Thursday, August 14, 2008

July Trip #3

Location: White River – River Road Park to Hazel Landing Park
Distance: +/-2 miles
Date: 7/31/08
Gauge: 1.8
Paddle Time: 37 minutes
Paddlers: Doug (Dagger RPM), James (Necky Looksha), Paula (Breeze), Dave (Loon)
Weather: 72 & cloudy, 92% humidity

Left around 6:20 AM, saw a deer, took a little video by tucking my small digital video camera into the straps on my PFD. Pretty cool, but a little more water would have made it more interesting.
A quick trip to get in our July paddle. It was the first time we have gone early in the morning, I was hoping for a nice sunrise but no luck, it was just overcast.

July Trip #2

Location: White River – 146th Street to Hazel Landing Park
Distance: +/-7 miles
Date: 7/23/08
Gauge: 1.8
Paddle Time: 3 hours
Paddlers: Doug & Julie (Zirconia tandem) Tucker (Dancer), Austin (Pelican Burst), Miguel (Blackwater), Vanessa (Loon)
Weather: 80 & sunny

An evening trip with a stop for a snack. This was a nice paddle with the sun starting to go down. There is a good-sized island around 131st Street so we stopped there for a break and a snack. This was my first trip to both the access at 146th Street and at Hazel Landing.
Apparently the body shop owner at 146th doesn’t mind people using his drive, there were about five other boats there taking out when we arrived. It’s a bit rough getting down under the bridge, and I should have checked before going down there since I couldn’t turn around with the boats there, but overall it’s not a bad place to put in. Access at Hazel Landing Park is nice, too. There is a loop drive where you can drop off boats and then go park. There are steps to the water, but they were a bit slimy with mud. Just upstream of the steps there is a small gravel bar on river right that looks like it would be an easier takeout.

Boating in Indiana Gets a Boost

Here is a link to an article about improving paddling access and information in northern Indiana: http://www.post-trib.com/news/1097639,canoe.article

Boat Insurance

I learned something new today about boats and insurance that I thought I would post in case anyone ever found this blog. Sorry if you already know this. A couple of weeks ago I saw a letter to Canoe & Kayak magazine that talked about someone’s kayak being stolen while they were shuttling on foot. When the person asked their (State Farm) agent about how to file a claim they were told it was not covered under their homeowners and that additional coverage is needed.

Today we were talking with our (State Farm) agent so I asked about it and got basically the same answer; our boats are not covered by homeowners insurance off the premises. Even auto insurance only covers damage to a vehicle if a boat were to do something like come loose from my trailer and damage another vehicle. The boat is not covered.