the paddle test

Tiny lightnin’ / In the storm
Tiny blankets / Gonna keep you warm
Tiny pillows / Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny sheets
Talkin’ bout the tiny cookies / That the peoples eats
- frank zappa

So it was Gryphon’s turn to test gear. At 7 years old he’s been growing in sudden, sharp stints. While his Episea is actually fitting him better day by day, his paddle was not. So while at the Great Lakes Symposium Werner sent him out on the water with a Werner “Sprite”. The sprite is a downsized 2-piece paddle with scaled down fiberglass reinforced nylon blades and a smaller diameter shaft.

anything for education. . .

Would someone tell Andrew to PLEASE stop teasing the sharks!

flavor of the stew

I’m gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It’ll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I’ve got boats to build
- jimmy buffett

I came out into the living room and glanced over for a moment to see Gryphon playing video games. He got a million of them recently from his older brother. They are all the old games I used to play back when Nintendo was new and simple graphics were still amazing. These days all those old games are on ROMs and easily downloadable everywhere. The truth of the digital age is of course that everything is available and everything is legally or illegally, free.

tired

Sometimes you’ve just got to have a land day.  Out on the tip of that point is the Sable Light.  The shot was taken from a 500 ft sand dune which was once used as a log slide.  Thing about sand dunes is that they are a blast to run down. . .. and something akin to unreasonable punishment to climb back up.

rescues rewind

watching bow rescue

Yesterday I spent the afternoon teaching a rescues class with Justine & Barry. It’s interesting to see the different view points. Here in the Midwest, basic rescues are wrapped up around the paddlefloat & T rescues. I’m sure this came from an atmosphere where there are small lakes and ponds in nearly every square mile. Paddlers generally find themselves in calm warm conditions and are rarely in a desperate hurry to get back in their boats. Of course on the Great Lakes and the open ocean the idea of spending time dangling in the water while you blow up a paddle float seems almost silly. A discussion coaches have all the time with very mixed opinions. Personally I’m not a fan of the paddlefloat recovery. I feel that there are almost always better ways to get back in your boat. This is where people who talk down rolling do folks a real disservice. Alone in conditions that put you over, rolling your kayak is the quickest, safest way to survive. Just the act of coming out of your boat will usually increase your risk.

morning fog

We woke up to a heavy morning fog that had closed in around the world. The trip guides gathered at 6:30 am for coffee and oatmeal and waited for the word on the day’s trips. The hope is always that the fog will burn off in a couple hours. Still nearly an hour later a heavy mist rolls past the windows as I write.

paddle float love

Could that be Justine Curgenven doing a paddle float recovery?  Nah, can’t be. . . can it?