I’ll be out New years Day south side of Long Island by Jones Inlet and surrounding bays looking for seals in my Current Designs Extreme.
Your New Year’s paddle will be more exciting than mine. Our local club goes out on huge cooling pond (for a coal-fired power plant) on New Year’s morning. It’s just an excuse to get out, though in cold weather it’s kind of interesting to get lost in the fog. Meeting up for lunch at a local tavern afterward is the real event, and many people skip the paddle and just show up for that.
We do have a tiny bit of open water during normal winter weather, and there are a few places I’ve been known to paddle during the winter, though I have no actual “plans” for that.
The rivers are iced over up north, but there is plenty of open water in southern New England. I’ll be somewhere on Sunday - this year my first swim of the year was on New Year’s Day.
Not till Feb. Florida… starting in Apalachicola…
The snowshoeing is excellent now… 39 inches of snow on the ground…27 from last night
Change of plans led me to a solo morning on Morro Strand, tooling around in the soup and learning how much I have yet to learn about my boat and landing in surf. Got tossed twice in a row by the two biggest waves in the biggest set when I miscounted & misjudged the size, I occasionally remembered to roll instead of bailing out, and hopefully gave the nearby surfers some good laughs. I had blast.
Only open water that’s accessible is Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan. My spirit is willing and my kayak’s still on my porch, but with another Alberta Clipper coming in to dump a fresh foot of snow, not sure how tall the snowbanks will be on Sunday where I want to launch or whether there’ll be gale warnings posted (again).
Playing the waiting game, looking for opportunity and the right conditions. I have a feeling my kayak is not going to make it to the pool this winter, even though I’ve paid for storage.
Planning on the traditional outing on the Red Cedar but may skip the nice weather Sunday afternoon to visit friends I don’t see often and paddle in the rain on Monday.
Likely somewhere in southern Georgian Bay (Lake Huron), as its almost in my back yard. All open water still except small bays and rivers. I was out today and it was a touch on the windy side. With the wind chill everything was icing up pretty badly so I just did a short paddle and 2 rolls near the end. 
I’ve been using the Greenland paddle I made recently a lot more and it’s been growing on me, at least for the winter paddling. My hands stay warmer on the wood paddle and the chunky shoulders are easier to hang onto with gloves and somewhat numb hands.
Weather depending, I’ll be out again New Year’s Day or shortly after. I’d like to get out to the Bruce Peninsula on a nice day after some cold nasty weather because the shoreline ice gets built up high where the waves get crazy. Late winter is better because there’s more floating ice to play on.
Jan 1 Either Prince William Sound, Resurrection Bay, Kachemak Bay or The Kenai River
Probably our local Lake Pend Oreille, but not until ski season winds down … likely April. The shoreline is ~110 miles, much of it Forest Service or BLM. They say it’s ~360 meters deep, but I can’t touch bottom at the deep part so I’ll just trust that figure.
Hoping for Day 1 on some tidal waters in NE Mass.
Like Guideboatguy said, yours sounds better. We’ll do an up and back paddle on the Meramec west of St Louis then adjourn to a members house for the last pot luck of the holiday season. At least we’re starting the year off on the water as it should be.
Happy New Year and
SYOTW
Randy
Local lakes and rivers are frozen solid for the most part. So New Year’s day we will paddle below one of the dams in the area. There is about a mile of open water below the reservoir so we will paddle up to the dam and drift back down again.
David
Almost a total crapshoot as to when, depending on having liquid water + public access allowed (zebra mussel inspections only happen in the noncold season) + air temps above 45. Water temp can be 33 because I would wear a drysuit and dive hood etc., but I have zero interest in paddling when the air is cold.
I’m sure that New Year’s Day sport will consist of shoveling snow. It’s coming down now and forecast to snow Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…and stay cold. Been browsing for a good adult sled to relive some childhood delights.
Pool roll sessions are possible, but I doubt that is what the OP asked about.
Our local club has paddled Cedar Creek lake , Ky on new years for the past 3 years. The weather is looking okay for tomorrow . 14 signed up, betting on 4 to show. The lake has a lot of wildfowl at this time of year.
We’re going to bed early tonight to paddle the Weekiwachee early tomorrow morning. Usually we hit the Silver River on New Year’s day, but Deb wants to find the manatees.
Just so you can feel sorry for us Florida folks, I DID break a sweat today cleaning the boats.
We did the Housatonic River in CT from the Covered Bridge in West Cornwall to Housatonic Meadows State Park.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eckilson/albums/72157674854919083/with/31888598792/
We had a lovely day. Five manatees, one otter, one raccoon, various birds. A time to share with good friends. Who could ask for more?
eckilson thanks for the pic’s! What is the yellow kayak I saw in the album?
@PaddleDog52 said:
eckilson thanks for the pic’s! What is the yellow kayak I saw in the album?
The Wavehopper - it’s a whitewater downriver boat.