Archive for April, 2005

Buildings and bridges are made to bend in the wind,
to withstand the world that’s what it takes –
All that steel and stone is no match for the air,
my friend, what doesn’t bend breaks
– |Ani Difranco

A great way to capsize your boat in waves is to stiffen up in fear. With experience you do that less often, but I can tell you personally that on occasion something will strike my brain funny and I will feel myself stiffen right up. Sometimes it’s the sound of the wind rolling through poplar trees on a distant shoreline, or when I suddenly notice my balance shift as I’m reaching over the deck to fiddle with gear. Then from out of nowhere that little tightening shows up, followed often by an uncontrolled hip wiggle that sends a signal to your conscience brain to remind you that “balance” IS part of sea kayaking. You often forget about that. Just like riding a bicycle, one you learn you rarely if ever think about balance again.

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So if you happen to have tripped upon this blog today you will be the first to know that all sorts of new original artwork by the amazingly talented Shawna Franklin of Body, Boat Blade is now available at CackleTV.com. In fact we just got them public in the last hour! There are a variety of Limited edition prints and notecards designs as well as a T-shirt with Shawna’s work printed on the front. Personally I was impressed with her linoleum block prints since I first saw a sample in the video “This Is The Sea“. As a side note you can also see that clip on Justine’s website.

So, there’s my bit of shameless promotion!

Ok, so head on over to CackleTV.com. . . . Sure, no really. . . you can go ahead. I’ll wait right here. Promise. I’ll just sit here typing until you get back. . . Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Go on now. Really. . .

No, really. . . .

it’s ok. .

. . . really. .

-dm

And Maggie over lunch one day, took a cruiser with all hands, apparently to make him give it back – Roger Waters

Some days you just have little to say. So I let a few days pass to see if something would come. Nope! Oh, well, “To everything there is a season”. Some days you have something of value to add to a conversation and some days you should just keep your silly mouth shut. BUT as my European friends like to point out, Americans can’t keep quiet, we will just keep right on talking even if we have nothing worth saying. So with that in mind. . .

I did manage to get out on Devil’s Lake yesterday in some darned heavy winds. No one wanted to brave Lake Michigan and I don’t blame them. But if you can get 2 ft waves on our little lake that’s close to a miracle and certainly not to be missed. So I spent a couple hours Sunday rolling and bracing in the machine gun rhythm of steep flat faced waves on a small lake in central Wisconsin. I don’t think there was much more than 5 ft between crests which can really bat you around. When rolling in those conditions you have to be a bit patient especially when rolling up into the waves. If you try to come right back up you are usually catch your boat going down the next wave and your paddle does not easily find the surface. You need to just hold still long enough to get a feel for the rhythm and come up quick on the back end when your recovery side is angled to the surface. Or you can just skip the whole thing and quickly scull back up. But then again, what fun would that be??

This morning I was up at 5am and on the lake at 6. I’ve been putting a lot of time into the “hanging draw” recently and this morning was the first time I felt like I could repeat the maneuver on a regular basis without turning the boat. The hanging draw is sort of hard to explain in text. I saw in a recent discussion on Paddlewise that some folks described the move as a “side slip” which probably gives you a better visual cue. Anyway the point is to move the boat sideways wile (whilst??) keeping forward momentum WITHOUT turning the boat. Frankly there are major “cool” points if you can get this one down. It looks Soooo SWEEEEET!

Here is how the BCU describes it;

“With the kayak moving forward at a good speed, the paddle should be placed out to the side, level with or just behind hip, The kayak should move sideways without the paddle moving in relation to the boat, or the kayak turning. (It may be necessary for the bow to be held at a slight angle away from the paddle.)”

My experience in my NDK Explorer is that the paddle position is just behind the knee. For many of these kinds of maneuvers you will find paddle placement depends on the boat, displacement, conditions etc. Another key to this move is the old standby TORSO ROTATION. Yes, I know. . . All the world’s problems can be solved by good torso rotation. That whole Falklands Islands thing back in the 80’s could have been avoided if Galtieri would have just put more time into working on good torso rotation instead of spending so much time staring longingly out to sea. (Sorry for that little southern-hemispheric, quasi-historical aside) The problem is that those of us with thicker middle areas can find torso rotation difficult in normal situations, let along when on the move. Luckily I’ve found that you need not twist until your eyes bug out, just enough to get the paddle into a good vertical position in line with the boat. I’ve been dropping the paddle vertically into a neutral position and then opening it up while paying attention to how my boat responds. This usually gives me a hint if I need to go forward or back with the paddle before the boat over reacts to the blade.

On a silly note; I finally got my new license plate for the Jeep! I think we waited about 6 months for the things to show up. One nice bit is that I will actually be able to remember my license plate number!

It’s exactly one month from my trip to Michigan. But more on that later. . .

-dm

Once I was swimming cross Turtle creek, many snappers all around my feet, sure was hard swimming cross that thing, with both hands holdin’ my ding a ling – Chuck Berry

Do You know what’s strange? When you’re on the water and the phone rings, you stop paddling, put your paddle under an arm, and lean into a stable brace and start digging your cell phone out of the bungies, then finally get the ringing demon to your ear one handed, to hear a voice say “Hi Derrick, I’d like to talk to you about your current long distance plan.” Ok, so I don’t even know where to begin to respond to this question. “Ah, well, I’m about 2 miles offshore at the moment.”, “I wasn’t really worrying too much about my long distance plan but I do appreciate your call”.

-dm

So now, you could spend the morning walking with me, quite amazed. As I’m Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed – d. bowie

Let’s see if I can blend this. . . Sweep, bow draw on the opposite side, slide blade back to stern rudder and kick the boat around. . . hmmmmm.

Now that the water is open here at hope I can finally start paddling most days again. I went out yesterday for about an hour and worked on the above turn as well as some literally mind-numbing rolls in the freshly liquid water.

Let me say right now, that I know nothing other than my personal experiences and that may not be anything like anyone else’s experience. I’m just a person who uses the gear, not an expert in anyway conceivable way. – Ok, So that being said. . .

I’m learning a lot about drysuit recently. One VERY important point is that a drysuit is NOT always dry. If you are not in a circle of experts you really have no good way to learn this. Someone posting such and such “mm hydrostatic head” or so many “g”s per “m”s per hour certainly does not remember what it was like to look for your first drysuit. Numbskulls like me are left hoping that the bigger numbers in the equations are better while assuming that a drysuit is dry. As manufacturers make their suits more economical they will also need address “lay-people”. As Homer Simpson said to doctor Hibbart, “Hey doc, can you dumb it down a bit?”

As you may know if you follow my wandering journal, I recently just purchased a Palm Classic drysuit as an upgrade to MY old NRS extreme. The Classic is Palm’s “Mid-Range” drysuit. They also offer the Stikine (tm) which is their top-of-the-line suit. I chose the Palm Classic for price & quite frankly, socks. You just cannot find such a great looking suit with fabric socks for the price. Oh, yes and It’s a damn good looking drysuit as well! I’m aware that kokatat is the “God” of drysuits and It’s also very possible that someday I may lay down the $1000 for the top-of-the-line Kokatat suit, but not anytime soon I’m afraid. Just don’t have the reddies. By the way if you think I have a sock obsession, you’re right. keeping water off your feet and out of your drysuit is not a small matter. Mary has NRS dry pants and top and is always getting water up to her knees.

My NRS Extreme has latex socks and was by every definition a DRY suit. No question about it. It is also non-breathable. But on the other hand, in the dead of winter that hardly seemed like a downside. You can bet next January I’ll still be in my big yellow NRS. It’s warm and completely dry. I have not tried their new breathable version but I certainly wonder if it’s as warm and cozy as my old “body bag”. They also removed the socks in the new version. (as of this post)

The Palm classic lists from around $400 US and includes; (from their website)

• Latex seals on neck, wrist and ankles are all protected by adjustable neoprene over protectors.

• Fully articulated sleeve design for unrestricted upper body movement.

• Seamless crotch and articulted knees for freedom of movement for the lower body.

• Adjustable draw cord waist.

• Diagonal Super Seal ™ Ti-Zip ® zipper for ease of donning and doffing the garment.

• Hard waering Ripstop Cordura ® on elbows, seat and knees.

• Reflective piping on sleeves for added visibility.

• XP-200 (tm) fabric socks.

• XP-150 ™ breathable Nylon 6.6 Ripstop shell

At this price you do really get a lot of good stuff. I’ve had my Palm Classic out 3 times now and have been generally pleased with it. Day one was about 2 hours, mostly in the warm water of lake Columbia rolling and rodeo recoveries. Day two was an 11 mile journey on Lake Michigan and just in the water for a minute. Then yesterday I was out at Devil’s Lake in freaking cold water. I put in about 3.5 miles before working on rolls and taking time to swim. I spent about 15 minutes in the water specifically to see how the suit performed and although I was not really uncomfortably cold, I did have to keep moving a bit to keep warm. I note this because I was wearing the same under layers that I would have worn in the NRS for this environment. All Icebreaker, which by the way is fantastic.

The simple conclusion I came to is that the Palm Classic is my “almost-drysuit”. On the longer day paddle it was great to have a breathable suit. The Palm is very comfortable to paddle in. It’s almost like not having a drysuit on at all. In cold water, I defiantly have to wear more warm layers in the palm then the old non-breathable NRS. If I spend a lot of time in the water I will have damp areas under the zipper and at pressure points. This has been my experience on each occasion. I’ve also noticed a distinct cold spot across my back shoulder area, however this vents out and warms up with time once I am out of the water for a few minutes. My impressions was that whereas I felt like I could swim all day in very cold water in my non-breathable NRS, there would be a time limit in the Classic. The only other downside was that originally the collar barely went over my head. Not the latex, that’s supposed to be tight but the cloth collar meant to protect the latex. I had to do a little non-warranty customization to get it go over my head even slightly comfortably. But then It’s probably just my fat head.

In the end I will paddle with the Palm from March to December. I really do love it. However, when the world freezes around me I’ll pull out my old non-breathable NRS. I’m pretty certain that anyone who is not quite as crazy as me and knows enough not to paddle on below zero days will be really pleased with the Palm. And at this price really opens the door for more people to have some additional safety on the water. In the end that’s what it’s all about.

Now I have to get some gear loaded if I’m going paddling this afternoon!

-dm