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Breaking In A New Boat Along The Cliffs


cynroux

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I purchased a large, unwieldy, rotomolded sit-on-top fishing kayak recently but haven't had a chance to try it out until today. A friend and I launched in heavy rolling chop and paddled out past Chesapeake Beach and headed south toward Randall Cliffs. Every bit of awkwardness this boat has on land melted away in the water. She rolled up and down the waves easily, barely weather cocked and despite the size, handled well. Best of all, I can load this boat down with all the collecting tools I want, which I couldn't do in my more high-performance boat.

We have had a lot of rain and as we skimmed near the cliffs, we saw a lot of newly fallen rock. I found a beachhead and turned the kayak's nose toward it. Rolling waves on the way out meant surfing on the way in, and we hit that beach at a high enough speed to almost completely get the boats out of the water.

I'm very respectful of newly fallen cliffs and overhang, and my friend mentioned a desire to NOT be buried alive, so we kept close to the water and walked the shoreline. I had packed the trusty litter box scooper. I'm a little disappointed that there wasn't more sizable teeth to be found, but maybe I didn't have the luck today. However, there were quite a few almost whole scallop shell remains and the bull shark tooth wasn't a bad find at all. I'm always amazed when a shell can survive the pressure of a fall. Tough little things.

I wish I was able to take a few pictures on the way back into the waves. The Eastern Shore of Maryland had a huge, very bright rainbow arcing over it from cloudbursts that were ranging up and down the Chesapeake, but the chop was too much to try and test my photography and paddling skills simultaneously. We made it back to the launch in a full sun shower. My friend scooped up a nice little sand tiger specimen as we landed.

I'm looking forward to taking this boat out again for a more serious hunt. :)post-18250-0-99403400-1436248738_thumb.jpgpost-18250-0-71118100-1436249009_thumb.jpg

Do not blame God for having created the Tiger, but thank Him for not having given it wings. ~ Indian proverb

Photos of Art, Pets, Fossils, Tattoos and General Mischief

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Nice finds, congrats on a good hunt: )

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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There is nothing quite like the paddling and fossil hunting combination. :) Nice trip report and interesting finds.

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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  • 2 months later...

Awesome! Often thought about taking the kayaks out there. We decided to get a Zodiac instead :-)

Trying to get down there next weekend!

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