I officially began the 2002 paddling season last Sunday. I’d begged off on an invitation for the previous Sunday (actually I was a bit of a wuss about it, the wind being up and the temperatures being down around freezing).

But last Sunday the sun was shining, the ice was out (mostly) and it seemed like the right thing to do. And thanks to the dearth of snow around these parts, getting to the water didn’t require wading through knee-deep snow like last year’s maiden paddle. (Pay no attention to that white stuff you see outside your window. It’s just another inch of clean water to paddle on next week.)

Anyway, now that we’ve broken the ice, so to speak, for the second year in a row, maybe we’ve started a tradition.

This year, my paddling buddies, Karen Francoeur and Robert Causey, provided the impetus for me to get my gear together and on the water. The last time we paddled together was back in December at Pushaw Lake, so it was a joy just to get out and paddle again on open water. There’s something nice about that first outing of the season.

We launched at Pushaw Stream on Gilman Falls Avenue in Old Town, just off I-95 (exit 52) and paddled upstream maybe two miles. There was still ice on the westerly side of the stream, temperatures were mid to upper 30s and the wind was light. I wore a polypro top, a NRS HydroSkin John and short-sleeved Hydrowear top under a lightweight, breathable Palm paddling top, a fleece hat, Neoprene booties, pogies, gloves, and waterproof socks. I thought I would be overdressed, but it turned out to be the perfect combination for a leisurely afternoon of paddling.

The scenery this time of year isn’t much to write home about, but the skim ice that had formed from a week before was evident all along the westerly shore and into the woods where the water levels had been higher. Mallard pairs flew up in front of us at many turns, and at least one four-legged aquatic animal dove under as we approached. And we had other paddler company on our outing, a couple in a pair of Old Town kayaks, and two men honing their racing skills in a Jensen canoe who blew by us on their way up stream and later on their way back down stream.

I’ll admit I picked up my cadence for a few yards to see how fast they were going. Yes, I could keep up, but not for long – hey, it’s early in the season! And besides, racing and kayaking are not compatible terms in my lifestyle. Kayaking is supposed to be fun. Racing is too much like hard work.

And speaking of fun, here’s another date for those of you who like double-ended paddles. It’s the fourth annual Festival of the Kayak and Greening Island Challenge for Saturday and Sunday, June 15-16, at Southwest Harbor.

Registration ($30) is 8 a.m. Saturday, followed by a workshop on the fundamentals of navigation with Dr. Kenneth Fink, known by many in the Maine kayaking community as one of the grandfathers of the modern-day sport in Maine. Fink will end his lecture on time, guaranteed, because he’s one of the favored frontrunners in the Greening Island Challenge, a race around Greening Island starting at 10 a.m. He paddled some featherweight missile last year to a first-place finish, and he has challenged Francoeur again this year. I’m told the playing field may be equalized with identical boats and paddles, so it’ll be interesting to see which of these two competitive spirits comes around the far side of the island first. Of course there could be a ringer or two, no one knows.

At 11 a.m. there’ll be a workshop on choosing a kayak. After lunch there’s a skills and rigging techniques workshop for more advanced kayaking. Then at 2 p.m. the real fun begins with a group paddle up Somes Sound to Valley Cove. At 6:30 p.m. there’s dinner and a slide show. Charge for the dinner is $15.

Sunday from 8:30 to 10 a.m. there are more workshops followed by another group paddle around the local islands. Throughout both days there will be ample opportunities to test various sea kayaks.

For more information call the Southwest Harbor/Tremont Chamber of Commerce at 800-423-9264 or check out the Web site at www.acadiachamber.com.

One of the past festival presenters, Natalie Springuel of Bar Harbor, won’t be there this year. This year the well-known sea kayak guide will be on a mission, an expedition actually, that will take her and several others from Provincetown, Mass., along the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine coasts and on up to Saint John, New Brunswick, Fundy National Park, Cape Chignecto National Park at Kentville/Wolfville, Nova Scotia, then on to Digby, Metegan, Yarmouth, and finally Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia. The Gulf of Maine Expedition will run from May 4 to Sept. 28, 10-20 miles per day. The team is made up of two American guides, two retired Canadian educators, and up to four other paddlers.

The expedition aims to raise “awareness and caring about the ecology and cultural legacy of this vast watershed and to train participants and the public in seamanship and coastal stewardship skills.”

Springuel told me she hatched the idea for this trip in 1996 while on her paddling circumnavigation of Nova Scotia. She was in grad school at the time studying the recreational impact on islands. Add to that her participation in the Maine Coast Seminar, Maine Island Trail Association, and involvement with the Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides and Instructors and this expedition blossomed.

By paddling the shoreline the group hopes to take the ecological and cultural pulse of the Gulf of Maine by recording weather patterns and recording water clarity and salinity, phytoplankton, birds, plants, marine mammals, shoreline type and condition, as well as human activity.

Along the way the group plans to give public presentations, workshops and seminars in at least 10 cities and towns. A volunteer land-based group will provide the necessary logistical support. After completing the trip, the group hopes to continue to give presentations to naturalists, historical groups, recreational paddlers, and other groups, and to publish a book of its travels, leaving “a legacy for the future.” Maine Sea Grant has supplied the team with an ultra-lightweight laptop computer to access the Internet in order to keep Gulf of Maine communities and organizations abreast of the Expedition’s progress.

The Expedition’s Web site, including a map, journal entries and Gulf of Maine information, will be updated from the water several times a week and can be viewed at www.gomexpedition.org.

Down the road, so to speak, the plan is to launch a Gulf of Maine Expedition Institute to provide expedition-based environmental learning to students, educators, and the public. For more information, or to be added to the expedition’s e-mail list, contact Springuel at springuel@acadia.net or 207-288-4205. In Canada you can contact Dan Earle and Sue Hutchins at chebogue@klis.com, or 902-742-6382.

Jeff Strout’s column is published on Saturdays. He can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.