Oddly the session was going pretty well up to that point but then after it got worse, it got better. But then it got less better and I need to go shopping.

This time around we took Gryphon with us to the pool which meant I would not have any hands to roll up on if I blew my attempts at a hand roll. So instead I went out into the deep end (which is a place I often find my self in) and worked alone. (also a position I often find myself in) After warming up through the rolls I know, I worked a bit on “slow-motion” angel rolls. I was trying to ease myself to the surface and slide onto the deck as slowly and quietly as I possibly could. When I felt like I was relaxed and things were going well, I could begin working on a static brace by basically reversing the process. Thanks to Alex Pak I found I could pull off a static brace in the whitewater boat. The big old thing happily keeps me afloat with little skill on my part. In the begining it’s and obvious cheat. But over time I’ve been working on moving my body further and further out into a right angle to the boat. Each almost imperceptible movement is a dance step. Each change in angle shifts the balance. I try to quiet my mind and feel what my body and boat are doing. Those of you who have read my posts before know I always go back to that “body, boat, blade, mind, oneness” thing. But I’ve found no other way to advance my techniques than within a calm, meditative state. As soon as I begin to hear the outside world, I lose focus and fail. One reason I was not a good “class” learner. Too much distraction.

So far as I lie out there in the water I’ve found my fingers becoming the first sign that I’m about to blow the brace. Often I feel my fingers wrapping up around the paddle that is laying across the water in a “T” behind my head. As my fingers work against me and try to grasp hard on the paddle, it begins to sink below the surface. My focus comes off the boat. Quickly I have to bring my focus back to the boat, arch my body, and again settle myself in the water. Then again when my mind is calm I can twist out a bit more, then again. . I’ve found now that my arch is becoming very important as my angle extends out from the boat. Now my eyes and nose are going under as I look back out over my head. I can breath through my mouth so this is not distressing. but I need every bit of the arch as my body is so tight in the white water outfitting of the boat. Last night I thought I could have almost performed a static in my explorer if I’d had it to try. But then who knows!? I do know, it’s getting better.

As I said, I really wanted to work on hand rolls, but without Mary there to save me, I knew each time I went over I’d be wet exiting as there is no way to stow a Greenland stick on a ww boat. So I worked on shortening up my hold on the blade. Yet this always seems to go too easily. I can tell that I have to get my form a bit cleaner, but on the other hand something about that long blade still makes it a cheat. So Mary found a little pool pad/float for me to try. I was able to roll off the thing if I swept it with both hands (see pic) but I still seem to completely lose my composure if I hold it in one hand. Of course the big rubber slab flopped around and caused a bunch of resistance under the surface. I could’nt easily get it into a good posistion.

After about 80 rolls and working on the static, then with the float I was beat (bushed, tired, knackered). And with about 15 minutes before the pool closed, I went back out into the deep end just to try a couple quick reverse-sweeps. I remembered this time around to shorten my angle and be quick so the ww boat did not spin and stop my roll. Suddenly on the second attempt I was screwed. . I set up under water as usual. I reached up to the surface with the blade and began to move forward when in an amazingly underwhelming underwater “thud” the blade broke! There I was upside down with just a bit of Greenland stick in one hand and the other bit floating away above me. The first thought that went through my head was, “how’d you like to do this on Lake Michigan??”. After that moment of shock wore off I took the bit of blade I still had and slung it out to my side, twisted my body like a spring, and rolled up!! Amazing! I’ve never been able to roll off a norsaq (rolling stick), so I was surprised.

Happily breathing air again I held up the broken bit of paddle to show Mary who happened to be running some video at the time as you can see from the blurry “big foot” type video still. Far from being impressed with my rolling prowess, she was more than a little disappointed that I broke her stick. So. . . I need a new GP, but on the other hand, I have 2 new rolling sticks. . but then on the other hand, (insert image of Vishnu here) that was Mary’s gift for her very first solo roll.

So the replacement has to be something pretty special.

The first sign of spring in the mid-west is the arrival of the Canoecopia Gazette. Each year it arrives at our door with a regularity that even Michael Cherthoff couldn’t screw up. I always imagine thousands of repressed paddlers running back from their mailboxes holding up their baggy long underwear in one hand and the Gazette in the other yelling, “It’s here!! It’s here!!” Then for the next 63 hours they will sit on the kitchen floor reading every article, existing on Gatorade and walnuts cracked with a hammer. Well, I will be anyway!

I know it can take a few days for the Gazette get to everyone’s door, so I won’t spoil it. But here’s a little teaser. . .

Keywords You’re Likely To Find in the Canoecopia Gazette 2006

ripcord – marriage – raccoons – stroke – bonanza – spanking – underwater – best – largest – sasha – efficiency – wild – pool – shamanistic – poetry – wondervest – bargains – sustainability – racks – saddles – orphans – pretty – rowing – flambeau – horodowich – wanigans – symposium – enthusiasm – divas – butterflies – mollusk – community – kids – brain – haanas – reitz – jigging – loon – love

and my favorite which comes from Yakima, “anal-retentive”. . .

Canoecopia is the world’s largest paddlesport expo and will be held March 10 – 12 at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall in Madison, Wisconsin. For more details visit Canoecopia.com

On Saturday, March 11th, I know I will be spending my day at the Door County Symposium booth. with Milwaukee’s uber kayaker, Mr. John Browning. So feel free to come up and chat. . Oh, and while you’re at it you can sign up for the symposium otherwise it will be back to schleppin’ boats for me!!

-d

Hermit crabs and cowry shells
Crush beneath his feet as he comes towards you
He’s waving at you
Lift him up to see what you can see
He begins his focusing
He’s aiming at you j. johnson

So it’s almost time for the 10th annual Florida Gulf Coast International Sea Kayak Symposium from February 21-26 depending on what your into. I can only hope that friends well take sunset moment on the beach, while Jack Johnson music plays in the background, to lift a glass to all the frozen kayakers around the world who won’t be there. We’ll certainly be thinking about you with more than just a little envy.

Here’s hoping Ross get’s that personal attention he so much deserves. . . . .

Here’s hoping Bonnie comes home with at least 13 new Greenland rolls. . .

. . . and hoping the evil minions send me the photographs!!

Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies
Farewell and adieu you ladies of Spain
For we received orders for to sail back to Boston
And soon never more will we see you again – (yankee version)

I love Jaws. I still haul the DVD out quite often just to get lost in the story of “3 men and a shark”. I remember that movie coming out in 1975 when I was like 10 years old. It was the first movie I remember kids arguing over who saw it more times. At 10 I was not quite in that age group. But I did go to Star Wars like 27 times when it came out a couple years later.

Obviously Jaws did not keep me out of the water like it did so many others. In fact I remember thinking I wanted to see a real shark. I was probably more effected by Robert Shaw who reminded me of every male role model I ever had as a kid. You just insert the word “deer” for “shark”. As in “This deer, swallow you whole. No shakin’, no tenderizin’, down you go.” You got to kill the lot of ‘em or they’ll take over the world!! I could easy see the beauty in the shark and enjoy the “monster” movie without deriving “all sharks bad” from the script.

I always felt a bit bad for Peter Benchley who wrote the original novel. In wanting to write a “what if” story, he ended up negatively effecting much of the world’s concepts of sharks. He spend years trying to correct that perception. He often said since, he’d have never witten that novel the same way had he known the reactions some people would have had. Sometimes it’s dangerous to let an idea go free in the world. By the time others are done with it, you just don’t know what it will turn into.

Yesterday Peter Benchley died at the age of 65. For my part I’ll remember him fondly as someone who contributed to my infatuation with the sea. I love sharks! Thanks Peter!

- d

* photographer unknown.