In the greyness and drizzle of one despondent dawn
unstirred by harbingers of sunbreak
a vulture perching high on broken bone of a dead tree

nestled close to his mate
his smooth bashed-in head, a pebble on a stem
rooted in a dump of gross feathers,
inclined affectionately to hers. .
- from Vulture by Chinua AchebeAs I paddle around the lake each day now the vultures are circling high above. Not the normal scattering of individuals riding a thermal up the purple quartzite cliffs, but hundreds filling the sky like fruit flies around a garbage can. They are everywhere, and ….. IT’S BEAUTIFUL!

Every autumn in early October the vultures who summer among the various cliffs and outcrops of Central Wisconsin come together at Devil’s Lake. For a small number of days they gather in ever larger circles over water imprisoned by high bluffs & forested glacial dams. Their long shadows sliding across the ancient ceremonial mounds of a past civilization. Each mound carefully formed to represent animals and birds which once roamed this land, wind and rain slowly making their shapes hard to discern. One morning soon I will arrive to see them gone with only the few locals left who have chosen to keep the frozen talus fields and wind twisted trees company. The ospreys may linger a bit longer, but they will soon be gone. A bald eagle may hold out for a time as well, but as the waters turn to ice she too will head for open water. Eagles winter just a few miles south of Baraboo where turbulent water flows freely all year kicked around by a hydro-electric dam on the nearby Wisconsin river.

This weekend the gathering of vultures, if they remain, will be met with a gathering of friends as familiar faces from the North East Sea Kayakers will be sailing into Devil’s Lake State park. We certainly welcome anyone else who would like to join us for paddling, hiking and whatever else comes to mind. Friday evening I will be running over to group camp 9 to drop off firewood and hopefully sit around a fire. It looks like a cool but sunny weekend. A great time for Alex to show off his new kayak and teach me all the cool stuff he learned at Qajaq Training Camp last month. (by the way you should be able to click the image to the right to see the large version)As is my nature I’ve begun to beat my head against the liquid wall to prepare for BCU Assessment in Georgia in a couple weeks. Speaking of weak. . . You should see my hanging draw. (drum beat goes here) Seems like one day my side slip is perfect and the next day it’s gone. One day my paddle needs to go in at the knee, then the next it seems to do better going in at the hip. Not sure what’s going on but I’m the driven type I will figure it out. I can remember going through the same thing with my bow rudder. Then one day as if it were handed down by the kayak gods it was just there. I wish they were a little quicker to hand out their gifts!!

Feel my blood enraged
It’s just the fear of losing you
Don’t you know my name
Well, you been so long..
And I’ve been putting out fire with gasoline. . . d. bowieEach morning after I drag myself out to get my first caffeine of the morning, I stumble through the house to my office and “wake up” my computer. My habit is to always check CNN, and then go to the BBC to read all the news CNN overlooks. Then I take a quick scan of local news. I’m pretty sure I have to stop reading news first thing in the morning. It certainly puts a weird spin on your day. As an example I read today that Florida’s new “Stand Your Ground” law took effect Saturday. Now apparently, if someone offends you in Florida you may have some legal protection if you shoot them. Especially if you can get a good lawyer. No, that’s not really the law. You actually have to feel (feel being the key word here) “threatened” in some way. Then according to the new law you are justified to open fire. Thing is, the law in essence it will create a lot of grey areas that will have to be tested by the Florida courts & the blood of their citizens. For my part I was struck by the irony. (Yeah I know, you don’t get that much ’round here.) Odd that a law called “Stand Your Ground” was created by people who espouse the teachings of the guy who said “turn the other cheek”. And with that thought it’s time again to slip out into the lake. . .

We received our confirmation letter from Sea Kayak Georgia already. That was a suprise, we’re not used to such fast turn around times. Holding the letter in your hand starts to make the trip seem more real. Ok, so I’d better find my travel tooth brush! Luckily the Jeep just needed a new switch and is now ready to drive south to Georgia. Just for fun I want to reprint this part of the letter;”Marine Hazards:

Avoid grabbing or running into docks or pilings. Oyster shells and barnacles permanently attach to these structures and can cause nasty cuts, bad scratches and possibly holes in your boat. Oyster beds also form along the edges of the marsh grass, it is best to avoid capsizing of doing rescue practice right along the marsh edge. If you cut yourself on oysters or barnacles remember to flush the cut immediately with providone iodine or some other sterile solution. Oysters are filter feeders meaning they contain high levels of bacteria, which can cause your cut to become infected very quickly if not cleaned.”YIKES!!!!!! DID HE SAY IODINE???

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh…. join up with me, so joyous and free, this way to oh Sherwood high!

For I’m Robin Hood, and I’m very good, at avoiding the Sheriff’s eye!

So we’ll trip along merrily, o’er the greensward so gracefully!

To trip it, trip it, trip it, trip it, tri-ip it up and dowwwn!

To trip it, trip it, trippit, trippit, trip-trip-it, trip it,

to trip it uuuup aaaand dooowwwwwn!”- daffy duck

On the eastern end of Cockspur Island marking the southern channel of the Savannah River stands the Cockspur Island Lighthouse. Built in 1857, the forty-six foot light house often stands as a lone spire in the water as the island is buried below the tide. Interestingly the eastern side of the light house is shaped like the prow of a ship to help it withstand the force of the open sea.

When Union forces entered Tybee Island, GA in 1861, the rebel army retreated to Fort Pulaski on the opposite side of the river. On April 11, 1862 the Union artillery unleashed a massive assault on Fort Pulaski from Tybee Island with the Cockspur Light house in the direct line of fire. Surprisingly after over 5,000 shots were fired the lighthouse stood undamaged.

After the turn of the century, deep draft ships going to Savannah began using the north channel and the light house was soon deactivated. It was abandoned completely by the coast Guard in 1949.Today the lighthouse has been restored and is part of the Fort Pulaski national Monument. I took this picture a few years back when we had launched out from the Lazaretto Creek Marina to visit the dolphins.

So this all leads up to my news for the day. After a variety of logistical problems we realized that we would not be able to return to California this year. We’re going to really miss seeing the West Coast Gang. However, after I a couple days of feeding on the ashes I suddenly realized that we could easily make the trip to Georgia for the BCU week held at Sea Kayak Georgia. It is a week after the California symposium and we can drive. This meant that Gryphon could go with us as well, which solved a really big problem. So after a quick phone call to SKG and a nice long chat with Dale Williams (owner of SKG), we had everything set up and ready to go. Mary will spend the first day learning Greenland skills from Cherri Perri & company, then I will be taking classes from Dale and Nigel Foster, as well as doing some BCU workshops and assessment as well. So we’re relieved and excited that we were able to recover our kayak education trip for the year. I think I’m most looking forward to a day of sea kayak surfing with Dale’s class. Last year as you may know I did get some training in proper surf kayaks, but that does not exactly cross over to an eighteen foot missile.

Now if you follow my journal at all, you know that every time we plan any major kayaking trip things start going a bit awry. So. . The same day we realized we could drive down to Georgia our Jeep decided to have an oil gauge issue. One can only hope it’s the gauge and not the engine. So that goes into the shop Monday. THEN yesterday I had a filling fall out and now I have a nice hole in a tooth! Given that this stuff always happens when we’re planning a trip I can’t help but laugh off the karmic alignment as we “pre-pay” for a good time. I think if things did not go wrong before the trip I would fear the trip itself would be filled with ill tidings.

In other news I spoke via email with a rep at Great River Outfitters (Now in Rhode Island) yesterday and found out that our new Anas Acuta is not going to be here in November as expected. We just hope it will be here before next spring. It’s all dependent on US shops getting in their pre-season orders for 2006. So guys, please, please, get your Valley orders in right away!! We’re also still waiting for news on our custom requests for 1. gradient paintjob, 2. foam seat, 3. Rope Skeg, 4. Keelstrip all the way up the seem. Our personal requests are all up to the guys on Rd 4. I can only hope that their having a good day in Nottingham when they see my order!