basin. Despite the presence of a marina with a ramp and a gate to the street, how to get from the water to the truck remains a question, Pete braved a marina Rottweiler (contained but not by the tallest fence you ever saw) to find that the gate required a key, but it was fun checking it out at least. We got back to find enough food, and since we'd paddled about 13 miles at a good brisk pace, we were ready for it! Great day on the water, thanks Walter and Dottie for instigating!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the day - usually I would put this many in a Flickr album but it's month-end close week and then there's also a very nice week's vacation to catch up from, so I need to get some sleep, so here they all are. Click on the first for a nice slideshow view.