The sun is in the east
Even though the day is done.
Two suns in the sunset. . .
Could be the human race is run – watersIt’s not often I get to paddle next to a nuclear power plant. Let alone two of them. And in a strange coincidence, on the 60th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that’s just what we did. It’s certainly odd that after noting this anniversary in my journal that my very next post would again go nuclear. Very strange.

On Saturday morning we left Baraboo for a weekend in Two Rivers. This trip gives me time to play on the lake while Mary and Gryphon play on the beach. Because of the build up of slime at our normal campsite we ended up staying at the Village Inn just outside of Two Rivers. It’s worth mentioning the Village Inn since it’s fairly nice for the prices they charge, especially given that the other larger hotel in town charges over $100 a night! There really are very limited lodging choices in Two Rivers when you can’t camp out on the beach or at the state park.

Sunday morning I met Chris Mau from Green Bay & John Browning from Milwaukee and we headed up to Point Beach State Park for a day trip to Two Creeks. If you’re every up that way it’s worth noting that to launch from Point Beach State Park the best location is at the Lighthouse Beach parking lot. This is the shortest carry from the car to the water.

After waiting for me to run back to the motel to get my forgotten spay skirt we launched out under the shadow of the Rowley Point Light house into a glassy blue lake Michigan. We headed north along the coast for some time glad for the cool air radiating through our cockpits as the day warmed up. The water was in the low 60s and yet felt almost numbing to the touch. A few miles north of the state park we came across a big chunk of metal rising out of the water. Our best guess was that it is a pump of some kind, but how it came to be there is still a mystery to us. This is something I will need to research. Later a local resident along the beach told us it was the wreck of a ship called “Enterprise”. Possibly, yet I did not see the tell-tale “NCC-1701″ painted on the side. Nor did we see any additional signs of a wreck other than this one large bit of machinery.

From there we followed the coast around slightly to the west and passed the first of two local Nuclear power Plants to land at a small landing in Two Creeks. Two Creeks sits right between the Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant and the Kewaunee Power Plant to the north. However they also have the only public boat landing between the state park and the village of Kewaunee. Sometimes a pit toilet is worth picking up a little green glow.

One point we try to make as instructors to is how fast things can change on the water. This is a good case in point. While we were on the beach the wind suddenly picked up from the south to a pretty solid 10-12 mph building up nice local wave action. With experience, clear blue skies, and VHF weather access we felt quite safe to launch out into these conditions to paddle the 7 miles back to Point Beach. For experienced kayakers the waves of 1 to 2 feet and a bit of gusty wind are more fun than anything although it can make distance paddling a bit of a slog. For me it’s a blast to get the spray in my face as my boat jumps up over a wave and crashes down into the next. It is in these conditions where the NDK Explorer really shines. In good waves the adrenaline kicks in a bit and you can feel yourself becoming one with the water and just flying along. I can remember when these conditions would have been terrorizing. Heck, I can remember when whitecaps of any size scared the heck out of me. . .

As we approached the Two Creeks Nuclear Power Plant we soon realized that we could no longer locate the warning buoys in amongst the waves and whitecaps (white horses?). Just to be safe we angled a bit further out into the lake. When we did finally locate the buoys we found that we had navigated just past the boundary they marked in the chunky water. Apparently we were now safe from homeland security snipers lighting us up with their laser-sights. We paddled the rest of the way around the power plant without feeling the need to look for little red dots on our PFDs.

Oddly it was not long before the wind receded almost as quickly as it appeared. As we continued back to Point Beach the wind steadily decreased to that of a gentle breeze by the time out boats slid up on the warm sandy beach. This is as good a place as any to remind you that if you plan on getting into kayaking you had better learn to love hauling tons of gear uphill through sand. It seems that is a constant theme running through this paddling season. I swear the only person who has walked through more sand is Laurence of Arabia and he wasn’t carrying a kayak!

In Memory
Hiroshima – Nagasaki

Snot running down his nose
Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes – Tull

It’s hard to decide. Which is worse, A day where your hay fever is running rampant or a day when you decide to practice your rolls without nose plugs? It’s days like these when you really hope you’re far enough from shore for anyone to see the details.So while sitting offshore with my traditional paddle laying across my deck, after actually completeing my first “armpit roll“, I glanced down and it struck me. I’m starting to look like a kayaking vagabond!

I don’t need a mirror to see what’s left of my hair to know it’s either lying pressed all to one side or else sticking up in some Gene Wilder-esque formation. My eyebrows are dancing wildly above a face covered by a scruffy beard now more white than brown.My PDF(ah, sorry PFD! To much computer time) which has gone light after just 2 years of constant use hangs just above my pink towbelt and faded grey neoprene skirt. My skirt really no longer keeps the water out as the seams are coming loose in all directions. The water glistening off the back of my hands is just a reminder of my now fingerless gloves sitting back in the jeep. NRS gloves last me 1 season if I’m lucky before they fall to ragged little hydroskin bits. My 3 year old Tevas have rice paper souls that have now begun to offer high volume drainage and a nice little flicking noise as I carry my boat to the water. And if this is not enough, sitting on my deck is my homemade rolling stick. Really it’s nothing more than the end of an old weatherworn board that conveniently fits my hand on one end due to some old cracking and spitting that must have occurred may years ago. I just hacked off an end with a 3 dollar Wal-mart saw and was on my way!

I’m sure my “new” old look would scare unsuspecting strangers in dark alleyways. But for some reason when you’re sitting in your kayak it just feels right. . .

It’s the kingdom of the spiders
It’s the empire of the ants
You need a permit to walk around downtown
You need a license to dance – zevonEvery once in awhile I just have to B*#~h! Just can’t help it. So here we go. . .

1. I broke my boat. (again) Ok so I knew I would have to do something about the seat in my NDK explorer at some point. You may see in a previous post that it was starting to come loose on one side. I had already re-glassed it once as it is. Well, Sunday while I was hanging upside-down in mid-roll, the “good” side broke free! Youch! Not that it stopped the roll, but I probably came up with a bit of a wobble. Even though I am of the opinion that keeping the factory seat is the best way to go, I am going to have to put a foam seat in mine. I just don’t trust that re-hanging the seat will work. Thankfully JB had a foam seat and went the extra mile to get it mailed right out to me. Not that he needed to rush, but I’m sure happy he did. I’m also glad CM sent me pictures of his backrest project. They will give me a good outline. Thanks Chris! (hey, I’d link you here but I don’t think you have a place to link yet??)

2. I was just reading an article a few days back. In the midst of a fairly good commentary I read phrase “Shannon Carroll’s less credible, yet more exposed world record claim ” YIKES! lighten up, dude! What an oddly demeaning thing to say. If you don’t know, in 1998 Shannon Carroll took her kayak over the Sahalie Falls in Oregon for a record 78ft. decent at the time. This record later to be broken by Tao Berman. I was just sort of surprised by the comment, especially given where I read it. Maybe I shouldn’t be.

3. So I spent part of my weekend working with another friend on his ACA goals and so there we were working on all the fiddly little stuff that the ACA is (according to the last update) trying to get rid of. You know, there are very important things a kayaker needs to know about boat control. Then there are things that that old-school instructors put on you that go way over the “safe & effective” guideline. It’s a “Forest for the trees” type of thing. Here’s a good example. When I went through my ICE which is the ACA instructor certification we all learned how to demonstrate the low brace using that fun “monkey” position. This is where you get your elbows way up over the paddle and smack down on the water to brace. That always seemed odd to me. My arms never find themselves in that position. I can see times when you may want or need that extra leverage as a sea kayaker, but in most cases your low brace will come directly from the arm position you are in when you need to brace. To my relief this same point was made by Fiona Whitehead at a symposium last year. If you sit upright you can still put strong downward pressure on the blade without doing the “monkey”. As an instructor I will go over safe and effective ways to low brace but will not require students to get their elbows up by their ears.

Want more? Which way do you edge your boat during a draw? I was always taught to “moon the way you want to go”. It’s pretty awkward to lean away from the draw, but that’s what we were taught. Just recently I heard a guy arguing (yes, emotionally committed to his opinion type arguing) that you can’t lean INTO your draw or you will put water up on the boat and create extra drag. Such is the rational. BUT THEN, another coach told me that they are now teaching that you should lean INTO the draw and that the drag is not enough to matter. Heck I think, just get there! It IS important that you edge the boat. Why? Well, you get more of the boat out of the water when you put it on edge. That is a very noticeable change in drag on the kayak as it slides sideways. However, which way you lean is sort of fiddly. Is your way safe and effective? Fine.

There will always be some guy out there who wants to tell you why everything has to be done to an exact millimeter. I swear they have superiority issues and probably use a ruler to measure the distance between milk cartons in their refrigerator as well. One thing I’ve learned over time is that the better and more experienced a sea kayaker is, the less they seem caught up in the menusha of the “little things”. They often say “this is what works for me” and can offer several alternatives as well. Life and experience seem to have ways of sorting the wheat from the chafe as the saying goes.

Another important factor is what YOU are doing. What conditions are you paddling in now, and what do you plan to be in sometime in the future? What are your goals? This also can effect how persnickety some things need to be. Here is a good example. Chris Duff while circumnavigating Ireland would sometimes use a tether attaching himself to the rear of his boat. Given that he was paddling solo in sometimes harsh open water conditions it seem like a pretty good precaution to take. However does that mean all kayakers should be tying themselves to a boat? Or converslywise because we shouldn’t be doing it, does that make him wrong? Well, I’m not going to be the one to say that.

Now to be fair, there are correct and in-correct ways to do things. As an example if you get your arms out too far from your torso during a high brace you risk shoulder injury. So sometimes there are “rules” and good reasons for them. So use your best judgment, apply the the “safe & effective” standard, and have a good time. That’s what kayaking is all about!

So let’s end this post with a bit of cheer! Harry, Barry, & Phil who inspired my puffin post completed their journey around Great Britain in 80 days in what I am told is the fastest time so far. Afterward like any decent kayaker, they all met down at the pub to celebrate. So. . do you shower first or just drag your tired and smelly self straight from the beach to the bar?

Congratulations Guys!!