Kayak, James River/Springfield Lake 9-19-2012

A three mile evening paddle on the James River/Springfield Lake.

The new spray skirt/splash guard worked as designed. It's not as pretty as the open cockpit, but it kept me dry and warm, out of the cool breeze coming off the water. It should be quite helpful when on some late fall and winter trips this year.

Saw lots of coots, buzzards, herons, snowy egrets and kingfishers, as well as a large doe deer drinking by the river's edge. She checked me out for a bit and nonchalantly walked up into the woods and out of sight. Also heard an owl hooting several times. It stopped when I came close to the point where the sounds originated.

A nice quiet evening on the water. Saw a couple of other kayaks on the water. One with a fisherman pulling a good size bass out as I passed him. Also saw and met two teams of racing canoeists. Nice people, they had some pretty neat boats, capable of fairly high speed for a paddle craft.