Lowcountry Paddlers Club Newsletter

Lowcountry Paddlers Club Newsletter - January 2014
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2014!
Message from the Prez
We are a socially and economically diverse organization with
one common link… a love of
paddling. Whether kayak,
canoe or paddleboard, expert
or beginner, we all enjoy the
camaraderie and the beauty of
South Carolina's waterways.
Our meetings are held on the
third Monday of each month
(except December), with club
paddles scheduled throughout
the year. Please join us and
share in the fun!
Lowcountry Paddlers meet at:
Providence Baptist Church
294 Seven Farms Drive
Daniel Island
Happy New Year Everyone! I pray the upcoming
year proves to be productive in both your street and
paddling life. I’ve seen
recently where life can
change for us on a moment’s notice, so please try
to take it all in every day.
We have a great bunch of
people in our club and it never fails to
amaze me when I watch everyone while
at events. Every event we have gets a
slightly different group of people out,
allowing for new friendships to occur
and old ones to update and grow.
People we meet become regular friends
and paddling buddies over time with
new ones being added and subtracted as
life changes. Sometimes I won’t see
someone for a bit and then
they’ll show up again. It’s
so nice to be able to say hi
and talk about things we
each have been doing in
our lives. This club is the
nucleus that allows that to
happen. I love it.
Please come out to events
over the year. Never be
embarrassed about the fact that you
haven’t been out for a while. In this
group, you’re always welcome.
Hopefully I’ll see you at the January
meeting, and also the Oyster Roast on
Feb 1.
See you on the water sometime soon,
Dan
Join us at our next meeting on
January 20th, at 7 p.m.
- Club Officers President
Dan Hoke
Vice-President
Michele Powell
Treasurer
David Goad
Secretary
Tara Harney
Happy Birthday (12/20) to our LCP Secretary Tara Harney - Photo by Michael Condon
“Making the most of our beautiful coast!”
- LCP BUSINESS PAGE -
Minutes - November 18, 2013 (revised)
The meeting was called to order by Dan Hoke at 7:04
pm. John Radel of CCPRC introduced himself. He
will be attending our meetings to represent CCPRC.
LCP Officers were introduced.
Our guest speaker was Colette DeGarady of the Nature Conservancy. She is a specialist in native American plants in the residential environment, and spoke
on making yards more wildlife friendly and easier to
take care of, by planting native plants rather than using invasive species.
She offered some recommended internet sites:
 SCNPS.org - (South Carolina Native Plant Society) has a lot
of general information on the topic
 www.compleatnaturalist.com/scnps.htm - has books to purchase on the topic (the books listed at this site should also be
available at the library and can be used as a reference for
those resources)
 www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat - has a lot of good
information on making your yard wildlife friendly, expanding on which plants to use and giving information on having
water available in your yard and introduction of bird and bat
houses.
 se-eppc.org - is all about invasive plant species
 roots and shootsnursery.com and mailordernatives.com mail order sources for native plants (Colette also recommended asking at local nurseries for native plants.
South Carolina Native Plant Society will be having
their Spring plant sale on March 15, 2014 from 9 am
to noon, at Charlestowne Landing (admission is free).
December 14 - Lowcountry Paddlers Club annual
holiday and membership renewal party. Bring a potluck dish and your own beverage (water will be
available). There will be a Chinese Gift Exchange
(participation is optional). Plan to pay your annual
dues.
February 1- Lowcountry Paddlers Club annual Oyster Roast.
Treasurer's report (revised) shown below.
The Minutes of the October meeting were approved
as printed in the Yakker newsletter.
Upcoming Paddles
December 14 - Michael Condon will lead a paddle
up the Ashley River from Herbert Jessen Landing
toward Bacons Bridge Road and beyond. This is an
L1 paddle of about 8 miles. It will be paddled at a
leisurely pace on sheltered water. Meet at 9:45,
launch at 10am.
Paddles for 2014 through June have been posted.
You can view them at lowcountrypaddlers.net/2014clubpaddles.htm, or by clicking the
link in the paddle listing on the LCP club web site.
There will be no meeting in December!
Door prizes were given out and the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 pm.
Club Business
A paddle and boat cart were made available on the
used item sale table.
December 7 - Parade of Boats Meet at Seabreeze Marina off of
East Bay Street at 4 pm. Dress
for the conditions, bring a bright
flashlight and decorate your
kayak for the festivities. Pizza
will be available for a prepaddle
snack, and plan to join the
group at a local restaurant afterwards.
December 7 - CCPRC annual
gear sale at the James Island
County Park, near the climbing
wall 9 am to 12 noon.
- Page 2 -
Respectfully submitted,
Tara Harney, Secretary
“Making the most of our beautiful coast!”
reach adulthood. Most Blue Crabs will only live for
less than a year, but a few may live for about three
years.
A continuing series by Dave Bearse
COLOR ME BLUE
Blue Crabs are my favorite marine arthropod, besides shrimp and lobster (OK, maybe they are my
third favorite). The Blue Crab is one of the most
common edible species of crab along the Atlantic
coast (common from Massachusetts to Texas) and
certainly is popular in South Carolina as a chief ingredient in “She Crab Soup.” The delicious white
meat makes it a favorite of amateur crabbers and
has been the focus of a large commercial fishery for
decades. (Have you noticed how often my articles
revolve around my love of seafood?) In the U.S. market, the
Blue Crab ranks second only to
lobster in seafood value.
The colorful name of the Blue
Crab clearly stems from the blue
claws and legs. The ends of the
claws and spines on the body are
usually red, and the body underside is usually white. (That adds
up to red, white, and blue – what a
great patriotic crab – sort of like
Chuck!)
The five pairs of legs are adapted to specific tasks.
The first pair are armed with large and powerful pincers for feeding and defending. The next three pairs
of legs are used for walking, and the fifth pair has
special wide paddle-like structures for swimming.
These paddles enable the Blue Crab to swim quite
well, compared to most crabs. The shell and claws
provide valuable defensive mechanisms for the Blue
Crab. The pointed spikes or spines on the shell and
the strong pinching claws give the Blue Crab both a
menacing appearance, and the ability to inflict a
painful injury.
The males and females are easy to distinguish,
based on the shape of the “apron” on the bottom of
the shell. Also, in the breeding season, the female
carries a mass of orange eggs on the underside of
her shell. These females with eggs are protected by
law in South Carolina, and must be returned to the
water immediately if caught. The males spend their
adult lives in the brackish waters of the salt
marshes, inlets and bays along the coast, while the
females move from these waters to the open ocean
when their eggs are ready to hatch. After six or more
larval stages, the tiny crab hatchlings are eventually
carried back into the shallow waters of the marshes
and bays, by the ocean currents. Only a few of the
up to two million eggs laid by a single female will
In order to grow, the Blue Crab molts (sheds) it exoskeleton (outer shell) – doing this maybe 20 times
before it is fully grown. The molting process only
takes a few minutes. Interestingly, mating is a oncein-a-lifetime event for the female during her final
molt. After molting, the Blue Crabs new outer shell is
very soft, taking about 48-72 hours for the new shell
to harden. The crabs are very defenseless during
this period, because of the softness of their shells.
They must find a place to hide until their new shell
hardens. When caught and eaten
by humans during this stage, we
know them as “soft-shell” crabs.
Fortunately, the Blue Crabs are
very tolerant to varying degrees of
salinity from open-ocean to fresh
water – thus, they have a wide
habitat. They can crawl, swim, or
dig in the sand for protection.
They both scavenge the bottom
for carrion as well as preying on
live small fish, shrimp, snails, oysters, clams, or other crabs – very opportunistic feeders (sort of like my Seafood diet – if I See it, I Eat it!).
Unfortunately, pollution and commercial fishing pressures have had a significantly negative impact on
the Blue Crab populations. Natural water circulation
patterns and winds generated by storms can also
have a large impact on the addition of new crabs to
the overall Blue Crab populations. Besides being
eaten by us in either their hard-shell or soft-shell
state, they are also preyed upon by many marine
birds (gulls, herons, etc.) and by octopi, fish, and
even by other Blue Crabs.
Recreational fishing for Blue Crabs from docks and
low bridges can be a lot of fun year round, with better success achieved when the water temperature is
above 50-55 degrees. Chicken necks and fish heads
tied to a string are great bait to catch crabs along
creek banks. Where is your favorite crabbing spot?
Do you have any good crab recipes to share with the
rest of us in the paddling club? My favorite is so simple! Just coat a block of cream cheese with your favorite cocktail sauce – sprinkle on a good amount of
crab meat and then dig in with your favorite cracker.
Enjoy!! (Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my chin
from just thinking about this.) Now we need someone to step up in future editions of the club newsletter to write a regular favorite recipe article each
month! [good idea Dave! – ed.]
- Page 3 -
“Making the most of our beautiful coast!”
From the Editors...
Oops, almost forget I had a newsletter to get done.
Another ‘better late than never’ edition.
Did everyone who made it to the LCP Christmas
Party have a good time? Michele ended up with an
unusual gag gift...a large container of Drano! She’s
right in saying that we need to clarify the intent of the
gift exchange. Wrapping up a pair of dirty socks
would not make a good gag gift, unless there was a
$20 bill stuffed inside! That would have been a good
use of the band-aid gift. Yes, someone gave a box
of band-aids. If I’m embarrassing the giver, sorry. If
one might not be able to give, due to economic circumstances (I’ve been there!), then they should sit
that one out. Many of us felt bad for some people
who were on the short end of the gift exchange this
year. Maybe the LCP needs to try something different for next year’s party. We can at least put our
names on the presents, so people know who to
thank for the gift!
Well, the holidays are behind us, and it’s time to get
back to work. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s cost me
about 3lbs this year, I mean last year.
We’ve paddled into another new year...2014! Old or
young, that’s another year closer to retirement. I
know, some of you are already there! Paddle when
you want, fish when you want, get out of bed when
you want (right Mr. Bearse!).
Sometimes I’m jealous, especially when the boys
invite me to go fishing...on a work day!! But, I’ll count
my blessings, starting the new year employed. As
Chuck says, someone has to keep Social Security
funded so he can go to the bank once a month.
As I write this, I’m looking out the back door on a
cold drab day. This month’s Kayak Angler magazine
had an article about places to go yak-fishin’ during
these winter months. Costa Rica was sounding
pretty nice. Italy looked good too. Show-n-Go anyone?
Well, I need to stop my rambling, and get this newsletter published. I hope some of you get the urge to
submit something to us this year. There’s a good
resolution - Write and article for the LCP Newsletter!
You might also want to consider running for one of
the club officer positions. It’s not too early to think
about that. Let Michele or any of the other club officers know if you're interested. You can also nominate someone who you think would be a good
choice. “Ask not…”
Lets go paddling (and fishing)!
Randy (& Carol)
LCP OYSTER ROAST!
For the third year in a row,
Bobbi and Billy are hosting the
annual LCP Oyster Roast. This
favorite LCP event takes place
on Saturday, February 1st,
from 6-10pm. Come out and
enjoy the (usually) cool evening, warm wood fires, friends,
music, food, and the amazing
oysters. Once again, caterer Jamie Westendorf will
be serving up the delicious CrassostreaVirginica’s
(did Dave Bearse write this?).
As always, there will be the traditional LCP chili
cook-off competition.
Bring a bit of firewood if you can. Also bring your
lawn chairs, cooler of beer, a side dish to share, and
of course your appetites! LCP is also providing hot
dogs and soda's.
Please join us, and bring a friend for an evening of
camaraderie with your LCP cohorts. Bobbi’s address is: 500 Rice Hope Dr, Mt P (Longpoint subdivision). Cost is the same as last year: $10 for members and $20 for guests. Can’t beat that price anywhere else in town.
See y’all there!
- Newsletter Submissions If you have an article or announcement for us to include in next
month’s issue, please e-mail it to [email protected] no
later than January 24th. Also be aware that copyright laws prevent us
from printing published items without permission.
NOTE: Articles submitted anonymously will not be accepted for publication.
- Page 4 -
“Making the most of our beautiful coast!”
More Fun Paddling Shots from past Activities
Photos by Michael Condon and Randy Smith
Band-Aids...just
what I wanted!
- Page 5 -
“Making the most of our beautiful coast!”
Winter Challenge XI is coming...
So, get your training in gear!
Winter Challenge XI
is going down on February 15, 2014.
7 Mi Trail Run
6 Mi Kayak
10 Mi Mountain Bike
It's going to be the best one yet,
and we want you to be part of the fun!
The Winter Challenge Off-Road Triathlon is entering its 11th year, and we want to make this next one the
best yet. But we can't do it without you.
Many of you are alumni and well aware of the joys 23 miles of full-on Winter Challenge can bring. For the
uninitiated, here is what you can expect:
1. One of the most unique and beautiful settings you've ever raced. Dome Farms, situated on the Edisto
River Swamp, offers miles of diverse off-road trail plus a 75-acre pond where you will do some serious paddling.
2. Competition and camaraderie. The fellowship of the Winter Challenge and the post-race festivities may
be your best reason to join in. Triathletes from all around the Southeast converge on this venue not just because it's a great race, but because it's a good time.
3. We guarantee you a good time. Those who run the Winter Challenge love it. The number of people who
have run this race 6, 7... 9 times out of 10 is crazy. And they keep asking for more. And we're going to keep
on delivering the goods.
So what do you do now? Forget there's something called the offseason, and get ready for Feb 15.
See what it's all about at: www.winterchallenge.net
Or like us on FB to get the latest details: www.facebook.com/winterchallengex
- Page 6 -
“Making the most of our beautiful coast!”
Kayak Rolling and Rescues:
Intro to Kayak Rolling
Have you ever wanted to learn how to roll a kayak?
One of the greatest self-rescue tools a kayaker has is
rolling, which also sharpens other boating skills. A
registered and paid chaperone is required for participant ages 15 and under. Pre-registration is required.
Jan. 20-24, Mon & Wed: 7-8:30 pm & Fri: 5:30-8
pm. Course # 31861. Meets at: Off-Site Location,
Age: 13 & up. Fee: $54/$45 CCR Discount
Photography Series: Sunrise Session
Awaken your senses to the natural and cultural world
while stretching your photographic eye. Bring your
camera and let a park naturalist lead you to inspirational locations. A registered and paid chaperone is
required for participants ages 15 and under. Preregistration is required. Jan. 21, Tue. 7-9 a.m.
Course # 31997. Meets at: Folly Beach County Park,
Age: 12 & up. Fee: $9/$7 CCR Discount
Coastal Navigation Clinics: Level 1
This course introduces you to all aspects of coastal
navigation. The basics of maps and charts, compasses, aids to navigation, declination/variation, and
rules of the nautical road will be covered. Preregistration is required. Jan. 28, Tue. 6-8 pm.
Course# 31859. Meets at: CCPRC Headquarters.
Age: 16 & up. Fee: $18/$15 CCR Discount
Coastal Navigation Clinics: Level 2
Learn more advanced navigational skills such as
dead reckoning, range lines, fixes, following bearings, triangulation, and compensating for the current.
Level 1 Coastal Navigation skills are a pre-requisite.
Pre-registration is required. Jan. 30, Thu. 6-8 pm.
Course# 31860. Meets at: CCPRC Headquarters.
Age:16 & up. Fee: $18/$15 CCR Discount
Upcoming Club Paddles!
Sat, Jan
11
L
1
Sat, Jan
25
L
3
Sat, Feb
1
L
1
Rantowles Creek, Bulow Landing
to Wolfe Island loop trip. About 6
miles. Rating: L1, sheltered, leisurely
pace
Leslie: [email protected]
Low tide at Wolfe Island is
about noon. Meet at Bulow
Landing at
10:15 and launch at 10:30.
Leslie Maple
Edisto River; Marsoldfield Landing
to Long Creek Landing About 17
miles.
Rating: L3, sheltered, moderate pace
Tara:[email protected]
Meet at entrance to Givhans
Ferry State Park at 9:15;
leave at 9:30
Tara Harney
Foster Creek. About 6 miles.
Rating: L1, sheltered, leisurely pace.
Meet at Bushy Park Landing
(fresh water side) at
10:00AM, launch at 10:15
Val Larson
- Page 7 -