Quebec Sea Kayaking: Winter Ice Floes and Greenland Sea Kayaks

JCVaillant's video montage of sea kayaking a Quebec saltwater bay locked in sea ice. Note his Greenland paddle, helmet, towbag doubling as bow painter and whiffle balls on his foredeck rigging to lift his lines for more efficient spare paddle storage.

Note too the paddlers in the background: the small specks.

The waters of JC's home province Quebec freeze solid in winter, especially in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the waters north and south of the Gaspe' Penninsula, a deepwater canyon whose sheer walls attract whales close enough to shore that you can hear their breath as you hike the penninsula's cliffside trails.

During recent winters, many New England's sea kayaking saltwaters have frozen solid, including much of Boston harbor, all of Duxbury Bay, much of Buzzards Bay, and vast areas of Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds.

The latter are fastwater areas always in movement, which made their deep freezes, and the need for Coast Guard icebreaking, all the more remarkable. I recently sold my Kokatat drysuit and related winter paddling gear: boots, hoods, gloves, farmer john fuzzy rubber first layer garment, after developing Raynoud's syndrome in hands and feet. I'm now 3 mm farmer john, shortie wetsuits and a gore tex drytop,